1981 NHL Offseason News and Notes
Here are last season's skating leaders.
Here are the goalie leaders.
Here are the playoff scoring leaders.
Ok, the game is broken in a sense of choosing who wins the Hart Trophy. The 9th place team’s best player, who finished 10th in league scoring, 4th in game rating, and put up a +8, is not the MVP…again!!
Denis Maruk and
Mike Bossy got robbed. Either of them is the MVP. They have turned a horrible team into a team on the verge of contending. They put up amazing seasons.
Marcel Dionne is one of the best ever, no doubt, but he's just not the MVP this year.
Jiri Bubla’s stay in
Minnesota has been very successful since defecting 3 years ago. At 31,
Bubla wins the Pilote trophy as best defenseman. He picked up 84 points on the season, something I believe only
Bobby Orr has done before. I can’t actually check. There’s no option in the game to search or look up only defenseman single season scoring records.
Some interesting names have retired from the NHL.
Nick Libbett hangs them up after a very productive career with the
Rangers and
Flyers. He finishes just shy of 1000 points.
Serge Savard retires after spending almost his whole career with the
Bruins.
Savard didn’t live upto his potential. He became a good player, who could contribute offensively, but only won a single playoff series. It’s not all his fault, but he wasn’t good enough.
New York’s Pete Mahovlich also leaves the game at the age of 34. The Little M played 12 seasons with the
Rangers being a do everything kind of player. He scored way more then I expected him too, and provided great two way play. The
Rangers announced they won’t officially retire his number, but will honour him with a banner.
The NHL has announced a new playoff format…
The league also has realigned to better reflect the geographies of the league. The Adams and Patrick divisions make up the Wales Conference, while the Smythe and Norris Divisions make up the Campbell Conference. The Stanley Cup will be played between the playoff winner of both conferences.
Doug Gilmour is the first pick in the NHL draft. Being a
Leaf fan, this made me happy. I didn’t expect to see that when names like
Dale Hawerchuk, Ron Francis and
Al MacInnis are available. It’s another deep draft in terms of role players. I wouldn’t say there is alot of scoring outside the first round, namewise, atleast. Players selected you don’t see include
Mike Vernon, Marty McSorely and
Brian Skrudland.
Gilmour looks to be a smart, workhorse, two way center, who will be counted on late in games, and score a bunch.
Quebec already has
Paul Coffey, so it makes some sense passing on
Al MacInnis.
Teammates
Bobby Hull and
Frank Mahovlich have been inducted into the Hall of Fame together. They were teammates for 16 years, helping the
Leafs win a bunch of Stanley Cups. Both scored over 500 goals, and 1000 points. Both are top 10 goal scorers in NHL history. Both are automatic Hall of Famers!
19 year old
Petri Skriko will sign with the
Philadelphia Flyers. The 19 year old Finnish product was drafted 30th overall two years ago. He’s a skilled winger who is very quick. An excellent skater. Expect
Skriko to spend some time in the minors, as despite is skating ability, he’s a little raw at the moment.
Skriko to the Flyers!
It’s been a long time coming, but
Ivan Hlinka is finally joining the
St. Louis Blues. The former 5 star player isn’t the same guy he was in his 20’s! He’s 31 years old now, and he hasn’t aged well, but he’s still got elite offensive skills, and is as smart as they come.
Hlinka was drafted 11 years ago, 116th overall.
Hlinka might be a ppg player, or he might be a 4th liner. I have no clue how this will play out!
Hlinka is a Blue!