1982 NHL Offseason News and Notes
I forgot to screenshot the stats. So I lost the reg season stats roundup and the playoff stats. No way to see those now. Another thing that should be added going further. I want to see complete team and league stats from season’s past in the same format i can view them during the season. It's dumb that i can't see complete league leaders in playoff scoring for past seasons.
Here is the stats summary screen you see when looking through the history section. It’s better then nothing.
In the least surprising piece of news ever,
Marcel Dionne wins the Hart Trophy.
Bryan Trottier, who had an amazing 32 assists in the playoffs, wins the Conn Smythe. He is the best set up man in the NHL today.
Two new awards will be given out starting in 1983. The
Terry Sawchuk Award will be awarded to the goalie(s) having played a minimum of 25 games for the team with the fewest goals scored against it in the regular season. It is named after HOFer
Terry Sawchuk, who holds the single season GAA record of 1.07 in 1969.
The
JP Parise Award is given to the player with the highest plus minus during the regular season.
JP Parise currently has the highest plus minus of any retired player in NHL history, at +505. So lets name this after him!
Toronto’s Carol Vadnais has retired. He’s a life long
Maple Leaf that was a top pairing defenseman during their championship run of the 70’s.
Vadnais is actually the all time career leader in plus minus, with a +552. I’m not gonna change the
JP Parise Award though, as I like how that sounds!
Vadnais will have his number retired by the
Maple Leafs. The
Rangers will retire the jersey of defenseman
Guy LaPointe, who has retired at the age of 32.
LaPointe scored over 10 goals eleven times in his 14 year career.
LaPointe is 2nd all time in defense scoring for the
Rangers. Last, but certainly not least,
Chicago’s Phil Esposito is finally hanging up his skates.
Phil is one of the greatest players of all time. His ability to produce playing with a team that never challenged for a cup was incredible. He must have felt like he was alone for much of his career.
Chicago just could never give him much help. Here is a look at his career.
Esposito thumbnail
The
Colorado Rockies have relocated to
East Rutherford, NJ to become the
New Jersey Devils. This is the third home for the franchise that started in
Kansas City, and spent 6 years in
Denver. The team has just one playoff appearance during that time.
New Jersey gets the first pick in this years draft, and select American sniper,
Brett Hull, son of
Leafs legend,
Bobby Hull. Brett is a huge pick for the
Devils, who need to their young talent, to finally arrive in the NHL.
Hull joins a group that includes
Grant Fuhr, Glenn Anderson and
Doug Lidster. Ok, maybe a few more top draft picks would help.
Hull has not signed yet!
This draft featured a bunch of top end defenseman, and a few other sniper types.
Dave Anreychuk, who joins
Doug Gilmour and
Paul Coffey in
Quebec, is ready to make a big impact today. The
Nordiques have a very nice core developing.
The Kings have traded long time center Butch Goring.
I guess the
Kings are rebuilding a bit, or retooling, but long time first line center
Butch Goring is on his way to
Detroit.
Goring just had his lowest point total in almost a decade, but it still was an impressive season. He played just 60 games, and had 87 points!
Goring had 1109 points over 920 games as a
King. He becomes the
Red Wings best player. The
Kings get 24 year old
Ilkka Sinisalo, a Finnish winger, who broke out this year with 74 points.
Sinisalo is a smart hockey player, who tends to be more of a set up man then anything else.
Goring and Sinasalo switch places.
There are two new members of the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Canadiens legend
Dave Keon will take is rightful place among the greats.
Keon will go down in history as arguably a top 10 player in league history. He is joined by his former teammate
Yvon Cournoyer. These two were instrumental in the
Habs success during the 1960s.
Time for the iron curtain draft.
Edmonton will sign Finnish winger
Teppo Virta. Virta is a half star prospect, who at 20 years old, has a long way to go to be NHL quality.
Virta was selected 129th in the 1980 draft.
The
Blues are selected again, and they sign Russian
Ilja Byakin. He's a 19 year old defenseman, with decent potential, but raw. He probably needs 2 years in the minors, but could be something.
Byakin was picked 141st in the 1981 draft.
