1982-83 NHL Regular Season
The 1982 season preview suggested the
NY Islanders were on the verge of competing for the Stanley Cup. They have some nice, young, top end talent, but not much depth. October ended with them as the laughing stock of the league. The
Islanders got off to a 1-10-2 start. On top of that start, 3 of the teams top player,
Ray Bourque, Tim Kerr and
Doug Wilson, are now each injured, expected to all miss atleast a month. Things are not gonna get easier in Long Island.
The Islanders are going nowhere while Ray Bourque is out!
The
Rangers want that Stanley Cup back, and make a move to help.
Wilf Paiement comes over from
Montreal. He’s a perfect 2nd line offensive talent, who had a lot of success during last years playoff run with
Montreal.
Paiement has provided secondary scoring his whole career. He’s only 27, so he’s got a bunch of years left. The
Rangers give up 20 year old prospect
Adam Oates.
Oates was the 9th overall pick in the 1980 draft. He’s scored 141 points in 128 minor league games. He’s probably gonna get the promotion to
Montreal very soon.
Oates has first line potential.
Paiement to the Rangers!
The water in
New Jersey must be better then what they were drinking in
Denver. In a stunning turn of events, the
Devils stand at 23-10-6 at New Years! That’s all ready the 3rd highest win total in franchise history, and an 8 win improvement on last year!! Why the turnaround? I don't know!
Mark Howe is having a career year, and on pace for 100 points.
Glenn Anderson, in his 3rd season, has figured out he’s allowed to enter his defensive zone!
Kelly Hrudy and
Glenn Resch are giving the
Devils franchise best goaltending so far. Other then that, there still doesn’t appear to be much there.
Brett Hull still hasn’t signed. I really don’t have an explanation for this!
Mark Howe is leading the Devils to their best season!
The Stanley Cup Champions just suffered a huge blow to their repeat chances. Star winger
Rick Middleton’s season ended in mid January with a ruptured foot tendon.
Middleton had 55 points in 47 games on the season, but even when healthy, the
Flames have not looked good.
Calgary has been right around 500 all year, and without
Middleton, I can’t see them coming close to the finals right now.
Middleton is out for the season!
Lanny McDonald just scored his 400th NHL goal in his 564th game!! That’s a pace I believe to be faster then anyone in history! Again, I wish I could look these kind of things up, but ya, not yet. Anyway,
Lanny is now 29, so he probably doesn’t have any shot at
Gordie Howe’s record.
Lanny did play his first 2 professional season in the WHA, where he scored 124 goals.
McDonald actually has 524 goals as a pro in 719 games now. No matter how you look at it,
Lanny is one of the greatest goal scorers of all time!
McDonald scores his 400th!
The best team in the NHL this year, is the
St. Louis Blues. At the trade deadline, they are 45-12-10. The league average in goals against per team is 3.31. The
Blues are giving up 2.35. The offense, led by
Milan Novy and
Stan Smyl is strong, but not elite. The defense is aided by a fantastic goaltending duo of
Eddie Mio and
Dan Bouchard. The emergence of
Kevin Lowe as a number 1 dman, and the all around defensive play of forward
Mel Bridgman has been significant. The
Blues look like the team to beat this year.
Bridgman might be the Selke Trophy favourite!
Kings star
Guy Lafleur has become the 3rd player, in NHL history to score 600 goals!! At 31,
Lafleur did it fairly quickly. His pace though, is actually a little slower then the current pace of
Lanny McDonald. Still
Lafleur is now about 300 goals behind
Gordie Howe. That’s a lot of goals to score in your 30s. I don’t think he can catch
Gordie. Still though, 900 career games and 600 career goals is amazing!
600 goals!
Final Standings
Wales Conference
Campbell Conference
St. Louis does win the president’s trophy with he best record in the league.
Hartford with a healthy
Wayne Gretzky looks pretty dangerous.
Calgary gets over .500, but don’t look like a contender at all without
Rick Middleton.
New Jersey finishes in 2nd place with franchise best wins and points totals!
In a year when scoring seemed lower across the board,
Wayne Gretzky plays his first complete season and blows everyone else away. His 150 points is 37 more then 2nd place
Peter Stastny.
Wilf Paiement has not looked great in
NY. Playing on the first line with
Peter Stastny, Paiement got 37 points in 61 games. I don’t think that’s the kind of production the
Rangers were hoping for.
Adam Oates played one game in
Montreal, and spent 40 games in the AHL, where he scored 41 points.
Oates still looks like a future centerpiece.