1985–86 NHL season

League business

Entry draft

The 1985 NHL entry draft was held on June 15, at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in Toronto, Ontario. This was the first draft held outside of Montreal, Quebec. Wendel Clark was selected first overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Rule changes

On June 13, 1985, the NHL board of governors voted 17–4 in favour of amending a penalty rule. Previously, coincidental minor penalties would result in 4-on-4 play. The amendment allowed teams to substitute another player to keep the play 5-on-5. It was seen by many as a shot at trying to slow down the high-flying Edmonton Oilers. Wayne Gretzky was quoted as saying, "I think the NHL is making a big mistake. I think the NHL should be more concerned with butt-ending, spearing, and three-hour hockey games than getting rid of 4-on-4 situations." It wasn't until 1992, with the Oiler dynasty (five cups in seven years) having ended, that the NHL reverted to the original 4-on-4 rules.

Regular season

The Edmonton Oilers once again regained control of top spot in the NHL and were awarded with the Presidents' Trophy—the first time the trophy had been awarded for the best record—while last year's best team, the Philadelphia Flyers slipped to second. The Flyers continued their dominance of the Wales Conference despite the death of their Vezina-winning goaltender, Pelle Lindbergh, in a car accident on November 11. Edmonton's Wayne Gretzky won his seventh straight Hart Memorial Trophy and his sixth straight Art Ross Trophy. This season saw Gretzky score 52 goals, and set records of 163 assists and 215 points. This was the fourth time in five years that Gretzky reached the 200 point plateau; no other player has reached 200 point mark, although Mario Lemieux would garner 199 points in 76 games in 1988–89. Edmonton's defenceman Paul Coffey broke Bobby Orr's record of 46 goals for most goals in a season by a defenceman by scoring 48 times.

Final standings

Note: GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF= Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts = Points, PIM = Penalty Minutes

Prince of Wales Conference

Clarence Campbell Conference

Playoffs

Main article: 1986 Stanley Cup playoffs

Bracket

The top four teams in each division qualified for the playoffs. In the division semifinals, the fourth seeded team in each division played against the division winner from their division. The other series matched the second and third place teams from the divisions. The two winning teams from each division's semifinals then met in the division finals. The two division winners of each conference then played in the conference finals. The two conference winners then advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals.

In the division semifinals, teams competed in a best-of-five series. In the other three rounds, teams competed in a best-of-seven series (scores in the bracket indicate the number of games won in each series).

Awards

All-Star teams

Player statistics

Scoring leaders

Source: NHL

Leading goaltenders

Source: NHL

Coaches

Patrick Division

• New Jersey Devils: Doug Carpenter
• New York Islanders: Al Arbour
• New York Rangers: Ted Sator
• Philadelphia Flyers: Mike Keenan
• Pittsburgh Penguins: Bob Berry
• Washington Capitals: Bryan Murray

Adams Division

• Boston Bruins: Butch Goring
• Buffalo Sabres: Jim Schoenfeld and Scotty Bowman
• Hartford Whalers: Jack Evans
• Montreal Canadiens: Jean Perron
• Quebec Nordiques: Michel Bergeron

Norris Division

• Chicago Black Hawks: Bob Pulford
• Detroit Red Wings: Harry Neale and Brad Park
• Minnesota North Stars: Lorne Henning
• St. Louis Blues: Jacques Demers
• Toronto Maple Leafs: Dan Maloney

Smythe Division

• Calgary Flames: Bob Johnson
• Edmonton Oilers: Glen Sather
• Los Angeles Kings: Pat Quinn
• Vancouver Canucks: Tom Watt
• Winnipeg Jets: Barry Long and John Ferguson Sr.

Milestones

Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1985–86 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):

• Bill Ranford, Boston Bruins
• Daren Puppa, Buffalo Sabres
• Brian Bradley, Calgary Flames
• Gary Suter, Calgary Flames
• Brett Hull*, Calgary Flames
• Adam Oates, Detroit Red Wings
• Petr Klima, Detroit Red Wings
• Bob Probert, Detroit Red Wings
• Shayne Corson, Montreal Canadiens
• Kirk McLean, New Jersey Devils
• Craig Wolanin, New Jersey Devils
• Scott Mellanby, Philadelphia Flyers
• Craig Simpson, Pittsburgh Penguins
• Jeff Brown, Quebec Nordiques
• Cliff Ronning*, St. Louis Blues
• Wendel Clark, Toronto Maple Leafs
• Dave Lowry, Vancouver Canucks
• Jim Sandlak, Vancouver Canucks

Last games

The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1985–86 (listed with their last team):

• Tom Lysiak, Chicago Black Hawks
• Mike Rogers, Edmonton Oilers
• Mario Tremblay, Montreal Canadiens
• Bob Nystrom, New York Islanders
• Pelle Lindbergh, Philadelphia Flyers
• Denis Herron, Pittsburgh Penguins
• Don Edwards, Toronto Maple Leafs
• Marian Stastny, Toronto Maple Leafs
• Jiri Bubla, Vancouver Canucks
• Dan Bouchard, Winnipeg Jets

Broadcasting

This was the second and final season that the Canadian national broadcast rights were split between the Molson-sponsored Hockey Night in Canada on CBC, and the Carling O'Keefe-sponsored telecasts on CTV. HNIC aired on Saturday nights, while CTV primarily televised Friday night games. CTV was also supposed to televise the All-Star Game, but due to a prior programming commitment, the game aired instead on the cable network TSN for the first time. CBC and CTV also split the Stanley Cup playoffs. After the season, CTV decided to pull the plug on the venture, citing its limited access to Canadian-based teams, which translated into poor ratings. Carling O'Keefe retained the rights for the next two seasons, and syndicated its playoff telecasts to a chain of local stations that would one day become the Global Television Network.

This was the first season of the league's three-year U.S. national broadcast rights deal with ESPN. The contract called for the network to air up to 33 regular season games each season as well as the All-Star Game and the playoffs.

Notes

References

• {{cite book |last1=Fischler |first1=Stan |last2=Fischler |first2=Shirley ;Notes

References

1. (January 21, 1986). "Bid to televise all-star game in Canada fails". Toronto Star.
2. McKee, Ken. (February 1, 1986). "All-star game an American production". Toronto Star.
3. Warren, Kelly. (September 25, 1984). "Great hockey/beer war takes to the ice in Chicago". Chicago Tribune.
4. McKee, Ken. (September 12, 1986). "Marketing mystery: Argos off TV 38 days". Toronto Star.
5. McKee, Ken. (April 19, 1986). "CTV won't renew NHL contract". Toronto Star.
6. McKee, Ken. (April 16, 1986). "CTV's hockey games on thin ice Network reportedly unhappy with NHL's Friday night schedule". Toronto Star.
7. (July 30, 1985). "ESPN acquires NHL games Backroom bickering in TV deal". The Globe and Mail.
8. (July 26, 1985). "NHL Finds a Home at ESPN". Philadelphia Daily News.