1989–90 NHL season

Entry draft

The 1989 NHL entry draft was held on June 17, at the Met Center in Bloomington, Minnesota. Mats Sundin was selected first overall by the Quebec Nordiques.

Regular season

Wayne Gretzky records his 1,851st point, passing Gordie Howe for the most in NHL history on Oct. 15, 1989.

This season marked the first time that all three New York City area NHL teams, including the New Jersey Devils, made the playoffs in the same season, a feat which has since been repeated thrice more: in the , the , and the seasons.

Until 2017, this was last time the Detroit Red Wings missed the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Sam St. Laurent of the Red Wings became the last goalie to wear a full fiberglass mask during an NHL game.

Final standings

Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF= Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts = Points, PIM = Penalties in minutes

Prince of Wales Conference

Clarence Campbell Conference

Playoffs

Main article: 1990 Stanley Cup playoffs

Bracket

The top four teams in each division qualified for the playoffs. In each round, teams competed in a best-of-seven series (scores in the bracket indicate the number of games won in each best-of-seven series). 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.

Awards

All-Star teams

Player statistics

Scoring leaders

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points, PIM = Penalties in minutes, PPG = Powerplay Goals, SHG = Shorthanded Goals, GWG = Game Winning Goals

Sources: NHL, Quanthockey.com.

Leading goaltenders

GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; SO = Shutouts; GAA = Goals against average; Sv% = Save percentage

Source: Quanthockey.com.

Coaches

Patrick Division

• New Jersey Devils: Jim Schoenfeld and John Cunniff
• New York Islanders: Al Arbour
• New York Rangers: Roger Neilson
• Philadelphia Flyers: Paul Holmgren
• Pittsburgh Penguins: Gene Ubriaco and Craig Patrick
• Washington Capitals: Bryan Murray and Terry Murray

Adams Division

• Boston Bruins: Mike Milbury
• Buffalo Sabres: Rick Dudley
• Hartford Whalers: Rick Ley
• Montreal Canadiens: Pat Burns
• Quebec Nordiques: Michel Bergeron

Norris Division

• Chicago Blackhawks: Mike Keenan
• Detroit Red Wings: Jacques Demers
• Minnesota North Stars: Pierre Page
• St. Louis Blues: Brian Sutter
• Toronto Maple Leafs: Doug Carpenter

Smythe Division

• Calgary Flames: Terry Crisp
• Edmonton Oilers: John Muckler
• Los Angeles Kings: Tom Webster
• Vancouver Canucks: Bob McCammon
• Winnipeg Jets: Bob Murdoch

Milestones

This season would be the last the Toronto Maple Leafs would play under the 29 year ownership of Harold Ballard as a result of his death in April 1990 and the subsequent sale of the franchise.

Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1989–90 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):

• Wes Walz, Boston Bruins
• Alexander Mogilny, Buffalo Sabres
• Rob Ray, Buffalo Sabres
• Donald Audette*, Buffalo Sabres
• Sergei Makarov, Calgary Flames
• Rob Blake, Los Angeles Kings
• Helmut Balderis, Minnesota North Stars
• Mike Modano, Minnesota North Stars
• Andrew Cassels, Montreal Canadiens
• Lyle Odelein, Montreal Canadiens
• Vyacheslav Fetisov, New Jersey Devils
• Alexei Kasatonov, New Jersey Devils
• Murray Baron, Philadelphia Flyers
• Curtis Joseph, St. Louis Blues
• Tie Domi, Toronto Maple Leafs
• Vladimir Krutov, Vancouver Canucks
• Igor Larionov, Vancouver Canucks
• Olaf Kolzig, Washington Capitals

Last games

The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1989–90 (listed with their last team):

• Reed Larson, Buffalo Sabres
• Al Secord, Chicago Blackhawks
• Bob Murray, Chicago Blackhawks
• Duane Sutter, Chicago Blackhawks
• Bernie Federko, Detroit Red Wings
• Borje Salming, Detroit Red Wings
• Reijo Ruotsalainen, Edmonton Oilers
• Barry Beck, Los Angeles Kings
• Helmut Balderis, Minnesota North Stars
• Curt Fraser, Minnesota North Stars
• Mark Johnson, New Jersey Devils
• Ron Greschner, New York Rangers
• Doug Smith, Pittsburgh Penguins
• Vladimir Krutov, Vancouver Canucks
• Paul Reinhart, Vancouver Canucks
• Doug Wickenheiser, Washington Capitals

Broadcasting

This was the second season of the league's Canadian national broadcast rights deals with TSN and Hockey Night in Canada on CBC. Saturday night regular season games continued to air on CBC, while TSN televised selected weeknight games. Coverage of the Stanley Cup playoffs was primarily on CBC, with TSN airing first round all-U.S. series.

This was also the second season of the league's U.S. national broadcast rights deal SportsChannel America, with up to three regular season games a week and coverage of the playoffs. Meanwhile, NBC agreed to televise the All-Star Game, reportedly wanting to test the appeal of hockey.

Notes

References

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

References

1. "1989-90 Stats". Quanthockey.com.
2. [http://www.quanthockey.com/nhl/seasons/1989-90-nhl-goalies-stats.html 1989-90 NHL Goalie Leaders. QuantHockey.com]
3. Jim Sarni. (January 19, 1990). "NHL All-star Game Gets A Network Shot". Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel.