1982–83 NHL season

The 1982–83 NHL season was the 66th season of the National Hockey League. Twenty-one teams each played 80 games. Before the start of the season, the Colorado Rockies moved to East Rutherford, New Jersey where they were renamed New Jersey Devils. They were also moved to the Patrick Division, making the unwilling Winnipeg Jets to leave the Norris Division and take Colorado's place in the Smythe Division.  This would be the last time an NHL team moved until 1993.

The last remaining players from the Original Six era, (Carol Vadnais, Serge Savard, and Wayne Cashman) all retired after this season. Cashman was the last to play, losing in the Wales Conference Finals as a player for the Bruins.

The New York Islanders won their fourth Stanley Cup in a row by beating the Edmonton Oilers four games to none. No team in any major professional North American sport has won four championships in a row since the Islanders.

Regular season
The Boston Bruins led the league in total points with 110. The defending Stanley Cup champion New York Islanders went from first overall and finished tied for 6th overall. The high-scoring Edmonton Oilers tied for second overall. The Oilers set a new record, which they had just set the previous year, for most goals in a season with 424. They were led by Wayne Gretzky, who had 196 points. The Oilers also tied the Boston Bruins' 1971 record for most 100-point players in one season as Wayne Gretzky, Glenn Anderson, Jari Kurri, and Mark Messier all had more than 100 points.

Final standings
Note: GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalties in minutes

Note: Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold

Prince of Wales Conference

Clarence Campbell Conference

Scoring leaders
Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points

Stanley Cup playoffs

Playoff bracket

Finals

New York Islanders vs. Edmonton Oilers

New York wins the series 4–0.

NHL awards

All-Star teams

First games
The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1982–83 (listed with their first team, stars(*) mark start in playoffs):
 Gord Kluzak, Boston Bruins
 Dave Andreychuk, Buffalo Sabres
 Phil Housley, Buffalo Sabres
 Jamie Macoun, Calgary Flames
 Mike Vernon, Calgary Flames
 Murray Craven, Detroit Red Wings
 Brian Bellows, Minnesota North Stars
 Craig Ludwig, Montreal Canadiens
 Mats Naslund, Montreal Canadiens
 Pat Verbeek, New Jersey Devils
 Bob Froese, Philadelphia Flyers
 Dave Poulin, Philadelphia Flyers
 Ron Sutter, Philadelphia Flyers
 Rich Sutter, Pittsburgh Penguins
 Gary Leeman*, Toronto Maple Leafs
 Michel Petit, Vancouver Canucks
 Patrik Sundstrom, Vancouver Canucks
 Milan Novy, Washington Capitals
 Scott Stevens, Washington Capitals
 Brian Hayward, Winnipeg Jets

Last games
The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1982–83 (listed with their last team):
 Wayne Cashman, Boston Bruins
 Gilles Gilbert, Detroit Red Wings
 Reggie Leach, Detroit Red Wings
 Garry Unger, Edmonton Oilers
 Mike Murphy, Los Angeles Kings
 Rejean Houle, Montreal Canadiens
 Carol Vadnais, New Jersey Devils
 John Davidson, New York Rangers
 Ulf Nilsson, New York Rangers
 Ian Turnbull, Pittsburgh Penguins
 Jacques Richard, Quebec Nordiques
 Marc Tardif, Quebec Nordiques
 Vaclav Nedomansky, St. Louis Blues
 Ivan Hlinka, Vancouver Canucks
 Milan Novy, Washington Capitals
 Serge Savard, Winnipeg Jets

Other websites
 Hockey Database
 NHL.com

1982 in the United States
1983 in the United States