1988–89 NHL season

**The 1988–89 NHL season** was the 72nd season of the NHL which lasted from October 6, 1988 to May 25, 1989.

The Calgary Flames won an all-Canadian Stanley Cup final against the Montreal Canadiens four games to two; this remains the last time two Canadian teams faced each other for the Stanley Cup.

## Regular Season

This year saw the start of Wayne Gretzky's tenure with the Los Angeles Kings, having been traded in the off-season after leading the Edmonton Oilers to the 1988 Stanley Cup.

Coinciding with Gretzky's acquisition, the team also changed its uniforms and colours for the 1988–89 season, scrapping the purple and gold associated with its co-tenant at the Great Western Forum, the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers, in favour of black and silver. Gretzky's presence signaled a dramatic on-ice turnaround for the Kings.

Prior to his arrival via trade with the Edmonton Oilers on August 9, 1988, Los Angeles had the fourth-worst record in the NHL at 30 wins, 42 losses, and 8 ties.

After Gretzky's first season with the Kings, however, they moved all the way up to fourth-best in the NHL, with a record of 42 wins, 31 losses, and 7 ties for 91 points.

They also managed to defeat Gretzky's former team, the Oilers, in seven games in the Smythe Division Semifinal before falling victim to a four-game sweep at the hands of the eventual Cup champion Flames in the Division Final.

Four years after Andy Van Hellemond became the first on-ice official to wear a helmet, the NHL also made helmets mandatory for its officials like it did with its players in 1979; like the ruling for players, any official that was not wearing a helmet before the ruling could also go helmetless if they so desired.

Mario Lemieux of the Pittsburgh Penguins won the Art Ross Trophy for the second consecutive season, leading the league with 199 points. Lemieux remains the only player other than Gretzky to approach the 200 point plateau (Gretzky surpassed the 200 point mark four times in five years during the 1980s).

This was the only season that there were four players that scored 150 or more points; Gretzky tallied 168, while Steve Yzerman and Bernie Nicholls totalled 155 and 150 points, respectively.

This was also the only time that two teammates, Gretzky and Nicholls of the Los Angeles Kings, had hit the 150 point mark. Narrowly edging out Lemieux, Gretzky won his ninth Hart Memorial Trophy as the league's MVP, while Yzerman finished third in the balloting. Yzerman was voted by his fellow players as the NHLPA MVP, taking the Lester B. Pearson Award.

New York Rangers rookie Brian Leetch broke the record for goals by a rookie defenceman with 23. He finished that season with 71 points and easily captured the Calder Memorial Trophy.

On March 22, 1989, an incident took place in Buffalo during a game between the Buffalo Sabres and the St. Louis Blues. During a goalmouth collision between the Blues' Steve Tuttle and the Sabres' Uwe Krupp, Tuttle's skate blade slashed the throat of Buffalo goaltender Clint Malarchuk, severing the latter's jugular vein.

Thanks to some timely action by Sabres trainer and former US Army Vietnam War veteran Jim Pizzutelli, Malarchuk quickly received treatment and was released from the hospital the next day. He returned to action 10 days later.

This was the first season that every NHL arena had full rink board advertisements.

## 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*

### Leading goaltenders

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

## Coaches

**Patrick Division**

* New Jersey Devils: Jim Schoenfeld
* New York Islanders: Al Arbour
* New York Rangers: Michel Bergeron and Phil Esposito
* Philadelphia Flyers: Paul Holmgren
* Pittsburgh Penguins: Gene Ubriaco
* Washington Capitals: Bryan Murray

**Adams Division**

* Boston Bruins: Terry O'Reilly
* Buffalo Sabres: Ted Sator
* Hartford Whalers: Larry Pleau
* Montreal Canadiens: Pat Burns
* Quebec Nordiques: Ron Lapointe and Jean Perron

**Norris Division**

* Chicago Blakhawks: Mike Keenan
* Detroit Red Wings: Jacques Demers
* Minnesota North Stars: Pierre Page
* St. Louis Blues: Brian Sutter
* Toronto Maple Leafs: George Armstrong

**Smythe Division**

* Calgary Flames: Terry Crisp
* Edmonton Oilers: Pat Quinn
* Los Angeles Kings: Robbie Ftorek
* Vancouver Canucks: Bob McCammon
* Winnipeg Jets: Dan Maloney

## Milestones

**Debuts**

* Don Sweeney, Boston Bruins
* Stephane Quintal, Boston Bruins
* Sergei Priakin, Calgary Flames
* Paul Ranheim, Calgary Flames
* Theoren Fleury, Calgary Flames
* Ed Belfour, Chicago Blackhawks
* Jeremy Roenick, Chicago Blackhawks
* Randy McKay, Detroit Red Wings
* Tim Cheveldae, Detroit Red Wings
* Martin Gelinas, Edmonton Oilers
* Mike Modano, Minnesota North Stars
* Eric Desjardins, Montreal Canadiens
* Jyrki Lumme, Montreal Canadiens
* Mike Keane, Montreal Canadiens
* Eric Weinrich, New Jersey Devils
* Paul Ysebaert, New Jersey Devils
* Tom Fitzgerald, New York Islanders
* Tony Granato, New York Rangers
* Mike Richter, New York Rangers
* John Cullen, Pittsburgh Penguins
* Mark Recchi, Pittsburgh Penguins
* Curtis Leschyshyn, Quebec Nordiques
* Joe Sakic, Quebec Nordiques
* Rod Brind'Amour, St. Louis Blues
* Trevor Linden, Vancouver Canucks
* Bob Essensa, Winnipeg Jets

**Last Games**

* Mark Napier, Buffalo Sabres
* Hakan Loob, Calgary Flames
* Lanny McDonald, Calgary Flames
* Doug Halward, Edmonton Oilers
* Tomas Jonsson, Edmonton Oilers
* John Anderson, Hartford Whalers
* Ron Duguay, Los Angeles Kings
* Craig Hartsburg, Minnesota North Stars
* Dennis Maruk, Minnesota North Stars (the last active player to have been a member of the California Golden Seals/Cleveland Barons franchise)
* Bob Gainey, Montreal Canadiens
* Billy Smith, New York Islanders
* Marcel Dionne, New York Rangers
* Anton Stastny, Quebec Nordiques
* Mel Bridgman, Vancouver Canucks
* Bengt Gustafsson, Washington Capitals

**Firsts**

* Ron Hextall, Philadelphia Flyers: first goaltender to score a goal in the post-season