NY Times Preview of 1983-84 Season

[Ziggy Stardust]

Thought it would be interesting to look back at old NHL season previews from newspapers/publications. Here's one I found from 35 years ago, anticipating the Oilers and Islanders meeting again in the Stanley Cup Finals. However, they did predict a fifth Stanley Cup for the Islanders.

The article also mentions new rule changes to the playoff format, and the introduction of overtime in regular season play.

OILERS LOOK TO OVERTAKE ISLANDERS

It is difficult to imagine the Islanders losing the cup that they have won so convincingly four consecutive years. And it is easy to imagine the Oilers challenging them again next May because they have the most talented team in the Clarence Campbell Conference. They revealed a surprising lack of poise under pressure in the finals, but were playing an Islander team that long ago learned how to handle pressure - by foisting it on opponents.

The annual lament about the largely meaningless regular-season standings led to a slight change in the playoff format. Now, the home-ice advantage in the conference finals will go to the team whose division had the better record in intraconference play. If the Islanders meet the Boston Bruins of the Adams Division, for example, the Bruins could have the best record in the league, as they did last season, but if the Patrick Division as a group had a better record against conference teams, the Islanders would get the home ice.

Like the World Series, the first two games and the final two games of a championship series will be played in the city of the team with the home-ice advantage, and the third, fourth and fifth games will be played in the other city.

The N.H.L. will also introduce overtime into the regular season. If a game is tied at the end of three periods, a five-minute, sudden-death session will be played; if nobody scores, the tie will stand.

Click to read more...

 

[The Panther]

Thanks; that's gold.

I've started to think the whole "1983 Oilers lacked poise" against the mighty Islanders might be mostly hogwash. If you go back and watch game one of the '83 Finals, the Oilers completely dominate the game in every way... but they just don't beat Billy Smith. But then I guess it is true to an extent, as this game one loss rattled them more than it should have.

That 1983-84-introduced home-ice system for the conference series is the wackiest thing I've yet seen.

It was interesting how they did the home & away split for the '84 and '85 Cup Finals. In '84, Edmonton had home-ice advantage but started on the road. In '85, Philly had home-ice advantage and started at home, then had three games in Edmonton, and then would have had the last two at home (I think). So, I guess in 1984-85 they extended the 2-3-2 conference-series format to the Stanley Cup Finals... but only did it for one season? I've never understood this.

Right, Oct.1983 is when overtime came back (finally). That was long overdue.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Didn't want to start a separate thread for other season previews, so perhaps I should rename the title of this topic to cover any season preview from yesteryear.

Here's a series of links to the NY Times season preview for 1988-89, Gretzky's first season with the Kings. Lot of changes happened that summer, including Doug Gilmour to Calgary.

NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE '88-'89; Edmonton Will Be Difficult to Dethrone
N.H.L.; Gretzky Show to Cut New Ice Tonight
N.H.L. Preview; Rangers Relying on Defense
N.H.L. Preview; Devils Have No Time to Rest on Laurels

 

[The Panther]

I think 1988-89 might be the NHL season I remember the best, to this day (as in, I remember it more than I remember 2017-18!). That's how it goes when you're 12 or 13...

It's a funny thing about the Gretzky trade. Some of the teams/managers were predicting the Oilers to falter (I recall Winnipeg's GM predicting that the Jets could now overtake Edmonton), but many of the hockey guides and so on were still saying Edmonton was the team to beat. Carson was seen as a young star with superstar potential, and after the Oilers' (somewhat surprising) trouncing of the opposition in spring '88, people just thought they were invincible. But let me tell you, the 1988-89 season was a horrid one for the Oilers. They got off to a 12-6-2 start, culminating in a 9-1 win over Toronto in which Glenn Anderson scored 1/4 of his goals for the entire season. They then went 26-28-6 the rest of the way, staggering into the playoffs before being defeated in seven by Gretzky and L.A. -- and that, after blowing a 3 games to 1 lead (previously unimaginable), and losing game seven partly due to some atrocious refereeing. Messier was suspended and wasn't quite right; Anderson was horrible; Fuhr was horrible. Carson was great in November and December, so-so in January, and then faded completely after that, barely showing up for the playoffs. Simpson was good but missed several games, as did Tikkanen. Only Jari Kurri played a full season and was consistently strong.

In those days, Cliff Fletcher used to just snow St.Louis in those trades, with, I guess, the Brett Hull one being the exception (though the Flames won the Cup on the back of it, so...).

I love how the Leafs were "trying to forget last season". Indeed. In 1986-87, even though they were bad, they were seen as a team maybe on the rise. Courtnall, Clark, Leeman, Damphousse, Thomas, and Iafrate were young players with big promise; Vaive was still there, too. They actually went to game 7 of the second round in the '87 playoffs. Then 1987-88. They allowed 345 goals against and earned 52 points on the season with an 11-40-8 run from mid-November onward. And made the playoffs!

What a bizarre season.

 

[tony d]

Thanks for this. Always fun to look back on old seasons. Who the teams were to watch as well as the players to watch.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

1995 NHL Season Preview from the LA Times,
1995 NHL SEASON PREVIEW : Blame It on the Rangers : Among the Givens Has Been That They Won't Win the Stanley Cup, but Then It Happened, so It's No Wonder That Nothing Has Gone Right Since

Here's what they wrote about the eventual Cup champions:

NEW JERSEY DEVILS
* Coach: Jacques Lemaire, second season.
* 1993-94: 47-25-12, 106 points.
* Outlook: Lemaire and assistant Larry Robinson did a marvelous job guiding the Devils to the NHL's second-best record and second-best defense. Rookie goalie Martin Brodeur, who had a 2.40 goals-against average and a .915 save percentage, must prove he's no fluke. They have no big guns, but 14 players scored at least 10 goals last season, led by right wings John MacLean with 37 and Stephane Richer with 36. Gritty support players and a solid defense, led by veteran Scott Stevens and promising third-year player Scott Niedermayer, will make them a threat again.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

1989 NHL Season Preview, with Gretzky calling the defending Stanley Cup Champion Calgary Flames the team to beat.

NHL Preview : In Year of Soviet Influence, Calgary Is the Team to Beat

It is the year that the Calgary Flames defend their Stanley Cup title.

"Let's be honest. We're all chasing Calgary," says Wayne Gretzky. "They're the best team in hockey."

And Gretzky will be leading that chase in this, the year that he replaces Gordie Howe as the NHL's all-time leading scorer.

Gretzky is the kingpin in the Kings' big "win now" campaign.

The Kings were an old team last season, and became older with the acquisition of former Montreal star Larry Robinson, 38, and former Ranger star Barry Beck, 32. A trade late last season brought goalie Kelly Hrudey, 28, to Los Angeles from the New York Islanders in exchange for talented rookie goalie Mark Fitzpatrick, among others.

It's time for the Kings to make their move in what promises to be a battle royal in the Smythe Division.

Very possibly, the real Stanley Cup contest will be played in the final series of the Smythe Division playoffs.

The Kings finished with the fourth-best regular-season record in the league last season with 91 points, and were second in their division to Calgary, which had 117 points. Montreal, which played in the Stanley Cup final, won the Adams Division with 115 points, and Washington won the Patrick Division with 92 points.

Even with Lanny McDonald's retirement and the return to Sweden of Hakan Loob, the Flames are as strong as ever. In fact, they have added one of the Soviet stars, Central Red Army forward Sergei Makarov, the M in the Soviets' noted KLM line.

 

[c9777666]

A team by team preview and outlook for the 1995-96 NHL season

Sports | Preseason Look At '95-96 Nhl Teams | Seattle Times Newspaper

They were WAY off on Florida: saying they would not only not come close to the playoff picture, but threw out the idea of trading the Beezer

Outlook: The Panthers have missed the playoffs by one point in each of their two seasons in the NHL, and likely won't come that close this season. No team scored fewer goals than the Panthers' 115 last season, and Jesse Belanger and Stu Barnes tied for the team scoring lead with 29 points each. Florida was sixth-best defensive team, but won't be again if goalie John Vanbiesbrouck is traded.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

A preview for one of my favorite seasons ever, 1992-93.

NHL PREVIEW : Looking for a New Beginning

Thanks to new leadership that includes Stein, who replaced John Ziegler until a commissioner could be appointed, the NHL has instituted rules changes that favor skill players over the violence-prone.

Most prominent of these is the automatic ejection of a player for instigating a fight. The NHL's board of governors stopped short of eliminating fighting--a staple of the league since it began in 1917. But it's clear in which direction the league is going in trying to soft-pedal its violence.

Stein, along with new chairman of the board of governors Bruce McNall, is pushing for a crackdown on high-sticking, hooking and interference--in short, anything that would interfere with the flow of the game.

Stein and Co. hope that attention to such details will allow the league's better skaters to show their style. They may also be showing their faces, with the dropping of the mandatory helmet rule.

The rule, which has been in effect since 1979, is being dropped because NHL owners say they believe it will reduce high-sticking infractions. Their belief is that players would be more careful with their sticks when facing a helmetless player.

No one expects the players to embrace the helmetless style in droves, though, because of the fear of head injuries. Currently, there are only five helmetless players in the league: Washington's Rod Langway, Winnipeg's Randy Carlyle, Ottawa's Brad Marsh, Edmonton's Craig McTavish and San Jose's Doug Wilson.

An unspoken by-product of the rule: players would be more recognizable without headgear. This would fit in with with the league's ambitious marketing plans.

While looking to the future, the NHL also will have to get two new teams off the ground this season: the Tampa Bay Lightning and Ottawa Senators.

I had no clue the league gave players the option play without helmets if they opted to do so during this time. I don't think anyone who was already wearing a helmet decided to go that route.

 

[FerrisRox]

A preview for one of my favorite seasons ever, 1992-93.

NHL PREVIEW : Looking for a New Beginning


I had no clue the league gave players the option play without helmets if they opted to do so during this time. I don't think anyone who was already wearing a helmet decided to go that route.

I seem to recall Brett Hull toyed with the idea of playing the All-Star Game without his helmet but ultimately changed his mind.

 

[Normand Lacombe]

Roenick wanted to play the 1994 All Star Game without a helmet. Guess it was just talk.

Jeremy Roenick can keep nothing under his hat.Not his disagreements and questions about Blackhawks coach Darryl Sutter. Not his blind ambition to be recognized by the public. Not even his head. Absorbing wave after wave of the Canadian and U.S. media Friday, he couldn't suppress his joy at generating a piece of news. He will play Saturday afternoon's National Hockey League All-Star Game without a protective helmet.
Roenick's intention is to play not only for the masses but to the NBC cameras in a rare chance to gain national network exposure. The NHL's TV contract is with ESPN, a cable outlet.

ROENICK'S STYLE STATEMENT?