1991–92 NHL season
The NHL 75th anniversary logo
League	National Hockey League
Sport	Ice hockey
Duration	October 3, 1991 – June 1, 1992
Number of games	80
Number of teams	22
TV partner(s)	CBC, TSN, SRC (Canada) SportsChannel America, NBC[a] (United States)
Draft
Top draft pick	Eric Lindros
Picked by	Quebec Nordiques
Regular season
Presidents' Trophy	New York Rangers
Season MVP	Mark Messier (Rangers)
Top scorer	Mario Lemieux (Penguins)
Playoffs
Playoffs MVP	Mario Lemieux (Penguins)
Stanley Cup
Champions	Pittsburgh Penguins
Runners-up	Chicago Blackhawks
NHL seasons
← 1990–91 1992–93 →

The 1991–92 NHL season was the 75th regular season of the National Hockey League. The league expanded to 22 teams with the addition of the expansion San Jose Sharks. For the first time, the Stanley Cup Finals extended into June, with the Pittsburgh Penguins repeating as Stanley Cup champions, winning the best of seven series four games to none against the Chicago Blackhawks.

League business

This was the first season for the San Jose Sharks, the first expansion team in the NHL since 1979. The birth of the Sharks returned NHL hockey to the San Francisco Bay Area after the California Golden Seals had relocated to Cleveland, Ohio in 1976.

This was also the last season for John Ziegler as NHL president. He would be succeeded by Gil Stein, who held the position for one year before being replaced by newly named commissioner Gary Bettman, during and after the 1992–93 season. After Stein's departure, the league presidency was merged into the new office of commissioner.

A new rule was added in which the final minute of every period is measured in tenths of a second, unlike whole seconds as in past seasons. This timekeeping procedure matches that of the IIHF, which began doing so in 1990. (Although the scoreboard at St. Louis Arena was not capable of measuring the final minute in tenths of a second until the following season.)^[1]

75th season celebration

To celebrate the 75th anniversary season for the NHL, all players wore a special anniversary patch on their uniforms during this season.

Taking cues from Major League Baseball's "Turn Back The Clock" uniform program, throwback uniforms were worn by Original Six teams for select games, and throwbacks were also worn for the All-Star Game.

The uniform styles that were worn include:

• Boston Bruins – c. 1933
• Chicago Blackhawks – c. 1940
• Detroit Red Wings – c. 1928
• Montreal Canadiens – c. 1926
• New York Rangers – c. 1940
• Toronto Maple Leafs – c. 1940
• Wales All-Stars – white All-Star jersey c. 1952
• Campbell All-Stars – red All-Star jersey c. 1952

The throwback uniforms would influence future seasons in the NHL, as several teams adopted throwbacks as alternate jerseys. The National Football League and National Basketball Association would follow the NHL's lead, with teams wearing throwbacks to celebrate their leagues' 75th and 50th anniversaries, respectively.

Also, each team had an honorary celebrity captain to help celebrate the 75th anniversary.

The celebrity captains were:

• Jim Kelly - Buffalo Sabres
• Michael J. Fox - Boston Bruins
• Ian Tyson - Calgary Flames
• Jim Belushi - Chicago Blackhawks
• Dave Coulier - Detroit Red Wings
• Kurt Browning - Edmonton Oilers
• Susan Saint James - Hartford Whalers
• John Candy - Los Angeles Kings
• David Wheaton - Minnesota North Stars
• Maurice Richard - Montreal Canadiens
• Yogi Berra - New Jersey Devils
• Ralph Macchio - New York Islanders
• Marv Albert - New York Rangers
• Bobby Rydell - Philadelphia Flyers
• Fred Rogers - Pittsburgh Penguins
• Gaetan Boucher - Quebec Nordiques
• Willie McCovey - San Jose Sharks
• John Goodman - St. Louis Blues
• Gordon Lightfoot - Toronto Maple Leafs
• Rick Hansen - Vancouver Canucks
• Larry King - Washington Capitals
• Burton Cummings - Winnipeg Jets

Teams

Regular season

New York Rangers player Brian Leetch became the fifth defenceman, and last until 2023, to score 100 points in a season. He finished the season with 102 points and captured the James Norris Memorial Trophy as the league's best defenceman. The Rangers ended the season with 105 points, winning the Presidents' Trophy as the top regular-season team in the NHL; it was the first time the Rangers had topped the league since the 1941–42 season.

For the first time, the NHL finished play in the month of June. A primary reason for this was the 10-day NHL strike, the first work stoppage in league history, that started on April 1. The games that were supposed to be played during the strike were not canceled, but rescheduled and made up when play resumed on April 12.

For the first time in his NHL career, Wayne Gretzky failed to finish in the top two in scoring. The Pittsburgh Penguins' Kevin Stevens became only the third person in NHL history to outscore Gretzky in the regular season (Marcel Dionne tied Gretzky in Wayne's rookie year but scored more goals, and Mario Lemieux won the Art Ross Trophy over Gretzky in 1987–88 and 1989–90).

Final standings

Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF= Goals For, GA = Goals against

Wales Conference

Campbell Conference

Copyright.sk © 2024