Number of teams 21 | Start date 1984 Number of games 80 | |
Duration October 11, 1984 – May 30, 1985 Playoffs Playoffs MVP Wayne Gretzky, (Edmonton) Similar | ||
The 1984–85 NHL season was the 68th season of the National Hockey League. The Edmonton Oilers won their second straight Stanley Cup by beating the Philadelphia Flyers four games to one in the final series.
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League business
This was the first year since they began broadcasting that CBC was not the lone network broadcaster in Canada. While Molson continued to present Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday nights, rival brewery Carling O'Keefe began airing Friday night games on CTV. The two networks split the playoffs and finals.
Referee Andy Van Hellemond becomes the first on ice official in league history to wear a helmet. Soon, several officials would follow his lead and wear helmets before it became mandatory for all officials for the 2006–07 season.
Regular season
The Philadelphia Flyers had the best record in the NHL, a mere four points ahead of second place Edmonton Oilers. Flyers goaltender Pelle Lindbergh went on to become the first European to win the Vezina Trophy. Oilers' star Wayne Gretzky once again won the Art Ross Trophy by reaching the 200 plateau for the third time in four years. He also set a new record for assists in a season with 135 and won his sixth straight Hart Trophy. Mario Lemieux made his NHL debut by scoring 100 points and winning the Calder Trophy for rookie of the year. On October 26, 1984, Paul Coffey of the Edmonton Oilers would be the last defenceman in the 20th century to score four goals in one game. It occurred in a game versus the Detroit Red Wings.
The last two players active in the 1960s, Butch Goring and Brad Park, retired after the playoffs. Goring was the last active, playing his last playoff game three days after Park's last game.
Final standings
Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF= Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts = Points, PIM = Penalties in minutes. Teams qualifying for the playoffs shown in bold.
Playoffs
The defending champion Edmonton Oilers returned to the Final, meeting the overall regular season champion Philadelphia Flyers. In the Final, Edmonton would lose the first game to the Flyers but would then take the next four to win their second consecutive Stanley Cup.
Scoring leaders
Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points
Source: NHL.
Leading goaltenders
Note: GP = Games played; W = Won; L = Lost; T = Tied; GA = Goals allowed; GAA = Goals against average; SO = Shutouts
Debuts
The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1984–85 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):
Last games
The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1984–85 (listed with their last team):
Note: Goring and Park were the last two players to have played in the NHL in the 1960s.
Trading deadline
Trading deadline: March 12, 1985.