A Bit of NHL History Never Hurt Anyone

Season

GP

Interesting Facts

1917-18

22

NHL founded 1917

1918-19

18

1919-20 to 1923-24

24

1924-25

30

1925-26

36

1926-27 to 1930-31

44

1930: First ever goalies mask worn and offsides rule is introduced.

1931-32 to 1941-42

48

1932: The Detroit team is renamed the Red Wings, team was previously called the Cougars and Falcons.

1934: Penalty Shot is introduced to the league. Penalty Shot was taken from a 10 foot circle 38 feet directly in from of the goal. The goalie had to stay in the crease area. Ralph "Scotty" Bowman of the St. Louis Eagles was the first NHL player to score on a penalty shot.

Modern day Penalty Shots are now skating breakaways starting at center ice in which the goaltender is allowed to defend just as he would in a real game situation.

1942-43 to 1945-46

50

150 regular season games played.

1942-43 is the first season of what most refer to as the "original six." They consisted of the Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Blackhawks. NY Rangers, Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, and the Montreal Canadiens.

1946-47 to 1948-49

60

180 regular season games played

1949-50 to 1966-67

70

210 regular season games played. Do you notice a pattern here?

1955: Zamboni machine makes debut.

1956: Minor league penalty ends after a power-play goal scored. Prior to this the player remained in the penalty box until he served the complete two minutes regardless of how many pucks were put in the net.

1965-66: Bobby Hull is first ever to score more than 50 goals in a season when he tallied 54.

1966-67 Toronto beats Montreal in last "original six" Stanley Cup played.

1967-68

74

League expands to from six to twelve teams. The first new teams are:

St. Louis Blues, Philadelphia Flyers, Los Angeles Kings, Pittsburgh Penguins, Minnesota North Stars, and the Oakland Seals.

1968-69 to 1969-70

76

Phil Esposito of the Boston Bruins is the first to reach the mark. Bobby Hull and Gordie Howe also reach 100 + points that same season as scoring is up throughout the league.

Phil Esposito had 5 consecutive seasons of 50 + goals and 2 of 40 + goals before he suffered an injury and missed most of the 75-76 season, prior to expansion he failed to score more than 27 goals and 61 points in any season. After expansion his highest point total was 152. Gee I wonder why he all of a sudden became so good?

1970-71 to 1973-74

78

Bobby Hull, an already established great scorer, stood to benefit greatly from league expansion. Instead he opted to jump to the newly created WHA after the 1971-72 season.

Still, Hull scored a total of 610 goals and had 560 assists in his NHL career. Those 1170 points, combined with his 303 goals and 335 assists in the WHA, makes him one of the true great all-time scorers in the history of hockey.

1974-75 to 1991-92

80

1977: Montreal wins record 60 games.

1979: Four WHA teams join the NHL.

 1979-80:Wayne Gretzky youngest player to score 100-points.

1984: Gretzky fastest to 1000 points.

 1986: Neal Broten first American          player to reach 100 points in a season.

1987:  Potvin becomes first defenseman to tally 1000 points.

1980's: Mike Bossy has 9 straight 50-goal seasons.

1982: Wayne has his greatest season ever with 212 points, 92 goals and 120 assists. A feat likely never to be duplicated.

Mario Lemieux remains the closest with his 199 points, 85 goals and 114 assists during the 1988-89 season.

1992-93 to 1993-94

84

1994-95

48

Strike shortened season. Last Collective Bargaining Agreement Signed

1995-96 to 1999-00

82

Detroit Red Wings revise history with a record 62 wins.

1148 regular season games in 1999-00.

1999: 5 players are currently on a pace to score 100 or more points this season. League adopts 4-on-4 overtime play and regulation tie point scoring system creating for the first time the possibility of earning a point even in the event of a OT loss.