NHL 1987-88 Preveiw : Since They Still Have Wayne Gretzky, Oilers Are Team to Beat

Uneasy sits the crown in Edmonton, where last May the Oilers brought home the Stanley Cup for the third time in four years.

Paul Coffey, two-time winner of the Norris Trophy as the National Hockey League’s best defenseman, has not yet reported.

Goaltender Andy Moog, who carried the bulk of the load during the regular season but was used only twice in the playoffs, has joined the Canadian Olympic team.

Winger Kent Nilsson and defenseman Reijo Ruotsalainen, instrumental down the stretch last season, both returned to Europe.

And there has been speculation that the Oilers, who were pushed to seven games by the Philadelphia Flyers in the Stanley Cup finals and then had seven players involved this summer in the Canada Cup, may be susceptible this season to injuries and mental fatigue.

But the Oilers, of course, still have Wayne Gretzky, the eight-time Most Valuable Player and seven-time scoring champion, whose brilliance has allowed him to transcend the sport.

The NHL, which opens its 71st season Thursday night, may be at its most competitive level in more than 20 years--only 42 points last season separated the first-place Oilers from last-place Buffalo, the smallest differential since the 1964-65 season--but “the mere presence of Gretzky makes the Oilers a cut above everyone else,” King Coach Mike Murphy said.

Gretzky, who enters his ninth season with a new five-year contract, needs only 71 points this season to pass Phil Esposito and move into third place on the all-time scoring list behind Gordie Howe and Marcel Dionne.

He should do that by mid-season.

Bringing home a fourth Stanley Cup will be a little more difficult.

A look at the four divisions:

Smythe Division

Gretzky doesn’t do it alone. Right wing Jari Kurri, who had 54 goals and 54 assists, enjoyed his fifth straight 100-point season. Mark Messier had 107 points. But for all their offensive firepower--they led the league with 372 goals--the Oilers also had a strong year defensively. They allowed just 284 goals, the lowest total in franchise history. And goaltender Grant Fuhr (14-5 in the playoffs) is considered one of the NHL’s best.

The Calgary Flames’ best season included a 6-1-1 record against Edmonton, 21 victories away from home, the third-best record in the NHL--and an upset series loss to Winnipeg in the first round of the playoffs. And then Coach Bob Johnson left to become executive director of the Amateur Hockey Assn. of the United States. Terry Crisp inherits a team that includes right wing Joey Mullen, who led the Flames with 87 points and the league with 12 game-winning goals, and two of the league’s most offensive-minded defensemen, Al MacInnis and Paul Reinhart, who ranked third and fourth in scoring among the NHL’s defensemen.

Rookie goalies Eldon Reddick and Daniel Berthiaume combined last season for a 3.21 goals-against average for the Winnipeg Jets, who scored only eight more goals than they allowed but still wound up with the sixth-best record in the NHL. The Jets’ 83.6% efficiency in penalty killing ranked first in the league. Offensively, the star was center Dale Hawerchuk, whose fourth straight 100-point season included 47 goals and 53 assists. Right wing Paul MacLean scored 32 goals and had 74 points.

The Kings are young--they placed three players on the all-rookie team last season, including Rookie of the Year Luc Robitaille, who led the team with 45 goals and 84 points--and appear to be improved. Some say center Jimmy Carson, who was third in the Rookie of the Year voting, will be a better player than Robitaille. Goaltender Rollie Melanson had a great second half last season. Still, the Kings gave up 341 goals, more than all but the New Jersey Devils.

Only Buffalo won fewer games last season than the Vancouver Canucks, whose 29-43-8 record represented their 11th straight losing season. The Canucks were 6-26-8 on the road. President and General Manager Pat Quinn, formerly of the Kings, hired former Philadelphia Coach Bob McCammon to “establish a sense of pride in this organization,” he said. Last season, Tony Tanti led the Canucks with 79 points.

Norris Division

Although they failed to produce a .500 record, the St. Louis Blues (32-33-15) won what has been described as hockey’s worst division--certainly it is the most competitive--for the second time in three years. The Blues’ 17-8-7 intradivision record was the best in the NHL. Bernie Federko, who had scored more than 100 points in three straight seasons, was limited by injuries to 64 games and 72 points, so Doug Gilmour took over as the team leader. Gilmour wound up fifth in the league in scoring with 105 points, including 42 goals.

NHL Coach of the Year Jacques Demers, spirited out of St. Louis in the summer of 1986, was given most of the credit last season as the Detroit Red Wings doubled their victory total, made a 38-point improvement and reached the Stanley Cup semifinals. Detroit cut its goals-against from 415 to 274, believed to be the greatest single-season improvement in NHL history. Defenseman Darren Veitch shared NHL comeback player of the year honors with teammate Steve Yzerman, who led the Red Wings with 90 points, and Montreal goalie Brian Hayward.

Bob Murdoch, an assistant at Calgary for the last five seasons, takes over as head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks, who last season qualified for the playoffs for the 18th straight year but were swept in the first round for the second straight season. Denis Savard led the Blackhawks in scoring for the sixth straight season, but his 90 points were 26 fewer than he scored in the 1985-86 season. The Blackhawks signed free-agent goalie Bob Mason, who was 20-18-5 with a 3.24 goals-against average last season at Washington.

The Toronto Maple Leafs, who tied for fourth place with Minnesota, made the playoffs only because they won two more games than the North Stars, then almost made it to the Cup semifinals, blowing a 3-1 lead to Detroit in the division finals. Wendel Clark, the league’s No. 1 draft choice in 1985, scored 37 goals for the Maple Leafs, who had their eighth straight losing season. Russ Courtnall had 73 points but had a poor second half, going more than six weeks at one point without scoring a goal.

General Manager Lou Nanne lost 12 pounds in the last 10 days of the season as the Minnesota North Stars failed to qualify for the playoffs for the first time in eight seasons. Nanne hopes that new Coach Herb Brooks can nurse the North Stars back to good health. Dino Ciccarelli, who established an NHL record by scoring 20 goals in his first 15 games last season, wound up sixth in the scoring race with 103 points, including 52 goals, 22 of them on power plays.

Patrick Division

Goaltender Ron Hextall of the Philadelphia Flyers wound up second last season in voting for Rookie of the Year but still won two major awards, the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable goalie and the Conn Smythe Award as the Most Valuable Player in the playoffs. He led the NHL with 66 appearances, 37 wins and a .902 save percentage. Tim Kerr led the NHL with 26 power-play goals and had 95 points, including 58 goals. Mark Howe continued to establish himself as one of the league’s best defensemen, and Dave Poulin won the Selke Trophy as the NHL’s best defensive forward.

The Washington Capitals closed fast last season, going 16-5-2 down the stretch to finish second but then lost a first-round series to the New York Islanders, dropping the seventh game in four overtimes. Ron Langway is one of the league’s best defensemen. Larry Murphy enjoyed one of his best seasons, finishing with 81 points. Center Bengt Gustafsson returns this season after a year off in which he led Sweden to the world championship. And the Capitals acquired in a trade with Quebec a No. 1 goaltender, Clint Malarchuk, and center Dale Hunter.

The Islanders stretched the Flyers to seven games last season in the division finals, but their 35-33-12 regular-season record was their worst since 1973-74, the second season of the franchise. Bryan Trottier was fourth in the league with 64 assists and led the Islanders with 87 points. Mike Bossy had 75 points but knee and back injuries limited him to 63 games. He said this week that his back problems will force him to sit out this season.

General Manager Phil Esposito of the New York Rangers, who traded for the Kings’ Marcel Dionne last spring, has shown a willingness to deal. He even gave Quebec $100,000 and a first-round draft choice for Coach Michel Bergeron, who takes over a team that got 87 points last season from Walt Poddubny and 74 (in 64 games) from Tomas Sandstrom. Dionne, who had 84 points last season, needs two good seasons to pass Gordie Howe on the NHL’s all-time scoring list.

The New Jersey Devils have improved by five points in each of the last two seasons, but they still gave up a league-high 368 goals last season. Aaron Broten led the Devils with 79 points. Kirk Muller had 76. Goaltender Alain Chevrier was 24-26-2 for a team that won only 29 games.

Mario Lemieux scored 54 goals and had 107 points in only 63 games last season for the Pittsburgh Penguins, who started the season with a seven-game winning streak, but were 15 games below .500 the rest of the way as they failed to make the playoffs for the fifth straight year. In his first three seasons, Lemieux has scored 145 goals and accumulated 348 points.

Adams Division

In winning their first division title last season, the Hartford Whalers broke or tied 59 team records while compiling the fourth-best record in the NHL. But in a first-round playoff loss to Quebec, they became unglued, establishing single-team playoff records of 104 penalties and 317 minutes. Goaltender Mike Liut was second in the league with 31 wins and first with 4 shutouts. Ron Francis led the Whalers with 93 points. Doug Jarvis has played in 962 consecutive games.

Brian Hayward (2.81) and Patrick Roy (2.93) had the two best goals-against averages in the NHL last season for the Montreal Canadiens, who ended the season with a nine-game winning streak but lost in the playoff semifinals to the Flyers. Mats Naslund had 80 points for the Canadiens, who won with a suffocating defense led by Larry Robinson, who broke a leg playing polo during the off-season and will miss the first two months of the season. Montreal scored only 277 goals, fewer than all but two other NHL teams.

Terry O’Reilly, who started the season as a radio analyst, took over as coach in the 14th game last season and led the Boston Bruins to their 20th straight winning season. But the Bruins were swept in the first round of the playoffs by the Canadiens, who eliminated Boston from the playoffs for the fourth straight year. Ray Bourque led the Bruins with 95 points, won the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s best defenseman and was named All-NHL for the eighth straight year.

The Quebec Nordiques won four of their last five games last season to qualify for the playoffs, but their 31-39-10 record represented their first sub-.500 season in six years. Michel Goulet led the NHL’s left wings with 96 points and earned first-team All-NHL honors for the third time in four seasons. Peter Stastny had 76 points in 64 games. Mario Gosselin’s 3.18 goals-against average ranked sixth in the NHL.

The Buffalo Sabres had the worst record in the NHL last season, but were 21-22-4 after Ted Sator replaced Scotty Bowman as coach last December. Their prize was the No. 1 pick in the draft, which they used to take Pierre Turgeon, who is said to be the best natural scorer to come out of the Canadian junior program since Mario Lemieux.