1972-73 NHL SEASON

The '1972-73 NHL season' was the 56th season of the National Hockey League. Sixteen teams each played 78 games. For the first time since the collapse of the Western Hockey League in 1926, the National Hockey League had serious competition. A new professional hockey league, the World Hockey Association, made its season debut with 12 new teams, many of which were based in the same cities as NHL teams. Unlike the Western Hockey League, though, the new World Hockey Association would not challenge for the Stanley Cup. In response to the new league, the NHL hastily added two new teams in an unplanned expansion, the New York Islanders and Atlanta Flames, in an attempt to exclude the WHA from newly constructed arenas in those markets.
The first thing the WHA did was sign Bobby Hull, and the Chicago Black Hawks sued, claiming
a violation of the reserve clause in NHL contracts. Others soon followed Hull to the
WHA, including Bernie Parent, J.C. Tremblay, Ted Green, Gerry Cheevers and
Johnny McKenzie. In the expansion draft, the New York Islanders and Atlanta Flames made their picks and eleven Islander players skipped off to the WHA. The California Golden Seals were
also a victim of the WHA, losing eight key players.
Prior to the start of the season, the 1972 Summit Series, which was the first ever meeting between Soviet Union and NHL calibre Canadian ice hockey players, took place. Canada expected to easily beat the Soviets, but were shocked to find themselves with a losing record of one win, two losses, and a tie after four games in Canada. In game four, which Canada lost 5-3, Vancouver fans echoed the rest of Canada's thoughts of Team Canada's poor performance by booing them off the ice. The final four games were played in the Soviet Union. Canada lost game five, but won the last three for a final record of four wins, three losses, and a tie.
The Montreal Canadiens won the Stanley Cup by beating the Chicago Black Hawks four games to two in the finals. No teams in the playoffs swept their opponents, the last time this would happen until 1991.

Contents

Regular season

Final standings

Scoring leaders

Leading goaltenders

Stanley Cup playoffs

Playoff bracket

NHL awards

All-Star teams

Debuts

Last games

See also

References

Regular season

The Canadiens took over first place in the East Division and the league from the Boston Bruins while for the third straight season the Chicago Black Hawks dominated the West Division.

Final standings

''Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes''


''Note: Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold''

East Division	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA	PIM
'Montreal Canadiens'	78	52	10	16	120	329	184	783
'Boston Bruins'	78	51	22	5	107	330	235	1097
'New York Rangers'	78	47	23	8	102	297	208	765
'Buffalo Sabres'	78	37	27	14	88	257	219	940
Detroit Red Wings	78	37	29	12	86	265	243	893
Toronto Maple Leafs	78	27	41	10	64	247	279	716
Vancouver Canucks	78	22	47	9	53	233	339	943
New York Islanders	78	12	60	6	30	170	347	881

West Division	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA	PIM
'Chicago Black Hawks'	78	42	27	9	93	284	225	864
'Philadelphia Flyers'	78	37	30	11	85	296	256	1756
'Minnesota North Stars'	78	37	30	11	85	254	230	881
'St. Louis Blues'	78	32	34	12	76	233	251	1195
Pittsburgh Penguins	78	32	37	9	73	257	265	866
Los Angeles Kings	78	31	36	11	73	232	245	888
Atlanta Flames	78	25	38	15	65	191	239	852
California Golden Seals	78	16	46	16	48	213	323	840

Scoring leaders

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Phil Esposito	Boston Bruins	78	55	75	130	87
Bobby Clarke	Philadelphia Flyers	78	37	67	104	80
Bobby Orr	Boston Bruins	63	29	72	101	99
Rick MacLeish	Philadelphia Flyers	78	50	50	100	69
Jacques Lemaire	Montreal Canadiens	77	44	51	95	16
Jean Ratelle	New York Rangers	78	41	53	94	12
Mickey Redmond	Detroit Red Wings	76	52	41	93	24
John Bucyk	Boston Bruins	78	40	53	93	12
Frank Mahovlich	Montreal Canadiens	78	38	55	93	51
Jim Pappin	Chicago Black Hawks	76	41	51	92	82

Leading goaltenders

Stanley Cup playoffs

Playoff bracket

NHL awards

Prince of Wales Trophy:	Montreal Canadiens
Clarence S. Campbell Bowl:	Chicago Black Hawks
Art Ross Memorial Trophy:	Phil Esposito, Boston Bruins
Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy:	Lowell MacDonald, Pittsburgh Penguins
Calder Memorial Trophy:	Steve Vickers, New York Rangers
Conn Smythe Trophy:	Yvan Cournoyer, Montreal Canadiens
Hart Memorial Trophy:	Bobby Clarke, Philadelphia Flyers
James Norris Memorial Trophy:	Bobby Orr, Boston Bruins
Lady Byng Memorial Trophy:	Gilbert Perreault, Buffalo Sabres
Lester B. Pearson Award:	Phil Esposito, Boston Bruins
NHL Plus/Minus Award:	Jacques Laperriere, Montreal Canadiens
Vezina Trophy:	Ken Dryden, Montreal Canadiens
Lester Patrick Trophy:	Walter L. Bush, Jr.

All-Star teams

First Team	Position	Second Team
Ken Dryden, Montreal Canadiens	G	Tony Esposito, Chicago Blackhawks
Bobby Orr, Boston Bruins	D	Brad Park, New York Rangers
Guy Lapointe, Montreal Canadiens	D	Bill White, Chicago Blackhawks
Phil Esposito, Boston Bruins	C	Bobby Clarke, Philadelphia Flyers
Mickey Redmond, Detroit Red Wings	RW	Yvan Cournoyer, Montreal Canadiens
Frank Mahovlich, Montreal Canadiens	LW	Dennis Hull, Chicago Blackhawks

Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1972-73 (listed with their first team, asterisk(
★ ) marks debut in playoffs):

★ Dan Bouchard, Atlanta Flames

★ Jacques Richard, Atlanta Flames

★ Jim Schoenfeld, Buffalo Sabres

★ Phil Russell, Chicago Blackhawks

★ Robbie Ftorek, Detroit Red Wings

★ Steve Shutt, Montreal Canadiens

★ Larry Robinson, Montreal Canadiens

★ Bob Nystrom, New York Islanders

★ Billy Harris, New York Islanders

★ Steve Vickers, New York Rangers

★ Bill Barber, Philadelphia Flyers

★ Jimmy Watson, Philadelphia Flyers

★ Tom Bladon, Philadelphia Flyers

★ Denis Herron, Pittsburgh Penguins

★ Don Lever, Vancouver Canucks

Last games

The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1972-73 (listed with their last team):

★ Jacques Plante, Boston Bruins

★ Pat Stapleton, Chicago Blackhawks

★ Ralph Backstrom, Chicago Blackhawks

★ Harry Howell, Los Angeles Kings

★ Ron Stewart, New York Islanders

★ Ken Schinkel, Pittsburgh Penguins

★ Bob Baun, Toronto Maple Leafs

★ Dave Balon, Vancouver Canucks

See also

★ List of Stanley Cup champions

★ 1972 NHL Amateur Draft

★ 1972 NHL Expansion Draft

★ 26th National Hockey League All-Star Game

★ National Hockey League All-Star Game

★ 1972 Summit Series

★ World Hockey Association

★ List of WHA seasons

★ 1972 in sports

★ 1973 in sports

References

★ Hockey Database

★ NHL.com