1989–90 NHL season
The 1989–90 NHL season was the 73rd season of the National Hockey League. The Stanley Cup winners were the Edmonton Oilers, who won the best of seven series 4–1 against the Boston Bruins. The championship was the Oilers' fifth Stanley Cup in the past seven years.
Regular season
This season marked the first time that all three New York City area NHL teams, including the New Jersey Devils made the playoffs in the same season, a feat which has since been repeated twice more: in the and the seasons.Until 2017, this was last time the Detroit Red Wings missed the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Sam St. Laurent of the Red Wings became the last goalie to wear a full fiberglass mask during an NHL game.
Final standings
Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF= Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts = Points, PIM = Penalties in minutesPrince of Wales Conference
Clarence Campbell Conference
Playoffs
Playoff bracket
Stanley Cup Finals
The Edmonton Oilers defeated the Boston Bruins in the Final series, four games to one. For the Oilers, it was their fifth Cup win in seven years, and their only one without Wayne Gretzky. In game one, Petr Klima scored at 15:13 of the third overtime period to give the Oilers a 3–2 win., this game remains the longest in Stanley Cup Finals history, edging both Brett Hull's cup-winner in 1999 and Igor Larionov's game-winner in 2002 by less than 30 seconds. In game five at the Boston Garden on May 24, the Oilers won 4–1. Craig Simpson scored the game-winning goal.Awards
All-Star teams
Player statistics
Scoring leaders
Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points, PIM = Penalties in minutes, PPG = Powerplay Goals, SHG = Shorthanded Goals, GWG = Game Winning Goals| Player | Team | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | +/- | PPG | SHG | GWG |
| Wayne Gretzky | Los Angeles Kings | 73 | 40 | 102 | 142 | 42 | +8 | 10 | 4 | 4 |
| Mark Messier | Edmonton Oilers | 79 | 45 | 84 | 129 | 79 | +19 | 13 | 6 | 3 |
| Steve Yzerman | Detroit Red Wings | 79 | 62 | 65 | 127 | 79 | -6 | 16 | 7 | 8 |
| Mario Lemieux | Pittsburgh Penguins | 59 | 45 | 78 | 123 | 78 | -18 | 14 | 3 | 4 |
| Brett Hull | St. Louis Blues | 80 | 72 | 41 | 113 | 24 | -1 | 27 | 0 | 12 |
| Bernie Nicholls | Los Angeles Kings/ New York Rangers | 79 | 39 | 73 | 112 | 86 | -9 | 15 | 0 | 1 |
| Pierre Turgeon | Buffalo Sabres | 80 | 40 | 66 | 106 | 29 | +10 | 17 | 1 | 10 |
| Pat LaFontaine | New York Islanders | 74 | 54 | 51 | 105 | 38 | -13 | 13 | 2 | 8 |
| Paul Coffey | Pittsburgh Penguins | 80 | 29 | 74 | 103 | 95 | -25 | 10 | 0 | 3 |
| Joe Sakic | Quebec Nordiques | 80 | 39 | 63 | 102 | 27 | -40 | 8 | 1 | 2 |
| Adam Oates | St. Louis Blues | 80 | 23 | 79 | 102 | 30 | 9 | 6 | 2 | 3 |
Sources: NHL, Quanthockey.com.
Leading goaltenders
GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; SO = Shutouts; GAA = Goals against average; Sv% = Save percentage| Player | Team | GP | Min | W | L | T | SO | GAA | Sv% |
| Kirk McLean | Vancouver Canucks | 63 | 3739 | 21 | 30 | 10 | 0 | 3.47 | 88.0 |
| Jon Casey | Minnesota North Stars | 61 | 3407 | 31 | 22 | 4 | 3 | 3.22 | 89.6 |
| Daren Puppa | Buffalo Sabres | 56 | 3241 | 31 | 16 | 6 | 1 | 2.89 | 90.3 |
| Bill Ranford | Edmonton Oilers | 56 | 3107 | 24 | 16 | 9 | 1 | 3.19 | 88.7 |
| Patrick Roy | Montreal Canadiens | 54 | 3173 | 31 | 16 | 5 | 3 | 2.53 | 91.2 |
| Sean Burke | New Jersey Devils | 52 | 2914 | 22 | 22 | 6 | 0 | 3.60 | 88.0 |
| Kelly Hrudey | Los Angeles Kings | 52 | 2860 | 22 | 21 | 6 | 2 | 4.07 | 87.3 |
| Ken Wregget | Philadelphia Flyers | 51 | 2961 | 22 | 24 | 3 | 0 | 3.42 | 89.2 |
| Greg Millen | Quebec Nordiques | 49 | 2900 | 19 | 25 | 5 | 1 | 3.89 | 87.2 |
| Don Beaupre | Washington Capitals | 48 | 2793 | 23 | 18 | 5 | 2 | 3.22 | 89.0 |
Source: Quanthockey.com.
Coaches
Patrick Division
- New Jersey Devils: Jim Schoenfeld and John Cunniff
- New York Islanders: Al Arbour
- New York Rangers: Roger Neilson
- Philadelphia Flyers: Paul Holmgren
- Pittsburgh Penguins: Gene Ubriaco and Craig Patrick
- Washington Capitals: Bryan Murray and Terry Murray
Adams Division
- Boston Bruins: Mike Milbury
- Buffalo Sabres: Rick Dudley
- Hartford Whalers: Rick Ley
- Montreal Canadiens: Pat Burns
- Quebec Nordiques: Michel Bergeron
Norris Division
- Chicago Blackhawks: Mike Keenan
- Detroit Red Wings: Jacques Demers
- Minnesota North Stars: Pierre Page
- St. Louis Blues: Brian Sutter
- Toronto Maple Leafs: Doug Carpenter
Smythe Division
- Calgary Flames: Terry Crisp
- Edmonton Oilers: John Muckler
- Los Angeles Kings: Tom Webster
- Vancouver Canucks: Bob McCammon
- Winnipeg Jets: Bob Murdoch
Milestones
Debuts
The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1989–90 :- Wes Walz, Boston Bruins
- Alexander Mogilny, Buffalo Sabres
- Rob Ray, Buffalo Sabres
- Donald Audette*, Buffalo Sabres
- Sergei Makarov, Calgary Flames
- Rob Blake, Los Angeles Kings
- Helmut Balderis, Minnesota North Stars
- Mike Modano, Minnesota North Stars
- Andrew Cassels, Montreal Canadiens
- Lyle Odelein, Montreal Canadiens
- Vyacheslav Fetisov, New Jersey Devils
- Alexei Kasatonov, New Jersey Devils
- Murray Baron, Philadelphia Flyers
- Curtis Joseph, St. Louis Blues
- Tie Domi, Toronto Maple Leafs
- Vladimir Krutov, Vancouver Canucks
- Igor Larionov, Vancouver Canucks
- Olaf Kolzig, Washington Capitals
Last games
- Reed Larson, Buffalo Sabres
- Al Secord, Chicago Blackhawks
- Bob Murray, Chicago Blackhawks
- Duane Sutter, Chicago Blackhawks
- Bernie Federko, Detroit Red Wings
- Borje Salming, Detroit Red Wings
- Reijo Ruotsalainen, Edmonton Oilers
- Barry Beck, Los Angeles Kings
- Helmut Balderis, Minnesota North Stars
- Curt Fraser, Minnesota North Stars
- Mark Johnson, New Jersey Devils
- Ron Greschner, New York Rangers
- Doug Smith, Pittsburgh Penguins
- Vladimir Krutov, Vancouver Canucks
- Paul Reinhart, Vancouver Canucks
- Doug Wickenheiser, Washington Capitals
Trading deadline
- March 6, 1990: Adrien Plavsic, St. Louis' first round pick in 1990 Entry Draft and second round pick in 1991 Entry Draft traded from St. Louis to Vancouver for Rich Sutter, Harold Snepsts and St. Louis' second round pick in 1990 Entry Draft.
- March 6, 1990: Mike Gartner traded from Minnesota to NY Rangers for Ulf Dahlen, NY Rangers' fourth round pick in 1990 Entry Draft and future considerations.
- March 6, 1990: Alain Chevrier traded from Chicago to Pittsburgh for future considerations.
- March 6, 1990: Jack Capuano traded from NY Islanders to Vancouver for Jeff Rohlicek.
- March 6, 1990: Jyrki Lumme traded from Montreal to Vancouver for St. Louis' second round pick in 1991 Entry Draft.
- March 6, 1990: Jim Korn traded from New Jersey to Calgary for Calgary's fifth round pick in 1990 Entry Draft.
- March 6, 1990: Peter Stastny traded from Quebec to New Jersey for Craig Wolanin and future considerations.
- March 6, 1990: Jeff Sharples traded from Edmonton to New Jersey for Reijo Ruotsalainen.
- March 6, 1990: Brian Wilks traded from Edmonton to Pittsburgh for future considerations.
- March 6, 1990: The rights to Cam Brauer traded from Edmonton to Hartford for Marc Laforge.