The 1991–92 NHL season was the 75th regular season of the National Hockey League. The league expanded to 22 teams with the addition of the expansion San Jose Sharks. For the first time, the Stanley Cup Finals extended into June, with the Pittsburgh Penguins repeating as Stanley Cup champions, winning the best of seven series four games to none against the Chicago Blackhawks.
This was the first season for the San Jose Sharks, the first expansion team in the NHL since 1979. The birth of the Sharks returned NHL hockey to the San Francisco Bay Area after the California Golden Seals had relocated to Cleveland, Ohio in 1976.
This was also the last season for John Ziegler as NHL president. He would be succeeded by Gil Stein, who held the position for one year before being replaced by newly named commissioner Gary Bettman, during and after the 1992–93 season. After Stein's departure, the league presidency was merged into the new office of commissioner.
A new rule was added in which the final minute of every period is measured in tenths of a second, unlike whole seconds as in past seasons. This timekeeping procedure matches that of the IIHF, which began doing so in 1990. (Although the scoreboard at St. Louis Arena was not capable of measuring the final minute in tenths of a second until the following season.)[1]
To celebrate the 75th anniversary season for the NHL, all players wore a special anniversary patch on their uniforms during this season.
Taking cues from Major League Baseball's "Turn Back The Clock" uniform program, throwback uniforms were worn by Original Six teams for select games, and throwbacks were also worn for the All-Star Game.
The uniform styles that were worn include:
The throwback uniforms would influence future seasons in the NHL, as several teams adopted throwbacks as alternate jerseys. The National Football League and National Basketball Association would follow the NHL's lead, with teams wearing throwbacks to celebrate their leagues' 75th and 50th anniversaries, respectively.
Also, each team had an honorary celebrity captain to help celebrate the 75th anniversary.
The celebrity captains were:
The expansion San Jose Sharks moved into the Cow Palace in Daly City, California.
New York Rangers player Brian Leetch became the fifth defenceman, and last until 2023, to score 100 points in a season. He finished the season with 102 points and captured the James Norris Memorial Trophy as the league's best defenceman. The Rangers ended the season with 105 points, winning the Presidents' Trophy as the top regular-season team in the NHL; it was the first time the Rangers had topped the league since the 1941–42 season.
For the first time, the NHL finished play in the month of June. A primary reason for this was the 10-day NHL strike, the first work stoppage in league history, that started on April 1. The games that were supposed to be played during the strike were not canceled, but rescheduled and made up when play resumed on April 12.
For the first time in his NHL career, Wayne Gretzky failed to finish in the top two in scoring. The Pittsburgh Penguins' Kevin Stevens became only the third person in NHL history to outscore Gretzky in the regular season (Marcel Dionne tied Gretzky in Wayne's rookie year but scored more goals, and Mario Lemieux won the Art Ross Trophy over Gretzky in 1987–88 and 1989–90).
Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF= Goals For, GA = Goals against
The top four teams in each division qualified for the playoffs. In each round, teams competed in a best-of-seven series (scores in the bracket indicate the number of games won in each best-of-seven series). In the division semifinals, the fourth seeded team in each division played against the division winner from their division. The other series matched the second and third place teams from the divisions. The two winning teams from each division's semifinals then met in the division finals. The two division winners of each conference then played in the conference finals. The two conference winners then advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals.
Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points
Note: GP = Games played; TOI = Time on ice (minutes); W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; Sv% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average
The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1991–92 (listed with their first team):
The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1991–92 (listed with their last team):
This was the fourth season of the league's Canadian national broadcast rights deals with TSN and Hockey Night in Canada on CBC. Saturday night regular season games continued to air on CBC, while TSN televised selected weeknight games. Coverage of the Stanley Cup playoffs was primarily on CBC, with TSN airing first round all-U.S. series.
SportsChannel America signed a one-year extension to its U.S. national broadcast rights deal after its original three-year deal expired.[3] Meanwhile, NBC televised the All-Star Game for the third consecutive season. After the season, the league signed a new deal with ESPN, replacing SportsChannel America.