The1984–85 NHL season was the68th season of theNational Hockey League. TheEdmonton Oilers won their second straightStanley Cup by beating thePhiladelphia Flyers four games to one in the final series.

The1984 NHL entry draft was held on June 9, at theMontreal Forum inMontreal,Quebec.Mario Lemieux was selected first overall by thePittsburgh Penguins.

RefereeAndy Van Hellemond becomes the first on ice official in league history to wear a helmet. Soon, several officials would follow his lead and wear helmets before it became mandatory for all officials for the2006–07 season.

The Philadelphia Flyers had the best record in the NHL, four points ahead of second place Edmonton Oilers. Flyers goaltenderPelle Lindbergh went on to become the first European to win theVezina Trophy. Oilers' starWayne Gretzky once again won theArt Ross Trophy by reaching the 200 point plateau for the third time in four years. He also set a new record for assists in a season with 135 and won his sixth straightHart Memorial Trophy.Mario Lemieux made his NHL debut by scoring 100 points and winning theCalder Trophy for rookie of the year. On October 26, 1984,Paul Coffey of the Edmonton Oilers would be the last defenceman in the 20th century to score four goals in one game. It occurred in a game versus the Detroit Red Wings.^[1]

The last two players active in the 1960s,Butch Goring andBrad Park, retired after the playoffs. Goring was the last active, playing his last playoff game three days after Park's last game.

Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF= Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts = Points, PIM = Penalties in minutes. Teams qualifying for the playoffs shown in bold.

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The top four teams in each division qualified for the playoffs. In the division semifinals, the fourthseeded 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.

In the division semifinals, teams competed in abest-of-five series. In the other three rounds, teams competed in abest-of-seven series (scores in the bracket indicate the number of games won in each series).

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points

Source: NHL.^[3]

Note: GP = Games played; W = Won; L = Lost; T = Tied; GA = Goals allowed;GAA = Goals against average; SO = Shutouts; SV% = Save percentage

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• New Jersey Devils:Doug Carpenter
• New York Islanders:Al Arbour
• New York Rangers:Herb Brooks andCraig Patrick
• Philadelphia Flyers:Mike Keenan
• Pittsburgh Penguins:Bob Berry
• Washington Capitals:Bryan Murray

• Boston Bruins:Gerry Cheevers andHarry Sinden
• Buffalo Sabres:Scotty Bowman
• Hartford Whalers:Jack Evans
• Montreal Canadiens:Jacques Lemaire
• Quebec Nordiques:Michel Bergeron

• Chicago Black Hawks:Orval Tessier andBob Pulford
• Detroit Red Wings:Nick Polano
• Minnesota North Stars:Glen Sonmor
• St. Louis Blues:Jacques Demers
• Toronto Maple Leafs:Dan Maloney

• Calgary Flames:Bob Johnson
• Edmonton Oilers:Glen Sather
• Los Angeles Kings:Pat Quinn
• Vancouver Canucks:Bill LaForge andHarry Neale
• Winnipeg Jets:Barry Long

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1984–85 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):

• Gino Cavallini, Calgary Flames
• Joel Otto, Calgary Flames
• Ed Olczyk, Chicago Black Hawks
• Marc Bergevin, Chicago Black Hawks
• Gerard Gallant, Detroit Red Wings
• Esa Tikkanen*, Edmonton Oilers
• Steve Smith, Edmonton Oilers
• Kevin Dineen, Hartford Whalers
• Ray Ferraro, Hartford Whalers
• Sylvain Cote, Hartford Whalers
• Ulf Samuelsson, Hartford Whalers
• Garry Galley, Los Angeles Kings
• Patrick Roy, Montreal Canadiens
• Petr Svoboda, Montreal Canadiens
• Stephane Richer, Montreal Canadiens
• Greg Adams, New Jersey Devils
• Kirk Muller, New Jersey Devils
• Dave Gagner, New York Rangers
• Grant Ledyard, New York Rangers
• Kelly Miller, New York Rangers
• Tomas Sandstrom, New York Rangers
• Rick Tocchet, Philadelphia Flyers
• Doug Bodger, Pittsburgh Penguins
• Mario Lemieux, Pittsburgh Penguins
• Steve Thomas, Toronto Maple Leafs
• Todd Gill, Toronto Maple Leafs
• Al Iafrate, Toronto Maple Leafs
• Petri Skriko, Vancouver Canucks
• Kevin Hatcher, Washington Capitals
• Dave Ellett, Winnipeg Jets

The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1984–85 (listed with their last team):

• Terry O'Reilly, Boston Bruins
• Butch Goring, Boston Bruins
• Craig Ramsay, Buffalo Sabres
• Jerry Korab, Buffalo Sabres
• Jim Schoenfeld, Buffalo Sabres
• Real Cloutier, Buffalo Sabres
• Bob MacMillan, Chicago Black Hawks
• Brad Park, Detroit Red Wings
• Colin Campbell, Detroit Red Wings
• Darryl Sittler, Detroit Red Wings
• Ivan Boldirev, Detroit Red Wings
• Steve Shutt, Los Angeles Kings
• Paul Holmgren, Minnesota North Stars
• Pierre Mondou, Montreal Canadiens
• Anders Hedberg, New York Rangers
• Robbie Ftorek, New York Rangers
• Rick Kehoe, Pittsburgh Penguins
• John Garrett, Vancouver Canucks

Note: Goring and Park were the last two players to have played in the NHL in the 1960s.

This was the first season in more than a decade thatCBC was not the lone Canadian national broadcaster. WhileMolson continued to presentHockey Night in Canada on Saturday nights, rival breweryCarling O'Keefe began airing Friday night games onCTV. The two networks also split the playoffs and finals.^[5] CTV had previously airedHNIC-produced telecasts in the 1960s.

This was the third and final season of the league's U.S. national broadcast rights deal withUSA, covering a slate of regular season games and selected playoff games.ESPN then signed a three-year agreement with the league after bidding about twice as much as USA had been paying.^[6][7] USA would not televise the NHL again until after the network was acquired byNBCUniversal in the early 2000s, airing selected playoff games as part ofNBC Sports' overall NHL coverage between 2015 and 2021.

• List of Stanley Cup champions
• 1984 NHL entry draft
• 1984–85 NHL transactions
• 37th National Hockey League All-Star Game
• National Hockey League All-Star Game
• NHL All-Rookie Team
• 1984 Canada Cup
• 1984 in sports
• 1985 in sports

• Diamond, Dan, ed. (2008).Total Stanley Cup 2008. NHL.
• Dinger, Ralph, ed. (2011).The National Hockey League Official Guide & Record Book 2012. Toronto, ON: Dan Diamond & Associates.ISBN 978-1-894801-22-5.
• Dryden, Steve, ed. (2000).Century of hockey. Toronto, ON: McClelland & Stewart Ltd.ISBN 0-7710-4179-9.
• Fischler, Stan; Fischler, Shirley; Hughes, Morgan; Romain, Joseph; Duplacey, James (2003).The Hockey Chronicle: Year-by-Year History of the National Hockey League. Lincolnwood, Illinois: Publications International Inc.ISBN 0-7853-9624-1.

Notes

• Hockey Database
• NHL.com
• Oiler playoff highlights
• Diamond, Dan, ed. (2008).Total Stanley Cup 2008. NHL.

• 1984–85 NHL season
• 1984–85 in Canadian ice hockey by league
• 1984–85 in American ice hockey by league

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