1981–82 Detroit Red Wings season

1981–82 Detroit Red Wings
Division6th Norris
ConferenceCampbell
1981–82 record21–47–12
Goals for270
Goals against351
Team information
General managerJimmy Skinner
CoachWayne Maxner (Oct–Mar)
Billy Dea (Mar–Apr)
CaptainReed Larson
Alternate captainsNone
ArenaJoe Louis Arena
Average attendance12,496
Team leaders
GoalsJohn Ogrodnick (28)
AssistsMark Osborne (41)
PointsMark Osborne (67)
Penalty minutesReed Larson (112)
Plus/minusJim Schoenfeld (2)
WinsBob Sauvé (11)
Goals against averageBob Sauvé (4.19)

The 1981–82 Detroit Red Wings season was the 50th season as the Red Wings, 56th overall for the franchise.

Offseason

The National Hockey League realigned their divisions into geographically closer groupings. The Red Wings were the only team to remain in the Norris Division from the previous season, while the division itself was moved from the Prince of Wales Conference to the Campbell Conference, trading places with the Patrick Division. The Red Wings were joined in the Norris by the Chicago Black Hawks, Toronto Maple Leafs, St. Louis Blues, Minnesota North Stars, and Winnipeg Jets.

Regular season

Final standings

Norris Division
GP W L T GF GA Pts
Minnesota North Stars 80 37 23 20 346 288 94
Winnipeg Jets 80 33 33 14 319 332 80
St. Louis Blues 80 32 40 8 315 349 72
Chicago Black Hawks 80 30 38 12 332 363 72
Toronto Maple Leafs 80 20 44 16 298 380 56
Detroit Red Wings 80 21 47 12 270 351 54

[1]Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against
Note: Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.

Record vs. opponents

Norris Division record vs. opponents

Vs. Campbell Conference

Vs. Wales Conference


Schedule and results

No. R Date Score Opponent Record
1 W October 6, 1981 5–2 @ New York Rangers (1981–82) 1–0–0
2 T October 9, 1981 2–2 @ Philadelphia Flyers (1981–82) 1–0–1
3 L October 10, 1981 3–6 @ Washington Capitals (1981–82) 1–1–1
4 W October 15, 1981 6–3 St. Louis Blues (1981–82) 2–1–1
5 L October 17, 1981 1–8 @ Hartford Whalers (1981–82) 2–2–1
6 W October 18, 1981 3–2 Pittsburgh Penguins (1981–82) 3–2–1
7 T October 22, 1981 2–2 Boston Bruins (1981–82) 3–2–2
8 L October 24, 1981 3–8 @ Quebec Nordiques (1981–82) 3–3–2
9 L October 25, 1981 1–4 Philadelphia Flyers (1981–82) 3–4–2
10 W October 29, 1981 12–4 Calgary Flames (1981–82) 4–4–2
11 L October 31, 1981 4–5 @ Minnesota North Stars (1981–82) 4–5–2
12 W November 1, 1981 3–1 Vancouver Canucks (1981–82) 5–5–2
13 W November 5, 1981 10–2 Los Angeles Kings (1981–82) 6–5–2
14 L November 7, 1981 2–4 @ Montreal Canadiens (1981–82) 6–6–2
15 L November 9, 1981 3–5 @ Quebec Nordiques (1981–82) 6–7–2
16 T November 11, 1981 5–5 @ Chicago Black Hawks (1981–82) 6–7–3
17 T November 13, 1981 3–3 @ Washington Capitals (1981–82) 6–7–4
18 W November 14, 1981 6–3 Chicago Black Hawks (1981–82) 7–7–4
19 L November 18, 1981 1–8 @ Los Angeles Kings (1981–82) 7–8–4
20 L November 19, 1981 3–8 @ Vancouver Canucks (1981–82) 7–9–4
21 T November 21, 1981 4–4 @ Calgary Flames (1981–82) 7–9–5
22 L November 23, 1981 4–8 @ Edmonton Oilers (1981–82) 7–10–5
23 L November 25, 1981 1–3 Buffalo Sabres (1981–82) 7–11–5
24 L November 28, 1981 3–5 @ Pittsburgh Penguins (1981–82) 7–12–5
25 L November 29, 1981 3–6 Toronto Maple Leafs (1981–82) 7–13–5
26 L December 1, 1981 5–7 @ St. Louis Blues (1981–82) 7–14–5
27 W December 3, 1981 4–3 Montreal Canadiens (1981–82) 8–14–5
28 L December 5, 1981 2–5 Philadelphia Flyers (1981–82) 8–15–5
29 W December 10, 1981 4–1 Minnesota North Stars (1981–82) 9–15–5
30 L December 12, 1981 2–4 Buffalo Sabres (1981–82) 9–16–5
31 W December 13, 1981 2–1 @ Winnipeg Jets (1981–82) 10–16–5
32 L December 17, 1981 2–3 Quebec Nordiques (1981–82) 10–17–5
33 L December 19, 1981 1–5 @ New York Islanders (1981–82) 10–18–5
34 L December 20, 1981 3–5 New York Islanders (1981–82) 10–19–5
35 L December 22, 1981 2–3 Hartford Whalers (1981–82) 10–20–5
36 L December 26, 1981 3–8 @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1981–82) 10–21–5
37 T December 27, 1981 2–2 @ Winnipeg Jets (1981–82) 10–21–6
38 L December 31, 1981 2–5 Toronto Maple Leafs (1981–82) 10–22–6
39 W January 2, 1982 3–1 @ Colorado Rockies (1981–82) 11–22–6
40 L January 3, 1982 3–4 @ Chicago Black Hawks (1981–82) 11–23–6
41 L January 6, 1982 2–5 @ Buffalo Sabres (1981–82) 11–24–6
42 W January 7, 1982 5–4 Pittsburgh Penguins (1981–82) 12–24–6
43 L January 9, 1982 2–4 Winnipeg Jets (1981–82) 12–25–6
44 W January 14, 1982 3–1 Colorado Rockies (1981–82) 13–25–6
45 T January 16, 1982 5–5 Washington Capitals (1981–82) 13–25–7
46 T January 17, 1982 4–4 Edmonton Oilers (1981–82) 13–25–8
47 W January 20, 1982 5–4 @ Chicago Black Hawks (1981–82) 14–25–8
48 L January 21, 1982 4–7 Calgary Flames (1981–82) 14–26–8
49 T January 23, 1982 2–2 Hartford Whalers (1981–82) 14–26–9
50 T January 26, 1982 3–3 Winnipeg Jets (1981–82) 14–26–10
51 L January 27, 1982 6–8 @ Minnesota North Stars (1981–82) 14–27–10
52 L January 30, 1982 3–5 @ Montreal Canadiens (1981–82) 14–28–10
53 W February 4, 1982 6–4 Chicago Black Hawks (1981–82) 15–28–10
54 L February 6, 1982 2–6 @ New York Islanders (1981–82) 15–29–10
55 W February 7, 1982 8–5 St. Louis Blues (1981–82) 16–29–10
56 T February 11, 1982 4–4 Vancouver Canucks (1981–82) 16–29–11
57 L February 13, 1982 1–6 @ Minnesota North Stars (1981–82) 16–30–11
58 T February 17, 1982 3–3 @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1981–82) 16–30–12
59 W February 18, 1982 4–3 Toronto Maple Leafs (1981–82) 17–30–12
60 L February 20, 1982 5–7 Boston Bruins (1981–82) 17–31–12
61 L February 21, 1982 3–7 Edmonton Oilers (1981–82) 17–32–12
62 W February 23, 1982 6–3 @ Colorado Rockies (1981–82) 18–32–12
63 L February 24, 1982 3–5 @ Los Angeles Kings (1981–82) 18–33–12
64 L February 27, 1982 2–6 @ St. Louis Blues (1981–82) 18–34–12
65 L February 28, 1982 4–5 Minnesota North Stars (1981–82) 18–35–12
66 L March 3, 1982 4–6 @ Minnesota North Stars (1981–82) 18–36–12
67 L March 5, 1982 0–2 @ Winnipeg Jets (1981–82) 18–37–12
68 L March 6, 1982 1–5 @ St. Louis Blues (1981–82) 18–38–12
69 L March 8, 1982 3–6 @ New York Rangers (1981–82) 18–39–12
70 L March 11, 1982 1–4 New York Rangers (1981–82) 18–40–12
71 L March 13, 1982 3–5 @ Boston Bruins (1981–82) 18–41–12
72 L March 18, 1982 4–7 St. Louis Blues (1981–82) 18–42–12
73 L March 20, 1982 3–4 Chicago Black Hawks (1981–82) 18–43–12
74 L March 21, 1982 2–8 @ Winnipeg Jets (1981–82) 18–44–12
75 L March 24, 1982 4–6 @ Chicago Black Hawks (1981–82) 18–45–12
76 L March 25, 1982 3–4 Minnesota North Stars (1981–82) 18–46–12
77 W March 27, 1982 2–1 @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1981–82) 19–46–12
78 W March 28, 1982 6–4 Toronto Maple Leafs (1981–82) 20–46–12
79 W March 31, 1982 4–2 Winnipeg Jets (1981–82) 21–46–12
80 L April 4, 1982 2–3 St. Louis Blues (1981–82) 21–47–12

Playoffs

This was the fourth straight season the Red Wings failed to make the Stanley Cup playoffs, having last qualified in 1978.

Player statistics

Regular season

Scoring
Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM +/- PPG SHG GWG
Mark Osborne LW 80 26 41 67 61 -7 5 0 3
Reed Larson D 80 21 39 60 112 -17 4 2 2
Mike Blaisdell RW 80 23 32 55 48 -15 5 0 3
Walt McKechnie C 74 18 37 55 35 -1 2 0 3
John Ogrodnick LW 80 28 26 54 28 -15 3 2 3
Willie Huber D 74 15 30 45 98 -16 5 0 2
Mark Kirton C 74 14 28 42 62 -18 0 1 0
Vaclav Nedomansky RW 68 12 28 40 22 -15 1 0 0
Greg Smith D 69 10 22 32 79 -22 2 0 1
Dale McCourt C 26 13 14 27 6 -3 6 0 0
Paul Woods LW 75 10 17 27 48 -5 0 1 1
Mike Foligno RW 26 13 13 26 28 -2 3 0 0
Eric Vail LW 52 10 14 24 35 -21 3 0 0
Danny Gare RW 36 13 9 22 74 -4 2 1 0
Don Murdoch RW 49 9 13 22 23 1 1 0 1
Derek Smith C/LW 49 6 14 20 10 -4 0 0 0
Jody Gage RW 31 9 10 19 2 -1 0 0 1
Ted Nolan C 41 4 13 17 45 -6 0 2 0
Jim Schoenfeld D 39 5 9 14 69 2 0 0 0
John Barrett D 69 1 12 13 93 -31 0 0 0
Jim Korn D/LW 59 1 7 8 104 -19 0 0 0
Mark Lofthouse RW/C 12 3 4 7 13 -7 0 0 0
Greg Joly D 37 1 5 6 30 -5 0 1 0
George Lyle LW 11 1 2 3 4 -2 0 0 0
Brad Smith RW 33 2 0 2 80 -7 0 0 1
Claude Loiselle C 4 1 0 1 2 -2 1 0 0
Brent Peterson C 15 1 0 1 6 -6 0 0 0
Rejean Cloutier D 2 0 1 1 2
Gilles Gilbert G 27 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0
Claude Legris G 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Corrado Micalef G 18 0 0 0 9 0 0 0 0
Joe Paterson LW 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
Bob Sauve G 41 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Greg Stefan G 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Goaltending
Player MIN GP W L T GA GAA SO
Bob Sauve 2365 41 11 25 4 165 4.19 0
Gilles Gilbert 1478 27 6 10 6 105 4.26 0
Corrado Micalef 809 18 4 10 1 63 4.67 0
Claude Legris 28 1 0 0 1 0 0.00 0
Greg Stefan 120 2 0 2 0 10 5.00 0
Team: 4800 80 21 47 12 343 4.29 0

[3]

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/- = Plus-minus PIM = Penalty minutes; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals;
      MIN = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts;

Awards and records

Transactions

Draft picks

Detroit's draft picks at the 1981 NHL Entry Draft held at the Montreal Forum in Montreal.

Round # Player Nationality College/Junior/Club team (League)
2 23 Claude Loiselle  Canada Windsor Spitfires (OMJHL)
3 44 Corrado Micalef  Canada Sherbrooke Castors (QMJHL)
5 86 Larry Trader  Canada London Knights (OMJHL)
6 107 Gerard Gallant  Canada Sherbrooke Castors (QMJHL)
7 128 Greg Stefan  Canada Oshawa Generals (OMJHL)
8 149 Rick Zombo  United States Austin Mavericks (USHL)
9 170 Don LeBlanc  United States Moncton Hawks (NBJHL)
10 191 Robert Nordmark  Sweden Frolunda (Sweden)

Farm teams

See also

References

  1. ^ Dinger, Ralph, ed. (2011). The National Hockey League Official Guide & Record Book 2012. Dan Diamond & Associates. p. 152. ISBN 9781894801225.
  2. ^ "All-Time NHL Results". NHL.com. Retrieved August 25, 2023.
  3. ^ "1981-82 Detroit Red Wings Statistics - Hockey-Reference.com". hockey-reference.com. Retrieved June 2, 2009.