1986–87 NHL season

The 1986–87 NHL season was the 70th season of the National Hockey League. The Edmonton Oilers won the Stanley Cup by beating the Philadelphia Flyers four games to three in the Cup finals.

League business
The Chicago-based club officially changed their name from the two-worded "Black Hawks" to the one-worded "Blackhawks" based on the spelling found in their original franchise documents.

Regular season
The Oilers won their second straight Presidents' Trophy as the top team and Wayne Gretzky won his eighth straight Hart Memorial Trophy and his seventh straight Art Ross Trophy.

On November 26, 1986, Toronto's Borje Salming was accidentally cut in the face by a skate, requiring more than 200 stitches. It was the third injury to his face and Salming returned to play wearing a visor.

A bombshell was exploded when it was announced that Pat Quinn had been expelled from the NHL pending an investigation of conflict of interest. It was reported that while serving as coach of the Los Angeles Kings, Quinn signed a contract to become president and general manager of the Vancouver Canucks. In due course, NHL president John Ziegler barred Quinn from coaching in the NHL until 1990–91

On January 22, 1987, a massive blizzard resulted in only 334 spectators attending the game between the New Jersey Devils and the Calgary Flames at the Brendan Byrne Arena, leading to the Devils dubbing the spectators the "334 Club".

There was trouble brewing for Bryan Trottier when he authored an article in the publication The Hockey News criticizing officials for failing to call penalties. This was brought to the attention of NHL president John Ziegler who fined Trottier $1,000.

On April 4, 1987, the Islanders' captain Denis Potvin became the first NHL defenceman to reach 1000 points. A shot by the Islanders' Mikko Mäkelä deflected in off Potvin's arm in a 6–6 shootout between the Islanders and Sabres.

Final standings
Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF= Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts = Points, PIM = Penalties in minutes

Playoffs
In an attempt to reduce the number of first round upsets, the NHL expanded the best-of-five series in the first round to a best-of-seven series.

Stanley Cup Finals
The Oilers and Flyers met again in the final for the second time in three years. This time, Edmonton was the regular season champion with 50 wins and 106 points, and Philadelphia was second with 46 wins and 100 points. Unlike the 1985 final, this series would go the full seven games. Edmonton took the first two games at home, then split in Philadelphia. However, the Flyers won the next two games, one in Edmonton and one back in Philadelphia by one goal, to force a deciding seventh game. Edmonton won game seven to earn its third Stanley Cup in four seasons. This was the first final to go seven games, since 1971.

All-Star teams
Source: NHL

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 Source: NHL.

Leading goaltenders
Minimum 2000 min. GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; SO = Shutouts; GAA = Goals against average; Sv% = Save percentage

Patrick Division

 * New Jersey Devils: Doug Carpenter
 * New York Islanders: Terry Simpson
 * New York Rangers: Tom Webster
 * Philadelphia Flyers: Mike Keenan
 * Pittsburgh Penguins: Bob Berry
 * Washington Capitals: Bryan Murray

Adams Division

 * Boston Bruins: Terry O'Reilly
 * Buffalo Sabres: Scotty Bowman and Craig Ramsay
 * Hartford Whalers: Jack Evans
 * Montreal Canadiens: Jean Perron
 * Quebec Nordiques: Michel Bergeron

Norris Division

 * Chicago Blackhawks: Bob Pulford
 * Detroit Red Wings: Jacques Demers
 * Minnesota North Stars: Lorne Henning and Glen Sonmor
 * St. Louis Blues: Jacques Martin
 * Toronto Maple Leafs: John Brophy

Smythe Division

 * Calgary Flames: Bob Johnson
 * Edmonton Oilers: Glen Sather
 * Los Angeles Kings: Pat Quinn and Mike Murphy
 * Vancouver Canucks: Tom Watt
 * Winnipeg Jets: Dan Maloney

Debuts
The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1986–87 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):
 * Gary Roberts, Calgary Flames
 * Joe Nieuwendyk, Calgary Flames
 * Dave Manson, Chicago Blackhawks
 * Joe Murphy, Detroit Red Wings
 * Steve Chiasson, Detroit Red Wings
 * Kelly Buchberger*, Edmonton Oilers
 * Jimmy Carson, Los Angeles Kings
 * Luc Robitaille, Los Angeles Kings
 * Steve Duchesne, Los Angeles Kings
 * Craig Berube, Philadelphia Flyers
 * Ron Hextall, Philadelphia Flyers
 * Vincent Damphousse, Toronto Maple Leafs
 * Fredrik Olausson, Winnipeg Jets

Last games
The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1986–87 (listed with their last team):
 * Thomas Gradin, Boston Bruins
 * Mike Milbury, Boston Bruins
 * Lee Fogolin, Buffalo Sabres
 * Don Lever, Buffalo Sabres
 * Gilbert Perreault, Buffalo Sabres
 * Phil Russell, Buffalo Sabres
 * Doug Risebrough, Calgary Flames
 * Murray Bannerman, Chicago Blackhawks
 * Darryl Sutter, Chicago Blackhawks
 * Danny Gare, Edmonton Oilers
 * Wayne Babych, Hartford Whalers
 * Peter McNab, New Jersey Devils
 * Mike Bossy, New York Islanders
 * Chico Resch, Philadelphia Flyers (Last player born in the 1940s)

Broadcasting
In Canada, the Molson-sponsored Hockey Night in Canada on CBC continued to air Saturday night regular season games, but sponsor Carling-O'Keefe's rights fell into limbo after CTV pulled out of its sub-license prior to the season. Things became problematic when the 1987 Stanley Cup playoffs opened with Carling O'Keefe still without a network. The problems peaked when the Montreal–Quebec second-round playoff series opened without Molson being allowed to broadcast from Quebec City, leaving Games 3 and 4 off of English-language television altogether. This led to a hastily arranged syndicated package on a chain of channels that would one day form the basis of the Global Television Network. The deal between Carling O'Keefe and the Canwest/Global consortium (with a few CBC and CTV affiliates sprinkled in for good measure) came just in time for Game 6 of the Montreal-Quebec series on April 30. These Carling O'Keefe/Canwest/Global broadcasts were aired under the name Stanley Cup '87.

This was the second season of the league's three-year U.S. national broadcast rights deal with ESPN. The contract called for the network to air up to 33 regular season games each season as well as the All-Star Game and the playoffs.