1987–88 NHL season

The 1987–88 NHL season was the 71st season of the National Hockey League. It was an 80-game season with the top four teams in each division advancing to the Stanley Cup playoffs. This season would see the Edmonton Oilers win their fourth Stanley Cup in five years by sweeping the Boston Bruins 4–0 in the Stanley Cup Finals. In the process of their Cup win, Edmonton lost only two games, a record for the "16 wins" playoff format.

League business
The NHL introduced a new trophy, the King Clancy Memorial Trophy, which was to be awarded to the player who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and who has made a significant humanitarian contribution in his community.

Regular season
This was Wayne Gretzky's final season with the Edmonton Oilers and, as injuries held him out of 20% of the season, this would be the only season of the decade in which he was not the winner of the Hart Memorial Trophy and the first season since 1979–80 that he did not hold or share the league lead in points. Mario Lemieux would capture his first Hart Trophy and lead the league in scoring.

On December 8, Ron Hextall of the Philadelphia Flyers became the first goalie to directly score a goal, shooting the puck into an empty net after their opponent had pulled their goalie for a sixth attacker.

On December 19, the St. Louis Blues and Boston Bruins combined to score two goals in two seconds. The Bruins were trailing 6-4 in the third period when Ken Linseman scored with 10 seconds remaining, followed by Blues center Doug Gilmour scoring off the resulting faceoff into an empty net.

The New Jersey Devils qualified for the playoffs for the first time, since their move from Denver in 1982.

Final standings
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.

Stanley Cup Finals
Game four is well known for fog that interfered with the game, and a power outage that caused the game to be cancelled at 16:37 of the second period with the score tied 3–3.

When the Oilers won the replayed game four, they started the tradition in which the champs gather around with the Cup in a team photo.


 * NHL disregards stats from May 24 incomplete game.

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
GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; SO = Shutouts; GAA = Goals against average; Sv% = Save percentage Source: Quanthockey.com

Patrick Division

 * New Jersey Devils: Doug Carpenter and Jim Schoenfeld
 * New York Islanders: Terry Simpson
 * New York Rangers: Michel Bergeron
 * Philadelphia Flyers: Mike Keenan and Paul Holmgren
 * Pittsburgh Penguins: Pierre Creamer
 * Washington Capitals: Bryan Murray

Adams Division

 * Boston Bruins: Terry O'Reilly
 * Buffalo Sabres: Ted Sator
 * Hartford Whalers: Jack Evans
 * Montreal Canadiens: Jean Perron
 * Quebec Nordiques: Andre Savard and Ron Lapointe

Norris Division

 * Chicago Blackhawks: Bob Murdoch
 * Detroit Red Wings: Jacques Demers
 * Minnesota North Stars: Herb Brooks
 * St. Louis Blues: Jacques Martin
 * Toronto Maple Leafs: John Brophy

Smythe Division

 * Calgary Flames: Terry Crisp
 * Edmonton Oilers: Glen Sather
 * Los Angeles Kings: Robbie Ftorek
 * Vancouver Canucks: Bob McCammon
 * Winnipeg Jets: Dan Maloney

Debuts
The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1987–88:
 * Tommy Albelin, Quebec Nordiques
 * Rob Brown, Pittsburgh Penguins
 * Sean Burke, New Jersey Devils
 * Adam Graves, Detroit Red Wings
 * Jiri Hrdina, Calgary Flames
 * Craig Janney, Boston Bruins
 * Calle Johansson, Buffalo Sabres
 * Brian Leetch, New York Rangers
 * Jeff Norton, New York Islanders
 * Luke Richardson, Toronto Maple Leafs
 * Mathieu Schneider, Montreal Canadiens
 * Brendan Shanahan, New Jersey Devils
 * Ray Sheppard, Buffalo Sabres
 * Kevin Stevens, Pittsburgh Penguins
 * Ron Tugnutt, Quebec Nordiques
 * Pierre Turgeon, Buffalo Sabres
 * Glen Wesley, Boston Bruins
 * Trent Yawney, Chicago Blackhawks
 * Scott Young, Hartford Whalers
 * Zarley Zalapski, Pittsburgh Penguins

Last games
The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1987–88:
 * Bob Bourne, Los Angeles Kings
 * Richard Brodeur, Hartford Whalers
 * Clark Gillies, Buffalo Sabres
 * Doug Jarvis, Hartford Whalers
 * Pierre Larouche, New York Rangers
 * Dave Lewis, Detroit Red Wings
 * Gilles Meloche, Pittsburgh Penguins
 * Rick Middleton, Boston Bruins
 * Wilf Paiement, Pittsburgh Penguins (The last active player to have been a member of the Kansas City Scouts.)
 * Steve Payne, Minnesota North Stars
 * Denis Potvin, New York Islanders
 * Dave Semenko, Toronto Maple Leafs
 * Charlie Simmer, Pittsburgh Penguins
 * Brian Sutter, St. Louis Blues
 * Perry Turnbull, St. Louis Blues
 * Tiger Williams, Hartford Whalers

Firsts

 * Ron Hextall, Philadelphia Flyers, First goaltender in NHL history to shoot and score a goal.

Broadcasting
In Canada, the cable network TSN began airing a schedule of Monday and Thursday night regular season games. The Molson-sponsored Hockey Night in Canada on CBC continued to air Saturday night regular season games. This was the last season of the Carling O'Keefe-sponsored telecasts on Canwest/Global, with Global airing selected regular season games between January and March. Coverage of the Stanley Cup playoffs were split between CBC and Global, with the later branding its postseason broadcasts as Stanley Cup '88. Carling O'Keefe's rights expired at the end of the season, and 1989 merger between Molson and Carling O'Keefe eventually put an end to the competition.

This was the third and final season of the league's U.S. national broadcast rights deal with ESPN, airing up to 33 regular season games each season as well as the All-Star Game and the playoffs. SportsChannel America then signed a three-year contract to take over the rights from ESPN.