1981–82 NHL season

The 1981–82 NHL season was the 65th season of the National Hockey League. Twenty-one teams each played 80 games. The William M. Jennings Trophy made its debut this year as the trophy for the goaltenders from the team with the fewest goals against. The New York Islanders won their third straight Stanley Cup by beating the Vancouver Canucks in four games.
Prior to the start of the season, the divisions of the league were re-aligned to better reflect the locations of the teams. The Patrick Division, which had been in the Clarence Campbell Conference, switched to the Prince of Wales Conference, while the Norris Division went the other way, going from the Wales Conference to the Campbell Conference. This divisional alignment existed until the 1993-94 season, at which point both the divisions and the conferences of the league were renamed to reflect geography.
Regular season.
Final standings.
"Note: GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalties in minutes"
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"Note: Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold"
Scoring leaders.
"Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points"
Stanley Cup playoffs.
Finals.
New York Islanders vs. Vancouver Canucks
"New York wins the series 4–0."
First games.
The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1981–82 (listed with their first team, stars(*) mark start in playoffs):
Last games.
The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1981–82 (listed with their last team):