The 1991–92 NHL season was the 75th regular season of the National Hockey League. The league expanded to 22 teams with the addition of the expansion San Jose Sharks. For the first time, the Stanley Cup Finals extended into June, with the Pittsburgh Penguins repeating as Stanley Cup champions, winning the best of seven series four games to none against the Chicago Blackhawks.
League business
This was the first season for the San Jose Sharks, the first expansion team in the NHL since 1979. The birth of the Sharks returned NHL hockey to the San Francisco Bay Area after the California Golden Seals had relocated to Cleveland, Ohio in 1976.
This was also the last season for John Ziegler as NHL president. He would be succeeded by Gil Stein, who held the position for one year before being replaced by newly named commissioner Gary Bettman, during and after the 1992–93 season. After Stein's departure, the league presidency was merged into the new office of commissioner.
A new rule was added in which the final minute of every period is measured in tenths of a second, unlike whole seconds as in past seasons. This timekeeping procedure matches that of the IIHF, which began doing so in 1990.
75th season celebration
To celebrate the 75th anniversary season for the NHL, all players wore a special anniversary patch on their uniforms during this season.
Taking cues from Major League Baseball's "Turn Back The Clock" uniform program, throwback uniforms were worn by Original Six teams for select games, and throwbacks were also worn for the All-Star Game.
The uniform styles that were worn include: Boston Bruins – c. 1933 Chicago Blackhawks – c. 1940 Detroit Red Wings – c. 1928 Montreal Canadiens – c. 1926 New York Rangers – c. 1940 Toronto Maple Leafs – c. 1940 Wales All-Stars – white All-Star jersey c. 1952 Campbell All-Stars – red All-Star jersey c. 1952
The throwback uniforms would influence future seasons in the NHL, as several teams adopted throwbacks as alternate jerseys. The National Football League and National Basketball Association would follow the NHL's lead, with teams wearing throwbacks to celebrate their leagues' 75th and 50th anniversaries, respectively.
Also, each team had an honorary celebrity captain to help celebrate the 75th anniversary.
The celebrity captains were:
Jim Kelly - Buffalo Sabres
Michael J. Fox - Boston Bruins
Ian Tyson - Calgary Flames
Jim Belushi - Chicago Blackhawks
Dave Coulier - Detroit Red Wings
Kurt Browning - Edmonton Oilers
Susan Saint James - Hartford Whalers
John Candy - Los Angeles Kings
David Wheaton - Minnesota North Stars
Maurice Richard - Montreal Canadiens
Yogi Berra - New Jersey Devils
Ralph Macchio - New York Islanders
Marv Albert - New York Rangers
Bobby Rydell - Philadelphia Flyers
Fred Rogers - Pittsburgh Penguins
Gaétan Boucher - Quebec Nordiques
Willie McCovey - San Jose Sharks
John Goodman - St. Louis Blues
Gordon Lightfoot - Toronto Maple Leafs
Rick Hansen - Vancouver Canucks
Larry King - Washington Capitals
Burton Cummings - Winnipeg Jets
Regular season
New York Rangers player Brian Leetch became the fifth defenceman, and last as of , to score 100 points in a season. He finished the season with 102 points and captured the James Norris Memorial Trophy as the league's best defenceman. The Rangers ended the season with 105 points, winning the Presidents' Trophy as the top regular-season team in the NHL; it was the first time the Rangers had topped the league since the .
For the first time, the NHL finished play in the month of June. A primary reason for this was the 10-day NHL strike, the first work stoppage in league history, that started on April 1. The games that were supposed to be played during the strike were not canceled, but rescheduled and made up when play resumed on April 12.
For the first time in his NHL career, Wayne Gretzky failed to finish in the top two in scoring. The Pittsburgh Penguins' Kevin Stevens became only the third person in NHL history to outscore Gretzky in the regular season (Marcel Dionne tied Gretzky in Wayne's rookie year but scored more goals, and Mario Lemieux won the Art Ross Trophy over Gretzky in and ).
Final standings
Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF= Goals For, GA = Goals against