| 1980–81 NHL season | |
| League: | National Hockey League |
| Sport: | Ice hockey |
| Duration: | October 9, 1980 – May 21, 1981 |
| Draft: | Draft |
| Draft Link: | 1980 NHL Draft |
| Top Pick Link: | List of first overall NHL draft picks |
| Picked By: | Montreal Canadiens |
| Season: | Regular season |
| Season Champs: | New York Islanders |
| No Of Teams: | 21 |
| No Of Games: | 80 |
| Tv: | CBC, SRC (Canada) USA, ESPN (United States) |
| Mvp: | Wayne Gretzky (Oilers) |
| Mvp Link: | Hart Memorial Trophy |
| Top Scorer: | Wayne Gretzky (Oilers) |
| Top Scorer Link: | Art Ross Trophy |
| Playoffs: | Playoffs |
| Playoffs Link: | 1981 Stanley Cup playoffs |
| Finals: | Stanley Cup |
| Finals Link: | 1981 Stanley Cup Finals |
| Finals Champ: | New York Islanders |
| Finals Runner-Up: | Minnesota North Stars |
| Playoffs Mvp: | Butch Goring (Islanders) |
| Playoffs Mvp Link: | Conn Smythe Trophy |
| Seasonslistnames: | NHL |
The 1980–81 NHL season was the 64th season of the National Hockey League. The Flames relocated from Atlanta to Calgary. The New York Islanders were the top regular season team and the top playoff team, winning their second consecutive Stanley Cup by defeating the Minnesota North Stars in five games.
The 1980 NHL Entry Draft was held on June 11, at the Montreal Forum in Montreal, Quebec. This was the first draft opened to the public. Doug Wickenheiser was selected first overall by the Montreal Canadiens.
The Flames relocated from the Omni Coliseum in Atlanta, Georgia to the Stampede Corral in Calgary, Alberta.
The season featured notable individual scoring milestones.
Wayne Gretzky of the Edmonton Oilers broke Bobby Orr's single season assist record, scoring 109 assists, and Phil Esposito's point record, scoring 164 points. He won his second of an unmatched eight straight Hart Trophies as the league's most valuable player
Mike Bossy of the New York Islanders became only the second man in NHL history to score 50 goals in his first 50 games. In the 50th game, played at his home rink, he had 48 goals going into the 3rd and final period (before the advent of overtime games). Bossy admitted being so embarrassed and upset that he contemplated not going out on the ice for the final period. However, Bossy got his 49th goal with 5:15 left to go in the game and the 50th with 1:50 remaining, sending the Nassau Coliseum into a delirium. Maurice Richard, the only other man to accomplish this feat, was on hand to congratulate him.
Bossy's Islanders finished as regular season champions with 110 points with the St. Louis Blues finishing a close second at 107 points.
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes
Note: Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold
See main article: 1981 Stanley Cup playoffs.
The top 16 teams in the league made the playoffs, and were seeded 1–16, regardless of division or conference. The NHL used "re-seeding" instead of a fixed bracket playoff system: in each round, the highest remaining seed played against the lowest remaining seed, the second-highest remaining seed faced the second-lowest remaining seed, and so forth.
In the preliminary round, teams competed in a best-of-five series. In the other three rounds, teams competed in a best-of-seven series (scores in the bracket indicate the number of games won in each series).
| First Team | Position | Second Team | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mike Liut, St. Louis Blues | align=center | G | Mario Lessard, Los Angeles Kings |
| Denis Potvin, New York Islanders | align=center | D | Larry Robinson, Montreal Canadiens |
| Randy Carlyle, Pittsburgh Penguins | align=center | D | Ray Bourque, Boston Bruins |
| Wayne Gretzky, Edmonton Oilers | align=center | C | Marcel Dionne, Los Angeles Kings |
| Mike Bossy, New York Islanders | align=center | RW | Dave Taylor, Los Angeles Kings |
| Charlie Simmer, Los Angeles Kings | align=center | LW | Bill Barber, Philadelphia Flyers |
Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points
| Player | Team | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Edmonton Oilers | 80 | 55 | 109 | 164 | 28 | ||
| Los Angeles Kings | 80 | 58 | 77 | 135 | 70 | ||
| Calgary Flames | 80 | 49 | 82 | 131 | 26 | ||
| New York Islanders | 79 | 68 | 51 | 119 | 32 | ||
| Los Angeles Kings | 72 | 47 | 65 | 112 | 130 | ||
| Quebec Nordiques | 77 | 39 | 70 | 109 | 37 | ||
| Los Angeles Kings | 65 | 56 | 49 | 105 | 62 | ||
| Hartford Whalers | 80 | 40 | 65 | 105 | 32 | ||
| St. Louis Blues | 78 | 31 | 73 | 104 | 47 | ||
| Quebec Nordiques | 78 | 52 | 51 | 103 | 39 | ||
| Boston Bruins | 80 | 44 | 59 | 103 | 16 | ||
| New York Islanders | 73 | 31 | 72 | 103 | 74 |
| Player | Team | GP | MIN | GA | SO | GAA | SV% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Montreal | 33 | 1777 | 71 | 2 | 2.40 | .908 | ||
| Philadelphia | 27 | 1567 | 65 | 2 | 2.49 | .913 | ||
| Buffalo | 45 | 2700 | 133 | 3 | 2.96 | .898 | ||
| Philadelphia | 40 | 2333 | 115 | 2 | 2.96 | .897 | ||
| Buffalo | 35 | 2100 | 111 | 2 | 3.17 | .880 | ||
| Minnesota | 44 | 2585 | 138 | 0 | 3.20 | .889 | ||
| New York Islanders/Colorado | 40 | 2266 | 121 | 3 | 3.20 | .891 | ||
| Calgary | 29 | 1629 | 88 | 2 | 3.24 | .902 | ||
| Minnesota | 38 | 2215 | 120 | 2 | 3.25 | .889 | ||
| Los Angeles | 64 | 3746 | 203 | 2 | 3.25 | .893 |
The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1980–81 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):
The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1980–81 (listed with their last team):
Hockey Night in Canada on CBC Television televised Saturday night regular season games and Stanley Cup playoff games.
This was the first season that U.S. national broadcasts were only on cable television. ESPN and USA continued to carry slates of regular season and playoff games for the second consecutive season.