1989–90 Los Angeles Kings season explained

League:	NHL
Season:	1989–90
Year:	1989
Team:	Los Angeles Kings
Conferencerank:	8th
Divisionrank:	4th
Record:	34–39–7
Homerecord:	21–16–3
Roadrecord:	13–23–4
Goalsfor:	338
Goalsagainst:	337
Goalsleader:	Luc Robitaille (52)
Assistsleader:	Wayne Gretzky (102)
Pointsleader:	Wayne Gretzky (142)
Plusminusleader:	Tim Watters (+23)
Pimleader:	Marty McSorley (322)
Winsleader:	Kelly Hrudey (22)
Gaaleader:	Ron Scott (3.67)

The 1989–90 Los Angeles Kings season, was the Kings' 23rd season in the National Hockey League. It saw the Kings compile a record of 34-39-7 for 75 points, good enough for fourth place in the Smythe Division. They defeated the defending Stanley Cup champion Calgary Flames in the first round of the playoffs before falling to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Edmonton Oilers in the second round. For the Kings, this was the second consecutive year that they eliminated the defending Stanley Cup champions in the first round of the playoffs, only to be swept in the following round by the eventual Cup champions. In both years, they involved both teams from the province of Alberta.

This season saw the Kings' captain, Wayne Gretzky, become the all-time leading scorer in NHL history (see below for more details). Gretzky also led the league in scoring for the year, winning the Art Ross Trophy.

Offseason

NHL Draft

Los Angeles's draft picks at the 1989 NHL Entry Draft held at the Met Center in Bloomington, Minnesota.

Round		Player	Nationality	College/Junior/Club team (League)
2	39	Brent Thompson		Medicine Hat Tigers (WHL)
4	81	Jim Maher		University of Illinois at Chicago (CCHA)
5	102	Eric Richard		Granby Bisons (QMJHL)
5	103	Tom Newman		Blaine High School (USHS-MN)
6	123	Daniel Rydmark		Farjestad BK (Sweden)
7	144	Ted Kramer		University of Michigan (CCHA)
8	165	Sean Whyte		Guelph Platers (OHL)
9	182	Jim Giacin		Culver Military Academy (USHS-IN)
9	186	Martin Maskarinec		Sparta Prague (Czechoslovakia)
10	207	Jim Hiller		Melville Millionaires (SJHL)
11	228	Steve Jaques		Tri-City Americans (WHL)
12	249	Kevin Sneddon		Harvard University (ECAC)
S	23	Carl Repp		University of British Columbia (CWUAA)

Regular season

Mario Gosselin was the first goaltender in NHL history to lose a game without giving up a goal.^[1] Gosselin filled in for Kelly Hrudey and the Kings would give up an empty net goal. The result was a 7-6 loss to the Edmonton Oilers.

On Wednesday, October 25, 1989, the Kings were shut out at home 5-0 by the Calgary Flames. It was the first time the team had been shut out in a regular-season game since Wednesday, March 12, 1986, when they lost at home 3-0 to the Detroit Red Wings. Prior to the loss against the Flames, the Kings had scored at least one goal in 261 consecutive regular-season games.^{[2] [3] [4] [5] [6]}

Wayne Gretzky's scoring record

On October 15, 1989, playing in only his 780th career game, Wayne Gretzky became the all-time leading scorer in NHL history, breaking the record of 1,850 career points set by his idol, Gordie Howe. Gretzky set the new record on a game-tying goal against Bill Ranford in the final minute of a contest against his former team, the Edmonton Oilers, in Edmonton. Afterwards, Howe was on hand to congratulate Gretzky on his accomplishment. The Kings went on to win the game in overtime.

Record vs. opponents

Schedule and results

No.	R	Date	Score	Opponent	Record
1	W	October 5, 1989	4–2	Toronto Maple Leafs (1989–90)	1–0–0
2	L	October 7, 1989	5–6	Edmonton Oilers (1989–90)	1–1–0
3	W	October 8, 1989	5–0	Detroit Red Wings (1989–90)	2–1–0
4	L	October 11, 1989	4–7	New York Islanders (1989–90)	2–2–0
5	W	October 13, 1989	6–5	@ Vancouver Canucks (1989–90)	3–2–0
6	W	October 15, 1989	5–4 OT	@ Edmonton Oilers (1989–90)	4–2–0
7	L	October 17, 1989	2–3	Boston Bruins (1989–90)	4–3–0
8	W	October 21, 1989	6–4	@ St. Louis Blues (1989–90)	5–3–0
9	L	October 22, 1989	4–7	@ Chicago Blackhawks (1989–90)	5–4–0
10	L	October 25, 1989	0–5	Calgary Flames (1989–90)	5–5–0
11	W	October 27, 1989	3–1	@ Winnipeg Jets (1989–90)	6–5–0
12	L	October 29, 1989	1–6	@ Winnipeg Jets (1989–90)	6–6–0
13	W	October 31, 1989	8–4	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1989–90)	7–6–0
14	L	November 2, 1989	4–5 OT	@ Boston Bruins (1989–90)	7–7–0
15	L	November 4, 1989	3–6	@ Hartford Whalers (1989–90)	7–8–0
16	L	November 5, 1989	3–5	@ Buffalo Sabres (1989–90)	7–9–0
17	L	November 8, 1989	4–5	Calgary Flames (1989–90)	7–10–0
18	W	November 11, 1989	5–4	Montreal Canadiens (1989–90)	8–10–0
19	W	November 14, 1989	8–6	@ Calgary Flames (1989–90)	9–10–0
20	T	November 15, 1989	2–2 OT	@ Edmonton Oilers (1989–90)	9–10–1
21	W	November 18, 1989	5–3	Washington Capitals (1989–90)	10–10–1
22	W	November 22, 1989	6–3	Chicago Blackhawks (1989–90)	11–10–1
23	W	November 25, 1989	7–4	Vancouver Canucks (1989–90)	12–10–1
24	T	November 26, 1989	3–3 OT	@ Vancouver Canucks (1989–90)	12–10–2
25	L	November 30, 1989	6–7	Edmonton Oilers (1989–90)	12–11–2
26	W	December 2, 1989	6–0	New York Rangers (1989–90)	13–11–2
27	W	December 6, 1989	5–4 OT	Vancouver Canucks (1989–90)	14–11–2
28	L	December 8, 1989	4–5 OT	@ Edmonton Oilers (1989–90)	14–12–2
29	W	December 10, 1989	8–4	@ Quebec Nordiques (1989–90)	15–12–2
30	T	December 11, 1989	2–2 OT	@ Montreal Canadiens (1989–90)	15–12–3
31	W	December 13, 1989	5–2	@ Hartford Whalers (1989–90)	16–12–3
32	L	December 15, 1989	5–7	@ New Jersey Devils (1989–90)	16–13–3
33	L	December 16, 1989	2–5	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1989–90)	16–14–3
34	W	December 19, 1989	9–5	Winnipeg Jets (1989–90)	17–14–3
35	W	December 21, 1989	6–1	Quebec Nordiques (1989–90)	18–14–3
36	W	December 23, 1989	4–1	Vancouver Canucks (1989–90)	19–14–3
37	T	December 27, 1989	5–5 OT	Calgary Flames (1989–90)	19–14–4
38	L	December 30, 1989	3–6	Philadelphia Flyers (1989–90)	19–15–4
39	W	January 1, 1990	7–4	@ Washington Capitals (1989–90)	20–15–4
40	L	January 2, 1990	3–5	@ New York Islanders (1989–90)	20–16–4
41	L	January 4, 1990	2–4	@ New Jersey Devils (1989–90)	20–17–4
42	L	January 6, 1990	4–7	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1989–90)	20–18–4
43	L	January 9, 1990	3–4	St. Louis Blues (1989–90)	20–19–4
44	T	January 11, 1990	3–3 OT	Edmonton Oilers (1989–90)	20–19–5
45	L	January 13, 1990	3–6	Hartford Whalers (1989–90)	20–20–5
46	L	January 16, 1990	2–4	Buffalo Sabres (1989–90)	20–21–5
47	W	January 18, 1990	9–4	Detroit Red Wings (1989–90)	21–21–5
48	T	January 23, 1990	3–3 OT	@ Vancouver Canucks (1989–90)	21–21–6
49	L	January 25, 1990	6–7	@ Edmonton Oilers (1989–90)	21–22–6
50	L	January 27, 1990	1–3	New York Rangers (1989–90)	21–23–6
51	W	January 30, 1990	5–2	New Jersey Devils (1989–90)	22–23–6
52	L	February 1, 1990	4–7	Chicago Blackhawks (1989–90)	22–24–6
53	W	February 3, 1990	4–3	Calgary Flames (1989–90)	23–24–6
54	W	February 6, 1990	5–3	@ Calgary Flames (1989–90)	24–24–6
55	L	February 8, 1990	1–5	Winnipeg Jets (1989–90)	24–25–6
56	L	February 10, 1990	6–7	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1989–90)	24–26–6
57	L	February 12, 1990	3–5	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1989–90)	24–27–6
58	L	February 14, 1990	5–6	@ Detroit Red Wings (1989–90)	24–28–6
59	L	February 15, 1990	3–6	@ Minnesota North Stars (1989–90)	24–29–6
60	W	February 17, 1990	7–1	Quebec Nordiques (1989–90)	25–29–6
61	W	February 19, 1990	3–2	Washington Capitals (1989–90)	26–29–6
62	W	February 21, 1990	4–2	Minnesota North Stars (1989–90)	27–29–6
63	L	February 24, 1990	4–6	Vancouver Canucks (1989–90)	27–30–6
64	W	February 28, 1990	4–2	Edmonton Oilers (1989–90)	28–30–6
65	L	March 2, 1990	3–9	@ Winnipeg Jets (1989–90)	28–31–6
66	L	March 4, 1990	2–5	@ Winnipeg Jets (1989–90)	28–32–6
67	L	March 5, 1990	0–5	@ Calgary Flames (1989–90)	28–33–6
68	L	March 7, 1990	2–5	Montreal Canadiens (1989–90)	28–34–6
69	W	March 10, 1990	8–2	Pittsburgh Penguins (1989–90)	29–34–6
70	W	March 12, 1990	6–2	@ New York Rangers (1989–90)	30–34–6
71	W	March 14, 1990	6–5 OT	@ Buffalo Sabres (1989–90)	31–34–6
72	W	March 17, 1990	5–4	@ Boston Bruins (1989–90)	32–34–6
73	L	March 18, 1990	4–7	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1989–90)	32–35–6
74	L	March 20, 1990	2–5	@ Minnesota North Stars (1989–90)	32–36–6
75	W	March 22, 1990	3–1	New York Islanders (1989–90)	33–36–6
76	W	March 24, 1990	9–3	St. Louis Blues (1989–90)	34–36–6
77	T	March 27, 1990	4–4 OT	Winnipeg Jets (1989–90)	34–36–7
78	L	March 29, 1990	0–1	Winnipeg Jets (1989–90)	34–37–7
79	L	March 31, 1990	3–6	@ Vancouver Canucks (1989–90)	34–38–7
80	L	April 1, 1990	4–8	@ Calgary Flames (1989–90)	34–39–7

Player statistics

Regular season
Scoring
Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM +/- PPG SHG GWG C 73 40 102 142 42 8 10 4 4 LW 80 52 49 101 38 8 20 0 7 C 47 27 48 75 66 -6 8 0 1 LW 73 31 37 68 62 -8 15 0 4 D 79 20 42 62 36 -3 6 0 1 C 77 17 28 45 27 4 1 1 4 LW/C 63 16 25 41 50 7 2 2 2 RW 58 15 26 41 96 17 2 0 1 D 64 7 32 39 34 7 1 0 1 RW 62 23 13 36 49 -7 2 2 3 D 75 15 21 36 322 2 2 1 0 RW 28 13 20 33 28 -1 1 1 0 C 48 10 23 33 41 4 1 0 0 D 48 5 18 23 104 1 3 0 0 RW 45 7 14 21 16 -4 0 0 0 RW 55 4 13 17 93 2 0 0 1 LW 55 2 11 13 78 -6 0 0 1 LW 68 10 2 12 224 -6 0 0 1 RW 19 5 6 11 45 -2 1 0 0 D 62 1 10 11 92 23 0 0 0 D 34 3 7 10 47 -9 1 0 0 D 57 1 8 9 42 4 0 0 0 D 52 1 7 8 53 3 0 0 0 C 22 3 4 7 10 4 0 0 1 LW 10 3 2 5 9 1 0 0 0 LW/C 6 2 2 4 4 3 0 0 0 C 18 2 2 4 2 2 0 0 0 D 20 0 4 4 56 4 0 0 0 RW 11 1 2 3 2 2 0 0 1 RW 11 1 1 2 0 -1 0 0 1 LW 12 1 0 1 28 -10 0 0 0 D 4 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 G 26 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 G 52 0 0 0 18 0 0 0 0 G 12 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 G 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 RW 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Goaltending
Player MIN GP W L T GA GAA SO SA SV SV% 2860 52 22 21 6 194 4.07 2 1532 1338 .873 1226 26 7 11 1 79 3.87 0 587 508 .865 654 12 5 6 0 40 3.67 0 321 281 .875 83 2 0 1 0 11 7.95 0 43 32 .744 Team: 4823 80 34 39 7 324 4.03 2 2483 2159 .870

Playoffs
Scoring
Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM +/- PPG SHG GWG C 10 3 9 12 10 1 1 0 0 D 10 2 9 11 6 -2 1 0 0 LW 10 5 5 10 12 -5 1 0 1 C 7 3 7 10 0 -4 1 0 0 RW 10 5 4 9 12 -2 2 1 2 RW 10 5 4 9 19 -5 0 0 0 RW 6 4 4 8 2 2 2 0 0 D 10 2 3 5 10 2 0 0 0 D 8 1 3 4 4 -4 1 0 0 LW/C 10 1 3 4 12 0 0 0 1 D 10 1 3 4 18 -8 1 0 0 RW 8 1 2 3 2 -5 0 0 0 LW 10 1 2 3 6 -6 0 0 0 C 10 1 1 2 2 -4 0 0 0 LW 10 1 1 2 10 -6 0 0 0 D 7 0 2 2 10 -9 0 0 0 LW 4 1 0 1 2 -2 0 1 0 RW 7 1 0 1 9 -1 0 0 0 LW/C 5 1 0 1 0 -6 0 1 0 D 8 0 1 1 8 -7 0 0 0 G 9 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 RW 2 0 0 0 2 -1 0 0 0 G 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 RW 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 D 3 0 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 G 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 D 4 0 0 0 6 4 0 0 0
Goaltending
Player MIN GP W L GA GAA SO SA SV SV% 539 9 4 4 39 4.34 0 265 226 .853 63 3 0 2 3 2.86 0 23 20 .870 32 1 0 0 4 7.50 0 10 6 .600 Team: 634 10 4 6 46 4.35 0 298 252 .846

^[7]

Transactions

The Kings were involved in the following transactions during the 1989–90 season.^[8]

Trades

June 17, 1989	To Los Angeles Kings 5th round pick in 1989 - Tom Newman	To Washington Capitals Alan May
September 1, 1989	To Los Angeles Kings Barry Beck	To New York Rangers 4th round pick in 1990 - Jeff Nielsen
October 4, 1989	To Los Angeles Kings 4th round pick in 1991 - Keith Redmond	To Buffalo Sabres Dean Kennedy
November 10, 1989	To Los Angeles Kings Brian Benning	To St. Louis Blues 3rd round pick in 1991 - Kyle Reeves
November 24, 1989	To Los Angeles Kings Bob Halkidis Future considerations	To Buffalo Sabres Dale DeGray
November 29, 1989	To Los Angeles Kings Mikko Mäkelä	To New York Islanders Hubie McDonough Ken Baumgartner
December 1, 1989	To Los Angeles Kings Brad Jones	To Winnipeg Jets Phil Sykes
January 20, 1990	To Los Angeles Kings Tony Granato Tomas Sandstrom	To New York Rangers Bernie Nicholls

Free agent signings

May 19, 1989	From Belleville Bulls (OHL) Darryl Williams
June 14, 1989	From Quebec Nordiques Mario Gosselin
June 17, 1989	From Boston Bruins Keith Crowder
June 17, 1989	From University of Minnesota (WCHA) Robb Stauber
July 26, 1989	From Montreal Canadiens Larry Robinson (3 years, $1.7 million) ^[9]
August 24, 1989	From Pittsburgh Penguins Scott Bjugstad
January 12, 1990	From New York Rangers Ron Scott

Free agents lost

July 6, 1989	To Boston Bruins Jim Wiemer
August 10, 1989	To New Jersey Devils Roland Melanson
August 16, 1989	To New York Islanders Glenn Healy

Free agent compensation

August 16, 1989

To Los Angeles Kings 4th round pick in 1990 - Jeff Nielsen

To New York Islanders Glenn Healy

Waivers

March 6, 1990

To New York Islanders Dave Pasin

Playoffs

Round 2: (S2) Edmonton Oilers vs. (S4) Los Angeles Kings

Awards and honors

• Wayne Gretzky, Runner Up, Lady Byng Memorial Trophy^[10]

References

• Kings on Hockey Database

Notes and References

1. Hockey's Book of Firsts, p.16, James Duplacey, JG Press,
2. Web site: 1985-86 Los Angeles Kings Schedule and Results.
3. Web site: 1986-87 Los Angeles Kings Schedule and Results.
4. Web site: 1987-88 Los Angeles Kings Schedule and Results.
5. Web site: 1988-89 Los Angeles Kings Schedule and Results.
6. Web site: 1989-90 Los Angeles Kings Schedule and Results.
7. Web site: hockey-reference.com . 2009-06-25 . 1989-90 Los Angeles Kings Statistics - Hockey-Reference.com.
8. Web site: Hockey Transactions Search Results.
9. Web site: Larry Robinson . HockeyZonePlus . 3 August 2021.
10. National Hockey League Official Guide and Record Book 2006, p.221, Dan Diamond & Associates, Toronto, Ontario,