1988–89 Hartford Whalers season

1988–89 Hartford Whalers
Division	4th Adams
Conference	8th Prince of Wales
1988–89 record	37-38-5
Goals for	299
Goals against	290
Team information
General Manager	Emile Francis
Coach	Larry Pleau
Captain	Ron Francis
Arena	Hartford Civic Center
Team leaders
Goals	Kevin Dineen (45)
Assists	Ron Francis (48)
Points	Kevin Dineen (89)
Penalties in minutes	Ulf Samuelsson (181)
Plus/minus	Ulf Samuelsson (+23)
Wins	Peter Sidorkiewicz (22)
Goals against average	Peter Sidorkiewicz (3.03)
<1987–88	1989–90>

The 1988–89 Hartford Whalers season saw the team finish in fourth place in the Adams Division with a record of 37 wins, 38 losses, and 5 ties for 79 points. They were swept by the Montreal Canadiens in four straight games in the Division Semi-finals.

Regular season

Final standings

Adams Division

	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
Montreal Canadiens	80	53	18	9	315	218	115
Boston Bruins	80	37	29	14	289	256	88
Buffalo Sabres	80	38	35	7	291	299	83
Hartford Whalers	80	37	38	5	299	290	79
Quebec Nordiques	80	27	46	7	269	342	61

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.

Game log

No.	R	Date	Score	Opponent	Record
1	L	October 6, 1988	2–5	Quebec Nordiques (1988–89)	0–1–0
2	L	October 8, 1988	2–6	Boston Bruins (1988–89)	0–2–0
3	L	October 9, 1988	1–3	@ Boston Bruins (1988–89)	0–3–0
4	W	October 12, 1988	4–3	@ New York Rangers (1988–89)	1–3–0
5	W	October 15, 1988	7–5	Chicago Blackhawks (1988–89)	2–3–0
6	L	October 19, 1988	4–5	@ Montreal Canadiens (1988–89)	2–4–0
7	W	October 22, 1988	8–6	Philadelphia Flyers (1988–89)	3–4–0
8	W	October 26, 1988	7–1	@ Buffalo Sabres (1988–89)	4–4–0
9	L	October 28, 1988	3–5	@ New Jersey Devils (1988–89)	4–5–0
10	W	October 29, 1988	3–0	New Jersey Devils (1988–89)	5–5–0
11	L	November 1, 1988	3–5	Montreal Canadiens (1988–89)	5–6–0
12	W	November 3, 1988	5–3	@ Boston Bruins (1988–89)	6–6–0
13	L	November 5, 1988	2–3 OT	Vancouver Canucks (1988–89)	6–7–0
14	L	November 7, 1988	3–6	@ Calgary Flames (1988–89)	6–8–0
15	T	November 9, 1988	1–1 OT	@ Vancouver Canucks (1988–89)	6–8–1
16	L	November 10, 1988	2–7	@ Los Angeles Kings (1988–89)	6–9–1
17	W	November 12, 1988	3–1	@ Minnesota North Stars (1988–89)	7–9–1
18	L	November 16, 1988	3–4	Detroit Red Wings (1988–89)	7–10–1
19	L	November 18, 1988	2–3	@ Washington Capitals (1988–89)	7–11–1
20	L	November 19, 1988	2–5	Calgary Flames (1988–89)	7–12–1
21	W	November 23, 1988	4–3	Quebec Nordiques (1988–89)	8–12–1
22	W	November 26, 1988	4–2	@ Quebec Nordiques (1988–89)	9–12–1
23	L	November 30, 1988	3–6	Montreal Canadiens (1988–89)	9–13–1
24	W	December 2, 1988	6–1	@ Buffalo Sabres (1988–89)	10–13–1
25	L	December 3, 1988	2–4	Minnesota North Stars (1988–89)	10–14–1
26	W	December 6, 1988	9–0	Buffalo Sabres (1988–89)	11–14–1
27	W	December 8, 1988	5–4	New York Rangers (1988–89)	12–14–1
28	W	December 10, 1988	4–1	Calgary Flames (1988–89)	13–14–1
29	L	December 14, 1988	3–4	@ Chicago Blackhawks (1988–89)	13–15–1
30	T	December 15, 1988	3–3 OT	@ St. Louis Blues (1988–89)	13–15–2
31	L	December 17, 1988	2–4	Edmonton Oilers (1988–89)	13–16–2
32	L	December 19, 1988	1–2	@ Montreal Canadiens (1988–89)	13–17–2
33	L	December 21, 1988	3–4	Boston Bruins (1988–89)	13–18–2
34	L	December 23, 1988	4–5	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1988–89)	13–19–2
35	L	December 26, 1988	3–4 OT	Pittsburgh Penguins (1988–89)	13–20–2
36	T	December 28, 1988	4–4 OT	@ Quebec Nordiques (1988–89)	13–20–3
37	W	December 30, 1988	4–3	Detroit Red Wings (1988–89)	14–20–3
38	W	December 31, 1988	3–2	@ Detroit Red Wings (1988–89)	15–20–3
39	L	January 2, 1989	4–5	@ New York Rangers (1988–89)	15–21–3
40	W	January 4, 1989	5–4 OT	@ Buffalo Sabres (1988–89)	16–21–3
41	W	January 10, 1989	2–1	@ Winnipeg Jets (1988–89)	17–21–3
42	L	January 14, 1989	6–9	@ Los Angeles Kings (1988–89)	17–22–3
43	L	January 16, 1989	3–5	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1988–89)	17–23–3
44	L	January 18, 1989	1–3	@ Montreal Canadiens (1988–89)	17–24–3
45	W	January 19, 1989	6–4	Montreal Canadiens (1988–89)	18–24–3
46	W	January 21, 1989	5–4	Los Angeles Kings (1988–89)	19–24–3
47	W	January 23, 1989	5–0	@ Quebec Nordiques (1988–89)	20–24–3
48	T	January 25, 1989	3–3 OT	St. Louis Blues (1988–89)	20–24–4
49	W	January 27, 1989	8–6	@ New Jersey Devils (1988–89)	21–24–4
50	L	January 28, 1989	2–3 OT	Quebec Nordiques (1988–89)	21–25–4
51	L	January 31, 1989	3–5	Buffalo Sabres (1988–89)	21–26–4
52	L	February 3, 1989	0–1	@ Washington Capitals (1988–89)	21–27–4
53	L	February 4, 1989	3–5	@ New York Islanders (1988–89)	21–28–4
54	W	February 9, 1989	5–2	Buffalo Sabres (1988–89)	22–28–4
55	W	February 11, 1989	7–3	Winnipeg Jets (1988–89)	23–28–4
56	W	February 15, 1989	4–2	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1988–89)	24–28–4
57	W	February 18, 1989	4–3	@ Minnesota North Stars (1988–89)	25–28–4
58	L	February 19, 1989	6–7 OT	@ Winnipeg Jets (1988–89)	25–29–4
59	L	February 21, 1989	4–7	@ Edmonton Oilers (1988–89)	25–30–4
60	W	February 23, 1989	4–2	Quebec Nordiques (1988–89)	26–30–4
61	L	February 25, 1989	1–9	Boston Bruins (1988–89)	26–31–4
62	W	February 26, 1989	8–6	Pittsburgh Penguins (1988–89)	27–31–4
63	W	February 28, 1989	3–1	@ New York Islanders (1988–89)	28–31–4
64	W	March 2, 1989	2–1	Vancouver Canucks (1988–89)	29–31–4
65	L	March 4, 1989	1–6	Montreal Canadiens (1988–89)	29–32–4
66	W	March 5, 1989	3–0	Toronto Maple Leafs (1988–89)	30–32–4
67	W	March 8, 1989	7–3	Edmonton Oilers (1988–89)	31–32–4
68	L	March 11, 1989	3–5	@ Montreal Canadiens (1988–89)	31–33–4
69	T	March 12, 1989	3–3 OT	Philadelphia Flyers (1988–89)	31–33–5
70	W	March 14, 1989	8–2	New York Islanders (1988–89)	32–33–5
71	L	March 16, 1989	1–6	Buffalo Sabres (1988–89)	32–34–5
72	L	March 18, 1989	2–8	Washington Capitals (1988–89)	32–35–5
73	W	March 19, 1989	3–2	@ Boston Bruins (1988–89)	33–35–5
74	W	March 22, 1989	4–2	Boston Bruins (1988–89)	34–35–5
75	L	March 23, 1989	3–6	@ Quebec Nordiques (1988–89)	34–36–5
76	W	March 25, 1989	4–0	St. Louis Blues (1988–89)	35–36–5
77	L	March 28, 1989	2–4	@ Buffalo Sabres (1988–89)	35–37–5
78	W	March 30, 1989	9–5	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1988–89)	36–37–5
79	W	April 1, 1989	6–1	Chicago Blackhawks (1988–89)	37–37–5
80	L	April 2, 1989	2–3	@ Boston Bruins (1988–89)	37–38–5

Playoffs

Division semi-finals

Hartford Whalers vs. Montreal Canadiens

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score	Notes
April 5	Hartford Whalers	2	Montreal Canadiens	6
April 6	Hartford Whalers	2	Montreal Canadiens	3
April 8	Montreal Canadiens	5	Hartford Whalers	4	(OT)
April 9	Montreal Canadiens	4	Hartford Whalers	3

Montreal wins best-of-seven series 4 games to 0

Player stats

Forwards

Note: GP= Games played; G= Goals; AST= Assists; PTS = Points; PIM = Points

Player	GP	G	AST	PTS	PIM
Kevin Dineen	79	45	44	89	167
Ron Francis	69	29	48	77	36
Ray Ferraro	80	41	35	76	86
Scott Young	76	19	40	59	27
Paul MacDermid	74	17	27	44	141
Dave Tippett	80	17	24	41	45
John Anderson	62	16	24	40	28
Jody Hull	60	16	18	34	10
Sylvain Turgeon	42	16	14	30	40
Dean Evason	67	11	17	28	60
Brian Lawton	35	10	16	26	28
Carey Wilson	34	11	11	22	14
Brent Peterson	66	4	13	17	61
Don Maloney	21	3	11	14	23
Tom Martin	38	7	6	13	113
Torrie Robertson	27	2	4	6	84
Ed Kastelic	10	0	2	2	15
Mark Reeds	7	0	2	2	6
Dallas Gaume	4	1	1	2	0
Terry Yake	2	0	0	0	0
Jim Thomson	5	0	0	0	14

Defensemen

Note: GP= Games played; G= Goals; AST= Assists; PTS = Points; PIM = Points

Player	GP	G	AST	PTS	PIM
Dave Babych	70	6	41	47	54
Ulf Samuelsson	71	9	26	35	181
Norm Maciver	37	1	22	23	24
Sylvain Côté	78	8	9	17	49
Grant Jennings	55	3	10	13	159
Joel Quenneville	69	4	7	11	32
Randy Ladouceur	75	2	5	7	95
Brad Shaw	3	1	0	1	0
Scot Kleinendorst	24	0	1	1	36
Al Tuer	4	0	0	0	23
Adam Burt	5	0	0	0	6
Jim Pavese	5	0	0	0	5

Goaltending

Note: GP= Games played; W= Wins; L= Losses; T = Ties; SO = Shutouts; GAA = Goals Against

Player	GP	W	L	T	SO	GAA
Peter Sidorkiewicz	44	22	18	4	4	3.03
Mike Liut	35	13	19	1	1	4.25
Kay Whitmore	3	2	1	0	0	3.33

Awards and records

• Peter Sidorkiewicz, Goaltender, NHL First All-Rookie Team

Transactions

• July 6, 1988 - Neil Sheehy and Mike Millar traded to the Washington Capitals for Grant Jennings and Ed Kastelic.
• October 3, 1988 - Whalers lose Stewart Gavin and Tom Martin to the Minnesota North Stars in the waiver draft.
• November 23, 1988 - Whalers release Richard Brodeur.
• December 26, 1988 - Carey Wilson and Hartford's 1989 fifth round draft pick (Lubos Rob) traded to the New York Rangers for Norm Maciver, Brian Lawton, and Don Maloney.
• March 6, 1989 - Scot Kleinendorst traded to the Washington Capitals for Jim Thomson.
• March 7, 1989 - Torrie Robertson traded to the Detroit Red Wings for Jim Pavese.

Roster

1988-89 Hartford Whalers
Goaltenders 1 Mike Liut  30 Peter Sidorkiewicz  35 Kay Whitmore		Defensemen 3 Joel Quenneville  4 Jim Pavese  5 Ulf Samuelsson  6 Adam Burt  18 Scot Kleinendorst  21 Sylvain Cote  25 Grant Jennings  29 Randy Ladouceur  32 Brad Shaw  33 Norm Maciver  40 Al Tuer  44 Dave Babych		Wingers 7 Brian Lawton  8 Jody Hull  11 Kevin Dineen  14 Don Maloney  15 Dave Tippett  16 Sylvain Turgeon  18 Jim Thomson  20 John Anderson  22 Ed Kastelic  23 Paul MacDermid  24 Tom Martin  27 Scott Young  32 Torrie Robertson  38 Mark Reeds		Centers 10 Ron Francis  - C 12 Dean Evason  17 Brent Peterson  26 Ray Ferraro  33 Carey Wilson  37 Dallas Gaume  38 Terry Yake  Coach: Larry Pleau GM: Emile Francis