Peter Stastny was joined by his brothers Marion and Anton on the Quebec Nordiques becoming the third trio of brothers in NHL history to play together on the same team. Peter continued his offensive prowess for the next 15 years becoming the second highest scorer of the 1980’s behind Wayne Gretzky.
In 1980-81, the league saw the emergence of a young Slovakian superstar by the name of Peter Stastny who would win the Calder Trophy with Quebec Nordiques scoring 109 points in his rookie season. 
Defenseman Al MacInnis won the Conn Smythe trophy and an emotional Lanny McDonald capped off his remarkable 16 year career embracing the Stanley Cup at last. The team had great success in Calgary through the 80’s, making it to the championship finals in 1985-86 and then winning the Presidents Trophy in 1988-89 with a 54-17-9 regular season record, then proceeding to win their first Stanley Cup by defeating the Montreal Canadiens. GM Cliff Fletcher rebuilt the team while in Calgary, assembling an incredibly talented cast including Lanny McDonald, Doug Gilmour, Gary Roberts, Theo Fleury, Joe Nieuwendyk, Al MacInnis and many other exceptional players.
The Atlanta Flames who joined the league as an expansion team in 1972, were forced to relocate to Calgary in 1980 becoming the Calgary Flames. In fact, at the end of the 1980-81 season four of the top five teams in the standings were expansion teams. Also, by this time the new franchises that joined the NHL in the 70’s had matured and become strong contenders. Sure, there were a few teams that moved to other cities, but for the most part the players on those teams remained the same and the animosity never diminished even after relocation. Now it was time for the dust to settle.įor the next 11 years the number of teams in the league remained unchanged, allowing for some intense rivalries to develop – especially with teams that were in close proximity. After a period of tremendous growth for the NHL between 19 in which 16 new franchises joined the league, the NHL had grown to 21 teams divided into two conferences.
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