1989-90 NHL season

The 1989-90 NHL season was the 73rd season of the National Hockey League. Twenty-one teams each played 80 games. The Stanley Cup winners were the Edmonton Oilers, who won the best of seven series 4–1 against the Boston Bruins. The championship was the Oilers fifth Stanley Cup in the past 7 years.

This also marked the first time that all three New York City metro area teams made the playoffs in the same season (a feat which would be repeated only twice).

This was the first playoffs that logo of the Stanley Cup Playoffs would appear at the center ice corners.

As of the 2008-09 season, it was the last season that the Detroit Red Wings missed the playoffs.

Final standings
Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF= Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts = Points, PIM = Penalties in minutes

Scoring leaders
Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points, PIM = Penalties in minutes

Stanley Cup playoffs
Note: All dates in 1990

Finals
The Edmonton Oilers defeated the Boston Bruins in the 1990 Stanley Cup Finals, four games to one. For the Oilers, it was their fifth Cup win in seven years, and their only one without Wayne Gretzky. In game 1, Petr Klima scored at 15:13 of the third overtime period to give the Oilers a 3-2 win; this game remains the longest in Stanley Cup Finals history (Longest NHL overtime games), edging both Brett Hull's cup-winner in 1999 and Igor Larionov's game-winner in 2002 by less than 30 seconds. In game five at the Boston Garden on May 24, the Oilers won 4-1. Craig Simpson scored the game-winning goal. Oilers goaltender Bill Ranford was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as Playoff MVP.

Debuts
The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1989-90 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):
 * Wes Walz, Boston Bruins
 * Alexander Mogilny, Buffalo Sabres
 * Rob Ray, Buffalo Sabres
 * Donald Audette*, Buffalo Sabres
 * Sergei Makarov, Calgary Flames
 * Rob Blake, Los Angeles Kings
 * Helmut Balderis, Minnesota North Stars
 * Andrew Cassels, Montreal Canadiens
 * Lyle Odelein, Montreal Canadiens
 * Vyacheslav Fetisov, New Jersey Devils
 * Alexei Kasatonov, New Jersey Devils
 * Murray Baron, Philadelphia Flyers
 * Curtis Joseph, St. Louis Blues
 * Tie Domi, Toronto Maple Leafs
 * Vladimir Krutov, Vancouver Canucks
 * Igor Larionov, Vancouver Canucks
 * Olaf Kolzig, Washington Capitals

Last games
The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1989-90 (listed with their last team):
 * Reed Larson, Buffalo Sabres
 * Al Secord, Chicago Blackhawks
 * Robert Frederick Murray, Chicago Blackhawks
 * Duane Sutter, Chicago Blackhawks
 * Bernie Federko, Detroit Red Wings
 * Borje Salming, Detroit Red Wings
 * Reijo Ruotsalainen, Edmonton Oilers
 * Barry Beck, Los Angeles Kings
 * Helmut Balderis, Minnesota North Stars
 * Curt Fraser, Minnesota North Stars
 * Mark Johnson, New Jersey Devils
 * Ron Greschner, New York Rangers
 * Vladimir Krutov, Vancouver Canucks
 * Paul Reinhart, Vancouver Canucks
 * Doug Wickenheiser, Washington Capitals