The 1978-79 NHL season was the 62nd season of the National Hockey League. The Montreal Canadiens beat the New York Rangers in the Stanley Cup finals four games to one for their fourth consecutive Cup. The Cleveland Barons merged with the Minnesota North Stars (continuing as the North Stars), reducing the NHL membership to 17 teams; the last time that the NHL contracted. In the 1978-79 season, two of the "Original Six" teams met in the Finals, which would not occur again until 2013. The Boston Bruins joined the Canadiens and Rangers in the 1978-79 semifinals and marked the last appearance by three Original Six teams in the final four until 2014.

League business

This season saw the first reduction in the total number of teams since the Brooklyn Americans folded following the 1941-42 season. Fearing that two teams were on the verge of folding, the league approved the merger of the financially unstable Cleveland Barons and Minnesota North Stars franchises, reducing the number of teams to 17. The merged team continued as the Minnesota North Stars, but assumed the Barons' place in the Adams Division.

This reduction would only be temporary, however, as negotiations continued toward an agreement with the World Hockey Association that would see it fold following this season, with four of its teams joining the NHL as expansion franchises for 1979-80.

For the first time since the NHL All-Star Game became an annual tradition, it was not played. In its stead was the 1979 Challenge Cup, which saw Soviet Union players come over to North America to play against NHL players. The Soviets won the series two games to one.

Regular season

For the past three seasons, the Montreal Canadiens had dominated the regular season, but times were changing. The New York Islanders had been steadily improving over the past few seasons and this season saw them beat out the Canadiens by one point for the best record in the league.

This was the last season until the 2005-06 season that the St. Louis Blues missed the playoffs.

Final standings

GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, PIM = Penalties In Minutes
Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold

Prince of Wales Conference

^[1]

^[1]

Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts = Points
       Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.

Clarence Campbell Conference

^[1]

Playoffs

Playoff seeds

The twelve teams that qualified for the playoffs are ranked 1-12 based on regular season points.

Note: Only teams that qualified for the playoffs are listed here.

1. New York Islanders, Patrick Division champions, Clarence Campbell Conference regular season champions - 116 points
2. Montreal Canadiens, Norris Division champions, Prince of Wales Conference regular season champions - 115 points
3. Boston Bruins, Adams Division champions - 100 points
4. Philadelphia Flyers - 95 points
5. New York Rangers - 91 points
6. Atlanta Flames - 90 points
7. Buffalo Sabres - 88 points
8. Pittsburgh Penguins - 85 points
9. Toronto Maple Leafs - 81 points
10. Los Angeles Kings - 80 points
11. Chicago Black Hawks, Smythe Division champions - 73 points
12. Vancouver Canucks - 63 points

Playoff bracket

• Division winners earned a bye to the Quarterfinals
• Teams were re-seeded based on regular season record after the Preliminary and Quarterfinal rounds

Stanley Cup Finals

Prior to 2013, this was the last time two Original Six clubs met in the finals. Both teams would next appear in the Stanley Cup Finals: Canadiens winning in 1986 and 1993, Rangers winning in 1994.

Awards

All-Star teams

Player statistics

Scoring leaders

GP = Games Played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points, PIM = Penalties In Minutes

Source: NHL.^[2]

Leading goaltenders

Note: GP = Games played; Min - Minutes Played; GA = Goals Against; GAA = Goals Against Average; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; SO = Shutouts

Other statistics

Plus-minus

• Bryan Trottier, New York Islanders

Coaches

Patrick Division

• Atlanta Flames: Fred Creighton
• New York Islanders: Al Arbour
• New York Rangers: Fred Shero
• Philadelphia Flyers: Bob McCammon and Pat Quinn

Adams Division

• Boston Bruins: Don Cherry
• Buffalo Sabres: Billy Inglis
• Minnesota North Stars: Harry Howell and Glen Sonmor
• Toronto Maple Leafs: Roger Neilson

Norris Division

• Detroit Red Wings: Bobby Kromm
• Los Angeles Kings: Bob Berry
• Montreal Canadiens: Scotty Bowman
• Pittsburgh Penguins: Johnny Wilson
• Washington Capitals: Danny Belisle

Smythe Division

• Chicago Black Hawks: Bill White
• Colorado Rockies: Pat Kelly
• St. Louis Blues: Barclay Plager
• Vancouver Canucks: Harry Neale

Milestones

Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1978-79 (listed with their first team, asterisk (*) marks debut in playoffs):

• Joel Quenneville, Toronto Maple Leafs
• Brad Marsh, Atlanta Flames
• Reggie Lemelin, Atlanta Flames
• Al Secord, Boston Bruins
• Bobby Smith, Minnesota North Stars
• Steve Payne, Minnesota North Stars
• Rod Langway §, Montreal Canadiens
• John Tonelli §, New York Islanders
• Anders Hedberg §, New York Rangers
• Ulf Nilsson §, New York Rangers
• Ken Linseman §, Philadelphia Flyers
• Pete Peeters, Philadelphia Flyers
• Greg Millen, Pittsburgh Penguins
• Wayne Babych, St. Louis Blues
• Curt Fraser, Vancouver Canucks
• Thomas Gradin, Vancouver Canucks
• Stan Smyl, Vancouver Canucks
• Ryan Walter, Washington Capitals

Players marked with § began their major professional career in the World Hockey Association.

Last games

The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1978-79 (listed with their last team):

• Bobby Orr, Chicago Black Hawks
• Joe Watson, Colorado Rockies
• Danny Grant, Los Angeles Kings
• J. P. Parise, Minnesota North Stars
• Jacques Lemaire, Montreal Canadiens
• Ken Dryden, Montreal Canadiens
• Yvan Cournoyer, Montreal Canadiens
• Ed Westfall, New York Islanders
• Bernie Parent, Philadelphia Flyers
• Garry Monahan, Toronto Maple Leafs
• Pit Martin, Vancouver Canucks

See also

• List of Stanley Cup champions
• 1978 NHL Amateur Draft
• 1979 Challenge Cup
• 1978-79 WHA season
• 1978 in sports
• 1979 in sports

References

• Diamond, Dan, ed. (2000). Total Hockey. Kingston, NY: Total Sports. ISBN 1-892129-85-X.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Dinger, Ralph, ed. (2011). The National Hockey League Official Guide & Record Book 2012. Toronto, ON: Dan Diamond & Associates. ISBN 978-1-894801-22-5.
• Dryden, Steve, ed. (2000). Century of hockey. Toronto, ON: McClelland & Stewart Ltd. ISBN 0-7710-4179-9.
• Fischler, Stan; Fischler, Shirley; Hughes, Morgan; Romain, Joseph; Duplacey, James (2003). The Hockey Chronicle: Year-by-Year History of the National Hockey League. Lincolnwood, IL: Publications International Inc. ISBN 0-7853-9624-1.

Notes

External links

• Hockey Database
• NHL.com