1977–78 NHL season

The 1977–78 NHL season was the 61st season of the National Hockey League. Eighteen teams each played 80 games. The Montreal Canadiens won their third Stanley Cup in a row as they beat the Boston Bruins four games to two in the finals.

League Business

Clarence Campbell retired as NHL President, prior to this season. John Ziegler succeeded him.

A trophy for the top defensive forward, the Frank J. Selke Trophy, made its debut this season and went to Bob Gainey, who played Left Wing for Montreal.

On June 14, 1978, the league approved the merger of the financially struggling Cleveland Barons and Minnesota North Stars franchises, reducing the number of teams to seventeen, with the North Stars (now the Dallas Stars) assuming the Barons' place in the Adams Division. It was the only instance of a league team vanishing since the Brooklyn Americans ceased operations in 1942.

The Colorado Rockies made the playoffs for the only time in franchise history. They would not make the playoffs again until their cinderella run of 1988 in New Jersey. The next time playoffs came to Colorado would be the Colorado Avalanche's championship season of 1996.

The league changed the playoff qualification format for this season. Whereas before the first through third-place teams in every division qualified, the format was changed to only guarantee the first and second-place finisher in each division a playoff sport. The last four qualifiers were from the next-best four regular-season records from third and lower place finishers.

Regular season

Milestones

On December 11, 1977, Tom Bladon became the first defenceman in NHL history to score 8 points in one game.^[1] He scored four goals and four assists versus the Cleveland Barons. It was 25% of his point total for the entire season.

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

Clarence Campbell Conference

Scoring leaders

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

Leading goaltenders

Playoffs

Playoff bracket

Finals

Boston Bruins vs. Montreal Canadiens

Montreal wins the series 4–2.

Larry Robinson won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.

NHL awards

All-Star teams

Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1977–78 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):

• Doug Wilson, Chicago Black Hawks
• Barry Beck, Colorado Rockies
• Dale McCourt, Detroit Red Wings
• Vaclav Nedomansky, Detroit Red Wings
• Dave Taylor, Los Angeles Kings
• Mike Bossy, New York Islanders
• Ron Duguay, New York Rangers
• Glen Hanlon, Vancouver Canucks
• Murray Bannerman, Vancouver Canucks
• Robert Picard, Washington Capitals

Last games

The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1977–78 (listed with their last team):

• Johnny Bucyk, Boston Bruins
• Eddie Johnston, Chicago Black Hawks
• Jim Neilson, Cleveland Barons
• Dennis Hull, Detroit Red Wings
• Ed Giacomin, Detroit Red Wings
• Bill Goldsworthy, New York Rangers
• Dallas Smith, New York Rangers
• Ken Hodge, New York Rangers
• Rod Gilbert, New York Rangers
• Gary Dornhoefer, Philadelphia Flyers
• Derek Sanderson, Pittsburgh Penguins
• Claude Larose, St. Louis Blues
• Jimmy Roberts, St. Louis Blues
• Red Berenson, St. Louis Blues
• Cesare Maniago, Vancouver Canucks

NOTE: Goldsworthy and Neilson would finish their major professional careers in the World Hockey Association.

See also

• List of Stanley Cup champions
• 1977 NHL Amateur Draft
• 31st National Hockey League All-Star Game
• National Hockey League All-Star Game
• 1977–78 WHA season
• 1977 in sports
• 1978 in sports

References

• Hockey Database
• NHL.com