# 1979 WHA playoffs

The 1979 WHA playoffs was the postseason tournament of the World Hockey Association's 1978-1979 season. The seventh and final tournament concluded with five of the surviving six teams competing for the Avco World Trophy.
Among the notable events, phenom Wayne Gretzky made his first playoff appearance as a pro player as the Edmonton Oilers raced all the way to Avco Cup Final. Winnipeg lost the entire "Hot Line" of Bobby Hull (who played four games before retiring), Anders Hedberg & Ulf Nilsson (who each left for the NHL), which had scored 146 combined goals the previous season and even replaced their Avco Cup champion coach (Larry Hillman) after 61 games for Tom McVie. They were bolstered by the acquisition of several players from the liquidated Houston Aeros such as Rich Preston, Morris Lukowich, and Terry Ruskowski. Gary Smith was a late addition to the team, having gone from going winless in eleven starts with the extinct Indianapolis Racers to playing 11 games to end the season for the Jets on his way to being tabbed as the goaltender for their playoff run. The New England Whalers, still without the services of the Hartford Civic Center, played their last games as "New England" at the Springfield Civic Center while the Cincinnati Stingers played their last games as a franchise.
The Jets completed their WHA dynasty with their third championship in four seasons, doing so over the Edmonton Oilers in the Avco Cup Final. Wayne Gretzky led the playoffs in points with 20 on the strength of ten goals, which was only matched by Willy Lindström of the Jets, who had ten goals in ten games. In Game 5, Ron Chipperfield scored five goals to set the new WHA record for goals scored in a postseason game as the Oilers forced a Game 6 with a 10-2 victory. In Game 6, the Jets scored five goals in the first two periods and dominated their way to a 7-3 win on home ice to complete the WHA. Dave Semenko of the Oilers scored the final goal in WHA history, doing so with twelve seconds left in the third period.
Rich Preston of the Jets was the final person awarded the WHA Playoff MVP.

## Playoff seeds

* Edmonton Oilers – 98 points
* Quebec Nordiques – 87 points
* Winnipeg Jets – 84 points
* New England Whalers – 83 points
* Cincinnati Stingers – 72 points

## Bracket

| Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Finals | Finals | Finals |
| | | | 1 | Edmonton Oilers | 4 | | | |
| | | | 4 | New England Whalers | 3 | | | |
| 4 | New England Whalers | 2 | 4 | New England Whalers | 3 | | | |
| 5 | Cincinnati Stingers | 1 | | | | | | |
| 5 | Cincinnati Stingers | 1 | | | | 1 | Edmonton Oilers | 2 |
| | | | | | | 3 | Winnipeg Jets | 4 |
| | | | 2 | Quebec Nordiques | 0 | | | |
| | | | 3 | Winnipeg Jets | 4 | | | |

## Avco Cup Final

10,195 people saw the final WHA game when the Jets won the Avco Cup in Game 6 on May 20, 1979.
* Winnipeg won series 4–2

## Player statistics

These were the top ten skaters based on points.
| Player | Team | GP | G | A | Pts | +/– | PIM |
| Wayne Gretzky | Edmonton Oilers | 13 | 10 | 10 | 20 | 6 | 2 |
| Ron Chipperfield | Edmonton Oilers | 13 | 9 | 10 | 19 | 1 | 8 |
| Blair MacDonald | Edmonton Oilers | 13 | 8 | 10 | 18 | 1 | 6 |
| Brett Callighen | Edmonton Oilers | 13 | 5 | 10 | 15 | 5 | 15 |
| Willy Lindström | Winnipeg Jets | 10 | 10 | 5 | 15 | 7 | 9 |
| Morris Lukowich | Winnipeg Jets | 10 | 8 | 7 | 15 | 9 | 21 |
| Kent Nilsson | Winnipeg Jets | 10 | 3 | 11 | 14 | -1 | 4 |
| Peter Sullivan | Winnipeg Jets | 10 | 5 | 9 | 14 | 2 | 2 |
| Rich Preston | Winnipeg Jets | 10 | 8 | 5 | 13 | 3 | 15 |
| Terry Ruskowski | Winnipeg Jets | 8 | 1 | 12 | 13 | 10 | 23 |