1978 – 79 Quebec Nordiques season The 1978 – 79 Quebec Nordiques season was the Nordiques ' seventh season in the WHA , were coming off of a 40 - 37 - 3 record in the 1977 – 78 season and a loss in the playoff semi - finals . The Nordiques improved to 41 – 34 – 5 to qualify for the playoffs , but lost in the first round to eventual Avco Cup champions Winnipeg Jets . After the season was finished , the WHA announced that four of its teams , the Nordiques , Edmonton Oilers , New England Whalers and Winnipeg Jets would be admitted to the National Hockey League as expansion teams for the 1979 – 80 NHL season , and that the WHA would cease operations . During their seven seasons in the WHA , Quebec had a record of 295 - 237 - 24 , while winning the 1977 Avco Cup . Off - season . During the off - season , the league would lose the Houston Aeros , as they elected to fold as the club was not part of an NHL - WHA merger , leaving the WHA with seven teams . The league also announced that games against all - star teams from the Soviet Union , Czechoslovakia and Finland would once again count in the standings . The Nordiques would hire a new head coach , as Jacques Demers would take over from Maurice Filion , who ended the previous season as the interim head coach . Demers had previously coached the Indianapolis Racers and Cincinnati Stingers . Regular season . The Nordiques would start the season slowly , going winless in their opening five games , however , the team snapped out of their slump , winning ten of their next thirteen games to push themselves over the . 500 mark . Quebec would stay consistent throughout the season , easily clinching a playoff berth , as the Nordiques would finish the season with a 41 - 34 - 5 record , finishing second in the league behind the Edmonton Oilers , who had eleven more points than Quebec . Offensively , Quebec was led by Real Cloutier , who won the Bill Hunter Trophy by earning a league high 129 points . It was the fourth year in a row that a player from the Nordiques ( Marc Tardif in 1976 and 1978 , and Cloutier in 1977 ) would win that award . Cloutier scored a team record 75 goals , and added 54 assists . Marc Tardif had another solid season , scoring 41 goals and 96 points , while Serge Bernier added 36 goals and 82 points . Rich Leduc joined the 30 goal club , as he registered 30 goals and 62 points . On defense , Paul Baxter led the way , scoring 10 goals and 46 points , as well as a team high 240 PIM . Forty year old J . C . Tremblay had a productive year , earning 44 points in 56 games . In goal , Richard Brodeur and Jim Corsi split the action , with Brodeur winning a team high 25 games , as well as a club best 3 . 11 GAA . Corsi had 16 victories and a 3 . 30 GAA , while both goaltenders earned three shutouts . Playoffs . In the opening round of the playoffs , Quebec would face the Winnipeg Jets in a best of seven semi - final series . The Jets finished the season with a 39 - 35 - 6 record , earning 84 points , and a third place finish . The series opened with two games in Quebec , however , the Jets struck first , easily dominating the Nordiques in the series opener , by winning the game 6 - 3 , before crushing Quebec in the second game 9 - 2 to take a two game series lead . The series moved to Winnipeg for the next two games , and the Jets would stay hot , as they continued to dominate the Nordiques in the third and fourth games of the series , winning them 9 - 5 and 6 - 2 respectively to sweep Quebec out of the playoffs .