1978-79 WHA Season

The 1978–79 WHA season was the 7th and final season of the World Hockey Association (WHA). Prior to the start of the season, the Houston Aeros folded leaving seven teams to start the season. Only six finished however, as the Indianapolis Racers folded after 25 games on the December 15, 1978. The remaining six teams each played 80 games, including one game each per team against a Soviet All-Star squad and the Czechoslovakia National team, the second consecutive year for this arrangement. The Soviet team won four of their six games and tied another; the Czech team only won once and tied once against four losses. In addition, to allow each regular team to play 80 games, the Edmonton Oilers played the Finnish National team (with future Oiler Jari Kurri) once at home, winning by a score of 8-4.
The Winnipeg Jets and defeated the Edmonton Oilers 4 games to 2 in the Finals to win their 3rd Avco World Trophy.
After the end of the season, an agreement was reached whereby four of the teams, the Edmonton Oilers, Quebec Nordiques, Winnipeg Jets and New England Whalers were admitted to the National Hockey League (NHL) as expansion teams for the 1979–80 NHL season, and the WHA ceased operations. The Cincinnati and Birmingham franchises were paid to disband.
==Regular Season==
The dying WHA went to almost any length to try and stay afloat. The NHL had rules regarding the age of players that could play while the WHA didn't. Nelson Skalbania, the owner of Indianapolis Racers, signed the 17 year old future super-star, Wayne Gretzky to, at that time, a whopping personal contract worth between 1.125 and 1.75 million dollars over 4 to 7 years. Skalbania, knowing that the WHA was fading, felt owning the young star was more valuable than owning a WHA team. Eight games into the season, though, Skalbania needed cash and liquidated his greatest asset to his old friend and former partner, Peter Pocklington, owner of the Edmonton Oilers. Pocklington purchased Gretzky and two other Indianapolis players, goaltender Eddie Mio and forward Peter Driscoll paying $700,000 for the contracts of the three players, although the announced price was actually $850,000. On Gretzky's 18th birthday, (January 26, 1979), Pocklington signed him to a 21 year personal services contract worth between 4 and 5 million dollars, the longest in hockey history. Gretzky captured the Lou Kaplan Trophy for rookie of the year, finish third in league scoring, and help the Oilers to first overall in the league. 
===Playoff Format===
The top five teams in the league qualified for the playoffs. The 4th and 5th place teams started in a best-of-three Quarter-final series, while the top three finishers received byes into the Semi-finals. In the Semi-finals, the 1st place team played the 4th/5th winner, while 2nd place played 3rd place. Both Semi-finals series were best-of-seven. Since the 2nd and 3rd place teams knew they'd be playing each other in the Semi-finals, they started their series while the 4th/5th Quarter-finals was occurring. The Finals, like the Semi-finals, was best four-out-of-seven games.
===Final Standings===
===Scoring Leaders===
Bolded numbers indicate season leaders
GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes
Player 	Team 	GP	G 	A 	Pts	PIM
Real Cloutier 	Quebec Nordiques 	77	75	54	129	48
Robbie Ftorek 	Cincinnati Stingers 	80	39	77	116	87
Wayne Gretzky 	Indianapolis/Edmonton	80	46	64	110	19
Mark Howe 	New England Whalers 	77	42	65	107	32
Kent Nilsson 	Winnipeg Jets 	78	39	68	107	8
Morris Lukowich	Winnipeg Jets 	80	65	34	99 	119
Marc Tardif 	Quebec Nordiques 	74	41	55	96 	98
André Lacroix 	New England Whalers 	78	32	56	88 	34
Peter Sullivan 	Winnipeg Jets 	80	46	40	86 	24
Terry Ruskowski	Winnipeg Jets 	75	20	66	86 	211
===Leading Goaltenders===
Bolded numbers indicate season leaders
GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties, GA = Goals against; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; SV% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average
Player 	Team 	GP	Min 	W 	L 	T	GA 	SO	SV% 	GAA
Dave Dryden 	Edmonton Oilers 	63	3531	41	17	2	170	3 	89.0	2.89
Richard Brodeur	Quebec Nordiques 	42	2433	25	13	3	126	3 	90.1	3.11
Jim Corsi 	Quebec Nordiques 	40	2291	16	20	1	126	3 	89.9	3.30
Al Smith 	New England Whalers	40	2396	17	17	5	132	1 	88.3	3.31
Michel Dion 	Cincinnati Stingers	30	1681	10	14	2	93 	0 	87.3	3.32
===All-Star Game===
Wayne Gretzky appeared in the 1979 WHA All-Star Game. The format of the game was a three game series between the WHA All-Stars against Dynamo Moscow at Edmonton's Northlands Coliseum. The WHA All-Stars were coached by Jacques Demers and Demers asked Gordie Howe if it was okay to put him on a line with Wayne Gretzky and his son Mark Howe. In the first game, the line scored seven points, as the WHA All-Star won by a score of 4-2. In the second game, Gretzky and Mark Howe each scored a goal and Gordie Howe picked up an assist as the WHA won 4-2. The line did not score in the final game but the WHA won by a score of 4-3.
==Avco World Trophy Playoffs==
===Quarter-finals - New England Whalers 2, Cincinnati Stingers 1===
#	Date 	Visitor 	Score	Home 	Record
1	April 21	Cincinnati Stingers	3–5 	New England Whalers	0–1
2	April 22	New England Whalers	3–6 	Cincinnati Stingers	1–1
3	April 24	New England Whalers	2–1 	Cincinnati Stingers	2–1
===Semi-finals - Winnipeg Jets 4, Quebec Nordiques 0===
#	Date 	Visitor 	Score	Home 	Record
1	April 23	Winnipeg Jets 	6–3 	Quebec Nordiques	1–0
2	April 25	Winnipeg Jets 	9–2 	Quebec Nordiques	2–0
3	April 27	Quebec Nordiques	5–9 	Winnipeg Jets 	0–3
4	April 29	Quebec Nordiques	2–6 	Winnipeg Jets 	0–4
===Semi-finals - Edmonton Oilers 4, New England Whalers 3===
#	Date 	Visitor 	Score	Home 	Record
1	April 26	New England Whalers	2–6 	Edmonton Oilers 	0–1
2	April 27	New England Whalers	5–9 	Edmonton Oilers 	0–2
3	April 29	Edmonton Oilers 	1–4 	New England Whalers	2–1
4	May 1 	Edmonton Oilers 	4–5 	New England Whalers	2–2
5	May 3 	New England Whalers	2–5 	Edmonton Oilers 	2–3
6	May 6 	Edmonton Oilers 	4–8 	New England Whalers	3–3
7	May 8 	New England Whalers	3–6 	Edmonton Oilers 	3–4
===Avco World Cup Finals - Winnipeg Jets 4, Edmonton Oilers 2===
The Oilers' Dave Semenko scored late in the third period of the deciding game, to record the last goal in the history of the WHA.McLelland and Stewart, p. 241. The goal was given up by the Winnipeg Jets Gary Smith.
#	Date 	Visitor 	Score	Home 	Record
1	May 11	Winnipeg Jets 	3–1 	Edmonton Oilers	1–0
2	May 13	Winnipeg Jets 	3–2 	Edmonton Oilers	2–0
3	May 15	Edmonton Oilers	8–3 	Winnipeg Jets 	1–2
4	May 16	Edmonton Oilers	2–3 	Winnipeg Jets 	1–3
5	May 18	Winnipeg Jets 	2–10 	Edmonton Oilers	3–2
6	May 20	Edmonton Oilers	3–7 	Winnipeg Jets 	2–4
==WHA Awards==
Avco World Trophy: 	Winnipeg Jets
Gordie Howe Trophy (MVP): 	Dave Dryden, Edmonton Oilers
Bill Hunter Trophy (Scoring Leader): 	Real Cloutier, Quebec Nordiques
Lou Kaplan Trophy (Rookie of the Year): 	Wayne Gretzky, Edmonton Oilers
Ben Hatskin Trophy (Best Goaltender): 	Dave Dryden, Edmonton Oilers
Dennis A. Murphy Trophy (Best Defenseman): 	Rick Ley, New England Whalers
Paul Deneau Trophy (Most Gentlemenly): 	Kent Nilsson, Winnipeg Jets
Robert Schmertz Memorial Trophy (Coach of the Year):	John Brophy, Birmingham Bulls
WHA Playoff MVP: 	Rich Preston, Winnipeg Jets
==All-Star Teams==
Position 	First Team 	Second Team
Centre 	Robbie Ftorek, Cincinnati	Wayne Gretzky, Edmonton
Right Wing	Real Cloutier, Quebec 	Blair MacDonald, Edmonton
Left Wing 	Mark Howe, New England 	Morris Lukowich, Winnipeg Jets
Defence 	Rick Ley, New England 	Dave Langevin, Edmonton
Defence 	Rob Ramage, Birmingham 	Paul Shmyr, Edmonton
Goaltender	Dave Dryden, Edmonton 	Richard Brodeur, Quebec
==Gallery==
1978-Nov25-Gordie-Tremblay.jpg|Gordie Howe and J.C. Tremblay, November 25, 1978.
1979-McKenzie-Pleau.jpg|John McKenzie and Larry Pleau in 1978-79 season action.
1979-McKenzie-Gretzky-Marty.jpg|John McKenzie, Wayne Gretzky, Marty Howe in 1978-79 season action.
1979_WHA_Champs_Winnipeg_Jets.jpg|Jets captain Lars-Erik Sjoberg carrying the Avco World Trophy, May 20, 1979.
1979-May20-Jets win Avco Trophy.jpg|Sjoberg and teammates with the Avco World Trophy, May 20, 1979.
==Video==
Wayne Gretzky scores the first two goals of his professional career, October 20, 1978.
Wayne Gretzky First Two Pro Goals with the WHA Indy Racers
Whalers-Jet game from January 30, 1979.
1979 WHA New England Whalers Winnipeg Jets
Game 6 of the 1979 Avco World Trophy Finals, last game in WHA history, May 20, 1979.
1979 Avco Cup - Edmonton Oilers At Winnipeg Jets (WHA)
==References==
*WHA Database
*HockeyDB
1 Four of the WHA teams were admitted to the NHL as expansion franchises — the New England/Hartford Whalers, Quebec Nordiques, Edmonton Oilers and Winnipeg Jets.
Category:1978 in hockey
Category:1979 in hockey
Category:World Hockey Association