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1978-79 WHA Season Summary

Previous Season

Season Summary ▪ Expanded Leaders ▪ Skater Statistics ▪ Goalie Statistics ▪ Sweater Numbers ▪ Debuts ▪ Final Season ▪ Game Results

League Standings

Playoff teams are marked with an asterisk (*) ▪ Click column headers to sort
Team GP W L T PTS PTS% GF GA SRS
Edmonton Oilers* 80 48 30 2 98 .613 340 266 0.77
Quebec Nordiques* 80 41 34 5 87 .544 288 271 0.25
Winnipeg Jets* 80 39 35 6 84 .525 307 306 -0.04
New England Whalers* 80 37 34 9 83 .519 298 287 0.13
Cincinnati Stingers* 80 33 41 6 72 .450 274 284 -0.09
Birmingham Bulls 80 32 42 6 70 .438 286 311 -0.24
Indianapolis Racers 25 5 18 2 12 .240 78 130 -1.98
Soviet All-Stars 6 4 1 1 9 .750 27 20 1.30
Czechoslovakia 6 1 4 1 3 .250 14 33 -3.04
Finland 1 0 1 0 0 .000 4 8 -3.23

League Playoffs

Click series name to show/hide game results
Avco Cup Finals (4-2):Winnipeg Jets over Edmonton Oilers 
 
Semi-Finals (4-3):Edmonton Oilers over New England Whalers 
Semi-Finals (4-0):Winnipeg Jets over Quebec Nordiques 
 
Preliminary Round (2-1):New England Whalers over Cincinnati Stingers 

Team Statistics

Glossary ▪ CSV ▪ PRE ▪ Click column headers to sort
Rk Team GP W L T PTS PTS% GF GA SRS TG/G PPG PPO PP% PPGA PPOA PK% SHG SHGA
1 Edmonton Oilers* 80 48 30 2 98 .613 340 266 0.77 7.58 70 276 25.36 62 288 78.47 9 6
2 Quebec Nordiques* 80 41 34 5 87 .544 288 271 0.25 6.99 67 272 24.63 63 329 80.85 6 9
3 Winnipeg Jets* 80 39 35 6 84 .525 307 306 -0.04 7.66 67 265 25.28 57 274 79.20 5 7
4 New England Whalers* 80 37 34 9 83 .519 298 287 0.13 7.31 53 259 20.46 63 262 75.95 15 6
5 Cincinnati Stingers* 80 33 41 6 72 .450 274 284 -0.09 6.98 81 341 23.75 64 278 76.98 6 5
6 Birmingham Bulls 80 32 42 6 70 .438 286 311 -0.24 7.46 51 259 19.69 69 277 75.09 5 7
7 Indianapolis Racers 25 5 18 2 12 .240 78 130 -1.98 8.32 16 27 0 7
8 Soviet All-Stars 6 4 1 1 9 .750 27 20 1.30 7.83
9 Czechoslovakia 6 1 4 1 3 .250 14 33 -3.04 7.83
10 Finland 1 0 1 0 0 .000 4 8 -3.23 12.00
League Average 52 24 24 4 52 .500 192 192 0.00 7.40 58 279 24.22 58 285 77.87 7 7

League Awards

Ben Hatskin Trophy:Dave Dryden
Bill Hunter Trophy:Real Cloutier
Dennis A. Murphy Trophy:Rick Ley
Gary L. Davidson Award/Gordie Howe Trophy:Dave Dryden
Lou Kaplan Trophy:Wayne Gretzky
Paul Deneau Trophy:Kent Nilsson
WHA Playoff MVP:Rich Preston

League Leaders

Glossary ▪ Rate statistic requirements

Goals

1.Real Cloutier-QBN75
2.Morris Lukowich-WNJ65
3.Peter Sullivan-WNJ46
 Wayne Gretzky*-2Tm46
5.Peter Marsh-CNS43

Goals Per Game

1.Real Cloutier-QBN0.97
2.Morris Lukowich-WNJ0.81
3.Ron Chipperfield-EDO0.58
4.Wayne Gretzky*-2Tm0.57
 Peter Sullivan-WNJ0.57

Assists

1.Robbie Ftorek-CNS77
2.Kent Nilsson-WNJ68
3.Terry Ruskowski-WNJ66
4.Mark Howe-NEW65
5.Wayne Gretzky*-2Tm64

Assists Per Game

1.Robbie Ftorek-CNS0.96
2.Terry Ruskowski-WNJ0.88
3.Kent Nilsson-WNJ0.87
4.Mark Howe-NEW0.84
5.Wayne Gretzky*-2Tm0.80

Points

1.Real Cloutier-QBN129
2.Robbie Ftorek-CNS116
3.Wayne Gretzky*-2Tm110
4.Mark Howe-NEW107
 Kent Nilsson-WNJ107

Points Per Game

1.Real Cloutier-QBN1.68
2.Robbie Ftorek-CNS1.45
3.Mark Howe-NEW1.39
4.Wayne Gretzky*-2Tm1.38
5.Kent Nilsson-WNJ1.37

Goals Created

1.Real Cloutier-QBN53.8
2.Robbie Ftorek-CNS43.8
3.Morris Lukowich-WNJ42.8
4.Wayne Gretzky*-2Tm42.5
5.Mark Howe-NEW40.3

Goals Created Per Game

1.Real Cloutier-QBN0.70
2.Robbie Ftorek-CNS0.55
3.Morris Lukowich-WNJ0.53
4.Wayne Gretzky*-2Tm0.53
5.Mark Howe-NEW0.52

Penalties in Minutes

1.Rick Vaive-BRB248
 Scott Campbell-WNJ248
3.Paul Baxter-QBN240
4.Barry Melrose-CNS222
5.Dave Hanson-BRB212

Games Played (Goalie)

1.Dave Dryden-EDO63
2.Mike Liut-CNS54
3.Markus Mattsson-WNJ52
4.Pat Riggin-BRB46
5.Richard Brodeur-QBN42

Wins (Goalie)

1.Dave Dryden-EDO41
2.Richard Brodeur-QBN25
 Markus Mattsson-WNJ25
4.Mike Liut-CNS23
5.John Garrett-NEW20

Losses (Goalie)

1.Mike Liut-CNS27
2.Pat Riggin-BRB22
3.Markus Mattsson-WNJ21
4.Jim Corsi-QBN20
5.Dave Dryden-EDO17
 John Garrett-NEW17
 Ernie Wakely-BRB17
 Al Smith-NEW17

Ties/Overtime (Goalie)

1.Al Smith-NEW5
 Pat Riggin-BRB5
3.Mike Liut-CNS4
 John Garrett-NEW4
5.Markus Mattsson-WNJ3
 Joe Daley-WNJ3
 Richard Brodeur-QBN3

Points (Goalie)

1.Dave Dryden-EDO84
2.Richard Brodeur-QBN53
 Markus Mattsson-WNJ53
4.Mike Liut-CNS50
5.John Garrett-NEW44

Points Percentage (Goalie)

1.Dave Dryden-EDO.700
2.Richard Brodeur-QBN.646
3.Markus Mattsson-WNJ.541
4.John Garrett-NEW.537
5.Al Smith-NEW.500

Shutouts

1.Richard Brodeur-QBN3
 Jim Corsi-QBN3
 Mike Liut-CNS3
 Dave Dryden-EDO3
5.John Garrett-NEW2
 Eddie Mio-2Tm2

Goals Against

1.Mike Liut-CNS184
2.Markus Mattsson-WNJ181
3.Dave Dryden-EDO170
4.Pat Riggin-BRB158
5.John Garrett-NEW149

Goals Against Average

1.Dave Dryden-EDO2.89
2.Richard Brodeur-QBN3.11
3.Jim Corsi-QBN3.30
4.Al Smith-NEW3.31
5.Michel Dion-CNS3.32
    

All-Star Teams

1st Team
G: Dave Dryden
D: Rick Ley
D: Rob Ramage
C: Robbie Ftorek
LW: Real Cloutier
RW: Mark Howe
 2nd Team
G: Richard Brodeur
D: Dave Langevin
D: Paul Shmyr
C: Wayne Gretzky
LW: Morris Lukowich
RW: Blair MacDonald