1978–79 Philadelphia Flyers | |
---|---|
Division | 2nd Patrick |
Conference | 2nd Campbell |
1978–79 record | 40–25–15 |
Home record | 26–10–4 |
Road record | 14–15–11 |
Goals for | 281 (8th) |
Goals against | 248 (3rd) |
Team information | |
President | Joe Scott |
General manager | Keith Allen |
Coach |
Bob McCammon
[a] Pat Quinn [a] |
Captain | Bobby Clarke |
Alternate captains | None [b] |
Arena | Spectrum |
Average attendance | 17,077 [2] |
Minor league affiliate(s) |
Maine Mariners Milwaukee Admirals Jersey Aces |
Team leaders | |
Goals |
Bill Barber (34) Reggie Leach (34) |
Assists | Bobby Clarke (57) |
Points | Bill Barber (87) |
Penalty minutes | Behn Wilson (197) |
Plus/minus | Blake Dunlop (+27) |
Wins | Wayne Stephenson (20) |
Goals against average | Robbie Moore (1.77) |
The 1978–79 Philadelphia Flyers season was the Philadelphia Flyers' 12th season in the National Hockey League (NHL).
Head coach Fred Shero, who had one more year left on his contract, submitted a letter of resignation on May 22, 1978, [3] stating that the Flyers needed a change whether they realized it or not. Flyers management had previously heard rumors about Shero wanting to leave Philadelphia and re-join the New York Rangers organization, and refused to accept his letter of resignation. [4] Shero then signed a $250,000, five-year contract with the Rangers to be their new head coach and general manager, believing he no longer had a contractual agreement to the Flyers. [5] A few weeks after signing Shero, the Rangers gave the Flyers their first-round pick (7th overall) in the 1978 draft and cash as compensation, allowing the Rangers to avoid tampering charges. [4] Bob McCammon, who had just coached the Flyers' first year American Hockey League Maine Mariners farm club to a Calder Cup title, was named Shero's replacement on July 6. [6]
The Flyers acquired the 6th overall pick from the Pittsburgh Penguins for three veterans from their Stanley Cup championship teams – Tom Bladon, Orest Kindrachuk and Ross Lonsberry – on the eve of the draft. The trade gave the Flyers three first-round picks and they selected defenseman Behn Wilson and forwards Ken Linseman and Dan Lucas.
Two other longtime Flyers also left the team during the off-season. Gary Dornhoefer retired and Joe Watson was traded to the Colorado Rockies.
After an eight-game winless streak in January that saw the team drop to last place in the division, McCammon and assistant coach Terry Crisp were fired. [1] Replacing him was Shero's previous assistant coach Pat Quinn, who had replaced McCammon as head coach in Maine. [1] While McCammon returned to Maine and coached the Mariners to a second consecutive Calder Cup title, the Flyers rallied under Quinn and finished in 2nd place.
On February 17, 1979, Bernie Parent suffered a career-ending eye injury in a game against the New York Rangers. [7] An errant stick entered the right eye hole of his mask, causing permanent damage to his vision. [7] After hospitalization, including the complete loss of sight for two weeks, Parent recovered and eventually regained sight, although not at the level required to resume his playing career. [7]
GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | Pts | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
New York Islanders | 80 | 51 | 15 | 14 | 358 | 214 | 116 |
Philadelphia Flyers | 80 | 40 | 25 | 15 | 281 | 248 | 95 |
New York Rangers | 80 | 40 | 29 | 11 | 316 | 292 | 91 |
Atlanta Flames | 80 | 41 | 31 | 8 | 327 | 280 | 90 |
Patrick Division record vs. opponents
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Matched-up against the Vancouver Canucks in the preliminary round, the Flyers won the series in three games. The Flyers' season came to an end against Shero's Rangers in a five-game quarterfinal loss.
1978–79 regular season [9] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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October: 3–4–2, 8 points (home: 2–3–0; road: 1–1–2)
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November: 9–4–2, 20 points (home: 4–1–1; road: 5–3–1)
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December: 7–5–2, 16 points (home: 6–1–0; road: 1–4–2)
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January: 3–4–5, 11 points (home: 2–1–3; road: 1–3–2)
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February: 5–2–2, 12 points (home: 3–2–0; road: 2–0–2)
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March: 11–4–2, 24 points (home: 7–1–0; road: 4–3–2)
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Legend:
Win (2 points) Loss (0 points) Tie (1 point) |
1979 Stanley Cup playoffs [9] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Preliminary Round vs. Vancouver Canucks – Flyers win 2–1
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Quarterfinals vs. New York Rangers – Rangers win 4–1
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Legend:
Win Loss |
Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. | Player | Pos | GP | G | A | Pts | +/- | PIM | GP | G | A | Pts | +/- | PIM |
7 | Bill Barber | LW | 79 | 34 | 46 | 80 | 19 | 22 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 7 | −1 | 10 |
16 | Bobby Clarke | C | 80 | 16 | 57 | 73 | 12 | 68 | 8 | 2 | 4 | 6 | −8 | 8 |
10 | Mel Bridgman | C | 76 | 24 | 35 | 59 | 14 | 184 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −7 | 17 |
19 | Rick MacLeish | LW | 71 | 26 | 32 | 58 | 4 | 47 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −5 | 0 |
27 | Reggie Leach | RW | 76 | 34 | 20 | 54 | −3 | 20 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 6 | −9 | 0 |
3 | Behn Wilson | D | 80 | 13 | 36 | 49 | 13 | 197 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −6 | 8 |
32 | Blake Dunlop | C | 66 | 20 | 28 | 48 | 27 | 16 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −5 | 4 |
2 | Bob Dailey | D | 70 | 9 | 30 | 39 | 21 | 63 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 14 |
9 | Bob Kelly | LW | 77 | 7 | 31 | 38 | 15 | 132 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −5 | 10 |
17 | Paul Holmgren | RW | 57 | 19 | 10 | 29 | 2 | 168 | 8 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 22 |
26 | Ken Linseman | C | 30 | 5 | 20 | 25 | 16 | 23 | 8 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 1 | 22 |
20 | Jimmy Watson | D | 77 | 9 | 13 | 22 | 11 | 52 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 2 | −5 | 2 |
5 | Rick Lapointe | D | 77 | 3 | 18 | 21 | 15 | 53 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −4 | 14 |
22 | Tom Gorence | RW | 42 | 13 | 6 | 19 | 16 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 4 | −5 | 0 |
29 | Barry Dean | LW | 30 | 4 | 13 | 17 | −1 | 20 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
11 | Don Saleski‡ | RW | 35 | 11 | 5 | 16 | 3 | 14 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
28 [c] | Dennis Ververgaert† | RW | 37 | 9 | 7 | 16 | −4 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | −1 | 2 |
37 | Al Hill | LW | 31 | 5 | 11 | 16 | 5 | 28 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −2 | 2 |
8 | Dave Hoyda | LW | 67 | 3 | 13 | 16 | 2 | 138 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
6 | Andre Dupont | D | 77 | 3 | 9 | 12 | 21 | 135 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −6 | 17 |
23 | Paul Evans | C | 44 | 6 | 5 | 11 | −3 | 12 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
18 | Yves Preston | LW | 9 | 3 | 1 | 4 | −2 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
31 [d] | Frank Bathe | D | 21 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 9 | 76 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 12 |
28 | Drew Callander‡ | C | 15 | 2 | 1 | 3 | −1 | 5 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
25 | Kevin McCarthy‡ | D | 22 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 21 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
1 | Bernie Parent | G | 36 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 8 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
15 | Danny Lucas | LW | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −2 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
35 | Wayne Stephenson | G | 40 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | ||
39 | Robbie Moore† | G | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||
24 | Terry Murray | D | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
33 | Pete Peeters | G | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
30 | Rick St. Croix | G | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
44 | Glen Cochrane | D | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
25 | Norm Barnes | D | — | — | — | — | — | — | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 0 |
Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||||||||||
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No. | Player | GP | GS | W | L | T | SA | GA | GAA | SV% | SO | TOI | GP | GS | W | L | SA | GA | GAA | SV% | SO | TOI |
35 | Wayne Stephenson | 40 | 36 | 20 | 10 | 5 | 946 | 122 | 3.36 | .871 | 2 | 2,181:40 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 90 | 16 | 4.63 | .822 | 0 | 207:33 |
1 | Bernie Parent | 36 | 36 | 16 | 12 | 7 | 834 | 89 | 2.71 | .893 | 4 | 1,970:45 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
33 | Pete Peeters | 5 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 109 | 16 | 3.47 | .853 | 0 | 276:41 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
39 | Robbie Moore† | 5 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 96 | 7 | 1.77 | .927 | 2 | 237:18 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 123 | 18 | 4.06 | .854 | 0 | 266:12 |
30 | Rick St. Croix | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 53 | 6 | 3.08 | .887 | 0 | 117:00 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Type | Award/honor | Recipient | Ref |
---|---|---|---|
League (annual) |
NHL second All-Star team | Bill Barber ( Left wing) | [10] |
League (in-season) |
Challenge Cup selection | Bill Barber | [11] |
Bobby Clarke | |||
Team | Barry Ashbee Trophy | Bob Dailey | [12] |
Class Guy Award | Bernie Parent | [12] |
Among the team records set during the 1978–79 season was Behn Wilson scoring 49 points, the most for a rookie defenseman in club history. [13] Wilson, along with Blake Dunlop and Al Hill, combined to score three goals in 35 seconds during the second period of a March 1 game against the Boston Bruins, tied for the fastest three goals in team history. [14] On March 11, Frank Bathe received a club record 55 penalty minutes during a March 11 game against the Los Angeles Kings. [15] During the fifth and final game of their quarterfinal playoff series loss to the New York Rangers, the Flyers six goals against during the third period is a team record. [16] The five shorthanded goals they allowed during the series is also a single playoff series high. [17]
The 1978–79 season was the final season of Bernie Parent's career, who hold several career records for the team. Parent holds the regular season marks for most ties (102), shutouts (50), and minutes played (28,215). [18] [19] [20] He also holds the playoff marks for seasons played (7, tied with Ron Hextall), shutouts (6), and save percentage (.916). [21] [22] [23]
The Flyers were involved in the following transactions from May 26, 1978, the day after the deciding game of the 1978 Stanley Cup Finals, through May 21, 1979, the day of the deciding game of the 1979 Stanley Cup Finals. [24]
Date | Details | Ref | |
---|---|---|---|
June 2, 1978 [e] | To Philadelphia Flyers 1st-round pick in 1978 Cash |
To
New York Rangers Fred Shero |
[25] |
June 14, 1978 | To Philadelphia Flyers 1st-round pick in 1978 Future considerations [f] |
To
Pittsburgh Penguins Tom Bladon Orest Kindrachuk Ross Lonsberry |
[26] |
June 15, 1978 | To Philadelphia Flyers 2nd-round pick in 1979 |
To
Colorado Rockies 2nd-round pick in 1978 |
|
June 15, 1978 | To Philadelphia Flyers 10th-round pick in 1978 11th-round pick in 1978 |
To
Buffalo Sabres Cash |
|
June 15, 1978 | To Philadelphia Flyers 12th-round pick in 1978 |
To
Chicago Black Hawks Cash |
|
August 31, 1978 | To Philadelphia Flyers Cash |
To Colorado Rockies Joe Watson |
[27] |
December 29, 1978 | To Philadelphia Flyers Dennis Ververgaert |
To
Vancouver Canucks Drew Callander Kevin McCarthy |
[28] |
March 3, 1979 | To Philadelphia Flyers Future considerations |
To Colorado Rockies Don Saleski |
[29] |
Date | Player | Former team | Via | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|
September 1978 | M. F. Schurman | Spokane Flyers ( WIHL) | Free agency | [30] |
October 9, 1978 | Yves Preston | Milwaukee Admirals ( IHL) | Free agency | [31] |
November 7, 1978 | Robbie Moore | University of Western Ontario ( OUAA) | Free agency | [32] |
November 20, 1978 | Reid Bailey | Port Huron Flags (IHL) | Free agency | [33] |
Date | Player | New team | Via | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|
July 19, 1978 | Brian Burke | Retirement | ||
July 22, 1978 | Mike Korney | St. Louis Blues | Free agency | [34] |
Philadelphia's picks at the 1978 NHL Amateur Draft, which was held at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, on June 15, 1978. [35]
Round | Pick | Player | Position | Nationality | Team (league) | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 6 | Behn Wilson | Defense | Canada | Kingston Canadians ( OHA) | [g] |
1 | 7 | Ken Linseman | Forward | Canada | Birmingham Bulls ( WHA) | [h] |
1 | 14 | Dan Lucas | Wing | Canada | Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds (OHA) | |
2 | 33 | Mike Simurda | Right wing | Canada | Kingston Canadians (OHA) | |
3 | 37 | Gord Salt | Right wing | Canada | Michigan Tech University ( WCHA) | [i] |
3 | 50 | Glen Cochrane | Defense | Canada | Victoria Cougars ( WCHL) | |
4 | 67 | Russ Wilderman | Center | Canada | Seattle Breakers (WCHL) | |
5 | 83 | Brad Tamblyn | Defense | Canada | Toronto Marlboros (OHA) | |
6 | 100 | Mark Taylor | Forward | Canada | University of North Dakota (WCHA) | |
7 | 117 | Mike Ewanouski | Right wing | United States | Boston College ( HE) | |
8 | 126 | Jerry Price | Goaltender | Canada | Portland Winter Hawks (WCHL) | [g] |
8 | 134 | Darre Switzer | Left wing | Canada | Medicine Hat Tigers (WCHL) | |
9 | 151 | Greg Francis | Defense | Canada | St. Lawrence University ( ECAC) | |
10 | 167 | Rick Berard | Defense | Canada | Saint Mary's University ( CIAU) | [j] |
10 | 168 | Don Lucia | Defense | United States | University of Notre Dame ( CCHA) | |
11 | 182 | Mike Berge | Forward | United States | University of North Dakota (WCHA) | [j] |
11 | 183 | Ken Moore | Goaltender | United States | Clarkson University (ECAC) | |
12 | 195 | Jim Olson | Right wing | United States | St. Paul Vulcans ( USHL) | [k] |
12 | 198 | Anton Šťastný | Forward | Czechoslovakia | Slovan ChZJD Bratislava ( CFIHL) | [l] |
The Flyers were affiliated with the Maine Mariners of the AHL, [38] [39] the Milwaukee Admirals of the IHL, [40] and the Jersey Aces of the NEHL. [40]
he announced his resignation on May 22, 1978