1979-80 NHL season

The 1979-80 NHL season was the 63rd season of the National Hockey League. Twenty-one teams each played 80 games. This season saw the addition of four teams from the collapse of the World Hockey Association (WHA) the previous season as expansion franchises. The Edmonton Oilers, Winnipeg Jets, New England Whalers (now renamed "Hartford Whalers" at the insistence of the Boston Bruins), and Quebec Nordiques joined the NHL bringing a new total of 21 teams. The other two WHA teams (Birmingham Bulls and Cincinnati Stingers) were paid to disband. The collapse of the WHA also saw the much hyped super-star rookie Wayne Gretzky come to the NHL with the Edmonton Oilers. Gretzky would tie Marcel Dionne for the scoring lead with 137 points and capture the Hart Trophy as the most valuable player while Dionne took home the Art Ross Trophy as the leading scorer by virtue of having scored two more goals.

The big story of the regular season was the record-breaking undefeated streak compiled by the Philadelphia Flyers. After starting the season with one win and one loss, the Flyers did not lose again for nearly three months, earning at least one point in every game between October 14, 1979 and January 6, 1980, a span of 35 games. This stands as the longest undefeated streak in North American professional sports history.

The story of the playoffs, though, was Mike Bossy and the New York Islanders. After a dismal start for their franchise in the early seventies, the Islanders built a contender for the Stanley Cup and won their first of four in a row by beating the Philadelphia Flyers in overtime of game six of the finals. Defenceman Denis Potvin scored a crucial overtime goal in game one and the Cup was won when Bobby Nystrom scored the Cup-winning goal from John Tonelli and Lorne Henning at 7:11 of the first overtime. Hall of Fame announcer Dan Kelly was calling the play-by-play for CBS Sports on that day, May 24, 1980. It was the last NHL game on American network television for nearly ten years.

Regular season

For the four previous seasons, the Boston Bruins had owned first place in the Adams Division. This season saw the Buffalo Sabres de-throne the Bruins in the Adams. The New York Islanders finished first overall in the NHL the previous season with 116 points, but had lost in the first round of the playoffs. This season saw them fall considerably in the standings as they finished 4th overall with 91 points, a full 25 points below last year's finish. On the other hand, the Philadelphia Flyers improved by 21 points from the previous season. Their 35-game undefeated streak propelled them to the best record in the NHL with 116 points.

All four expansion teams finished poorly with records below .500. The Hartford Whalers fared the best with 73 points and the Winnipeg Jets tied the Colorado Rockies for last overall with 51 points.

Final standings

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes
Note: Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold

Prince of Wales Conference

Adams Division	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA	PIM
Buffalo Sabres	80	47	17	16	110	318	201	967
Boston Bruins	80	46	21	13	105	310	234	1460
Minnesota North Stars	80	36	28	16	88	311	253	1064
Toronto Maple Leafs	80	35	40	5	75	304	327	1158
Quebec Nordiques	80	25	44	11	61	248	313	1062

Norris Division	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA	PIM
Montreal Canadiens	80	47	20	13	107	328	240	874
Los Angeles Kings	80	30	36	14	74	290	313	1124
Pittsburgh Penguins	80	30	37	13	73	251	303	1038
Hartford Whalers	80	27	34	19	73	303	312	875
Detroit Red Wings	80	26	43	11	63	268	306	1114

Clarence Campbell Conference

Patrick Division	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA	PIM
Philadelphia Flyers	80	48	12	20	116	327	254	1844
New York Islanders	80	39	28	13	91	281	247	1298
New York Rangers	80	38	32	10	86	308	284	1342
Atlanta Flames	80	35	32	13	83	282	269	1048
Washington Capitals	80	27	40	13	67	261	293	1198

Smythe Division	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA	PIM
Chicago Black Hawks	80	34	27	19	87	241	250	1325
St. Louis Blues	80	34	34	12	80	266	278	1037
Vancouver Canucks	80	27	37	16	70	256	281	1808
Edmonton Oilers	80	28	39	13	69	301	322	1528
Winnipeg Jets	80	20	49	11	51	214	314	1251
Colorado Rockies	80	19	48	13	51	234	308	1020

Scoring leaders

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Marcel Dionne	Los Angeles Kings	80	53	84	137	32
Wayne Gretzky	Edmonton Oilers	79	51	86	137	21
Guy Lafleur	Montreal Canadiens	74	50	75	125	12
Gilbert Perreault	Buffalo Sabres	80	40	66	106	57
Mike Rogers	Hartford Whalers	80	44	61	105	10
Bryan Trottier	New York Islanders	78	42	62	104	68
Charlie Simmer	Los Angeles Kings	64	56	45	101	65
Blaine Stoughton	Hartford Whalers	80	56	44	100	16
Darryl Sittler	Toronto Maple Leafs	73	40	57	97	62
Blair MacDonald	Edmonton Oilers	80	46	48	96	24

Leading goaltenders

Stanley Cup playoffs

With the league expansion from 17 to 21 teams, the Stanley Cup playoffs were also expanded, from a 12 team tournament to a 16 team tournament. Division leaders no longer received first round byes. Since the teams played a completely balanced schedule in the regular season (4 games each against each of the other 20 teams), the top 16 teams in the regular season (by points) qualified for the playoffs, regardless of division. The teams were seeded 1 through 16, with the top team playing the 16th team in the first round, and so on. In subsequent rounds, matchups were similarly arranged, with the top remaining seed against the lowest remaining seed, and so on.

Playoff bracket

NHL awards

Prince of Wales Trophy:	Buffalo Sabres
Clarence S. Campbell Bowl:	Philadelphia Flyers
Art Ross Memorial Trophy:	Marcel Dionne, Los Angeles Kings
Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy:	Al MacAdam, Minnesota North Stars
Calder Memorial Trophy:	Ray Bourque, Boston Bruins
Conn Smythe Trophy:	Bryan Trottier, New York Islanders
Frank J. Selke Trophy:	Bob Gainey, Montreal Canadiens
Hart Memorial Trophy:	Wayne Gretzky, Edmonton Oilers
Jack Adams Award:	Pat Quinn, Philadelphia Flyers
James Norris Memorial Trophy:	Larry Robinson, Montreal Canadiens
Lady Byng Memorial Trophy:	Wayne Gretzky, Edmonton Oilers
Lester B. Pearson Award:	Marcel Dionne, Los Angeles Kings
NHL Plus/Minus Award:	Jim Schoenfeld, Buffalo Sabres & Jim Watson, Philadelphia Flyers
Vezina Trophy:	Don Edwards & Bob Sauve, Buffalo Sabres
Lester Patrick Trophy:	Bobby Clarke, Edward M. Snider, Frederick A. Shero

References

NHL 1979/80 | Saison LNH 1979-80

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