1977–78 NHL season

The 1977–78 NHL season was the 61st season of the National Hockey League. The Montreal Canadiens won their third Stanley Cup in a row, defeating the Boston Bruins four games to two in the Stanley Cup Finals.

League business
Prior to the start of the season, Clarence Campbell retired as NHL President. John Ziegler succeeded him in that capacity.

A trophy for the top defensive forward, the Frank J. Selke Trophy, made its debut this season and went to Bob Gainey, who played left wing for Montreal.

The league changed the playoff qualification format for this season. Whereas before the top three teams in every division qualified, the format was changed to guarantee the top two teams in each division a playoff spot. The last four qualifiers were from the next-best four regular-season records from teams finishing third or lower.

Teams were required to place the last names of players on the back of all jerseys starting with this season, but Toronto Maple Leafs owner Harold Ballard initially refused, fearing that he would not be able to sell programs at his team's games. The NHL responded by threatening to levy a fine on the team in February 1978, so Ballard complied by making the letters the same color as the background they were on, which for the team's road jerseys was blue. The League threatened further sanctions, and despite playing more than one game with their "unreadable" sweaters, Ballard's Maple Leafs finally complied in earnest by making the letters white on the blue road jerseys. (Blue letter names would not come to the white home jerseys until the following year.)

Officials began wearing their surnames on the back of their sweaters instead of being identified by numbers, as they were previously. The NHL returned to using uniform numbers for officials for the 1994–95 season.

Regular season
Bobby Orr sat out the season to rest his oft-injured knee in the hope that rest would allow him to return to play in 1978–79; he would return for that season, only playing in six games before retiring. However, defenseman Doug Wilson proved to be an excellent replacement for the Chicago Blackhawks.

The Detroit Red Wings made changes, adding rookie Dale McCourt and Andre St. Laurent, who led the Wings to their first playoff appearance since 1970.

On December 11, 1977, the Philadelphia Flyers' Tom Bladon became the first defenceman in NHL history to score eight points in one game. He scored four goals and four assists versus the Cleveland Barons. It was 25% of his point total for the entire season.

The Colorado Rockies qualified for the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. They would not make the playoffs again until after the team had moved to New Jersey, in 1988. The next time the playoffs came to Colorado would be the Colorado Avalanche's championship season of 1996.

Final standings
GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, PIM = Penalties in minutes Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold

Playoffs
The playoffs were held in four rounds, preliminary, quarterfinals, semifinals and finals. In the preliminary round, the Detroit Red Wings was the only lower-placed team to win over the higher-placed team. The Red Wings were then defeated in five games by the first-place Montreal Canadiens. The Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Los Angeles Kings to advance to the quarterfinals, where the Leafs upset the third-place New York Islanders in seven games, setting up an "Original Six" playoff against Montreal. The upsets ended there as the Canadiens swept the Leafs to advance to the finals. In the other groupings, the higher-placed team won each round, and the second-place Boston Bruins advanced to the finals against the first-place Canadiens. In the finals, the Canadiens defeated the Bruins in six games to win their third consecutive Stanley Cup.

The Colorado Rockies made their one and only playoff appearance in the preliminary round against the Philadelphia Flyers, and were swept in two games. It would take another ten years before they got to the playoffs again in New Jersey. The Chicago Black Hawks were swept in the other "Original Six" matchup of the playoffs, losing to Boston in the quarterfinals.

Playoff seeds
The twelve teams that qualified for the playoffs are ranked 1–12 based on regular season points.

Note: Only teams that qualified for the playoffs are listed here.


 * 1) Montreal Canadiens, Norris Division champions, Prince of Wales Conference regular season champions, NHL regular season champions – 129 points
 * 2) Boston Bruins, Adams Division champions – 113 points
 * 3) New York Islanders, Patrick Division champions, Clarence Campbell Conference regular season champions – 111 points
 * 4) Philadelphia Flyers – 105 points (45 wins)
 * 5) Buffalo Sabres – 105 points (44 wins)
 * 6) Toronto Maple Leafs – 92 points
 * 7) Atlanta Flames – 87 points
 * 8) Chicago Black Hawks, Smythe Division champions – 83 points
 * 9) Detroit Red Wings – 78 points
 * 10) Los Angeles Kings – 77 points
 * 11) New York Rangers – 73 points
 * 12) Colorado Rockies – 59 points

Playoff bracket

 * Division winners earned a bye to the Quarterfinals
 * Teams were re-seeded based on regular season record after the Preliminary and Quarterfinal rounds

(1) Philadelphia Flyers vs. (8) Colorado Rockies
This was the first playoff series meeting between these two teams. It was the Rockies' only playoff appearance in their first eight seasons before moving to New Jersey in 1982 (including two years in Kansas City and six in Denver).

(2) Buffalo Sabres vs. (7) New York Rangers
This was the first playoff series meeting between these two teams.

(3) Toronto Maple Leafs vs. (6) Los Angeles Kings
This was the second playoff series meeting between these two teams. The only previous meeting was in the 1975 preliminary round, in which Toronto won the series 2–1.

(4) Atlanta Flames vs. (5) Detroit Red Wings
This was the first playoff series between these two teams; they would not meet again in Stanley Cup play until 2004, after the Flames had relocated to Calgary. (The Flames never won a playoff series while representing Atlanta, losing all six over an eight-year period.)

For Detroit, it was their only playoff series win in the twenty years between 1967 and 1986.

(1) Montreal Canadiens vs. (8) Detroit Red Wings
This was the 12th playoff series meeting between these two teams. Detroit led 7–4 in previous playoff meetings. Montreal won their most recent meeting in six games in the 1966 Stanley Cup Finals. When Detroit won game two 4–2, the Red Wings victory marked the only time in the 1978 Stanley Cup playoffs that the Canadiens lost a game on home ice.

Game 4 was the final playoff game at the Detroit Olympia.

(2) Boston Bruins vs. (7) Chicago Black Hawks
This was the sixth playoff meeting between these two teams. Boston won four of the previous five meetings. Chicago won their last series meeting 2–1 in the 1975 preliminary round.

(3) New York Islanders vs. (6) Toronto Maple Leafs
This was the first playoff series meeting between these two teams.

(4) Philadelphia Flyers vs. (5) Buffalo Sabres
This was the second playoff series meeting between these two teams. Philadelphia won the only previous meeting in six games in the 1975 Stanley Cup Finals.

(1) Montreal Canadiens vs. (4) Toronto Maple Leafs
This was the 14th playoff series meeting between these two teams. Toronto lead 7–6 in previous meetings. Toronto won the most recent meeting in six games in the 1967 Stanley Cup Finals.

(2) Boston Bruins vs. (3) Philadelphia Flyers
This was the fourth playoff series meeting between these two teams. Philadelphia won two of the previous three meetings. This was the third straight semifinal meeting following Philadelphia's win in five games in 1976 and Boston's four-game sweep last season.

Game five was Fred Shero's last game as head coach of the Flyers, and Bernie Parent's final playoff game.

Stanley Cup Finals
This was the 17th playoff series (and the last Finals) meeting between these two teams. Montreal led 14–2 in previous meetings. This was a rematch of last year's Stanley Cup Finals, in which Montreal won in a four-game sweep.

Awards
The league introduced the Frank J. Selke trophy this season. It rewards the forward judged to be the best at defensive abilities.

Scoring leaders
GP = Games Played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points, PIM = Penalties In Minutes Source: NHL.

Leading goaltenders
Note: GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; SO = Shutouts

Other statistics

 * Plus-minus:
 * Guy Lafleur, Montreal Canadiens

Patrick Division

 * Atlanta Flames: Fred Creighton
 * New York Islanders: Al Arbour
 * New York Rangers: Jean-Guy Talbot
 * Philadelphia Flyers: Fred Shero and Bob McCammon

Adams Division

 * Boston Bruins: Don Cherry
 * Buffalo Sabres: Marcel Pronovost
 * Cleveland Barons: Jack Evans
 * Toronto Maple Leafs: Roger Neilson

Norris Division

 * Detroit Red Wings: Bobby Kromm
 * Los Angeles Kings: Ron Stewart
 * Montreal Canadiens: Scotty Bowman
 * Pittsburgh Penguins: Johnny Wilson
 * Washington Capitals: Tom McVie

Smythe Division

 * Chicago Black Hawks: Bob Pulford
 * Colorado Rockies: Patrick Kelly
 * Minnesota North Stars: Andre Beaulieu and Lou Nanne
 * St. Louis Blues: Leo Boivin and Barclay Plager
 * Vancouver Canucks: Orland Kurtenbach

Debuts
The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1977–78 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):
 * Doug Wilson, Chicago Black Hawks
 * Barry Beck, Colorado Rockies
 * Dale McCourt, Detroit Red Wings
 * Vaclav Nedomansky, Detroit Red Wings
 * Dave Taylor, Los Angeles Kings
 * Mike Bossy, New York Islanders
 * Ron Duguay, New York Rangers
 * Glen Hanlon, Vancouver Canucks
 * Murray Bannerman, Vancouver Canucks
 * Robert Picard, Washington Capitals

Nedomansky began his major professional career in the World Hockey Association.

Last games
The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1977–78 (listed with their last team):
 * Johnny Bucyk, Boston Bruins
 * Eddie Johnston, Chicago Black Hawks
 * Jim Neilson, Cleveland Barons
 * Dennis Hull, Detroit Red Wings
 * Ed Giacomin, Detroit Red Wings
 * Bill Goldsworthy, New York Rangers
 * Dallas Smith, New York Rangers
 * Ken Hodge, New York Rangers
 * Rod Gilbert, New York Rangers
 * Gary Dornhoefer, Philadelphia Flyers
 * Derek Sanderson, Pittsburgh Penguins
 * Claude Larose, St. Louis Blues
 * Bob Plager, St. Louis Blues
 * Jim Roberts, St. Louis Blues
 * Red Berenson, St. Louis Blues
 * Cesare Maniago, Vancouver Canucks

NOTE: Goldsworthy and Neilson would finish their major professional careers in the World Hockey Association.

Broadcasting
Hockey Night in Canada on CBC Television televised Saturday night regular season games and Stanley Cup playoff games.

In the U.S., this was the third season that NHL games aired in national broadcast syndication under the NHL Network package. Starting in the 1978 playoffs, the NHL Network began simulcasting most games with HNIC/CBC.