1978–79 Edmonton Oilers season

1978–79 Edmonton Oilers
Division	1st WHA
1978–79 record	48–30–2
Home record	29–11–1
Road record	19–19–1
Goals for	340 (1st)
Goals against	266 (1st)
Team information
General manager	Larry Gordon
Coach	Glen Sather
Captain	Paul Shmyr
Alternate captains	Ron Chipperfield Peter Driscoll Al Hamilton Blair MacDonald
Arena	Northlands Coliseum
Minor league affiliate(s)	Springfield Indians (AHL) Dallas Black Hawks (CHL)
Team leaders
Goals	Wayne Gretzky (43)
Assists	Wayne Gretzky (61)
Points	Wayne Gretzky (104)
Penalty minutes	Dave Semenko (158)
Plus/minus	Paul Shmyr (+37)
Wins	Dave Dryden (41)
Goals against average	Dave Dryden (2.89)

The 1978–79 Edmonton Oilers season was the Oilers' seventh season of operation. The Oilers placed first and made it to the Avco Cup Final, losing to the Winnipeg Jets. This was the organization's last season in the WHA before joining the National Hockey League.

Regular season

Final standings

Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF= Goals for, GA = Goals against, Pts = Points

WHA Team	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA	PIM
Edmonton Oilers	80	48	30	2	98	340	266	1220
Quebec Nordiques	80	41	34	5	87	288	271	1399
Winnipeg Jets	80	39	35	6	84	307	306	1342
New England Whalers	80	37	34	9	83	298	287	1090
Cincinnati Stingers	80	33	41	6	72	274	284	1651
Birmingham Bulls	80	32	42	6	70	286	311	1661
xIndianapolis Racers	25	5	18	2	12	78	130	557
#Soviet All-Stars	6	4	1	1	9	27	20	77
#Czechoslovakia	6	1	4	1	3	14	33	107
#Finland	1	0	1	0	0	4	8	2

x-team folded during season #-played limited schedule

Schedule and results

No.	R	Date	Score	Opponent	Record
1	W	October 13, 1978	3–2	Cincinnati Stingers (1978–79)	1–0–0
2	L	October 17, 1978	1–2	New England Whalers (1978–79)	1–1–0
3	W	October 20, 1978	4–3	@ Indianapolis Racers (1978–79)	2–1–0
4	L	October 21, 1978	3–4	@ Cincinnati Stingers (1978–79)	2–2–0
5	W	October 22, 1978	6–2	@ Winnipeg Jets (1978–79)	3–2–0
6	L	October 24, 1978	2–3	Birmingham Bulls (1978–79)	3–3–0
7	L	October 29, 1978	2–6	Quebec Nordiques (1978–79)	3–4–0
8	L	October 31, 1978	4–5	Quebec Nordiques (1978–79)	3–5–0
9	W	November 3, 1978	4–3 OT	Winnipeg Jets (1978–79)	4–5–0
10	L	November 5, 1978	0–2	@ Quebec Nordiques (1978–79)	4–6–0
11	W	November 8, 1978	6–5	@ Quebec Nordiques (1978–79)	5–6–0
12	L	November 9, 1978	1–6	@ New England Whalers (1978–79)	5–7–0
13	W	November 11, 1978	5–3	@ Birmingham Bulls (1978–79)	6–7–0
14	L	November 12, 1978	3–5	@ Cincinnati Stingers (1978–79)	6–8–0
15	W	November 17, 1978	6–1	Indianapolis Racers (1978–79)	7–8–0
16	W	November 19, 1978	6–3	Cincinnati Stingers (1978–79)	8–8–0
17	W	November 21, 1978	4–1	Quebec Nordiques (1978–79)	9–8–0
18	W	November 24, 1978	4–3 OT	Quebec Nordiques (1978–79)	10–8–0
19	W	November 28, 1978	8–2	Indianapolis Racers (1978–79)	11–8–0
20	W	December 1, 1978	8–2	New England Whalers (1978–79)	12–8–0
21	L	December 3, 1978	0–7	New England Whalers (1978–79)	12–9–0
22	L	December 6, 1978	3–6	@ Quebec Nordiques (1978–79)	12–10–0
23	L	December 7, 1978	3–5	@ New England Whalers (1978–79)	12–11–0
24	L	December 9, 1978	2–6	@ Birmingham Bulls (1978–79)	12–12–0
25	L	December 10, 1978	4–6	@ Indianapolis Racers (1978–79)	12–13–0
26	W	December 12, 1978	5–2	@ Cincinnati Stingers (1978–79)	13–13–0
27	W	December 15, 1978	5–3	Soviet All-Stars (1978–79)	14–13–0
28	W	December 19, 1978	5–2	@ Birmingham Bulls (1978–79)	15–13–0
29	L	December 22, 1978	4–5	Winnipeg Jets (1978–79)	15–14–0
30	L	December 26, 1978	3–5	@ Winnipeg Jets (1978–79)	15–15–0
31	W	December 27, 1978	5–3	Winnipeg Jets (1978–79)	16–15–0
32	W	December 30, 1978	5–1	Czechoslovakia (1978–79)	17–15–0
33	L	January 9, 1979	3–4 OT	@ Winnipeg Jets (1978–79)	17–16–0
34	W	January 13, 1979	3–0	@ New England Whalers (1978–79)	18–16–0
35	W	January 16, 1979	3–1	Winnipeg Jets (1978–79)	19–16–0
36	W	January 17, 1979	6–3	@ Winnipeg Jets (1978–79)	20–16–0
37	W	January 19, 1979	11–3	Birmingham Bulls (1978–79)	21–16–0
38	L	January 21, 1979	3–4	Birmingham Bulls (1978–79)	21–17–0
39	W	January 23, 1979	5–1	New England Whalers (1978–79)	22–17–0
40	L	January 26, 1979	2–5	Cincinnati Stingers (1978–79)	22–18–0
41	W	January 28, 1979	3–0	Cincinnati Stingers (1978–79)	23–18–0
42	L	January 31, 1979	3–6	@ Winnipeg Jets (1978–79)	23–19–0
43	L	February 2, 1979	2–4	@ Winnipeg Jets (1978–79)	23–20–0
44	L	February 4, 1979	3–6	@ Quebec Nordiques (1978–79)	23–21–0
45	W	February 6, 1979	6–2	Birmingham Bulls (1978–79)	24–21–0
46	W	February 7, 1979	8–5	Cincinnati Stingers (1978–79)	25–21–0
47	W	February 9, 1979	3–0	Quebec Nordiques (1978–79)	26–21–0
48	W	February 11, 1979	4–3 OT	Birmingham Bulls (1978–79)	27–21–0
49	W	February 13, 1979	6–1	Quebec Nordiques (1978–79)	28–21–0
50	W	February 16, 1979	4–2	@ New England Whalers (1978–79)	29–21–0
51	W	February 18, 1979	6–3	@ Birmingham Bulls (1978–79)	30–21–0
52	W	February 20, 1979	8–2	New England Whalers (1978–79)	31–21–0
53	W	February 23, 1979	3–1	Cincinnati Stingers (1978–79)	32–21–0
54	W	February 25, 1979	5–4	Birmingham Bulls (1978–79)	33–21–0
55	T	February 27, 1979	1–1	New England Whalers (1978–79)	33–21–1
56	W	March 2, 1979	5–2	Cincinnati Stingers (1978–79)	34–21–1
57	W	March 3, 1979	6–4	@ Cincinnati Stingers (1978–79)	35–21–1
58	L	March 6, 1979	3–4	@ Quebec Nordiques (1978–79)	35–22–1
59	L	March 7, 1979	3–6	@ Quebec Nordiques (1978–79)	35–23–1
60	T	March 9, 1979	4–4	@ Birmingham Bulls (1978–79)	35–23–2
61	W	March 11, 1979	4–0	@ Birmingham Bulls (1978–79)	36–23–2
62	L	March 13, 1979	1–5	@ Cincinnati Stingers (1978–79)	36–24–2
63	W	March 16, 1979	6–1	Quebec Nordiques (1978–79)	37–24–2
64	L	March 18, 1979	2–7	Quebec Nordiques (1978–79)	37–25–2
65	W	March 20, 1979	8–4	Finland (1978–79)	38–25–2
66	W	March 21, 1979	7–4	@ Winnipeg Jets (1978–79)	39–25–2
67	L	March 23, 1979	4–6	Winnipeg Jets (1978–79)	39–26–2
68	W	March 25, 1979	6–5	@ Cincinnati Stingers (1978–79)	40–26–2
69	L	March 28, 1979	0–3	@ Quebec Nordiques (1978–79)	40–27–2
70	W	March 30, 1979	3–1	@ New England Whalers (1978–79)	41–27–2
71	W	April 1, 1979	5–3	@ New England Whalers (1978–79)	42–27–2
72	W	April 3, 1979	5–1	@ Cincinnati Stingers (1978–79)	43–27–2
73	L	April 4, 1979	2–4	@ Quebec Nordiques (1978–79)	43–28–2
74	W	April 6, 1979	7–2	New England Whalers (1978–79)	44–28–2
75	W	April 8, 1979	5–4	Birmingham Bulls (1978–79)	45–28–2
76	L	April 10, 1979	4–6	Winnipeg Jets (1978–79)	45–29–2
77	W	April 13, 1979	6–4	@ Birmingham Bulls (1978–79)	46–29–2
78	L	April 14, 1979	6–7	@ Birmingham Bulls (1978–79)	46–30–2
79	W	April 15, 1979	4–1	@ New England Whalers (1978–79)	47–30–2
80	W	April 18, 1979	9–3	Winnipeg Jets (1978–79)	48–30–2

Playoffs

Edmonton Oilers 4, New England Whalers 3 – Semifinals

#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Record
1	April 26	New England	2 – 6	Edmonton	1–0
2	April 27	New England	5 – 9	Edmonton	2–0
3	April 29	Edmonton	1 – 4	New England	2–1
4	May 1	Edmonton	4 – 5	New England	2–2
5	May 3	New England	2 – 5	Edmonton	3–2
6	May 6	Edmonton	8 – 4	New England	3–3
7	May 8	New England	3 – 6	Edmonton	4–3

Winnipeg Jets 4, Edmonton Oilers 2 – Avco Cup Finals

#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Record
1	May 11	Winnipeg Jets	3–1	Edmonton Oilers	0–1
2	May 13	Winnipeg Jets	3–2	Edmonton Oilers	0–2
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	2–3
6	May 20	Edmonton Oilers	3–7	Winnipeg Jets	2–4

Player statistics

Regular season
Scoring
Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM +/- PPG SHG GWG Wayne Gretzky C 72 43 61 104 19 23 9 0 0 Blair MacDonald RW 80 34 37 71 44 35 3 4 0 Brett Callighen C 71 31 39 70 79 29 12 0 0 Ron Chipperfield C 55 32 37 69 47 25 6 0 0 Bill Flett RW 73 28 36 64 14 26 9 0 0 Dennis Sobchuk C 74 26 37 63 31 24 6 1 0 Stan Weir C 68 31 30 61 20 24 3 0 0 Joe Micheletti D 72 14 33 47 85 10 3 0 0 Paul Shmyr D 80 8 39 47 119 37 0 0 0 Al Hamilton D 80 6 38 44 38 22 2 0 0 Steve Carlson C 73 18 22 40 50 15 4 3 0 Peter Driscoll LW 69 17 23 40 115 16 3 0 0 Dave Hunter LW 72 7 25 32 134 7 0 0 0 Claire Alexander D 54 8 23 31 16 -5 2 1 0 Dave Langevin D 77 6 21 27 76 33 3 0 0 Dave Semenko LW 77 10 14 24 158 -12 2 0 0 John Hughes D 41 2 15 17 82 22 0 0 0 Doug Berry C 29 6 3 9 4 -9 1 0 0 Garnet Bailey LW 38 5 4 9 22 -8 1 0 0 Dave Dryden G 63 0 8 8 0 0 0 0 0 Risto Siltanen D 20 3 4 7 4 4 0 0 0 Bill Goldsworthy RW 17 4 2 6 14 -3 0 0 0 Jim Neilson D 35 0 5 5 18 5 0 0 0 Pierre Guite LW 12 1 1 2 8 -5 1 0 0 Eddie Mio G 22 0 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 Wes George LW 3 0 0 0 11 1 0 0 0 Hannu Kamppuri G 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Jim Mayer RW 2 0 0 0 0 -2 0 0 0 Cal Sandbeck D 6 0 0 0 2 -2 0 0 0 Rudy Tajcnar D 2 0 0 0 0 -4 0 0 0 Ed Walsh G 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Goaltending
Player MIN GP W L T GA GAA SO Dave Dryden 3531 63 41 17 2 170 2.89 3 Eddie Mio 1068 22 7 10 0 71 3.99 1 Hannu Kamppuri 90 2 0 1 0 10 6.67 0 Ed Walsh 144 3 0 2 0 9 3.75 0 Team: 4833 80 48 30 2 260 3.23 4

Playoffs
Scoring
Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM PPG SHG GWG Wayne Gretzky C 13 10 10 20 2 0 0 1 Ron Chipperfield C 13 9 10 19 8 0 0 0 Blair MacDonald RW 13 8 10 18 6 0 0 0 Brett Callighen C 13 5 10 15 15 0 0 1 Dennis Sobchuk C 12 6 6 12 4 0 0 1 Al Hamilton D 13 4 5 9 4 0 0 0 Joe Micheletti D 13 0 9 9 2 0 0 0 Risto Siltanen D 11 0 9 9 4 0 0 0 Bill Flett RW 10 5 2 7 2 0 0 1 Stan Weir C 13 2 5 7 2 0 0 1 Peter Driscoll LW 13 1 6 7 8 0 0 0 Dave Semenko LW 11 4 2 6 29 0 0 0 Paul Shmyr D 13 1 5 6 23 0 0 0 Dave Hunter LW 13 2 3 5 42 0 0 0 Bengt-Ake Gustafsson RW 2 1 2 3 0 0 0 0 Steve Carlson C 11 1 1 2 12 0 0 0 Bill Goldsworthy RW 4 1 1 2 11 0 0 1 John Hughes D 13 1 0 1 35 0 0 0 Dave Dryden G 13 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 Dave Langevin D 13 0 1 1 25 0 0 0 Garnet Bailey LW 2 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 Eddie Mio G 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Goaltending
Player MIN GP W L GA GAA SO Dave Dryden 687 13 6 7 42 3.67 0 Eddie Mio 90 3 0 0 6 4.00 0 Team: 777 13 6 7 48 3.71 0

Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/- = plus/minus; PIM = Penalty minutes; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals
      MIN = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts;

Awards and records

Regular Season
Player	Milestone	Reached
Claire Alexander	1st WHA Game 1st WHA Goal 1st WHA Assist 1st WHA Point	October 13, 1978
Dave Hunter	1st WHA Game
Dave Hunter	1st WHA Assist 1st WHA Point	October 20, 1978
Ed Walsh	1st WHA Game	October 21, 1978
Doug Berry	1st WHA Goal 1st WHA Point	October 22, 1978
Garnet Bailey	1st WHA Goal 1st WHA Point	October 31, 1978
Brett Callighen	100th WHA Point	November 8, 1978
Stan Weir	1st WHA Assist 1st WHA Point
Garnet Bailey	1st WHA Assist	November 11, 1978
Doug Berry	1st WHA Assist	November 19, 1978
Dave Hunter	1st WHA Goal
Stan Weir	1st WHA Goal	November 21, 1978
Jim Neilson	1st WHA Assist	November 24, 1978
Stan Weir	1st WHA Hat-Trick	November 28, 1978
Wayne Gretzky	1st WHA Hat-Trick	December 12, 1978
Dave Dryden	200th WHA Game	December 19, 1978
Wayne Gretzky	2nd WHA Hat-Trick	January 13, 1978
Dennis Sobchuk	300th WHA Point	January 28, 1979
Ron Chipperfield	300th WHA Point	February 7, 1979
Dave Dryden	100th WHA Win	February 23, 1979
Paul Shmyr	300th WHA Point	March 16, 1979
Risto Siltanen	1st WHA Goal	March 18, 1979
Al Hamilton	300th WHA Point	March 20, 1979
Hannu Kamppuri	1st WHA Game
Peter Driscoll	100th WHA Assist	April 4, 1979
Bill Flett	100th WHA Goal
Wayne Gretzky	3rd WHA Hat-Trick	April 10, 1979
Wayne Gretzky	100th WHA Point	April 13, 1979
Joe Micheletti	100th WHA Point	April 14, 1979
Wayne Gretzky	4th WHA Hat-Trick	April 15, 1979

Transactions

Trades

Date	To Edmonton Oilers	Traded to	Traded for
June 16, 1978 (1978-06-16)	Bill Goldsworthy	Indianapolis Racers	Juha Widing
September 17, 1978 (1978-09-17)	Larry Hendrick	Minnesota North Stars (NHL)	Cash
November 2, 1978 (1978-11-02)	Peter Driscoll Eddie Mio Wayne Gretzky	Indianapolis Racers	($850,000) Cash

Players acquired

Date	Player	Former team	Term
June 8, 1978 (1978-06-08)	Claire Alexander	Vancouver Canucks (NHL)	1-year
June 15, 1978 (1978-06-15)	Wes George	Saskatoon Blades (WCHL)	3-year
	Stan Weir	Toronto Maple Leafs (NHL)	2-year
June 22, 1978 (1978-06-22)	Dave Hunter	Montreal Canadiens (NHL)	5-year
	Ed Walsh		2-year
July 6, 1978 (1978-07-06)	Matti Hagman	Quebec Nordiques
	Mark Napier	Birmingham Bulls
August 18, 1978 (1978-08-18)	George Buat	Seattle Breakers (WCHL)
	Ron Carter	Sherbrooke Castors (QMJHL)	2-year
September 5, 1978 (1978-09-05)	Jim Neilson	Cleveland Barons (NHL)
November 19, 1978 (1978-11-19)	Rudolf Tajcnár	Maine Mariners (AHL)
December 17, 1978 (1978-12-17)	John Hughes	Indianapolis Racers
March 4, 1979 (1979-03-04)	Mike Brown	New York Rangers (NHL)
March 6, 1979 (1979-03-06)	Hannu Kamppuri	Jokerit Helsinki (Liiga)	1-year
	Risto Siltanen	Ilves Tampere (Liiga)	1-year
March 8, 1979 (1979-03-08)	Mark Miller	Pittsburgh Penguins (NHL)
March 21, 1979 (1979-03-21)	Bengt-Åke Gustafsson	Färjestad BK Karlstad (Elitserien)	2-year

Players lost

Date	Player	New team
	Ron Busniuk	Retired
	Bryan Campbell
	Bob Falkenberg
	Norm Ferguson
	Gavin Kirk	Birmingham Bulls
	Gary MacGregor	Indianapolis Racers
	Don McLeod	Retired
	Gerry Pinder
	Randy Rota
July 6, 1978 (1978-07-06)	Pierre Jarry	Indianapolis Racers
	Don McLeod
	Jim Troy	Cincinnati Stingers
September 29, 1978 (1978-09-29)	Mike Zuke	St. Louis Blues (NHL)
October 23, 1978 (1978-10-23)	Ab DeMarco	Boston Bruins (NHL)
December 14, 1978 (1978-12-14)	Rudolf Tajcnár	Released
March 1, 1979 (1979-03-01)	Bryan Watson	Cincinnati Stingers

Signings

Date	Player	Term
June 2, 1978 (1978-06-02)	Al Hamilton	3-year
June 13, 1978 (1978-06-13)	Doug Berry	3-year
	Blair MacDonald	4-year
June 15, 1978 (1978-06-15)	Bill Flett	1-year
September 22, 1978 (1978-09-22)	Larry Hendrick
October 27, 1978 (1978-10-27)	Garnet Bailey
January 26, 1979 (1979-01-26)	Wayne Gretzky	10-year

Waivers

Date	Player	Team
September 4, 1978 (1978-09-04)	Steve Carlson	from New England Whalers
	Jim Mayer

See also

• 1978–79 WHA season

References

• "1978–79 Edmonton Oilers Games". Hockey-reference.com. Retrieved May 6, 2009.
• "Teenager Gretzky Pulls 'Hat Trick' On Stingers, 5-2".