1977 NHL Offseason News and Notes
Here are the results of the 5th Avco Cup final.
Here are the skating leaders for the season.
Here are the goalie leaders for the season.
Here are the Playoff scoring leaders.
Neither
Bobby Orr, nor
Bryan Trottier win the Hart Trophy. I thought they were the 2 most deserving, but i often disagree with whom the game chooses.
Trottier does pick up the Calder Trophy, and
Orr takes home the Pilote and Conn Smythe!
The
WHA looks like it’s going through some tough times. The
Calgary Cowboys, Phoenix Roadrunners, Minnesota Fighting Saints and
San Diego Mariners have all folded. That means players like
Danny Gare, Charlie Simmer, Randy Carlyle and
Tiger Williams can play in the NHL this year if they choose to. The league is down to 8 teams.
Simmer, who scored 109 goals over the last two years, can join Washington this year.
A bunch of significant retirements this year. I’m very surprised to announce that
Bobby Hull has decided to retire from the NHL. At 38,
Bobby is coming off a 49 goal, 103 point season! In fact, he’s only scored less then 44 goals once in his last 7 years!! This is a huge hit to
Toronto. You can’t just replace that kind of production.
Bobby Hull scored 589 goals in his career and added another 88 playoff goals. The
Maple Leafs will retire his number 10. Here is a look at
Hulls career.
click to expand
In addition to
Bobby Hull, Toronto’s top defenseman
Bill White has called it a career!
White was a journeyman defenseman with
Chicago and
Toronto, until something clicked. He put up 99 points in his 7 seasons prior to 1968. After that, wow. 555 points over 10 years! A completely different player!
Bill White will also have his jersey retired.
White will be going to the HOF!
Frank Mahovlich has retired as well. Yes, another
Leaf is getting their number in the rafters of Maple Leaf Gardens. Frank played 18 seasons in
Toronto, where he scored 509 goals, and 1099 points. His final 3 years in
Long Island weren’t great, but he was able to chip in offensively with 134 points.
Mahovlich will NOT have is jersey retired. That’s not OK with me. So I will HONOUR his number 27!
Long time
Blackhawk Pat Stapleton has retired from the NHL. He’s not a guy that I talked about a lot. Lets face it,
Chicago never won, but had some dynamic stars over the years like
Beliveau and
Esposito who kept my attention.
Pat was a excellent defenseman, who did it on both ends. He retires with 564 points over 1174 games. He was also the 27th player drafted in the initial WHA draft, which shows how well thought of he was. He was a star.
Chicago will retire
Pat’s number.
In a shocking move, the
Maple Leafs trade
Jean Ratelle!
Ratelle is probably a top 2 player in
Maple Leafs history. He was the straw that stirred the drink. He centered everyone during the greatest dynasty the NHL has ever seen.
Toronto deals
Ratelle, now 36, to
Philadelphia, who desperately needs him.
Philly has nothing at center after trading their two talented guys away last year.
Ratelle went from first line to 3rd line last year, and saw his production drop to 34 points. If he’s #1 in
Philly, and he should be, I expect a ppg pace this year.
Ratelle still has it.
Toronto gets the rights to young and talented defenseman
Bob Murray.
Murray was a 60 point player with the
Vancouver Blazers and the
Calgary Cowboys of the WHA, but with
Calgary folding, he could join the
Leafs this season. It’s probably smart for the
Leafs to deal
Ratelle, but if I ran the team, I wouldn’t have been able to pull the trigger.
Ratelle is a Flyer!
The 2nd shocking deal of the day….
Bernie Parent finally wins the
Rangers a Stanley Cup and he’s dealt to
Buffalo a month later!
Parent was the best goalie in hockey, and at this stage of his career, is probably top 3. He’s 32, but he clearly has a lot of game left in him. He lost just 4 times last year!!
Buffalo just dealt their old starter, to
Montreal for a first, so they basically dealt goalie for goalie, and improved big time. The
Rangers will turn to 29 year old
Gary Edwards, whose a 4.5 star player, but he’s no
Bernie Parent.
Parent to the Sabres!
The
Washington Capitals select
Mike Bossy, who in my opinion, is criminally underrated in his potential here. He will probably grow, but he is arguably the greatest goal scorer in NHL history.
Bossy instantly becomes the face of the
Washington Capitals.
Joe Mullen 5th to
Boston stands out, and the
Flyers get
Pete Peeters in the middle of the first round. Nice pickup.
Here’s a look at
Mike Bossy.
Wow, as you can see,
Bossy spurns the
Capitals and signs with the WHA
Indianapolis Racers. Maybe
Washington won’t be all that improved. If they can stay ****ty for a few years, they might get a chance to draft you know who…..
After the draft,
Cleveland signs former
San Diego Mariners goalie
Curt Ridley. A 5 star goalie, probably the 2nd best WHA goalie, will now compete with
Jiri Crha for playing time. It’s not a move
Cleveland needed to make, but they owned
Ridley’s rights, after drafting him 20th overall in 1971.
Ridley is currently ahead of
Crha on the
Barons depth chart. Might be smart to deal one of them, as their are teams that need goaltending!
Ridley leaves the WHA for Cleveland!
Even though they lost
Bossy, Randy Carlyle does join
Washington.
Ian Turnbull, an excellent offensive defenseman, who had 299 points in the WHA, is now on the
NY Rangers blueline.
Danny Gare shuns the NHL and the
Atlanta Flames, signing with the
New England Whalers.
Charlie Simmer does the same, taking his 62 goals last year to
Indianapolis. Simmer will be joined by
Tiger Williams with the
Racers. The NHL missed out on some real talent. The
Racers have added some real talent this year!
Turnbull is 2nd on New York's depth chart! He's a great addition!
It’s time for the Iron Curtain drawing. The first random number is 16, which is the
Toronto Maple Leafs. They don’t have an eligible player. #4 comes up next, meaning
Peter’s brother,
Marian Stastny will be joining the
Chicago Blackhawks!
Stastny is older then
Peter, and at 24, is almost fully developed.
Chicago has held
Stastny’s rights since picking him 110th in the 1973 draft. He’s currenty listed as their 2nd line RW.
The next random number is 13, belonging to the
Flyers, but they don’t have an eligible player. 15 is next, belonging to
St. Louis. They needed this.
Milan Novy will join
St. Louis this year. The 26 year old Czech center is a 4.5 star player. The
Blues have been waiting on him for 6 years. He will be the #1 center on a
Blues team that needs him!
Novy will play for St. Louis!
Pittsburgh changed their uniforms this year. I love these.
Onto the season!!