1972-73
OFF-SEASON
The big news is the addition of two new expansion teams to the NHL and a completely new league with the formation of the World Hockey Association.
New players to take note of include Steve Shutt joining Montreal, Philadelphia adding Bill Barber and Jim Schoenfield to Buffalo.
Jean Beliveau decided to retire rather than accept an offer to play in the WHA. The 41 year old ends his career with 1400 career games and an NHL leading 1598 points. Beliveau won 8 Hart Trophy's as NHL MVP and 6 scoring titles. He also won the Stanley Cup 11 times.
Donnie Marshall also has decided to retire at the age of 40 after 1252 career games with the Montreal Canadiens. Marshall had 50 points last season to bring his career total to 931 including 318 goals. He won 9 Stanley Cups during his time in Montreal.
The Atlanta Flames begin play with a roster that includes Ken Broderick and Dennis DeJordy in net, Wayne Hillman, Paul Shmyr and Ed Van Impe on the blueline along with forwards Rosaire Paiement. 40 year old Ron Stewart and Bobby Rousseau. The top two players will likely be center Jim Harrison, from Boston, and former Maple Leaf Mike Corrigan.
The New York Islanders will rely on goaltender Don McLeod, who is still just 26 years old after having two good seasons in Detroit in 67-68 and 68-69. Keith Magnuson is a nice pick up from Chicago for the blueline where the Isles also have Joe Watson and Carl Brewer. Forwards include ex-Leaf Pete Stemkowski along with Ron Schock and Tim Ecclestone. There is some young talent led by Bob Nystrom, Billy Harris and Gary Howatt.
WORLD HOCKEY ASSOCIATION TEAMS
The WHA rosters are awful as very few players with NHL experience jumped leagues in it's inagural year. The big names, if you can call them that, are:
defensemen Dennis Kearns, Bob Murdoch, Sheldon Kannegiesser and Barry Wilkins - all in Winnipeg.
New England has defenseman Brent Hughes, who didn't play much but did win a couple of Cups in Chicago, as well as Brian Spencer and Pierre Jarry.
Former Bruin Nick Beverley is the leader with the Minnesota Fighting Saints.
The Cleveland Crusaders have the league's top goalie in Gilles Gilbert along with forwards Dennis Dupere and Fran Huck.
The Alberta Oilers have likely the best team in the league led by defensemen Daryl Edestrand and Ab DeMarco along with forwards Ted Taylor, who played a bit for Boston, ex-North Star Bill Collins, Bobby Sheehan and two of the Bordeleau brothers in Christian and J.P. Their goaltender will be Rocky Farr.
REGULAR SEASON
Stan Mikita is closing in on a record that has not been challenged since Maurice Richard set the mark in 1943-44. That year the Rocket had a 44 game point streak and the closest anyone had come since then was the 26 game streak Mikita had in 1969-70. However, Mikita has earned a point in each of Chicago's final 38 games this season and has a chance to catch Richard next year. The streak does not take in to account playoff games. Mikita's teammate Bobby Hull is also on a roll, riding a 28 game streak of his own into the end of the season.
Hull set a new record for goals in a season with 75, smashing the old mark of 66 he established in 1968-69. Had he not been injured Phil Esposito might have scored more than his linemate, as Espo had 60 goals but missed the final 14 games of the season. Mikita set a new mark for assists with 126 but his 164 points were 5 shy of the record he set in 1968-69.
The Black Hawks broke their own record for points established last season by earning 137 points this year. Chicago only lost 4 times in 78 games on the season. Boston followed up it's Cup winning season with another strong year, leading the East Division with 130 points. At the age of 25 defenseman Bobby Orr finally had a breakout season, scoring 122 points - a record for a defenseman. The offensive outburst came after Orr missed the final 23 games of the previous season with an injury. In 493 career games so far, Orr has 135 goals and 506 points.
Bobby Hull scored his milestone 600th goal on November 10th as the Chicago Black Hawks blanked Detroit 4-0. Hull beat Detroit goalie Jack Norris for the milestone marker. He finished the season as the NHL's all-time goal scoring leader with 662, surpassing Alex Delvecchio who ended the year with 627.
Delvecchio earned his 1000th career assist in a 7-1 Detroit victory over Minnesota on December 9th. In February, Chicago's Stan Mikita picked up his 1000th career asssist in a 7-4 win over Buffalo. The milestone assist came 2 weeks before Mikita played his 1000th career game. By season's end Mikita was the all-time assist leader while Delvecchio still leads in career points with 1653.
Frank Mahovlich reached the 500 goal mark with a goal in Toronto's 4-1 win over Los Angeles on February 10th.
Long-time Black Hawks defenseman Pierre Pilote played his 1500th career game on March 3rd.
Darryl Sittler had a huge game in Toronto's 13-0 win over California in October. The Leaf center had 6 goals and one assist in the contest, finishing 1 goal shy of the record 7 scored by Dickie Moore of Montreal in 1957. Teammate Ron Ellis had 4 goals and 2 assists in the same game.
There were some other big single game efforts during the NHL season. Boston's Jean Pronovost had a 3 goal, 5 assist night in October as the Bruins pounded Pittsburgh 11-5. Bobby Hull had a 7 assist night on February 25th when the Black Hawks blanked Atlanta 10-0. Stan Mikita also had 7 points (1G 6A) in the same game while Phil Esposito scored 4 times and added two helpers. The same night Detroit's Johnny Bucyk had 3 goals and 7 points in the Wings 10-2 pounding of St Louis.
On the injury front the big news was a shoulder injury in March that ended the season for Chicago's Phil Esposito. With 60 goals in 64 games Esposito was challenging teammate Bobby Hull for the goal scoring record, which Hull would set with 75 goals in 78 games. The Hawks would also lose defenseman Pat Stapleton (23-48-71) for the playoffs with a late season injury.
Code:
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
EAST DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Boston Bruins 78 63 11 4 130
Toronto Maple Leafs 78 55 14 9 119
Montreal Canadiens 78 52 17 9 113
New York Rangers 78 53 20 5 111
Detroit Red Wings 78 47 22 9 103
Buffalo Sabres 78 25 43 10 60
New York Islanders 78 21 45 12 54
Vancouver Canucks 78 21 52 5 47
WEST DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Chicago Black Hawks 78 63 4 11 137
Philadelphia Flyers 78 36 35 7 79
Pittsburgh Penguins 78 29 45 4 62
Los Angeles Kings 78 24 45 9 57
St Louis Blues 78 21 46 11 53
Atlanta Flames 78 20 47 11 51
Minnesota North Stars 78 18 40 11 47
California Golden Seals 78 9 62 7 25
SCORING LEADERS TEAM GP G A PTS
Stan Mikita CHI 78 38 126 164
Bobby Hull CHI 78 75 84 159
Johnny Bucyk DET 78 38 85 123
Bobby Orr BOS 78 29 93 122
Norm Ullman NYR 78 34 87 121
Doug Jarrett CHI 76 22 99 121
Derek Sanderson BOS 77 57 63 120
Gary Unger TOR 75 52 61 113
Pete Mahovlich DET 78 34 79 113
Don Marcotte BOS 78 39 67 106
Gil Perreault BUF 78 26 80 106
Phil Esposito CHI 64 60 45 105
Jean Pronovost PIT 77 37 67 104
Bobby Clarke PHI 78 32 70 102
WHA REGULAR SEASON
The World Hockey Association had very few marquee names and was by all accounts a minor league. There was huge disparity in this league - even more than in the NHL with it's weak expansion clubs - as the Alberta Oilers lost just 6 games all year while at the other end of the spectrum the Philadelphia Blazers and New York Raiders won just 5 and 4 games respectively. This lack of sucess in the larger markets had to hurt the league's reputation severly.
On the ice Ted Taylor became a household name - well at least in Edmonton - as the 31 year old scored a league leading 162 points in 78 games. In parts of 3 seasons with the New York Rangers and Boston Bruins Tayloer had 0 goals and 6 assists in his NHL career which spanned 33 games.
While Bobby Hull was smashing the single season goal record in the NHL, Alberta's 24 year old rookie Bobby Sheehan was matching Hull almost goal for goal in the outlaw league. Sheehan would finish with 71 goals despite playing just 64 games due to an injury.
Code:
WORLD HOCKEY ASSOCIATION
EASTERN DIVISION GP W L T PTS
New England Whalers 78 63 10 5 131
Cleveland Crusaders 78 49 23 6 104
Ottawa Nationals 78 42 33 3 87
Quebec Nordiques 78 36 38 4 76
Philaldephia Blazers 78 5 71 2 12
New York Raiders 78 4 72 2 10
WESTERN DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Alberta Oilers 78 71 6 1 143
Winnipeg Jets 78 49 23 6 104
Minnesota Saints 78 39 30 9 87
Chicago Cougars 78 37 37 4 78
Los Angeles Sharks 78 34 39 5 73
Houston Aeros 78 29 44 5 63
SCORING LEADERS TEAM GP G A PTS
Ted Taylor ALB 78 67 95 162
Bill Collins ALB 78 65 68 133
Bobby Sheehan ALB 64 71 55 126
Brian Spencer NE 78 58 67 125
Fred Speck NE 78 35 85 120
Christian Bordeleau ALB 50 33 85 118
Tom Martin NE 78 48 68 116
Bob Jones MIN 78 54 59 113
Terry Jones QUE 75 51 62 113
JP Bordeleau ALB 75 37 76 113
Bob Leduc CHI 77 51 59 110
Cal Swenson OTT 78 57 50 107
Rene Drolet QUE 78 40 62 102
Daryl Edestrand ALB 78 22 80 102
PLAYOFFS
Despite the absence of the injured Phil Esposito there was no slowing down Chicago's top line in the opening round of the playoff. Bobby Hull had 6 goals and 13 points while Stan Mikita had 12 points as the Hawks swept Los Angeles in 4 games. Cliff Koroll replaced Esposito on that line and had 5 points in the series.
Philadelphia swept Pittsburgh in the other West Division series as the Flyers were led by an 8 point series from centre Bobby Clarke.
In the East Montreal, led by the goaltending of Tony Esposito, knocked off Toronto in 5 games while the New York Rangers upset top seed Boston in six games. The Rangers got a tremendous series from defenseman Brad Park, who had 9 points, and centre Norm Ullman with 8 points. Cesare Maniago played a big role for New York with a pair of shutouts in the series. Bernie Parent struggled in the Boston cage and Bobby Orr was limited to just 1 goal and 3 points in the 6 games.
The semi-finals gave us another Montreal vs Chicago matchup, a pairing that seems to come up almost every year and always provide plenty of entertaining hockey. The other matchup looks like it will give the Rangers their first trip to the finals since 1937 as they face the Philadelphia Flyers. An expansion team has never won a series against an original six club.
This would be the year history was made as the Philadelphia Flyers eliminated the Rangers in 5 games. Each game was decided by 1 goal as the gritty Flyers prevailed led by their captain Bobby Clarke and a collection of cast offs including Andre Lacroix, Bill Flett, Lowell MacDonald and Barry Ashbee.
The other series also ended in 5 games as the Chicago offense was just too much for Tony Esposito and the Habs. Bobby Hull ended the series with 9 goals and 20 points in 9 playoff games while Stan Mikita had 17 points.
STANLEY CUP FINALS
The Chicago Black Hawks make their 9th straight appearance in the finals while the Philadelphia Flyers become the first expansion team to get within 4 games of sipping from Lord Stanley's mug. The Hawks enter the series as overwhelming favourites after having finished the regular season with 58 points more than Philadelphia. In the regular season Chicago swept all 6 games from the Flyers by a combined score of 38-11.
Philadelphia puts up a solid effort in Game One and has the scored tied 1-1 after 40 minutes but Chicago gets a 3-1 victory thanks to third period goals from Bobby Hull and Terry Caffery.
An even tighter contest in Game Two but again Chicago prevails, this time by a 2-1 score as Fred Stanfield gets the winner 17 minutes into overtime. Dennis Hull had the other Chicago goal while Don Saleski replied for the Flyers. Al Smith made 44 saves in the Flyers net.
The Hawks go up 3 games with a 5-1 victory in Game Three thanks to Chico Maki's goal and 2 helpers. Bobby Hull, Fred Stanfield, Barry Long and Robin Burns also score for Chicago while Bill Barber gets the lone Flyers goal. Al Smith faced 39 shots this game while Eddie Johnston only had to contend with 17 Flyer shots.
Chicago completes the sweep and hoists the Stanley Cup after a 4-3 victory in Game Four. After the Flyers tied the contest in the third period on goals from Bill Flett and Lowell MacDonald, Fred Stanfield dashed their hopes with the series winner at 19:40 of the third period. It was Stanfield's second goal of the game with Barry Long and Dan Maloney also scoring for Chicago. Bobby Clarke had the other Philadelphia goal.
Bobby Hull had just 1 assist in Game Four but won the Conn Smythe Trophy for his playoff leading 11 goals and 24 points. Stan Mikita was second in scoring with 20 points followed by the Flyers captain Bobby Clarke with 14 points.
Other award winners are:
HART TROPHY: Stan Mikita Chicago (78GP 38-126-164)
VEZINA TROPHY: Eddie Johnston Chicago (53-4-9, 1.66)
NORRIS TROPHY: Doug Jarrett Chicago (76GP 22-99-121)
ART ROSS TROPHY: Stan Mikita Chicago (78GP 38-126-164)
CALDER TROPHY: Billy Harris New York Islanders (78GP 31-34-65)
The game does not select the all-star team but I will start naming first and second team all-stars
Code:
POS FIRST TEAM SECOND TEAM
G Eddie Johnston Chicago Bernie Parent Boston
D Doug Jarrett Chicago Carol Vadnais Montreal
D Bobby Orr Boston Brad Park NY Rangers
C Stan Mikita Chicago Derek Sanderson Boston
LW Bobby Hull Chicago Johnny Bucyk Detroit
RW Phil Esposito Chicago Jean Pronovost Boston
WHA PLAYOFFS
As they did all season the Alberta Oilers cruised through the playoffs, winning 12 straight games without a loss as they swept first Quebec, then New England and finally Winnipeg to claim the first Avco Cup. Christian Bordeleau led the way for the Oilers in the post-season scoring 9 goals and a playoff high 23 points. Winnipeg's Duke Harris was second in scoring with 19 points while Bill Collins of the Oilers led in goals with 11.
Bordeleau was named the playoff MVP with other awards going to Brian Spencer of New England as rookie of the year, Darryl Edestrand of the Oilers as top defenseman and surprisingly Winnipeg rearguard Dennis Kearns was named league MVP over Ted Taylor.