1979–80 Toronto Maple Leafs season

1979–80 Toronto Maple Leafs
Division 4th Adams
Conference 5th Wales
1979–80 record 35-40-5
Goals for 304
Goals against 327
Team information
General Manager Punch Imlach
Coach Floyd Smith
Dick Duff
Punch Imlach
Captain Darryl Sittler (Oct-Dec)
vacant (Dec-Apr)
Alternate captains None
Team leaders
Goals Darryl Sittler (40)
Assists Darryl Sittler (57)
Points Darryl Sittler (97)
Penalties in minutes Tiger Williams (197)
Wins Mike Palmateer (16)
Goals against average Jiri Crha (3.61)
<1978–79 1980–81>

The 1979–80 Toronto Maple Leafs season was the 63rd season of the franchise, 53rd season as the Maple Leafs. In July 1979, Leafs owner Harold Ballard brought back Punch Imlach, a longtime friend, as general manager. Imlach traded Lanny McDonald to undermine team captain Darryl Sittler's influence on the team.[1] The McDonald trade sent the Leafs into a downward spiral. They finished five games under .500 and only made the playoffs due to the presence of the Quebec Nordiques, a refugee from the WHA, in the Adams Division.

Offseason

NHL draft

Round Pick Player Nationality College/junior/club team
1 9. Laurie Boschman (C)  Canada Brandon Wheat Kings (WHL)

Regular season

The 1979-80 season marked the dismantling of a promising hockey team. The Maple Leafs had stars such as Darryl Sittler, Mike Palmateer, Lanny MacDonald, Tiger Williams, Borje Salming and Ian Turnbull. In previous years, the Leafs were always one of the top teams in the league but could not beat the Montreal Canadiens in the playoffs. Leafs' owner Harold Ballard fired General Manager Jim Gregory and Head Coach Roger Neilson.[2] After unsuccessfully attempting to hire both former Boston Bruins head coach Don Cherry (who became head coach of the Colorado Rockies) and former Montreal Canadiens head coach Scotty Bowman (who became head coach and general manager of the Buffalo Sabres), Ballard brought back Punch Imlach, who had been the Leafs' coach and general manager when they last won the Stanley Cup in 1967, to be the team's new GM. Imlach subsequently hired Floyd Smith, a former Leaf player who had previously coached for Imlach when he was GM of the Sabres, to be the Leafs' new head coach.

By November 1979, tensions between Imlach and Sittler mounted as Sittler publicly aired his grievances. An article was featured in the Globe and Mail by James Christie, titled Darryl Sittler drops the Gloves.[3] Sittler was unhappy that Imlach publicly criticized him and Mike Palmateer. Another point of tension for Sittler was the fact that Imlach placed Lanny McDonald and Ian Turnbull on waivers.

On December 13, 1979, Imlach announced that Carl Brewer was making another comeback in the NHL.[4] Brewer would play for the New Brunswick Hawks, the Maple Leafs' American Hockey League affiliate. In Brewer's first game in Moncton, New Brunswick, King Clancy and Johnny Bower showed up to watch him play.[2]

Brewer returned to the Maple Leafs on December 26, 1979, for the Maple Leafs game against the Washington Capitals. Many players on the Leafs felt that Brewer was a spy for Imlach.[2] In Brewer's first game, many of his teammates were openly hostile to him. Brewer's defense partner was Borje Salming, and Salming refused to pass Brewer the puck.[5] During the season, Brewer would only play in twenty contests.

Season standings

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

[6]Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against

Note: Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.

Schedule and results

1979–80 Game log
1979–80 Schedule

Transactions

Player statistics

Regular season

Scoring
Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM +/- PPG SHG GWG
Sittler, DarrylDarryl Sittler C 73 40 57 97 6231715
Salming, BorjeBorje Salming D 74 19 52 71 944401
Anderson, JohnJohn Anderson RW 74 25 28 53 225305
Paiement, WilfWilf Paiement RW 41 20 28 48 721802
Boschman, LaurieLaurie Boschman C 80 16 32 48 782204
Saganiuk, RockyRocky Saganiuk RW/C 75 24 23 47 52-5304
McKechnie, WaltWalt McKechnie C 54 7 36 43 4-6100
Williams, TigerTiger Williams LW 55 22 18 40 197-13501
Turnbull, IanIan Turnbull D 75 11 28 39 90-23300
Hickey, PatPat Hickey LW 45 22 16 38 161603
Maloney, DanDan Maloney LW 71 17 16 33 102-13101
McDonald, LannyLanny McDonald RW 35 15 15 30 10-1602
Gardner, PaulPaul Gardner C 45 11 13 24 10-8401
Ellis, RonRon Ellis RW 59 12 11 23 6-9012
Martin, TerryTerry Martin LW 37 6 15 21 26102
Burrows, DaveDave Burrows D 80 3 16 19 420000
Derlago, BillBill Derlago C 23 5 12 17 13-6100
Vaive, RickRick Vaive RW 22 9 7 16 77-4201
Butler, JerryJerry Butler RW 55 7 8 15 29-3001
Hotham, GregGreg Hotham D 46 3 10 13 10-4000
Mulhern, RichardRichard Mulhern D 26 0 10 10 11-1000
Farrish, DaveDave Farrish D 20 1 8 9 305000
Kaszycki, MikeMike Kaszycki C 25 4 4 8 10-4000
Hutchison, DaveDave Hutchison D 31 1 6 7 281000
Quenneville, JoelJoel Quenneville D 32 1 4 5 24-2100
Brewer, CarlCarl Brewer D 20 0 5 5 2-5000
Stephenson, BobBob Stephenson RW 14 2 2 4 4-7000
Boutette, PatPat Boutette C/RW 32 0 4 4 17-6000
Palmateer, MikeMike Palmateer G 38 0 3 3 60000
Ribble, PatPat Ribble D 13 0 2 2 8-9000
Wilson, RonRon Wilson D 5 0 2 2 2-2000
Kirton, MarkMark Kirton C 2 1 0 1 20000
Carriere, LarryLarry Carriere D 2 0 1 1 0-1000
Harrison, PaulPaul Harrison G 30 0 1 1 40000
Boudreau, BruceBruce Boudreau C 2 0 0 0 20000
Crha, JiriJiri Crha G 15 0 0 0 40000
Jones, JimmyJimmy Jones RW 1 0 0 0 0-1000
Maggs, DarylDaryl Maggs D 5 0 0 0 0-4000
Ridley, CurtCurt Ridley G 3 0 0 0 20000
Tremblay, VincentVincent Tremblay G 10 0 0 0 00000
Goaltending
Player MIN GP W L T GA GAA SO
Palmateer, MikeMike Palmateer 2039 38 16 14 3 125 3.68 2
Harrison, PaulPaul Harrison 1492 30 9 17 2 110 4.42 0
Crha, JiriJiri Crha 830 15 8 7 0 50 3.61 0
Tremblay, VincentVincent Tremblay 329 10 2 1 0 28 5.11 0
Ridley, CurtCurt Ridley 110 3 0 1 0 8 4.36 0
Team: 4800 80 35 40 5 321 4.01 2

Playoffs

Scoring
Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM PPG SHG GWG
Sittler, DarrylDarryl Sittler C 3 1 2 3 10100
Wilson, RonRon Wilson D 3 1 2 3 2100
Turnbull, IanIan Turnbull D 3 0 3 3 2000
Martin, TerryTerry Martin LW 3 2 0 2 7000
Anderson, JohnJohn Anderson RW 3 1 1 2 0000
Boschman, LaurieLaurie Boschman C 3 1 1 2 18100
Salming, BorjeBorje Salming D 3 1 1 2 2100
Paiement, WilfWilf Paiement RW 3 0 2 2 17000
Vaive, RickRick Vaive RW 3 1 0 1 11000
Burrows, DaveDave Burrows D 3 0 1 1 2000
Carriere, LarryLarry Carriere D 2 0 0 0 0000
Crha, JiriJiri Crha G 2 0 0 0 0000
Derlago, BillBill Derlago C 3 0 0 0 4000
Ellis, RonRon Ellis RW 3 0 0 0 0000
Farrish, DaveDave Farrish D 3 0 0 0 10000
Hickey, PatPat Hickey LW 3 0 0 0 2000
Kaszycki, MikeMike Kaszycki C 2 0 0 0 2000
Mulhern, RichardRichard Mulhern D 1 0 0 0 0000
Palmateer, MikeMike Palmateer G 1 0 0 0 2000
Saganiuk, RockyRocky Saganiuk RW/C 3 0 0 0 10000
Goaltending
Player MIN GP W L GA GAA SO
Crha, JiriJiri Crha 121 2 0 2 10 4.96 0
Palmateer, MikeMike Palmateer 60 1 0 1 7 7.00 0
Team: 181 3 0 3 17 5.64 0

[8]

Note:

Pos = Position; GPI = Games played in; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes; +/- = Plus/minus; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals
Min, TOI = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T,T/OT = Ties; OTL = Overtime losses; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts; SA = Shots against; SV = Shots saved; SV% = Save percentage;

Roster

1979-80 Toronto Maple Leafs
Goaltenders

Defensemen

Wingers

Centres

Playoffs

Date Opponent Score Series lead
April 8, 1980 at Minnesota North Stars 3 - 6 Stars lead series 1-0
April 9, 1980 at Minnesota North Stars 2 - 7 Stars lead series 2-0
April 11, 1980 Minnesota North Stars 3 - 4 Stars win series 3-0

[9]

Transactions

The Maple Leafs have been involved in the following transactions during the 1979-80 season.

Trades

August 22, 1979 To Edmonton Oilers
6th round pick in 1981 - Steve Smith
To Toronto Maple Leafs
Reg Thomas
December 13, 1979 To Quebec Nordiques
Reg Thomas
To Toronto Maple Leafs
Dave Farrish
Terry Martin
December 24, 1979 To Hartford Whalers
Pat Boutette
To Toronto Maple Leafs
Bob Stephenson
December 29, 1979 To Colorado Rockies
Lanny McDonald
Joel Quenneville
To Toronto Maple Leafs
Pat Hickey
Wilf Paiement
January 10, 1980 To Chicago Black Hawks
Dave Hutchison
To Toronto Maple Leafs
Pat Ribble
February 10, 1980 To Vancouver Canucks
Cash
To Toronto Maple Leafs
Curt Ridley
February 16, 1980 To Washington Capitals
Pat Ribble
To Toronto Maple Leafs
Mike Kaszycki
February 18, 1980 To Vancouver Canucks
Tiger Williams
Jerry Butler
To Toronto Maple Leafs
Rick Vaive
Bill Derlago
March 3, 1980 To Colorado Rockies
Walt McKechnie
To Toronto Maple Leafs
3rd round pick in 1980 - Fred Boimistruck
June 10, 1980 To Calgary Flames
2nd round pick in 1980 - Kevin LaVallee
To Toronto Maple Leafs
David Shand
3rd round pick in 1980 - Torrie Robertson
June 11, 1980 To Washington Capitals
Mike Palmateer
3rd round pick in 1980 - Torrie Robertson
To Toronto Maple Leafs
Tim Coulis
Robert Picard
2nd round pick in 1980 - Bob McGill

Waivers

February 10, 1980 From Los Angeles Kings
Richard Mulhern

Free agents

Player Former Team
Daryl Maggs Cincinnati Stingers (WHA)
Carl Brewer Toronto Toros (WHA)
Jiri Crha HC Pardubice (Czech.)
Larry Carriere Buffalo Sabres
Player New Team
Greg Hubick Vancouver Canucks
Roy Sommer Edmonton Oilers

Awards and records

Farm teams

The Maple Leafs were affiliated with the New Brunswick Hawks of the American Hockey League.

References

Notes

  1. "Lanny McDonald trade has Sittler in tears," Jim Kernaghan, Toronto Star, December 29, 1979, p. 1.
  2. 1 2 3 Foster, p. 103
  3. Foster, p. 102.
  4. Foster, p. 101.
  5. Foster, p. 104.
  6. Dinger, Ralph, ed. (2011). The National Hockey League Official Guide & Record Book 2012. Dan Diamond & Associates. p. 152. ISBN 9781894801225.
  7. Legends of Hockey - Spotlight - One on One with Lanny McDonald
  8. "1979-80 Toronto Maple Leafs Statistics - Hockey-Reference.com". hockey-reference.com. Retrieved 2009-05-28.
  9. Toronto Maple Leafs 1979-80 Game Log and Scores
  10. NHL Official Guide and Record Book 2006, p. 222.

Bibliography

External links

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