1977–78 Edmonton Oilers season

The 1977–78 Edmonton Oilers season was the Oilers' sixth season of operation. The Oilers placed fifth to qualify for the playoffs, losing in the first round.

1977–78 Edmonton Oilers
Division	5th WHA
1977–78 record	38–39–3
Home record	24–15–2
Road record	14–24–1
Goals for	309 (4th)
Goals against	307 (4th)
Team information
General manager	Brian Conacher
Coach	Glen Sather
Captain	Paul Shmyr
Alternate captains	Norm Ferguson Bill Flett Al Hamilton
Arena	Northlands Coliseum
Minor league affiliate(s)	Spokane Flyers (WIHL)
Team leaders
Goals	Bill Flett (41)
Assists	Ron Chipperfield (52)
Points	Ron Chipperfield (85)
Penalty minutes	Ron Busniuk (157)
Plus/minus	Al Hamilton (+24)
Wins	Dave Dryden (21)
Goals against average	Dave Dryden (3.49)
← 1976–77 1978–79 →

Regular season

Final standings

Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF= Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts = Points

WHA Team	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA	PIM
Winnipeg Jets	50	28	2	102	381	270	988
New England Whalers	44	31	5	93	335	269	1255
Houston Aeros	42	34	4	88	296	302	1543
Quebec Nordiques	40	37	3	83	349	347	1185
Edmonton Oilers	38	39	3	79	309	307	1296
Birmingham Bulls	36	41	3	75	287	314	2177
Cincinnati Stingers	35	42	3	73	298	332	1701
Indianapolis Racers	24	51	5	53	267	353	1189
Soviet All-Stars	3	4	1	7	27	36	120
Czechoslovakia All-Stars	1	6	1	3	21	40	87

Schedule and results

1977–78 regular season[1]
October Game Result Date Score Opponent Record 1 L October 12, 1977 3–7 Winnipeg Jets (1977–78) 0–1–0 2 W October 14, 1977 4–2 Quebec Nordiques (1977–78) 1–1–0 3 L October 15, 1977 2–6 @ Quebec Nordiques (1977–78) 1–2–0 4 L October 19, 1977 3–6 New England Whalers (1977–78) 1–3–0 5 L October 26, 1977 7–8 OT @ Houston Aeros (1977–78) 1–4–0 6 W October 28, 1977 3–2 @ Birmingham Bulls (1977–78) 2–4–0 7 L October 30, 1977 2–5 @ Winnipeg Jets (1977–78) 2–5–0
November Game Result Date Score Opponent Record 8 L November 2, 1977 3–6 Winnipeg Jets (1977–78) 2–6–0 9 W November 4, 1977 3–1 Indianapolis Racers (1977–78) 3–6–0 10 W November 6, 1977 7–1 Houston Aeros (1977–78) 4–6–0 11 L November 8, 1977 3–7 @ Quebec Nordiques (1977–78) 4–7–0 12 L November 10, 1977 3–5 @ New England Whalers (1977–78) 4–8–0 13 W November 11, 1977 3–2 @ Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78) 5–8–0 14 T November 12, 1977 1–1 @ Birmingham Bulls (1977–78) 5–8–1 15 W November 16, 1977 6–4 Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78) 6–8–1 16 W November 18, 1977 4–3 OT Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78) 7–8–1 17 L November 20, 1977 4–5 OT New England Whalers (1977–78) 7–9–1 18 W November 22, 1977 4–2 Winnipeg Jets (1977–78) 8–9–1 19 L November 24, 1977 4–5 OT @ Indianapolis Racers (1977–78) 8–10–1 20 W November 26, 1977 3–1 @ New England Whalers (1977–78) 9–10–1 21 W November 30, 1977 4–2 Birmingham Bulls (1977–78) 10–10–1
December Game Result Date Score Opponent Record 22 L December 2, 1977 5–7 Birmingham Bulls (1977–78) 10–11–1 23 W December 4, 1977 3–2 @ Winnipeg Jets (1977–78) 11–11–1 24 W December 7, 1977 5–4 OT Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78) 12–11–1 25 L December 9, 1977 3–5 Houston Aeros (1977–78) 12–12–1 26 L December 11, 1977 2–4 Houston Aeros (1977–78) 12–13–1 27 W December 14, 1977 6–1 Czechoslovakia (1977–78) 13–13–1 28 L December 18, 1977 2–3 @ Birmingham Bulls (1977–78) 13–14–1 29 L December 20, 1977 4–6 @ Houston Aeros (1977–78) 13–15–1 30 W December 21, 1977 5–2 Soviet All-Stars (1977–78) 14–15–1 31 W December 27, 1977 9–3 Quebec Nordiques (1977–78) 15–15–1 32 W December 30, 1977 8–5 Indianapolis Racers (1977–78) 16–15–1
January Game Result Date Score Opponent Record 33 L January 1, 1978 1–2 Houston Aeros (1977–78) 16–16–1 34 L January 6, 1978 1–4 Winnipeg Jets (1977–78) 16–17–1 35 W January 8, 1978 4–2 @ Houston Aeros (1977–78) 17–17–1 36 W January 11, 1978 2–0 @ Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78) 18–17–1 37 L January 13, 1978 0–2 @ New England Whalers (1977–78) 18–18–1 38 L January 14, 1978 4–7 @ Quebec Nordiques (1977–78) 18–19–1 39 W January 15, 1978 4–3 OT @ Winnipeg Jets (1977–78) 19–19–1 40 W January 18, 1978 1–0 New England Whalers (1977–78) 20–19–1 41 L January 20, 1978 3–5 @ Birmingham Bulls (1977–78) 20–20–1 42 W January 21, 1978 3–2 @ Indianapolis Racers (1977–78) 21–20–1 43 L January 22, 1978 2–5 @ Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78) 21–21–1 44 W January 25, 1978 6–2 Indianapolis Racers (1977–78) 22–21–1 45 W January 27, 1978 9–6 Quebec Nordiques (1977–78) 23–21–1 46 L January 29, 1978 3–4 Quebec Nordiques (1977–78) 23–22–1 47 W January 31, 1978 6–4 @ Indianapolis Racers (1977–78) 24–22–1
February Game Result Date Score Opponent Record 48 L February 1, 1978 3–4 @ New England Whalers (1977–78) 24–23–1 49 W February 3, 1978 6–3 @ New England Whalers (1977–78) 25–23–1 50 W February 4, 1978 4–3 OT @ Quebec Nordiques (1977–78) 26–23–1 51 L February 5, 1978 3–4 @ Winnipeg Jets (1977–78) 26–24–1 52 T February 8, 1978 6–6 Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78) 26–24–2 53 W February 12, 1978 7–0 Birmingham Bulls (1977–78) 27–24–2 54 W February 14, 1978 4–1 Birmingham Bulls (1977–78) 28–24–2 55 L February 15, 1978 5–6 @ Winnipeg Jets (1977–78) 28–25–2 56 W February 17, 1978 6–4 Quebec Nordiques (1977–78) 29–25–2 57 W February 19, 1978 4–3 OT Indianapolis Racers (1977–78) 30–25–2 58 L February 22, 1978 5–6 Houston Aeros (1977–78) 30–26–2 59 W February 24, 1978 5–4 OT Houston Aeros (1977–78) 31–26–2 60 L February 26, 1978 5–6 New England Whalers (1977–78) 31–27–2
March Game Result Date Score Opponent Record 61 L March 1, 1978 4–6 Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78) 31–28–2 62 L March 3, 1978 6–8 Indianapolis Racers (1977–78) 31–29–2 63 W March 5, 1978 4–3 @ Birmingham Bulls (1977–78) 32–29–2 64 L March 7, 1978 3–4 @ Houston Aeros (1977–78) 32–30–2 65 L March 9, 1978 5–6 @ Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78) 32–31–2 66 L March 11, 1978 0–2 @ Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78) 32–32–2 67 L March 14, 1978 3–6 @ Quebec Nordiques (1977–78) 32–33–2 68 L March 15, 1978 4–8 @ Winnipeg Jets (1977–78) 32–34–2 69 W March 17, 1978 6–2 Winnipeg Jets (1977–78) 33–34–2 70 W March 19, 1978 4–2 Cincinnati Stingers (1977–78) 34–34–2 71 L March 22, 1978 3–5 Birmingham Bulls (1977–78) 34–35–2 72 W March 24, 1978 4–0 Indianapolis Racers (1977–78) 35–35–2 73 L March 26, 1978 3–5 @ New England Whalers (1977–78) 35–36–2 74 W March 28, 1978 4–3 OT @ Indianapolis Racers (1977–78) 36–36–2 75 L March 30, 1978 1–5 @ Houston Aeros (1977–78) 36–37–2 76 L March 31, 1978 2–5 @ Birmingham Bulls (1977–78) 36–38–2
April Game Result Date Score Opponent Record 77 W April 1, 1978 4–1 @ Indianapolis Racers (1977–78) 37–38–2 78 L April 4, 1978 1–9 @ Quebec Nordiques (1977–78) 37–39–2 79 T April 5, 1978 4–4 New England Whalers (1977–78) 37–39–3 80 W April 7, 1978 4–2 Winnipeg Jets (1977–78) 38–39–3
Legend:   Win (2 points)   Loss (0 points)   Tie (1 point)

Playoffs

1978 Avco Cup playoffs[1]
Quarterfinals vs. (2) New England Whalers – Whalers win 4–1 Game Date Visitor Score Home Series 1 April 14 Edmonton 4–6 New England 0–1 2 April 16 Edmonton 1–4 New England 0–2 3 April 19 New England 0–2 Edmonton 1–2 4 April 21 New England 9–1 Edmonton 1–3 5 April 23 Edmonton 1–4 New England 1–4
Legend:   Win   Loss

Player statistics

Regular season
Scoring
Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM +/- PPG SHG GWG Ron Chipperfield C 80 33 52 85 48 1 11 1 0 Bill Flett RW 74 41 28 69 34 9 8 1 0 Blair MacDonald RW 80 34 34 68 11 −12 7 4 0 Mike Zuke C 71 23 34 57 47 1 2 3 0 Al Hamilton D 59 11 43 54 46 24 6 0 0 Brett Callighen C 80 20 30 50 112 5 1 0 0 Paul Shmyr D 80 9 40 49 100 −9 3 0 0 Joe Micheletti D 56 14 34 48 56 8 3 0 0 Norm Ferguson RW 71 26 21 47 2 14 8 0 0 Juha Widing C 71 18 24 42 8 10 0 1 0 Pierre Guite LW 60 12 21 33 71 −7 2 0 0 Randy Rota C/LW 53 8 22 30 12 11 0 0 0 Dave Langevin D 62 6 22 28 90 11 1 0 0 Bryan Campbell C 53 7 13 20 12 −17 2 0 0 Ron Busniuk RW 59 2 18 20 157 −8 0 0 0 Ab DeMarco D 47 6 8 14 20 −7 3 0 0 Pierre Jarry LW 18 4 10 14 4 −1 0 0 0 Gary MacGregor C 37 11 2 13 29 −2 2 0 0 Dave Semenko LW 65 6 6 12 140 −4 0 0 0 Dennis Sobchuk C 13 6 3 9 4 −4 1 0 0 Don McLeod G 33 0 8 8 2 0 0 0 0 Ken Baird D 6 2 4 6 2 0 0 0 0 Warren Miller RW 18 2 4 6 18 1 0 0 0 Ray McKay D 14 1 4 5 4 3 0 0 0 Butch Deadmarsh LW 20 1 3 4 32 −1 0 0 0 Jerry Holland LW 22 2 1 3 14 −1 1 0 0 Cal Sandbeck D 11 1 2 3 39 1 1 0 0 Jim Troy RW 47 2 0 2 124 −11 0 0 0 Rick Morris LW 5 1 1 2 7 −7 0 1 0 Craig Topolnisky D 10 0 2 2 4 −1 0 0 0 Dave Dryden G 48 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Dave Inkpen D 19 0 1 1 16 −6 0 0 0 Owen Lloyd D 3 0 1 1 4 −1 0 0 0 Gerry Pinder LW 5 0 1 1 0 −1 0 0 0 Kevin Primeau RW 7 0 1 1 2 −1 0 0 0 Chris Ahrens D 4 0 0 0 15 −5 0 0 0 Ken Broderick G 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Jim Cross LW 2 0 0 0 0 −3 0 0 0 Bob Falkenberg D 2 0 0 0 0 −1 0 0 0 Del Hall C 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Dale McMullin LW 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Frank Turnbull G 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Goaltending
Player MIN GP W L T GA GAA SO Dave Dryden 2578 48 21 23 2 150 3.49 2 Don McLeod 1723 33 15 10 1 102 3.55 2 Ken Broderick 497 9 2 5 0 42 5.07 0 Frank Turnbull 60 1 0 1 0 6 6.00 0 Team: 4858 80 38 39 3 300 3.71 4

Playoffs
Scoring
Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM PPG SHG GWG Mike Zuke C 5 2 3 5 0 0 0 0 Paul Shmyr D 5 1 3 4 11 0 0 0 Ron Chipperfield C 5 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 Pierre Guite LW 5 1 1 2 20 0 0 1 Blair MacDonald RW 5 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 Randy Rota C/LW 5 1 1 2 4 0 0 0 Brett Callighen C 5 0 2 2 16 0 0 0 Dave Langevin D 5 0 2 2 10 0 0 0 Joe Micheletti D 5 0 2 2 4 0 0 0 Pierre Jarry LW 5 1 0 1 4 0 0 0 Dennis Sobchuk C 5 1 0 1 4 0 0 0 Ray McKay D 4 0 1 1 4 0 0 0 Juha Widing C 5 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 Ron Busniuk RW 5 0 0 0 18 0 0 0 Ab DeMarco D 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Dave Dryden G 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Norm Ferguson RW 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Don McLeod G 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Kevin Primeau RW 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 Cal Sandbeck D 5 0 0 0 10 0 0 0 Dave Semenko LW 5 0 0 0 8 0 0 0 Jim Troy RW 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Goaltending
Player MIN GP W L GA GAA SO Don McLeod 207 4 1 3 16 4.64 1 Dave Dryden 91 2 0 1 6 3.96 0 Team: 298 5 1 4 22 4.43 1

^[2]

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;

Transactions

Trades

Date	To Edmonton Oilers	Traded to	Traded for
June 1977	Jim Troy	New England Whalers	Brett Callighen
June 16, 1977 (1977-06-16)	Dave Dryden Brett Callighen 1st round pick in 1977 - Ron Areshenkoff 4th round pick in 1977 - Dan Clark	New England Whalers	Jean-Louis Levasseur
September 9, 1977 (1977-09-09)	Blair MacDonald Dave Inkpen Mike Zuke	Indianapolis Racers	Barry Wilkins Ed Patenaude Claude St. Sauveur Kevin Devine
September 19, 1977 (1977-09-19)	Jeff Jacques Lou Nistico	Birmingham Bulls	Chris Evans Pete Laframboise Danny Arndt
	Future considerations	Indianapolis Racers	Kevin Morrison Bill Prentice Bob Russell
	Don Tannahill Peter Donnelly	Quebec Nordiques	Future considerations
October 16, 1977 (1977-10-16)	Dave Semenko	Houston Aeros	Future considerations
November 25, 1977 (1977-11-25)	Pierre Guité Don McLeod	Quebec Nordiques	Dave Inkpen Rick Morris Warren Miller Ken Broderick
December 16, 1977 (1977-12-16)	Dennis Sobchuk Del Hall	Cincinnati Stingers	Butch Deadmarsh Dave Debol Future considerations Cash
March 3, 1978 (1978-03-03)	Pierre Jarry Chris Ahrens	Minnesota North Stars (NHL)	Future considerations

Players acquired

Date	Player	Former team	Term
August 25, 1977 (1977-08-25)	Doug Berry	Calgary Cowboys
	Ron Chipperfield
	Chris Evans
	Don Micheletti
	Joe Micheletti
	Warren Miller
	Perry Schnarr
	Steve Stoyanovich
	Kevin Devine	San Diego Mariners
	Norm Ferguson
	Randy Legge
	Kevin Morrison
	Paul Shmyr
September 9, 1977 (1977-09-09)	Butch Deadmarsh	Calgary Cowboys
September 14, 1977 (1977-09-14)	Jerry Holland	New York Rangers (NHL)
	Gary MacGregor	Indianapolis Racers
September 16, 1977 (1977-09-16)	Juha Widing	Cleveland Crusaders	2-year
October 1977	Bob Falkenberg	San Diego Mariners
October 12, 1977 (1977-10-12)	Ken Baird	Calgary Cowboys
	Frank Turnbull	Spokane Flyers (WIHL)
February 19, 1978 (1978-02-19)	Gerry Pinder	San Diego Mariners
March 1, 1978 (1978-03-01)	Dale McMullin	Spokane Flyers (WIHL)
	Craig Topolnisky
March 5, 1978 (1978-03-05)	Kevin Primeau	Alberta Golden Bears (CWUAA)
March 7, 1978 (1978-03-07)	Jim Cross	St. Albert Saints (AJHL)
March 12, 1978 (1978-03-12)	Ray McKay	Birmingham Bulls

Players lost

Date	Player	New team
	Doug Barrie	Retired
	Randy Legge
	Bill Prentice	Indianapolis Racers
	Tom Simpson	Broome Dusters (AHL)
July 1977	Bobby Sheehan	Indianapolis Racers
November 1977	Frank Beaton	Birmingham Bulls
November 1, 1977 (1977-11-01)	Ken Baird	Released
November 6, 1977 (1977-11-06)	Lou Nistico	Colorado Rockies (NHL)
November 15, 1977 (1977-11-15)	Gavin Kirk	Birmingham Bulls
December 1977	Ken Baird	Winnipeg Jets
	Del Hall	Retired
	Paul Stewart	Cincinnati Stingers
March 1, 1978 (1978-03-01)	Robin Sadler	Nova Scotia Voyageurs (AHL)

Signings

Date	Player	Term
June 20, 1977 (1977-06-20)	Robin Sadler	2-year
September 6, 1977 (1977-09-06)	Norm Ferguson
	Paul Shmyr
September 13, 1977 (1977-09-13)	Dave Dryden
September 21, 1977 (1977-09-21)	Ron Busniuk	1-year
	Al Hamilton	1-year
October 10, 1977 (1977-10-10)	Warren Miller	1-year
October 12, 1977 (1977-10-12)	Ken Baird
October 23, 1977 (1977-10-23)	Dave Semenko	2-year
December 2, 1977 (1977-12-02)	Ab DeMarco	1-year
January 5, 1978 (1978-01-05)	Jim Troy
March 18, 1978 (1978-03-18)	Cal Sandbeck	2-year
March 20, 1978 (1978-03-20)	Owen Lloyd

Draft picks

Edmonton's draft picks at the 1977 WHA Amateur Draft.^[3]

Round	#	Player	Nationality	College/Junior/Club team (League)
1	4	Mike Crombeen (F)	Canada	Kingston Canadians (OHA)
1	11	Ron Areshenkoff[4] (C)	Canada	Medicine Hat Tigers (WCHL)
3	24	Kim Davis (C)	Canada	Flin Flon Bombers (WCHL)
4	33	Neil LaBatte (D)	Canada	Toronto Marlboros (OHA)
4	34	Dan Clark (D)	Canada	Kamloops Chiefs (WCHL)
5	42	Rocky Saganiuk (RW)	Canada	Lethbridge Broncos (WCHL)
6	51	Julian Baretta (G)	United States	University of Wisconsin (WCHA)
7	60	Dave Hoyda (LW)	Canada	Portland Winter Hawks (WCHL)
8	69	Ray Creasy (F)	Canada	New Westminster Bruins (WCHL)
9	77	Guy Lash (RW)	Canada	Winnipeg Monarchs (WCHL)
10	85	Owen Lloyd (D)	Canada	Medicine Hat Tigers (WCHL)

See also

• 1977–78 WHA season