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)
Penalty 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)
3	51	Normand Aubin (C)	Canada	Verdun Eperviers (QMJHL)
4	72	Vincent Tremblay (G)	Canada	Quebec Remparts (QMJHL)
5	93	Frank Nigro (C)	Canada	London Knights (OMJHL)
6	114	Bill McCreary Jr. (RW)	United States	Colgate University (ECAC)

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 McDonald, 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
show October Game Date Opponent Score Location/Attendance Record 1 10/10/1979 New York Rangers 3-6 Maple Leaf Gardens 0-1-0 2 10/13/1979 Colorado Rockies 2 - 1 Maple Leaf Gardens 1-1-0 3 10/14/1979 at Philadelphia Flyers 3 - 4 The Spectrum 1-2-0 4 10/17/1979 Minnesota North Stars 6 - 2 Maple Leaf Gardens 2-2-0 5 10/19/1979 at Washington Capitals 5 - 3 Maple Leaf Gardens 3-2-0 6 10/20/1979 Vancouver Canucks 2 - 0 Maple Leaf Gardens 4-2-0 7 10/24/1979 at Vancouver Canucks 1 - 5 The Pacific Coliseum 4-3-0 8 10/26/1979 at Colorado Rockies 2 - 2 McNichols Sports Arena 4-3-1 9 10/27/1979 at Los Angeles Kings 5 - 7 The Forum 4-4-1 10 10/31/1979 Hartford Whalers 2 - 4 Maple Leaf Gardens 4-5-1
show November Game Date Opponent Score Location/Attendance Record 11 11/2/1979 at Hartford Whalers 3 - 5 Springfield Civic Center 4-6-1 12 11/3/1979 Buffalo Sabres 3 – 4 Maple Leaf Gardens 4-7-1 13 11/7/1979 at St. Louis Blues 7 - 4 5-7-1 14 11/10/1979 at Winnipeg Jets 8 - 4 6-7-1 15 11/11/1979 at Edmonton Oilers 6 - 3 7-7-1 16 11/14/1979 St. Louis Blues 7 - 2 8-7-1 17 11/17/1979 Boston Bruins 0 - 2 Maple Leaf Gardens 8-8-1 18 11/18/1979 at Quebec Nordiques 2 - 4 Le Colisée 8-9-1 19 11/21/1979 Edmonton Oilers 4 - 4 Maple Leaf Gardens 8-9-2 20 11/24/1979 Chicago Blackhawks 1 - 2 Maple Leaf Gardens 8-10-2 21 11/25/1979 at New York Rangers 4 - 3 Madison Square Garden 9-10-2 22 11/27/1979 at Atlanta Flames 5 - 3 10-10-2 23 11/28/1979 at Washington Capitals 4 - 2 11-10-2
show December Game Date Opponent Score Location/Attendance Record 24 12/1/1979 Philadelphia Flyers 4-4 Maple Leaf Gardens 11-10-3 25 12/5/1979 Montreal Canadiens 3 – 2 Maple Leaf Gardens 12-10-3 26 12/7/1979 New York Islanders 1 - 6 Maple Leaf Gardens 12-11-3 27 12/12/1979 Colorado Rockies Maple Leaf Gardens 5 – 3 13-11-3 28 12/15/1979 Atlanta Flames 8 - 1 Maple Leaf Gardens 14-11-3 29 12/17/1979 at Minnesota North Stars 1 - 5 14-12-3 30 12/19/1979 Los Angeles Kings 4 - 4 Maple Leaf Gardens 14-12-4 31 12/20/1979 at Boston Bruins 0 – 10 Boston Garden 14-13-4 32 12/22/1979 Detroit Red Wings 2 – 1 Maple Leaf Gardens 15-13-4 33 12/23/1979 at Montreal Canadiens 4 - 8 Montreal Forum 15-14-4 34 12/26/1979 Washington Capitals 2 - 8 Maple Leaf Gardens 15-15-4 35 12/27/1979 at Buffalo Sabres 3 - 5 War Memorial Auditorium 15-16-4 36 12/29/1979 Winnipeg Jets 6 - 1 Maple Leaf Gardens 16-16-4
show January Game Date Opponent Score Location/Attendance Record 37 1/2/1980 New York Islanders 1-3 Maple Leaf Gardens 16-17-4 38 1/5/1980 Quebec Nordiques 3 - 7 Maple Leaf Gardens 16-18-4 39 1/7/1980 Pittsburgh Penguins 9 - 5 Maple Leaf Gardens 17-18-4 40 1/9/1980 Montreal Canadiens 3 - 5 Maple Leaf Gardens 17-19-4 41 1/12/1980 Vancouver Canucks 6 - 4 Maple Leaf Gardens 18-19-4 42 1/16/1980 at Pittsburgh Penguins 4 - 6 18-20-4 43 1/17/1980 at New York Islanders 6 - 9 18-21-4 44 1/19/1980 at Montreal Canadiens 2 - 7 Montreal Forum 18-22-4 45 1/22/1980 at Atlanta Flames 4 - 2 19-22-4 46 1/24/1980 at Los Angeles Kings 4 - 5 Los Angeles Forum 19-23-4 47 1/26/1980 at Edmonton Oilers 3 - 8 Northlands Coliseum 19-24-4 48 1/27/1980 at Vancouver Canucks 5 - 2 20-24-4 49 1/30/1980 Detroit Red Wings 6 - 4 Maple Leaf Gardens 21-24-4
show February Game Date Opponent Score Location/Attendance Record 50 2/2/1980 Chicago Blackhawks 4-5 Maple Leaf Gardens 21-25-4 51 2/3/1980 at Chicago Blackhawks 2 - 4 Chicago Stadium 21-26-4 52 2/7/1980 at Boston Bruins 6 - 8 Boston Garden 21-27-4 53 2/9/1980 Los Angeles Kings 2 - 7 Maple Leaf Gardens 21-28-4 54 2/10/1980 at Detroit Red Wings 4 - 1 22-28-4 55 2/13/1980 Pittsburgh Penguins 2 - 4 Maple Leaf Gardens 22-29-4 56 2/16/1980 Hartford Whalers 5 - 3 Maple Leaf Gardens 23-29-4 57 2/17/1980 at New York Rangers 6 - 4 Madison Square Garden 24-29-4 58 2/19/1980 at New York Islanders 6 - 4 25-29-4 59 2/20/1980 at Chicago Blackhawks 2 - 4 Chicago Stadium 25-30-4 60 2/23/1980 at Winnipeg Jets 9 - 3 26-30-4 61 2/26/1980 at St. Louis Blues 2 – 5 26-31-4 62 2/27/1980 at Colorado Rockies 4 - 3 27-31-4
show March Game Date Opponent Score Location/Attendance Record 63 3/1/1980 Philadelphia Flyers 3 - 3 Maple Leaf Gardens 27-31-5 64 3/2/1980 at Detroit Red Wings 6 - 3 28-31-5 65 3/5/1980 at Pittsburgh Penguins 5 - 3 29-31-5 66 3/8/1980 Quebec Nordiques 3 - 2 30-31-5 67 3/9/1980 at Quebec Nordiques 4 - 5 Le Colisée 30-32-5 68 3/12/1980 St. Louis Blues 2 - 3 Maple Leaf Gardens 30-33-5 69 3/15/1980 New York Rangers 4 - 8 Maple Leaf Gardens 30-34-5 70 3/17/1980 Atlanta Flames 1 - 5 Maple Leaf Gardens 30-35-5 71 3/19/1980 Winnipeg Jets 9 - 1 Maple Leaf Gardens 31-35-5 72 3/20/1980 at Philadelphia Flyers 3 - 0 32-35-5 73 3/22/1980 Buffalo Sabres 1 - 5 Maple Leaf Gardens 32-36-5 74 3/24/1980 Washington Capitals 6 - 1 Maple Leaf Gardens 33-36-5 75 3/25/1980 at Minnesota North Stars 2 - 7 33-37-5 76 3/29/1980 Edmonton Oilers 5 – 8 Maple Leaf Gardens 33-38-5
show April Game Date Opponent Score Location/Attendance Record 77 4/1/1980 at Hartford Whalers 5-4 34-38-5 78 4/2/1980 Boston Bruins 2-5 Maple Leaf Gardens 34-39-5 79 4/5/1980 Minnesota North Stars 2-1 Maple Leaf Gardens 35-39-5 80 4/6/1980 at Buffalo Sabres 3-7 Buffalo War Memorial Auditorium 35-40-5
1979–80 Schedule

Transactions[]

• On December 29, 1979: The Maple Leafs traded Lanny McDonald and Joel Quenneville to the Colorado Rockies for Wilf Paiement and Pat Hickey.^[7]
• February 18, 1980: Tiger Williams was traded to the Vancouver Canucks for Rick Vaive and Bill Derlago.

Player statistics[]

Regular season[]

Scoring

Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	+/-	PPG	SHG	GWG
Darryl Sittler	C	73	40	57	97	62	3	17	1	5
Borje Salming	D	74	19	52	71	94	4	4	0	1
John Anderson	RW	74	25	28	53	22	5	3	0	5
Wilf Paiement	RW	41	20	28	48	72	1	8	0	2
Laurie Boschman	C	80	16	32	48	78	2	2	0	4
Rocky Saganiuk	RW/C	75	24	23	47	52	-5	3	0	4
Walt McKechnie	C	54	7	36	43	4	-6	1	0	0
Tiger Williams	LW	55	22	18	40	197	-13	5	0	1
Ian Turnbull	D	75	11	28	39	90	-23	3	0	0
Pat Hickey	LW	45	22	16	38	16	1	6	0	3
Dan Maloney	LW	71	17	16	33	102	-13	1	0	1
Lanny McDonald	RW	35	15	15	30	10	-1	6	0	2
Paul Gardner	C	45	11	13	24	10	-8	4	0	1
Ron Ellis	RW	59	12	11	23	6	-9	0	1	2
Terry Martin	LW	37	6	15	21	2	6	1	0	2
Dave Burrows	D	80	3	16	19	42	0	0	0	0
Bill Derlago	C	23	5	12	17	13	-6	1	0	0
Rick Vaive	RW	22	9	7	16	77	-4	2	0	1
Jerry Butler	RW	55	7	8	15	29	-3	0	0	1
Greg Hotham	D	46	3	10	13	10	-4	0	0	0
Richard Mulhern	D	26	0	10	10	11	-1	0	0	0
Dave Farrish	D	20	1	8	9	30	5	0	0	0
Mike Kaszycki	C	25	4	4	8	10	-4	0	0	0
Dave Hutchison	D	31	1	6	7	28	1	0	0	0
Joel Quenneville	D	32	1	4	5	24	-2	1	0	0
Carl Brewer	D	20	0	5	5	2	-5	0	0	0
Bob Stephenson	RW	14	2	2	4	4	-7	0	0	0
Pat Boutette	C/RW	32	0	4	4	17	-6	0	0	0
Mike Palmateer	G	38	0	3	3	6	0	0	0	0
Pat Ribble	D	13	0	2	2	8	-9	0	0	0
Ron Wilson	D	5	0	2	2	2	-2	0	0	0
Mark Kirton	C	2	1	0	1	2	0	0	0	0
Larry Carriere	D	2	0	1	1	0	-1	0	0	0
Paul Harrison	G	30	0	1	1	4	0	0	0	0
Bruce Boudreau	C	2	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0
Jiri Crha	G	15	0	0	0	4	0	0	0	0
Jimmy Jones	RW	1	0	0	0	0	-1	0	0	0
Daryl Maggs	D	5	0	0	0	0	-4	0	0	0
Curt Ridley	G	3	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0
Vincent Tremblay	G	10	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SO
Mike Palmateer	2039	38	16	14	3	125	3.68	2
Paul Harrison	1492	30	9	17	2	110	4.42	0
Jiri Crha	830	15	8	7	0	50	3.61	0
Vincent Tremblay	329	10	2	1	0	28	5.11	0
Curt 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
Darryl Sittler	C	3	1	2	3	10	1	0	0
Ron Wilson	D	3	1	2	3	2	1	0	0
Ian Turnbull	D	3	0	3	3	2	0	0	0
Terry Martin	LW	3	2	0	2	7	0	0	0
John Anderson	RW	3	1	1	2	0	0	0	0
Laurie Boschman	C	3	1	1	2	18	1	0	0
Borje Salming	D	3	1	1	2	2	1	0	0
Wilf Paiement	RW	3	0	2	2	17	0	0	0
Rick Vaive	RW	3	1	0	1	11	0	0	0
Dave Burrows	D	3	0	1	1	2	0	0	0
Larry Carriere	D	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Jiri Crha	G	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Bill Derlago	C	3	0	0	0	4	0	0	0
Ron Ellis	RW	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Dave Farrish	D	3	0	0	0	10	0	0	0
Pat Hickey	LW	3	0	0	0	2	0	0	0
Mike Kaszycki	C	2	0	0	0	2	0	0	0
Richard Mulhern	D	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Mike Palmateer	G	1	0	0	0	2	0	0	0
Rocky Saganiuk	RW/C	3	0	0	0	10	0	0	0

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	GA	GAA	SO
Jiri Crha	121	2	0	2	10	4.96	0
Mike Palmateer	60	1	0	1	7	7.00	0
Team:	181	3	0	3	17	5.64	0

^[8]

Roster[]

1979-80 Toronto Maple Leafs
Goaltenders 1 – Vincent Tremblay  29 – Mike Palmateer  30 – Paul Harrison  31 – Jiri Crha  33 – Curt Ridley		Defensemen 2 – Ian Turnbull  3 – Larry Carriere  3 – Joel Quenneville  3 – Pat Ribble  4 – Greg Hotham  8 – Richard Mulhern  14 – Ron Wilson  21 – Borje Salming  23 – Dave Farrish  23 – Dave Hutchison  24 – Darryl Maggs  26 – Dave Burrows  28 – Carl Brewer		Wingers 6 – Ron Ellis  7 – Lanny McDonald  8 – Rocky Saganiuk  9 – Dan Maloney  10 – John Anderson  15 – Pat Boutette  15 – Bob Stephenson  16 – Pat Hickey  17 – Jerry Butler  19 – Rick Vaive  22 – Tiger Williams  25 – Terry Martin  99 – Wilf Paiement		Centres 11 – Walt McKechnie  12 – Laurie Boschman  14 – Mike Kaszycki  16 – Jimmy Jones  18 – Paul Gardner  19 – Bruce Boudreau  20 – Bill Derlago  20 – Mark Kirton  27 – Darryl Sittler  - C GM: Punch Imlach Coach: Floyd Smith (30-33-5) Coach: Dick Duff (0-2-0) Coach: Punch Imlach (5-5-0)

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[]

• Borje Salming, runner-up, Norris Trophy^[10]
• Borje Salming was voted to the Second Team All-Stars (a rarity in that usually the runner-up for the Norris joins the Norris winner on the First Team All-Stars).

Farm teams[]

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

References[]

Notes[]

Bibliography[]

• The Power of Two: Carl Brewer's Battle with Hockey's Power Brokers, Susan Foster with notes by Carl Brewer, Fenn Publishing Company Ltd., Bolton, Ontario, 2006, ISBN 978-1-55168-313-3 (paperback).
• National Hockey League Official Guide and Record Book 2006, Dan Diamond & Associates, Toronto, Ontario, ISBN 0-920445-98-5.

External links[]

• Maple Leafs on Hockey Database