Revival: The Chaotic, Colourful Journey of the 1977-78 Toronto Maple Leafs
(By Damien Cox)
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| Author | Damien Cox |
By the spring of 1978, the National Hockey League was in chaos and spread thin, feeling the effects of rapid expansion. From the cozy old-boy establishment of the Original Six, the NHL had doubled in size immediately following the Leafs' Cup win in '67 - the largest expansion in professional sports history. And then there was more. By the 1977-78 season, there were eighteen teams competing - not only on the ice, but for talent.
Further depleted by the rise of a serious new rival in the World Hockey Association, the NHL had become the Wild West on skates. This was the time of the Broad Street Bullies and the Big Bad Bruins. The game had descended into violence and teams and the league were in mayhem. Perhaps it was no accident that the movie Slap Shot was released in 1977, emblematic of the fact that the NHL had become a parody of itself.
In Toronto, the Leafs faced their own challenges. Owner Harold Ballard had been released from jail and was back to his meddling ways; star players were traded away or pilfered by the WHA; and the team had to share the sports spotlight for the first time, with the brand-new Toronto Blue Jays.
And yet, somehow, the Toronto Maple Leafs were able to turn the 1977-78 season into one shining moment in the team's history, the only Leaf team to record over 40 wins in the regular season and get to the final four in the playoffs until the legendary 1993 run against Gretzky's L.A. Kings.
At the core of the 1978 Leaf team were young draft picks now coming into their own, including Darryl Sittler, Lanny McDonald, Dave "Tiger" Williams, and Ian Turnbull. And in a stunning coup - after haplessly leaking players to the WHA just a few years before - the Leafs had managed to land Swedish stars Borje Salming and Inge Hammarstrom, pioneering talent who would change the North American game.
Bolstered by the addition of veterans Ron Ellis and Jim McKenny, backstopped by acrobatic goaltender Mike Palmateer and led by visionary coach Roger Neilson and GM Jim Gregory, this team was on a mad, memorable ride like no other, delivering the first real season of promise since the 1967 Cup win.”
