The penultimate season of the WHA is our focus today on NHL Saturday: 1977-1978, which saw another championship for the original Winnipeg Jets. The league was dwindling in size, now down to just eight teams—including the Birmingham Bulls and the Indianapolis Racers. In fact, this would be the last season for the Houston Aeros, the winners of two WHA titles in 1974 and 1975. Hard times, indeed, at the end here.

1978 Gordie Howe Trophy: Marc Tardif, LW, Quebec (original); André Lacroix, C, Houston (revised)

The vote winner here, Quebec Nordiques left wing Marc Tardif, won this award two years prior, and this season he topped the league in both points per game (1.97) and goals created per game (0.75). Quebec finished fourth in an eight-team league where only six organizations qualified for the postseason, so it would seem it was a good vote. Except … the No. 2 contender for this award was Tardif’s linemate. Doh.

Nordiques right wing Réal Cloutier (1.77, o.68) puts us in a bind here, as teammates generally can’t win this award from us. What are the other options? Well, the next three “best” candidates all played for the Jets, so they cancel each other, too. The highest independent player, really, was Cincinnati Stingers center Robbie Ftorek (1.36, 0.58), last year’s vote winner here. But his team finished seventh by just two points to miss out.

Dilemmas! In an eight-team league, it’s hard to go much deeper in the Top 10 for each of these sabermetric categories. Alas, there was another worthy “independent” skater here to step up: Houston Aeros C André Lacroix (1.45, 0.51). He won this award from us twice before (1973, 1975), so he becomes our first and only triple winner here as the Aeros finished third in the standings on his seemingly alone backside. Well done.

1978 Dennis A. Murphy Trophy: Lars-Erik Sjöberg, Winnipeg (original); Al Hamilton, Edmonton (revised)

Jets defenseman Lars-Erik Sjöberg (50 points, 72 PIMs) won the Murphy vote; he had a lot of teammate support from fellow blueliner Barry Long (31, 42), however. We thinks Edmonton Oilers veteran Al Hamilton (54, 46) is most deserving, since his team finished much lower in the standings than Winnipeg, while still earning a postseason berth ahead of sixth-place Birmingham and seventh-place Cincinnati.

Hamilton had played for the New York Rangers and the Buffalo Sabres before moving to the WHA for its inaugural season; he played his entire WHA career with the Alberta/Edmonton Oilers before returning to the NHL with the team for his final season (1979-1980). This was his age-31 season in an otherwise undistinguished career, but he was named to the WHA First Team this year and is deserving of the trophy.

1978 Ben Hatskin Trophy: Al Smith, New England (original, confirmed)

The New England Whalers finished finished second in the league behind goaltender Al Smith (30-20-3), who won the vote here on the back of his WHA-best 30 victories. His 3.22 GAA also was the best in the league, which reflects the high-flying offensive realities of the sport at the time. Smith finished third in shutouts (two), and no other goaltender really came close at all to his efforts in the three big categories.

1978 Lou Kaplan Trophy: Kent Nilsson, C, Winnipeg (original, confirmed)

Of course, the Jets were loaded, and C Kent Nilsson (1.34, 0.51) won the Kaplan vote as the best rookie. Just 21 years old, he had three teammates finish above him in both the PPG and GCPG categories. It’s hard to call him “valuable” even if he was clearly “the best” newb. Is there anyone else to consider? Literally, no, as the pickings were slim. So we confirm this vote award, in spite of our factual observations above. Move on!

1978 WHA Playoff MVP: Bobby Guindon, LW, Winnipeg (original); Ulf Nilsson, C, Winnipeg (revised)

So, despite all the firepower noted above, it was Jets LW Bobby Guindon (13 points) who took the vote for the postseason MVP trophy. Winnipeg went 8-1 in the postseason, with two goaltenders splitting time. Guindon was third on the team in scoring, overall, while C Ulf Nilsson topped the postseason skaters with 13 assists (adding one goal and 12 PIMs). Overall, the Jets had six skaters who surpassed a point per game.

How to choose? We go with Nilsson, the only Winnipeg player to lead the WHA postseason in a statistical category, as far as we can tell. Well, D Kim Clackson had 61 PIMs, but that isn’t MVP stuff here when combined with just one point offensively. Nilsson also won this vote two years ago, confirmed by us, so he is now the only two-time winner, in our eyes, of the WHA Playoff MVP hardware.