Lanny McDonald's Short Time With The Colorado Rockies

On December 29, 1979, Lanny McDonald was traded from the Toronto Maple Leafs to the Colorado Rockies with Joel Quenneville for Wilf Paiement and Pat Hickey. McDonald hit the ground running (or skating) in Denver, scoring 25 goals in 46 games to finish out the 1979-80 NHL season.

Time In Denver

Lanny was with the Rockies for the full 1980-81 season and 16 games at the start of 1981-82. He scored a total of 66 goals for Colorado over 142 games (all in the regular season as the Rockies did not qualify for the post season). Interestingly, a few years later in 1982-83, McDonald scored that same number of goals in 80 games over one season with the Calgary Flames.

McDonald had just one hat trick over his time with the Rockies. On February 6, 1981, he scored three and added two assists in a 6-4 home win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. Nick Ricci was in goal for the Pens for the first two goals and the third was scored into the empty net. Lanny assisted on markers by Lucien DeBlois and Mike Gillis.

In 1980-81, the Rockies won just 22 games. Lanny scored two game winning goals that year. The first was against the Minnesota North Stars in a 4-2 win. It was his only goal of the game but McDonald had a three point night, assisting on goals by Ed Cooper and Walt McKechnie. The second was in a 5-4 win over the Hartford Whalers when he scored at 13:48 of the third period on Mike Veisor, assisted by Mike McEwen and Merlin Malinowski.

Departure From The Rockies

On November 25, 1981, McDonald was traded to the Calgary Flames for Don Lever and Bob MacMillan. He played 16 games for the Rockies prior to the trade, including a three point game at Maple Leafs Gardens against the team that drafted him fourth overall at the 1973 NHL Amateur Draft.

Interestingly, Lanny's final game with the Rockies was against the Calgary Flames. In a 9-2 blowout loss, McDonald had one point, an assist on a Steve Tambellini goal. Two days later, he was playing for the Flames.

Hockey Trivia: NHL Franchise Relocations Of The 1970's, 1980's and 1990's

The 1960’s, 1970’s and 1980’s brought expansion to the National Hockey League. With the rapid growth, poor economy and lack of proper planning, there was quite a bit of movement among franchises in the 1970’s and 1980’s. Test and broaden your hockey knowledge with the following four trivia questions.

Q. The franchise that is now known as the New Jersey Devils came into the NHL in 1974-75 as what team?

A. The Kansas City Scouts are the origin of the New Jersey Devils. The Scouts lasted just two seasons in Kansas City before a short stint in Denver as the Colorado Rockies before moving east to become the Devils.

Over the two years, 1974-75 and 1975-76, the Scouts won a total of 27 of 160 regular season games. In the first year, they were second last in the NHL, ahead of only their expansion partners, the Washington Capitals. In 1975-76, Kansas City once again finished ahead of only the Capitals.

Simon Nolet served as team captain until midway through the second season when he was replaced by Guy Charron. The Scouts drafted Wilf Paiement second overall at the 1974 NHL Amateur Draft. NHL legend Sid Abel had a brief three game stint as the team’s head coach.

Q. In 1976-77, what franchise moved to Cleveland and became the Barons?

A. The California Seals were a product of the first expansion boom in 1967-68. They left California to become the Barons and then merged with the Minnesota North Stars after just two seasons. In both those years, the Barons placed fourth in the Adams Division and did not qualify for the post season.

Despite having an arena that would seat 18,500 in Richfield Coliseum, the Barons averaged around 6,000 fans per game over the two years. At the time, Richfield Coliseum had the largest seating capacity of any National Hockey League venue.

Q. The Calgary Flames were born into the NHL as what team?

A. The Atlanta Flames joined the league in 1972-73 along with the New York Islanders. The deep south wasn’t ready for hockey and the Flames made the move to Calgary for the 1980-81 season. The Flames were a decent team, on the upper end of mediocrity.

Over their eight years in Atlanta, the team reached the post season in six, including their last five. However, they were never able to win a series in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

While in Atlanta, the Flames drafted some good talent in Tom Lysiak, Brad Marsh and Paul Reinhart. The four captains in Atlanta Flames history include Keith McCreary, Pat Quinn, Tom Lysiak and Jean Pronovost.

Q. The franchise currently known as the Dallas Stars originally was located in what northern U.S. city?

A. The Stars franchise was born in the 1967-68 NHL expansion as the Minnesota North Stars. The team uprooted and headed to the Lone Star State for the 1993-94 season. The move was not made due to a poor on-ice product. The North Stars reached the Stanley Cup finals twice in their time in Minnesota. In 1980-81, the team fell to the mighty New York Islanders 4-1 in the finals. In 1990-91, they reached the finals again but fell in six games to Mario Lemieux and the Pittsburgh Penguins.

 

Upsets Abound In 1981-82 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs

The 1981-82 National Hockey League season was the end of an evenly distributed regular season schedule. Teams now played more games against teams in their own division than the other teams in the league. The Colorado Rockies were in their last season in Denver. The following season, the franchise relocated to East Rutherford, New Jersey to become the present day New Jersey Devils. It was also the year that the record for most goals in a single season was set at an unbeatable level with Wayne Gretzky of the Edmonton Oilers scoring 92.

1981-82 was also a year of playoff upsets. The New York Islanders were looking for their third Stanley Cup championship in a row. The Edmonton Oilers, led by Wayne Gretzky, were assured to challenge the Islanders for the ultimate prize. At least, that’s the way it should have played out.

Four of the eight first round matchups were upsets. The Quebec Nordiques ousted their provincial rivals, the Montreal Canadiens, three games to two. The Canadiens finished the regular season with 109 points and were first in the Adams Division. Quebec finished with 82 points and in fourth place in the Adams. That 27 point differential was wiped out in five short games.

In the Norris Division Semi-finals, the fourth place Chicago Blackhawks took out the first place Minnesota North Stars three games to one. Minnesota finished the regular season twenty-two points ahead of the Blackhawks with 94 to Chicago’s 72.

The other Norris Division Semi also ended with the underdog on top. The third place St. Louis Blues beat out the second place Winnipeg Jets in four games. This upset was not quite as dramatic as the Blues finished just eight points behind the Jets in the regular season.

The Edmonton Oilers expected run to a Stanley Cup championship ended prematurely against the Los Angeles Kings in the Smythe Division Semi-finals. The Kings finished the season winning just 24 games while losing 41 and tying 15 for just 63 points. The Oilers finished second overall to only the New York Islanders with a total of 111 points. The Kings took the series in five games. Their run would come to a halt in the next round, however, when they bowed out to eventual Stanley Cup finalist, the Vancouver Canucks.

The upsets continued in the following round. In the Adams Division final, fourth place Quebec beat out the second place Boston Bruins in seven games. In the Smythe Division, fourth place Chicago defeated third place St. Louis in six.

The magic would end for the Quebec Nordiques in the conference finals when they came up against the New York Islanders. The Islanders easily swept the Nordiques in four games. It would also come to an end for the Blackhawks as Chicago lost out to the Vancouver Canucks in five games.

Although Vancouver was always the top seed in each series until the finals when they lost out to the Islanders in four games, their run to the finals should be seen as an upset of sorts. Vancouver finished the season with a weak record of 30 wins, 33 losses and 17 ties. The only reason they ranked high is because they were in the weakest conference. They were seeded second in the Smythe and fourth in the conference. Their point total would have placed them eighth in the other conference.

The Oilers licked their wounds and came back strong the following season. The Islanders won their fourth consecutive Stanley Cup in 1982-83, the last for the franchise, but the Oilers would make it to the finals against New York this time. The following season, the Oilers won the Stanley Cup and would win it again in three of next four seasons. One dynasty had replaced another.

 

Hockey Trivia: 1979 NHL Entry Draft

The 1979 NHL Entry Draft had one of the best first rounds ever. All 21 players selected in the first round went on to careers in the NHL in some degree. The least regular season NHL games any of the first round picks went on to play was 238 (Ray Allison – 18^th overall by the Hartford Whalers).

Test and expand your hockey trivia knowledge of the 1979 NHL Entry Draft with the following four trivia questions.

Q. Who was the first overall pick in the 1979 NHL Entry Draft?

A. The Colorado Rockies chose Rob Ramage as the first overall pick. Ramage was drafted from the Birmingham Bulls of the World Hockey Association, though he played his junior hockey with the London Knights of the Ontario Major Junior Hockey League. Ramage played in the NHL from 1979-80 to 1993-94 with the Rockies, St. Louis Blues, Calgary Flames, Toronto Maple Leafs, Minnesota North Stars, Tampa Bay Lightning, Montreal Canadiens and Philadelphia Flyers.

Q. What player was the only one to be drafted in the first round of the 1979 NHL Entry Draft from the U.S. University system?

A. Mike Ramsey was selected eleventh overall by the Buffalo Sabres. Ramsey previously played for the University of Minnesota. Mike played over 1,000 career NHL games from 1979-80 to 1996-97 with the Sabres, Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings.

Q. What Hockey Hall of Fame member who played 1756 regular season games in the NHL was not selected until the third round of the 1979 NHL Entry Draft?

A. Mark Messier was selected 48^th overall by the Edmonton Oilers after a season with the Cincinnati Stingers of the WHA. Messier scored 694 regular season goals during his NHL career and contributed 1,887 points with the Oilers, New York Rangers and Vancouver Canucks. Mark was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2007.

Mark’s point total places him second all-time in National Hockey League history. He sits just ahead of Gordie Howe but nearly 1,000 points behind Wayne Gretzky. Messier was just recently pushed down to eighth overall for goals scored by Jaromir Jagr. His 1,756 regular season games puts Mark just eleven games behind Howe for the most all-time.

Q. Who was the first European selected in the 1979 NHL Entry Draft?

A. The first round of the 1979 Draft featured players from North America only. In the second round, the New York Islanders selected Tomas Jonsson 25^th overall. Jonsson, from Sweden, played 552 NHL regular season games from 1981-82 to 1988-89 before returning to Sweden to play nine years for Leksands in the Swedish Elite League. Two other Swedes were selected in that second round, Pelle Lindbergh by the Philadelphia Flyers and Mats Naslund by the Montreal Canadiens.