1977–78 New England Whalers season

The 1977–78 New England Whalers season was the Whalers' 6th season in the World Hockey Association (WHA). The Whalers finished 2nd in the league and lost in the Avco World Trophy Finals to the Winnipeg Jets 4 games to 0.

Off-season
The Whalers jerseys were the same design as in the 1974-75 season.

Regular Season
This season saw the debut of Gordie Howe and his sons Mark and Marty with the Whalers' franchise.

On December 7, 1977, Gordie Howe scored the 1000th goal of his professional career on goalie John Garrett of the Birmingham Bulls.

Winnipeg Jets 4, New England Whalers 0
The Finals matched the Winnipeg Jets and New England Whalers, who had both won the AVCO World Trophy once. Al Smith played Games 1, 3 and 4 in net for the Whalers while Gary Bromley and Joe Daley alternated games for the Jets with Bromley starting Game 1. Game 1 was scoreless until the third period when the Jets depth scoring paid off with Bob Guindon marking twice and Peter Sullivan netting the winner. The Jets depth scoring was again the story of Game 2 as Dan Labraaten, Lyle Moffat and Bob Guindon staked the Jets to a 3-0 lead. The Jets first line finally scored as Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson piled on Whalers goalie Jean-Louis Levasseur as the Jets won 5-2. The Jets dominated Game 3 as Willy Lindström had a Hat trick and Kent Nilsson scored twice and added 2 assists in a 10-2 romp. Game 4 saw the Whalers take their only lead of the series as Mike Antonovich and Rick Ley scored, taking a 2-0 lead into the second period. Anders Hedberg took over, scoring twice and setting up 2 goals, including the series winner by Bobby Hull as the Jets swept the series four straight. Game 4 was the last game for the Hull-Nilsson-Hedberg line as the Swedes jumped to the New York Rangers. Bob Guindon was named the WHA Playoff MVP.

Player Stats
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

Awards and Records

 * Ben Hatskin Trophy (Best Goaltender): Al Smith
 * Paul Deneau Trophy (Most Gentlemenly): Dave Keon
 * Al Smith, Goalie, WHA First Team All-Star
 * Rick Ley, Defense, WHA Second Team All-Star

Draft Picks
New England's draft picks at the 1977 WHA Amateur Draft.

Video
Whalers-Aeros game from March 9, 1978.