1976-77 NHL season

The 1976-77 NHL season was the 60th season of the National Hockey League. Eighteen teams each played 80 games. Not since the Ottawa Senators had relocated in 1934, becoming the St. Louis Eagles, had an NHL team moved. This year saw not one, but two teams relocate. The Kansas City Scouts moved to Denver, Colorado and became the Colorado Rockies and the California Golden Seals moved to Cleveland, Ohio and became the Cleveland Barons. The instability along with the poor performances of the Washington Capitals and the Scouts since the 1974 expansion caused the league to shelve an expansion to Denver and Seattle proposed for this season.

The Montreal Canadiens once again dominated the Stanley Cup playoffs as for the second straight year, they swept their opponent four games to none in the final series for the Cup.

This season would be Clarence Campbell's last as NHL President. He would be succeeded by John Ziegler.

Regular Season
The previous season saw the Montreal Canadiens set new records in wins and points. Both of those records were broken again by the Canadiens this season as they had 60 wins and 132 points. Their home record was an impressive 33 wins, 1 loss, and 6 ties. The Canadiens led a full 20 points ahead of second-place Philadelphia Flyers.

Scoring Leaders
GP = Games Played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points, PIM = Penalties In Minutes

Leading Goaltenders
Note: GP = Games played; Min – Minutes Played; GA = Goals Against; GAA = Goals Against Average; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; SO = Shutouts

Toronto Maple Leafs 2, Pittsburgh Penguins 1
The Leafs' opponent in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs was once again the Pittsburgh Penguins. Whilst the Penguins' offensive output greatly improved to ten goals scored (compared to 1976's three goals), the Maple Leafs once again dispatched the Penguins in three games with the away team winning every game in the series.

Debuts
The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1976-77 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):
 * Don Edwards, Buffalo Sabres
 * Bob Sauve, Buffalo Sabres
 * Reed Larson, Detroit Red Wings
 * Brian Engblom*, Montreal Canadiens
 * Don Murdoch, New York Rangers
 * Bernie Federko, St. Louis Blues
 * Brian Sutter, St. Louis Blues
 * Randy Carlyle, Toronto Maple Leafs
 * Rick Green, Washington Capitals

Last Games
The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1976-77 (listed with their last team):
 * Pat Quinn, Atlanta Flames
 * Gilles Villemure, Chicago Black Hawks
 * Jim Pappin, Cleveland Barons
 * Simon Nolet, Colorado Rockies
 * Bob Berry, Los Angeles Kings
 * Ed Van Impe, Pittsburgh Penguins
 * Vic Hadfield, Pittsburgh Penguins
 * Barclay Plager, St. Louis Blues
 * Roger Crozier, Washington Capitals