1978-1979: YELLOW-CLAD CANUCKS CLAW BACK INTO PLAYOFFS
After a disastrous 1977-78 campaign, big changes were made for the coming season. Head Coach Orland Kurtenbach was fired and replaced with Harry Neale, who had coached New England of the WHA the previous season. Jake Milford went to Sweden to find some talent for his team, bringing in C Thomas Gradin, RW Roland Eriksson, D Lars Lindgren, and D Lars Zetterstrom. To make room for some of the newcomers, the Canucks traded Mike Walton (who had led the team in scoring in 1977-78) to St. Louis for a fourth round draft pick (Harald Luckner). With the retirement of Cesare Maniago, an established number one goaltender was needed, and it would be between rookie Glen Hanlon and free-agent signee Gary Bromley to battle for it. As well, ex-Canuck Dunc Wilson would return for one final season as the team's third goaltender. The sudden upgrade in goal would relegate Curt Ridley (who had appeared in 77 games for the Canucks in the past two seasons) to the team's CHL affiliate in Dallas. The team would be active at the draft table as well. RW Bill Derlago would be the team's first round selection but reported to camp out of shape and did not make the team. However, second-round pick LW Curt Fraser from the Victoria Cougars and third-rounder RW Stan Smyl from the Memorial Cup Champion New Westminster Bruins would make the team and with Gradin as their centre, would establish themselves as the club's top line. The biggest change, however, would be in the team's appearance. The traditional blue, green, and white uniforms were discarded in favour of a dynamic and shocking design using yellow, black, and orange with a huge "V" across the front of the uniform..
On December 29, Dennis Ververgaert was traded to Philadelphia for D Kevin McCarthy and C/RW Drew Callander. By the end of the season, McCarthy had taken the captaincy from fan favourite Don Lever. The fans didn't know what to think. Though a lot of the changes made were exciting and attracted a lot of early curiosity, it became apparent that this was a very young team that would take some time to become a contender. When the team was showing only marginal improvement over the previous season and, what's more, nothing about the team seemed familiar, the fans began to stay away. The average home crowd of 13,622 marked the first time that average attendance dropped below the 15,000 plateau. The pleasant surprise would come from LW Ron Sedlbauer, who had a career season by becoming the first Canuck to reach the 40-goal mark. As well, the rookie line of Gradin (51 points), Smyl (38), and Fraser (35) would give fans reason to be optimistic about the future. The team finished with 63 points and finished 12th overall, barely making the playoffs. In the best-of-three Preliminary Round, they drew the powerful Philadelphia Flyers, who had finished fifth overall with 104 points. The Flyers were coached by ex-Canuck Pat Quinn, and had stars such as Bobby Clarke, Bill Barber, Reggie Leach, and Bernie Parent who had lead the team to back-to-back Cups in the mid-'70s. The series was expected to be over in two games. The Canucks played with a lot of heart in the first game, though, and with brilliant goaltending from Bromley, beat the Flyers 3-2. Suddenly, the Canucks had a chance to wrap up the series at home and held a 4-3 lead until third-period goals by Clarke and Leach (the latter coming in the final three minutes) changed everything around. An empty-netter made the final score 6-4. The Flyers had evened the series and had no problem finishing off the Canucks back at the Spectrum, with a 7-2 victory.
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