The 1978–79

Minnesota North Stars The Minnesota North Stars were a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL) for 26 seasons, from 1967 to 1993. The North Stars played their home games at the Met Center in Bloomington, Minnesota, and the team's colors for ...

season was the team's

12th 12 (twelve) is the natural number following 11 and preceding 13. Twelve is a superior highly composite number, divisible by 2, 3, 4, and 6. It is the number of years required for an orbital period of Jupiter. It is central to many systems ...

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

in the NHL. In the off season, the North Stars were on the verge of folding, and were merged with the

Cleveland Barons The name Cleveland Barons has been used by three professional hockey teams and one junior team. *Cleveland Barons (NHL), the National Hockey League team that played between 1976 and 1978 *Cleveland Barons (1937–1973), the original American Hockey ...

, another team on the brink of collapse. The merged franchise continued as the Minnesota North Stars, with the old logo and colors. The changes for the franchise were new ownership and new management. Former Cleveland Barons General Manager Harry Howell assumed the coaching duties from

Lou Nanne Louis Vincent Anthony Nanne (born June 2, 1941) is a Canadian-born American former National Hockey League defenceman and general manager. He played in the National Hockey League with the Minnesota North Stars between 1968 and 1978 and then served ...

, who was named General Manager. Former Barons owner

George Gund III George Gund III (May 7, 1937 – January 15, 2013) was an American businessman and sports entrepreneur. Gund was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on May 7, 1937, to Jessica Roesler and George Gund II, a powerful banker in Cleveland. A high-school dro ...

became a co-owner of the North Stars. Howell's tenure as head coach would last just eleven games before he was replaced by

Glen Sonmor Glen Robert Sonmor (April 22, 1929 – December 14, 2015) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player, scout and coach. He played 28 games in the National Hockey League with the New York Rangers from 1953 to 1955, though most of his career was ...

. While the merger allowed the North Stars ice a stronger team, it also saw the North Stars take the Barons' place in the tough Adams Division. The North Stars finished with 68 points, which was a substantial improvement over either the Barons' or North Stars' performance the previous season. Had the North Stars still been in the Smythe Division, that would have been good enough for second place and a playoff berth, but it was not enough to lift the team out of last place in the Adams. Minnesota missed the playoffs for the 5th time in 6 years. One of the highlights was Bobby Smith winning the Calder Trophy.

Offseason

NHL Draft

Regular season

Final standings

Game log

Transactions

Trades

Player stats

Skaters

''Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/- = Plus/minus; PIM = Penalty minutes''

Goaltenders

''Note: GP = Games played; TOI = Time on ice (minutes); W = Wins; L = Losses; OT = Overtime losses; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; SV% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average''

Playoffs

Awards and records

References

North Stars on Hockey Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:1978-79 Minnesota North Stars season Minnesota North Stars seasons

Minnesota North Stars season Minnesota North Stars season