A Blaze of Glory: An Alternate History Timeline of the NHL

[Unknown]

Don, you're gonna have to eat your words about the Atlanta Flames and the number of fans they draw...

And, with regards to the oil glut, I was a young kid when it hit Texas--Texas (among other oil-producing states) was hit hard by the crisis--it even led to Bill Watts' UWF wrestling promotion (based out of Oklahoma) merging with Jim Crockett, since the crash also hit Oklahoma hard...

 

[WaxingNostalgia]

Column from the final 1980-81 Regular Season issue of The Hockey News

"As we look back at the season that was, it would be remiss of us not to mention the production put up by the league's best. This year was the year of Gretzky as he absolutely put on a torrid pace when it came to points, getting an unbelievable 109 assists and totaling over 160 points. Part of this came as a result of his partnership with Swedish rookie Hakan Loob. The talented young Swede came over after a heated negotiation process between himself and Oilers management, but once complete Loob and Gretzky put the league on notice as the next top forward duo in the NHL. As such, Gretzky saw himself being rewarded with the Hart and Art Ross Trophies for his magnificent performance during the season. Another forward duo emerged as well over the season as Kent Nilsson and rookie Jari Kurri of the Atlanta Flames each tallied at least 100 points, earning themselves the nickname of the Scandinavian Connection. Despite his 40+ goal season, however, Kurri's numbers were not enough to pry away the Calder trophy from Czechoslovakian talent Peter Stasny. One point shy of the top five point leaders, Stasny helped carry the Nordiques offensively to a playoff berth as he created scoring chances regularly for the ex WHA team tallying 70 assists to his name for a total of 109 points, elevating his teammates all around. Two players somewhat overshadowed by the season of Gretzky, Stasny, and Kurri but certainly not forgotten in the background were Marcel Dionne and Mike Bossy. Being the dominant presence on the Crown Line, Dionne put home over 50 goals and helped feed his line mates Dave Taylor and Charlie Simmer with an impressive 77 assists; helping to pull the Kings into division leaders over Montreal. While the deadline deal that saw Darryl Sutter back up the young French Canadian phenom and take some of the pressure off the Crown Line to produce, don't expect Dionne to slow down his production any time soon. As for Bossy, the Islanders elite winger was lighting the lamp on a consistent basis putting up a league leading 68 goals. Combined with Clark Gillies and Bryan Trottier, the Islanders have a dynamic first line that gives the Crown Line a run for its money and would surely make for an entertaining playoff match up. On the goaltending front, Mike Liut looked unstoppable as he backstopped the Blues to over 35 wins which earned the workhorse goaltender Lester B. Pearson honors for the season. In the Vezina trophy race, Montreal's three goaltender combination of Sevigny, Larocque, and Herron share the honors but not without controversy. Despite Larocque having above average numbers with Montreal and being cut by the Canadiens over a playing time dispute mid season, the veteran goalie joins Herron and Sevigny after after playing enough games to qualify with the Montreal goalie duo after being scooped up by Colorado. This is because Herron and Sevigny's numbers helped elevate Larocque to where he qualified. His performances with the Rockies at the end of the season didn't hurt him either, although it did hurt the Rockies' draft position. This has caused the NHL Board of Governors to decide starting next season the Vezina will go to the best overall goalie instead of based on top save percentage and a new trophy, the William Jennings Trophy, will be awarded to the goalie with best save percentage instead."

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Wayne Gretzky	Edmonton Oilers	80	55	109	164	28
Marcel Dionne	Los Angeles Kings	80	58	77	135	70
Kent Nilsson	Atlanta Flames	80	49	82	131	26
Mike Bossy	New York Islanders	79	68	51	119	32
Dave Taylor	Los Angeles Kings	72	47	65	112	130
Peter Stastny	Quebec Nordiques	77	39	70	109	37
Charlie Simmer	Los Angeles Kings	65	56	49	105	62
Mike Rogers	Hartford Whalers	80	40	65	105	32
Jarri Kurri	Atlanta Flames	80	41	64	105	40
Bernie Federko	St. Louis Blues	78	31	73	104	47
Jacques Richard	Quebec Nordiques	78	52	51	103	39
Rick Middleton	Boston Bruins	80	44	59	103	16
Bryan Trottier	New York Islanders	73	31	72	103	74

Goalie Leaders

Player	Team	GP	GA	SO	GAA
Richard Sevigny	Montreal	33	71	2	2.40
Rick St. Croix	Philadelphia	27	65	2	2.49
Pat Riggin	Atlanta	51	147	1	2.87
Don Edwards	Buffalo	45	133	3	2.96
Pete Peeters	Philadelphia	40	115	2	2.96
Bob Sauve	Buffalo	35	111	2	3.17
Don Beaupre	Winnipeg	44	138	0	3.20
Reggie Lemelin	Atlanta	29	88	2	3.24
Gilles Meloche	Minnesota	38	120	2	3.25
Mario Lessard	Los Angeles	64	203	2	3.25

Art Ross: Wayne Gretzky - Edmonton Oilers
Hart Memorial: Wayne Gretzky - Edmonton Oilers
Frank J. Selke: Bob Gainey - Montreal Canadiens
James Norris: Randy Carlyle - Pittsburgh Penguins
Calder: Peter Stasny - Quebec Nordiques
Lady Byng: Rick Kehoe -Pittsburgh Penguins
Vezina: Dennis Herron, Michel Larocque, and Richard Sevigny - Montreal Canadiens
Lester B. Pearson: Mike Liut - St. Louis Blues
Jack Adams: Red Berenson - St. Louis Blues
Bill Masterton: Blake Dunlop - St. Louis Blues
Lester Patrick: Charles M. Schultz

All NHL 1st Team:

C - Wayne Gretzky
LW - Charlie Simmer
RW - Mike Bossy
D - Randy Carlyle
D - Denis Potvin
G - Mike Liut

All NHL 2nd Team:

C - Marcel Dionne
LW - Jacques Richard
RW - Dave Taylor
D - Larry Robinson
D - Ray Borque
G - Mario Lessard

 

[Dan]

Don, you're gonna have to eat your words about the Atlanta Flames and the number of fans they draw...

Are we going to get "bunch of jerks" 30 years early?
A friend of mine who settled in Carolina after leaving the USAF was one of those to happily identify as one of those Jerks within moments of Cherry spewing that out. Another Cherryism backfires...

 

[TaintedTamt]

Just found and read through this and it’s an absolutely brilliant alt. Hockey deserves some more love on the forum.

Only thing I’ve noticed that’s not quiet right is that the role of commissioner in the NHL wasn’t created until it was created for Bettman.

I’m looking forward to more!

 

[WaxingNostalgia]

Just found and read through this and it’s an absolutely brilliant alt. Hockey deserves some more love on the forum.

Only thing I’ve noticed that’s not quiet right is that the role of commissioner in the NHL wasn’t created until it was created for Bettman.

I’m looking forward to more!

Good catch. I should have caught that earlier but what are you gonna do, amirite?

 

[Alberta89]

Really interesting concept, right in the era when you could really build a fanbase in Atlanta. But what happened to this thread? Actually, is there a way to adopt dead storylines and keep them going? Because I really want to see how this plays out.