AH Timeline: The NHL-WHA merger: A different story

[kinnikuniverse]

Congrats to winnipeg! You deserved a stanley cup, and now, you've got it! Though i fear that it's time to rebuild, since your best guys aren't getting any younger. Oh well, you'll have Kent nilsson, Dale Hunter and thomas steen to build around, as well as hopefully still trade for paul maclean and, later in 83-84, randy carlysle. Wonder who'll they pick instead of dave babych, though, to partner randy carlysle, as well as where dale hawerchuk will end up...

 

[WB18]

Congrats to winnipeg! You deserved a stanley cup, and now, you've got it! Though i fear that it's time to rebuild, since your best guys aren't getting any younger. Oh well, you'll have Kent nilsson, Dale Hunter and thomas steen to build around, as well as hopefully still trade for paul maclean and, later in 83-84, randy carlysle. Wonder who'll they pick instead of dave babych, though, to partner randy carlysle, as well as where dale hawerchuk will end up...

You'll see what happens, the next big event is the 1980 NHL draft. The Jets though seem like they can will it all again in '81. They don't have much competition in the Campbell Conference. St. Louis is still a few years away and everyone else seems to be week. Houston could be good in a few seasons however.

 

[kinnikuniverse]

You'll see what happens, the next big event is the 1980 NHL draft. The Jets though seem like they can will it all again in '81. They don't have much competition in the Campbell Conference. St. Louis is still a few years away and everyone else seems to be week. Houston could be good in a few seasons however.

Yeah, maybe ITTL, the blues keep maclean so that wayne can have more weapons to use. The former birmingham bulls's got some good building blocks, though, with rod langway, ken linesman, dave hanson and mark napier, so if they draft well, the seattle faithfuls might have something to cheer for when they arrive in town.

 

[WB18]

After about a month of speculation, the Seattle franchise held a public unveiling of their new name, among other things. "After reaching out to our community, and some prominent figures in the state of Washington" said team owner Herman Sarkowski. "We boiled our options down to 4 options, Pioneers, Thunderbirds, Emeralds and Orcas. In the end, thanks to some help from you the fans, the Birmingham Bulls are now the Seattle Thunderbirds!"

 

[kinnikuniverse]

thunderbirds are GO!

 

[WB18]

In other sports in 1980

The San Diego Chargers are Super Bowl Champions for the first time in their history, defeating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 23-9 in Super Bowl XIV. Led by Super Bowl MVP Dan Fouts 114 passing yards and Kellen Winslow's 2 touchdown catches, that was more to put away a cinderella Tampa team who was winless just a few years ago.

In an NBA Finals for the ages, Larry Bird and his Boston Celtics beat fellow rookie Magic Johnson's Los Angeles Lakers in a dramatic seventh game in the Boston Garden thanks to Jeff Judkins jumper from the free-throw line with 1 second left in regulation to put them up 108-107 which would be the final score of the seventh and deciding game.

The Philadelphia Phillies are world series champions for the first time in team history with a five-game victory over the AL Champion New York Yankees. Pete Rose was named MVP of the series by hitting 4 home runs and 9 hits in the series.

In a surprise, the US men's Olympic hockey team wins the gold medal at this years Olympic Games over Finland in the Final game 4-2. The game that will be remembered however, was the Semi-Final game vs the Soviet Union. The Americans trailed for most of the game, but Jim Craig was fabulous limiting the Soviets to just 3 goals. Mike Eruzione would score the go-ahead goal about midway through the third and at the end of the game announcer Al Michaels said, "Do you believe in Miracles? YES!" It was an emotional scene and an iconic moment that will be relived for years to come

 

[Unknown]

How did San Diego win ITTL? Did they draft Joe Montana (he was considered one of the more successful late-round picks before Tom Brady came along, and Air Coryell has some similarities to the West Coast offense that Montana anchored in San Francisco)?

San Diego came close to going to the Super Bowl a couple of times IOTL, going to the AFC title game twice--in the 1980 season, when they lost to the Oakland Raiders (the eventual Super Bowl champ) and losing 27-10 to the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC title game in the 1981 season (it really didn't help that, the previous week, they had beaten Miami in the famous "Epic in Miami" game, which was played in 88-degree weather and in the heat and humidity of Miami; when they played Cincinnati in Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium (an outdoor stadium), the temperature was 9 degrees below zero and the wind chill was 59 below zero (1), making it one of the coldest games in NFL history (1)).

(1) It also really didn't help that Riverfront Stadium had astroturf, which made the conditions worse...

 

[WB18]

How did San Diego win ITTL? Did they draft Joe Montana (he was considered one of the more successful late-round picks before Tom Brady came along, and Air Coryell has some similarities to the West Coast offense that Montana anchored in San Francisco)?

I used the site What If Sports for that and the Chargers ended up winning the whole thing. I just going to assume Joe Montana still got drafted to the niners.

 

[Unknown]

That's fair, @WB18...

 

[WB18]

That's fair, @WB18...

Uh, are you a Bucs fan?

 

[Unknown]

No, I'm not, @WB18...

OTOH, if the Chargers win a few more Super Bowls ITTL, they probably stay in San Diego...

 

[kinnikuniverse]

I hope tretiak defects to the NHL ITTL, as well as larionov, makarov and many other russian players in their primes ITTL.

 

[WB18]

Notable picks in the 1980 NHL Draft

1. Doug Wickenheiser (C) - Calgary Wranglers

2. Dave Babych (D) - Montreal Canadiens (from Colorado)

3. Denis Savard (C) - Los Angeles Kings (from Detroit)

4. Paul Coffey (D) - Seattle Thunderbirds

5. Larry Murphy (D) - Cincinnati Stingers

17. Brent Sutter (C) - Atlanta Flames

37. Don Beaupre (G) - Buffalo Sabres

66. Jari Kurri (D) - Washington Capitals

68. Bernie Nicholls (C) - Pittsburgh Penguins

132. Andy Moog (G) - Quebec Nordiques

Comments appreciated! What do you think?

 

[kinnikuniverse]

Welp, looks like LOLHabs and LOLorado will still exists in this TL, After all...messier and kurri to washington will be interesting, seattle's got one hell of a pick to partner rod langway, and Quebec got a goalie that will give richard brodeur a lot of breathing space. The stastny borthers are coming, i hope?

Man, i wonder what will happen to edmonton ITTL...

 

[WB18]

1980-81 NHL Regular Season Standings
Playoff Teams In BOLD

Whales Conference

Adams Division
Montreal Canadiens 99 points
Quebec Nordiques 87 points
Boston Bruins 86 points
Buffalo Sabres 82 points
Hartford Whalers 77 points
Toronto Maple Leafs 73 points

Patrick Division
New York Islanders 103 points
Philadelphia Flyers 97 points
New York Rangers 90 points
Washington Capitals 83 points
Atlanta Flames 81 points
Pittsburgh Penguins 73 points

Campbell Conference

Snythe Division
Winnipeg Jets 98 points
Los Angeles Kings 92 points
Seattle Thunderbirds 89 points
Edmonton Oilers 78 points
Vancouver Canucks 75 points
Calgary Wranglers 52 points
Colorado Rockies 49 points

Norris Division
St Louis Blues 100 points
Houston Aeros 90 points
Minnesota North Stars 84 points
Cincinnati Stingers 80 points
Chicago Black Hawks 65 points
Detroit Red Wings 53 points

Headlines
- The Islanders once again finish in first place overall with 103 points as Mike Bossy scores 50 goals in 50 games (Like IRL) and wins MVP over Wayne Gretzky
- Speaking of the great one, the Blues have a breakout season, finishing with the most points of any team in the Campbell Conference
- The L.A. Kings have their best season in years, led by Marcel Dionne and breakout rookie Larry Murphy as they nearly unseat Winnipeg in the Snythe Division
- In the franchises first year in Seattle, the Thunderbirds have a breakout year from Defensemen Rod Langway and his rookie partner Paul Coffey as the T-Birds seem to have the best Defensemen combo in the league for years to come.
- Colorado Rockies for sale, bids to be announced.

MVP: Mike Bossy, NY Islanders (F)
ROTY: Paul Coffey, Seattle (D)
COTY: John Brophy, Seattle

Comments appreciated! How did your team do?

 

[kinnikuniverse]

Who does quebec has in their team? I know that, by this point, the stastny brothers would have arrived, and they still would have many of their WHA Players, such as marc tardiff, real cloutier, alain coté and richard brodeur, but who did they have in defense? Cause all i know for sure is that norman rochefort and dave pichette were already playing, and that moose dupont joined the team that season. No dale hunter and no michel goulet's gonna hurt them, though...so what they need in the draft is to upgrade on defense, wing depth and get a quality center behind peter stastny.

 

[TheMatthew25]

Cincinnati Stingers 80 points

Nice. I actually like the Stingers logo from the WHA. Hopefully, they will stay in the league.

 

[WB18]

Who does quebec has in their team? I know that, by this point, the stastny brothers would have arrived, and they still would have many of their WHA Players, such as marc tardiff, real cloutier, alain coté and richard brodeur, but who did they have in defense? Cause all i know for sure is that norman rochefort and dave pichette were already playing, and that moose dupont joined the team that season. No dale hunter and no michel goulet's gonna hurt them, though...so what they need in the draft is to upgrade on defense, wing depth and get a quality center behind peter stastny.

Quebec got second mostly because Boston was banged up for most of the season, Hartford started well but fell off late in the year and Buffalo and Toronto just don't have much to compete yet. Despite the injuries to the Bruins, the Nords are still underdogs going into the playoffs.

 

[WB18]

1981 NHL Playoffs: First and Second Rounds
Winners in BOLD

Whales Conference
First Round
Montreal Canadiens 3 - Buffalo Sabres 1
Boston Bruins 3 - Quebec Nordiques 1
New York Islanders 3 - Washington Capitals 2
Philadelphia Flyers 3 - New York Rangers 0

Second Round
Montreal Canadiens 4 - Boston Bruins 2
New York Islanders 4 - Philadelphia Flyers 3

Campbell Conference
First Round
Winnipeg Jets 3 - Edmonton Oilers 0
Los Angeles Kings 3 - Seattle Thunderbirds 1
St Louis Blues 3 - Cincinnati Stingers 0
Houston Aeros 3 - Minnesota North Stars 1

Second Round
Los Angeles Kings 4 - Winnipeg Jets 2
St Louis Blues 4 - Houston Aeros 2

Whales Conf. Final Preview: For the second year in a row these two teams meet in the Semis. Last year the Islanders won the first two games but lost the next 4 in a row to Montreal. This New York team wants revenge. Meanwhile the Canadiens want to do it again and there's no reason why they can't. Guy LaFluer has had a great playoff year and Larocque looks just as good as last year.
My Prediction: In a close, back and forth series... the Canadiens do it again. Montreal in 7.

Campbell Conf. Final Preview: Two young team who will be NHL powers in the coming years meet each other in this years CCF. The Blues are lead by Wayne Gretzky and Mike Gartner who are arguably the best duo in the game right now. Bernie Federko has also looked great this season. The Kings on the other hand, knocked off the up-and-coming Seattle Thunderbirds before shocking the Hockey World by upsetting the defending Stanley Cup Champion Winnipeg Jets and look to the same to these Blues. Marcel Dionne has never been this close in his career to the Stanley Cup Finals. Rookie Larry Murphy wants to prove he should have won rookie of the year as he has been excellent all through these 1981 Stanley Cup playoffs.
My Prediction: The Blues are a great team. but the way the Kings have been playing recently gives them the slight edge. Los Angeles in 7.

Comments appreciated! Who's your pick?

 

[kinnikuniverse]

I'll go with the isles and Los angeles. If The habs manages to beat the isles, though, then LA has a chance. Its nice having gretzky, bernie, gartner, brian sutter and wayne babych, but the blues needs goalies and defense.

LA Needs a goalie, too, though. The defense is startong to look good with murphy and kevin lowe, but they need one more quality defenseman