Cleveland Barons (NHL, 1977-78)

1977-78 Regular Season:
Barons vs. Chicago Black Hawks

      Cleveland, Ohio, had a long successful run in minor league hockey, and attempted multiple times to join the National Hockey League, finally joining the NHL in 1977. The new Cleveland Barons barely made it through their first season in Ohio. Arriving late in the summer from Oakland, the Barons needed a bailout from the NHLPA and the owners to make payroll and pay off debt. Attendance was a league-worst 6,194 per game On the ice, the team was buried in last place in the powerful Adams Division, with a 25-42-13 record George and Gordon Gund purchased the franchise from Mel Swig, giving the team a much-needed influx of cash. Former Rangers defenseman Harry Howell was back as General Manager, while Jack "Tex" Evans returned as Head Coach. Home games were played at the 18,544-seat Coliseum in Richfield, Ohio. 

     Cleveland wasn't much better in 1977-78, finishing with a 22-45-13 record. Their 57 points buried them deep in the basement of the Adams Division, 35 points behind third-place Toronto, and 56 behind first place Boston. Cleveland ended up with the fourth-worst record in the NHL, just nine points ahead of last place Washington. Even with a full offseason to promote the team, the Barons attendance was even worse than last year, drawing 5,676 per game.

     The Barons had the fourth-worst offense in the league, scoring just 230 goals. The team's leading scorer was Dennis Maruk, who scored 36 goals and 71 points in 76 games. Mike Fidler was next on the scoring list, with 23 goals and 51 points. Kris Manery (22) and Chuck Arnason (21), a midseason acquisition from Colorado, were the only other 20-goal scorers. Al MacAdam, who would go on to play six seasons with the Minnesota North Stars, had 16 goals and 48 points.

     Cleveland was tied with Minnesota for the worst defense in the NHL in 1977-78, surrendering 325 goals. Despite this, the Barons did have good goaltending and only used two goalies. Gilles Meloche, a member of the Seals/Barons since 1971, is considered by many to be the classic "good goalie on a bad team", often performing heroically behind rotten teams. 1977-78 was no different, as Meloche played 54 games and had a 16-27-8 record with a respectable 3.76 GAA and 1 shutout. His backup was Gary Edwards, who came over from Los Angeles in the previous season. Edwards was 6-18-5 with a 4.53 GAA and no shutouts. Greg Smith was the leading scorer in the Barons' defense corps, with 7 goals and 37 points in 80 games. Rick Hampton was next, with 18 goals and 36 points in 77 games. Jim Nielsen, a 16-year veteran (mostly with the Rangers), scored 2 goals and 23 points in 68 games in his final NHL season.

     No playoffs for the Barons this season. In fact, the last time the franchise made the Stanley Cup Playoffs was in 1969-70, when they were still the California Seals. 

     This is a pretty good program, 106 pages and mostly in color. Like most of the NHL's programs at this time, an issue of GOAL magazine is included in the center of the program. GOAL contained stories from around the National Hockey League. The articles in this edition feature Nick Fotiu, an interview with soccer player Shep Messing, and Capials player Bob Sirois. In the Barons' section of the program, the front office is featured in the first few pages. There are pictures from community outings on page 32.  The team's 1977-78 training camp roster is on page 40.

     This program is from the April 2, 1978 game between the Barons and Chicago Black Hawks. Cleveland won, 4-2, to improve to 22-44-12 on the year. Here's the Hawks' roster for that game. Chicago would end up easily winning the Smythe Division with a 32-29-19 record, 24 points more than the second-place Rockies. Ivan Boldirev, a former Golden Seal, led the Hawks with 35 goals and 80 points in 80 games. Boldirev was a dependable 20-30 goal scorer throughout his career. Keith Magnuson was a gritty defenseman who played his entire NHL career in Chicago, piling up plenty of penalty minutes. Stan Mikita was still going strong, with 18 goals and 59 points. And then there's Doug Wilson, in his rookie season on the Hawks blueline, and had 14 goals and 34 points. Tony Esposito was a workhorse for Chicago, playing in 64 games and going 28-22-14 with a 2.63 GAA and 5 shutouts. Ed Johnston was his backup, and would later become head coach of the Hawks in 1979-80. Bobby Orr had been traded to Chicago in 1976, but his knees were shot by then, and he retired after this season. Esposito, Mikita, Wilson, Head Coach Bob Pulford and Assistant Coach Orr are in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

     Here's the Barons' roster. Defenseman Jean Potvin, Denis' older brother, was acquired from the Islanders during the season. Potvin was a dependable defenseman and would return to the Islanders in 1979-80, winning two Stanley Cups before retiring. Walt McKechnie came over from Washington during the season. He would end up scoring 214 goals in his NHL career, which included two stops in Detroit. Mike Crombeen was drafted fifth overall in the 1977 NHL Draft, the only draft the Barons participated in. I was doing research a couple years ago on Mike Bossy's career. The Barons checked with Bossy's agent on what it would take to sign him. Bossy's agent replied: 3 years, $300,000 and a $100,000 signing bonus. Since the Barons were barely surviving financially, they passed. Could have used Bossy's offense. JP Parise is another ex-Islander acquired this season. He was part of the legendary 1972 Team Canada roster for the Summit Series. Dennis Maruk would eventually score 60 goals...in Washington. General Manager Harry Howell would  be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1979. 

     Advertisements include WHLO News-Talk 640, Shaker Savings, Hertz Rent-a-Car, and WJW 85 (the radio home of the Cleveland Barons).

BONUS: Here are highlights from a Barons vs. Pittsburgh Penguins game at Richfield Coliseum. Those Penguins jerseys, IMO, are some of the best jerseys they have ever worn. Note the empty seats at the Coliseum. This would be a constant problem for the franchise while in Ohio.

Aftermath: Page 19 is a season ticket form for the upcoming 1978-79 season. However, the Barons were in deep fiancial trouble by the end of the 1977-78 season. The team never came close to filling the Coliseum during their two-season stay in Ohio. The Gunds decided that the franchise was never going to succeed in Cleveland and sought a merger with the struggling Minnesota North Stars, which the NHL approved. The Gunds would become majority owners of the combined franchises, which retained the North Stars name, colors and history. Pro hockey would be absent from Cleveland until the IHL's Muskegon Lumberjacks moved to the Coliseum in 1992. NHL hockey would not return to Ohio until the expansion Columbus Blue Jackets arrived in 2000. 

Reference:

National Hockey League Statistics: 1977-78, from hockeydb.com