In the short-lived seven year history of the World Hockey
Association, 1974-75 was one of the more significant as far as individual
performances go. Bobby Hull of the Winnipeg Jets scored 77 goals, the most any
player would score in a single WHA season.
Bobby Hull – Winnipeg Jets
Hull, a five time 50 goal scorer in the National Hockey
League with the Chicago Blackhawks, once owned the NHL record for a short time
with the 58 goals he scored in 1968-69. He played in each of the seven WHA
seasons, all with the Jets. In his first four years in the league, he surpassed
the 50 goal plateau. He scored 303 goals over his WHA career and 610 in the
NHL. Including playoff goals, Bobby scored over 1,000 goals during his
professional hockey career.
Wayne Rivers – San Diego Mariners
Wayne Rivers of the San Diego Mariners finished second with
54 goals, 23 less than Bobby Hull. This proved to be the pinnacle of his
professional hockey career that lasted from 1961-62 to 1978-79. Rivers played
five years in the WHA, scoring 158 goals in 357 regular season games. Between
1961-62 and 1968-69, Rivers played 108 games in the National Hockey League with
the Detroit Red Wings, Boston Bruins, St. Louis Blues and New York Rangers,
scoring just 15 goals.
Serge Bernier – Quebec Nordiques
Serge Bernier of the Quebec Nordiques also finished the
1974-75 season with 54 goals and actually should get the tie-breaker nod over
Rivers because he played two less games. Serge was in his second of six years
in the WHA, all with Quebec. He made the jump back to the NHL with the
Nordiques in 1979-80 but his career was over after the following season.
Bernier was the fifth overall pick at the 1967 NHL Amateur
Draft, taken from the Sorel Eperviers and going to the Philadelphia Flyers. He
was the only player of the first fifteen picked in that draft to play in the
NHL. Before jumping to the WHA for the 1973-74 season, Serge played for the
Flyers and Los Angeles Kings. In total, he played 302 regular season games in
the NHL, scoring just 78 goals while appearing in 417 in the WHA and scoring
230.
Anders Hedberg – Winnipeg Jets
Anders Hedberg of the Winnipeg Jets played his first of four
seasons in the World Hockey Association in 1974-75. He finished fourth with 53
goals in just 65 games. As a bit of hockey
trivia, Hedberg followed Mark Howe as only the second of five recipients of
the Lou Kaplan Trophy as WHA rookie of the year. Hedberg scored more than 50
and totalled more than 100 points in each of his four years in the WHA. He
topped out in 1976-77 with 70 goals and 131 points while only playing 68 games.
Hedberg moved to the National Hockey League in 1978-79, a
year before the demise of the WHA. He signed with the New York Rangers and
played with the club until retirement after the 1984-85 season. He played a
total of 286 regular season games in the WHA and scored 236 goals. In 465 NHL regular
season games, his goal total was a much lower and still respectable 172.
Tom Simpson – Toronto Toros
Finishing fifth with 52 goals was Tom Simpson of the Toronto
Toros. Simpson was in his third of five years in the WHA. Tom was drafted in
the sixth round of the 1972 NHL Amateur Draft by the St. Louis Blues but chose
to jump from the Oshawa Generals directly to the WHA for the inaugural 1972-73
season. Simpson began with the Ottawa Nationals and continued with the
franchise as it moved to Toronto then on to Birmingham, Alabama where they
became the Birmingham Bulls. He also played 15 games with the Edmonton Oilers
in his final season.
