Racers Preview, 1978-79 • The Hockey News 1979 Yearbook
Signing 17-year-old Wayne Gretzky during the National Hockey League summer meetings may have been a major coup for the Indianapolis Racers owner Nelson Skalbania, but one player, even a once-in-a-lifetime superstar such as Gretzky may be destined to become, won't make the Racers contenders overnight.
They're dealing strictly from a weakness when it comes to the rest of the lineup as evidenced by the team's 24-51-5 record, some 22 points out of a playoff berth and a far cry from their 1976-77 record of 36-37-8.
Part of the reason is the turnover on the club's roster. Only four players — goaler Jim Park, defenseman Ken Block, and forwards Michel Parizeau and Renald Leclerc — who finished the 1976-77 season with the team were still there for the start of the 1978-79 campaign. And although they had some decent individual performances last year, the club fell out of the playoff race early and finished with the lowest number of goals for, 267, and the highest number of goals against, 353.
The mid-season coaching change elevated Bill Goldsworthy, who came over from the New York Rangers into a player-coach role, replacing Ron Ingram, who opened the season, and gave the club a brief spurt in the standings, but eventually the Racers' 7-30-2 road record proved to be far too much for the squad to overcome.
Admittedly, help is on the way, in the form of several players who closed out the season with the club or were picked up for the start of the current campaign, and in the form of Gretzky, who could form the nucleus for future teams.
One sad note saw the retirement of Rosaire Paiement during the offseason after sustaining an eye injury during a fight in February. The fight and resulting injury caused Paiement to miss 19 games after appearing in 439 consecutive WHA contests. Now it has ended his career.
The Racers boasted five forwards last year who surpassed the twenty goal mark and another pair, Kevin Devine and Blaine Stoughton, who finished with nineteen. All the players were newcomers on the Racers squad.
Richie Leduc (37-46-83) the Racers top scorer, and Claude Larose (25-36-61) began last year with Cincinnati, Claude St. Sauveur (36-42-78) and Rusty Patenaude (23-19-42) along with Devine, were with Edmonton, and Peter Driscoll 28-28-56 and 158 minutes in penalties what was with Quebec.
Kevin Morrison had an excellent year offensively for the defense with 17 goals and 40 assists for 57 points, after joining the club, along with forwards Don Burgess and John French, from the San Diego franchise. But other than from Ken Block, who totaled 26 points, the Racers didn't get much offensively from their defensemen and the crew was not particularly adept at stopping the opposition from scoring either.
It included NHL veterans like Gilles Marotte and Barry Wilkins, Dave Inkpen, Glenn Irwin and Bill Prentice. The latter is a question mark for 1978-79 as injuries have limited to him to only 24 games in the past two years.
Goaltending, fortunately, Looks a bit stronger for the coming season. Gary Inness handled the bulk of the work last year, compiling a 4.21 average in 52 games, with Ed Mio, a former Birmingham Bull, as his chief backup at 4.27 in 17 games. Jim Park Peter McDuffe also saw action in a dozen games each, but aren't likely to enter this year's picture.
That's because Don McLeod is slated for the Racers' net-mining chores, after playing for Houston, Vancouver, Calgary, and Quebec in the last five years. Last year, he played 40 games for Edmonton, turning in a 3.67 goals against average and the Racers hope he can recapture his form of 1973-74 when he fashioned a 2.56 average in 49 regular season games and a 12-2 record in the playoffs and leading Houston to the Avco Trophy. Other additions to the club are center Juha Widing (18-24-42) from Edmonton, who came over in a swap for Bill Goldsworthy, and Pierre Jarry, a left winger, who was taken in the interleague draft.
They'll certainly be a boost for the Racers offense which hopes to shift into high gear with Gretzky in the middle. He's an extraordinary playmaker with innate hockey sense who scored 70 goals and assisted on 112 others, playing most of the season as a 16-year-old on a fifth-place club.
The main problem lies with the defense, which is slow and inconsistent and lacks the personnel who can successfully get the puck away from their own net. That, plus the process of getting the players to play like a team, will find the Racers last once more in 1978-79.
