1971–72 California Golden Seals season explained

The 1971–72 California Golden Seals season was the team's fifth in the NHL. The Seals missed the playoffs again, but posted a solid improvement over the previous season and finished sixth in the West Division.

Offseason

In the amateur draft, the Seals did not have a first-round pick. For their first pick, the fifteenth pick overall, in the second round, the Seals chose Ken Baird. At owner Charlie Finley's direction, the team adopted their infamous white skates this season, which were widely ridiculed.

Regular season

Record vs. opponents

Schedule and results

No.	R	Date	Score	Opponent	Record
1	T	October 8, 1971	4–4	Los Angeles Kings (1971–72)	0–0–1
2	T	October 10, 1971	3–3	Toronto Maple Leafs (1971–72)	0–0–2
3	L	October 13, 1971	4–5	Philadelphia Flyers (1971–72)	0–1–2
4	L	October 15, 1971	6–9	Vancouver Canucks (1971–72)	0–2–2
5	L	October 17, 1971	2–4	Pittsburgh Penguins (1971–72)	0–3–2
6	L	October 20, 1971	2–4	Montreal Canadiens (1971–72)	0–4–2
7	L	October 22, 1971	1–5	Boston Bruins (1971–72)	0–5–2
8	W	October 24, 1971	6–3	@ Detroit Red Wings (1971–72)	1–5–2
9	W	October 27, 1971	6–4	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1971–72)	2–5–2
10	W	October 28, 1971	2–0	@ Boston Bruins (1971–72)	3–5–2
11	T	October 31, 1971	2–2	Buffalo Sabres (1971–72)	3–5–3
12	W	November 3, 1971	5–3	Pittsburgh Penguins (1971–72)	4–5–3
13	L	November 5, 1971	1–8	New York Rangers (1971–72)	4–6–3
14	W	November 7, 1971	8–1	Toronto Maple Leafs (1971–72)	5–6–3
15	L	November 11, 1971	2–5	@ Boston Bruins (1971–72)	5–7–3
16	L	November 13, 1971	1–5	@ St. Louis Blues (1971–72)	5–8–3
17	L	November 14, 1971	1–4	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1971–72)	5–9–3
18	L	November 16, 1971	2–7	@ Montreal Canadiens (1971–72)	5–10–3
19	W	November 18, 1971	7–5	@ Buffalo Sabres (1971–72)	6–10–3
20	L	November 20, 1971	1–5	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1971–72)	6–11–3
21	L	November 21, 1971	1–12	@ New York Rangers (1971–72)	6–12–3
22	W	November 24, 1971	6–1	Detroit Red Wings (1971–72)	7–12–3
23	L	November 26, 1971	1–2	Minnesota North Stars (1971–72)	7–13–3
24	W	November 28, 1971	5–3	Buffalo Sabres (1971–72)	8–13–3
25	L	November 30, 1971	2–5	@ St. Louis Blues (1971–72)	8–14–3
26	L	December 1, 1971	1–4	@ Minnesota North Stars (1971–72)	8–15–3
27	W	December 3, 1971	2–1	Chicago Black Hawks (1971–72)	9–15–3
28	L	December 5, 1971	0–3	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1971–72)	9–16–3
29	T	December 8, 1971	1–1	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1971–72)	9–16–4
30	T	December 10, 1971	4–4	St. Louis Blues (1971–72)	9–16–5
31	W	December 12, 1971	4–2	Boston Bruins (1971–72)	10–16–5
32	T	December 17, 1971	3–3	Detroit Red Wings (1971–72)	10–16–6
33	T	December 19, 1971	3–3	Montreal Canadiens (1971–72)	10–16–7
34	L	December 22, 1971	1–4	Chicago Black Hawks (1971–72)	10–17–7
35	W	December 25, 1971	3–1	@ Los Angeles Kings (1971–72)	11–17–7
36	L	December 26, 1971	2–6	@ Vancouver Canucks (1971–72)	11–18–7
37	L	December 29, 1971	2–3	@ Montreal Canadiens (1971–72)	11–19–7
38	L	December 31, 1971	3–6	@ Detroit Red Wings (1971–72)	11–20–7
39	T	January 2, 1972	4–4	@ Buffalo Sabres (1971–72)	11–20–8
40	L	January 4, 1972	1–4	@ Los Angeles Kings (1971–72)	11–21–8
41	W	January 5, 1972	6–2	Los Angeles Kings (1971–72)	12–21–8
42	T	January 7, 1972	4–4	Detroit Red Wings (1971–72)	12–21–9
43	L	January 9, 1972	3–10	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1971–72)	12–22–9
44	W	January 12, 1972	2–0	Minnesota North Stars (1971–72)	13–22–9
45	W	January 14, 1972	5–3	Vancouver Canucks (1971–72)	14–22–9
46	L	January 15, 1972	3–4	@ Vancouver Canucks (1971–72)	14–23–9
47	T	January 18, 1972	1–1	@ Minnesota North Stars (1971–72)	14–23–10
48	L	January 19, 1972	0–2	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1971–72)	14–24–10
49	L	January 21, 1972	0–5	New York Rangers (1971–72)	14–25–10
50	W	January 23, 1972	3–1	Philadelphia Flyers (1971–72)	15–25–10
51	W	January 28, 1972	3–0	Toronto Maple Leafs (1971–72)	16–25–10
52	W	January 30, 1972	2–0	@ Vancouver Canucks (1971–72)	17–25–10
53	L	February 2, 1972	1–5	Vancouver Canucks (1971–72)	17–26–10
54	T	February 4, 1972	2–2	Montreal Canadiens (1971–72)	17–26–11
55	L	February 6, 1972	2–8	@ Detroit Red Wings (1971–72)	17–27–11
56	W	February 9, 1972	3–2	Philadelphia Flyers (1971–72)	18–27–11
57	L	February 12, 1972	0–3	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1971–72)	18–28–11
58	L	February 15, 1972	3–6	@ Boston Bruins (1971–72)	18–29–11
59	T	February 16, 1972	1–1	@ Montreal Canadiens (1971–72)	18–29–12
60	T	February 18, 1972	2–2	New York Rangers (1971–72)	18–29–13
61	T	February 20, 1972	4–4	St. Louis Blues (1971–72)	18–29–14
62	L	February 23, 1972	6–8	Boston Bruins (1971–72)	18–30–14
63	L	February 26, 1972	0–3	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1971–72)	18–31–14
64	T	February 27, 1972	4–4	@ Buffalo Sabres (1971–72)	18–31–15
65	L	March 1, 1972	1–4	@ New York Rangers (1971–72)	18–32–15
66	T	March 3, 1972	4–4	Chicago Black Hawks (1971–72)	18–32–16
67	W	March 8, 1972	6–3	Buffalo Sabres (1971–72)	19–32–16
68	L	March 11, 1972	1–2	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1971–72)	19–33–16
69	W	March 12, 1972	7–3	@ New York Rangers (1971–72)	20–33–16
70	W	March 15, 1972	5–2	Los Angeles Kings (1971–72)	21–33–16
71	T	March 17, 1972	2–2	St. Louis Blues (1971–72)	21–33–17
72	T	March 19, 1972	3–3	Pittsburgh Penguins (1971–72)	21–33–18
73	L	March 21, 1972	2–4	@ Minnesota North Stars (1971–72)	21–34–18
74	L	March 22, 1972	1–4	@ St. Louis Blues (1971–72)	21–35–18
75	L	March 25, 1972	0–3	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1971–72)	21–36–18
76	L	March 29, 1972	4–5	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1971–72)	21–37–18
77	L	March 31, 1972	1–2	Minnesota North Stars (1971–72)	21–38–18
78	L	April 1, 1972	4–9	@ Los Angeles Kings (1971–72)	21–39–18

Player statistics

Skaters

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalties in minutes

			Regular season						Playoffs
Player			GP	G	A	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
	15		74	23	31	54	59		–	–	–	–	–
	24		78	20	26	46	12		–	–	–	–	–
	4		74	10	35	45	76		–	–	–	–	–
Ivan Boldirev†	23		57	16	23	39	54		–	–	–	–	–
Carol Vadnais‡	5		52	14	20	34	106		–	–	–	–	–
	17		77	14	20	34	13		–	–	–	–	–
	10		78	16	16	32	47		–	–	–	–	–
	22		77	15	17	32	107		–	–	–	–	–
	9		76	17	14	31	45		–	–	–	–	–
	8		56	11	20	31	40		–	–	–	–	–
	3		69	6	21	27	156		–	–	–	–	–
	18		73	12	12	24	11		–	–	–	–	–
	20		68	11	12	23	55		–	–	–	–	–
	12		55	5	10	15	18		–	–	–	–	–
	19		66	0	14	14	68		–	–	–	–	–
Reggie Leach†	7		17	6	7	13	7		–	–	–	–	–
	2		74	2	11	13	4		–	–	–	–	–
Tom Williams‡	7		32	3	9	12	2		–	–	–	–	–
	14		59	8	3	11	12		–	–	–	–	–
Rick Smith†	3		17	1	4	5	26		–	–	–	–	–
	11		14	2	2	4	4		–	–	–	–	–
Ron Stackhouse‡	21		6	1	3	4	6		–	–	–	–	–
Tom Webster†	8		7	2	1	3	6		–	–	–	–	–
Bob Stewart†	6		16	1	2	3	44		–	–	–	–	–
	6		10	0	2	2	15		–	–	–	–	–
	27		56	0	2	2	6		–	–	–	–	–
	6		1	0	0	0	0		–	–	–	–	–
	26		1	0	0	0	0		–	–	–	–	–
	21		2	0	0	0	0		–	–	–	–	–
	16		5	0	0	0	0		–	–	–	–	–
	11		5	0	0	0	0		–	–	–	–	–
	1		15	0	0	0	2		–	–	–	–	–
	30		16	0	0	0	0		–	–	–	–	–

†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Seals. Stats reflect time with the Seals only. ‡Traded mid-season

Goaltenders

Note: GP = Games played; TOI = Time on ice (minutes); W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; GAA = Goals against average

			Regular season									Playoffs
Player			GP	TOI	W	L	T	GA	SO	GAA		GP	TOI	W	L	GA	SO	GAA
	27		56	3121	16	25	13	173	4	3.32		–	–	–	–	–	–	-.--
	1		15	721	4	7	0	50	0	4.16		–	–	–	–	–	–	-.--
	30		16	838	1	7	5	60	0	4.29		–	–	–	–	–	–	-.--

Playoffs

They didn't qualify for the playoffs

Transactions

The Seals were involved in the following transactions during the 1971–72 season:

Trades

May 20, 1971	To California Golden Seals Joey Johnston Walt McKechnie	To Minnesota North Stars Dennis Hextall
May 22, 1971	To California Golden Seals Bobby Sheehan	To Montreal Canadiens cash
August 31, 1971	To California Golden Seals Marshall Johnston	To Montreal Canadiens cash
September 4, 1971	To California Golden Seals cash	To Boston Bruins Doug Roberts
September 7, 1971	To California Golden Seals cash	To Pittsburgh Penguins Bill Hicke
September 9, 1971	To California Golden Seals Kerry Bond Gerry Desjardins Gerry Pinder	To Chicago Black Hawks Gary Smith
October, 1971	To California Golden Seals cash	To Montreal Canadiens Jocelyn Hardy
October, 1971	To California Golden Seals cash	To Montreal Canadiens Mike Laughton
October, 1971	To California Golden Seals Lyle Carter John French	To Montreal Canadiens Randy Rota
October 6, 1971	To California Golden Seals Ray Martyniuk	To Montreal Canadiens Tony Featherstone
October 18, 1971	To California Golden Seals Gilles Meloche Paul Shmyr	To Chicago Black Hawks Gerry Desjardins
October 22, 1971	To California Golden Seals Tom Webster	To Detroit Red Wings Ron Stackhouse
November 17, 1971	To California Golden Seals Ivan Boldirev	To Boston Bruins Rich Leduc Chris Oddleifson
February 23, 1972	To California Golden Seals Reggie Leach Rick Smith Bob Stewart	To Boston Bruins Don O'Donoghue Carol Vadnais
March 5, 1972	To California Golden Seals cash	To Boston Bruins Tom Williams

Additions and subtractions

Additions Player Former team Via free agency (1971–06) Cleveland Barons (AHL) Intra-league Draft (1971–06–07) Intra-league Draft (1971–06–08) Intra-league Draft (1971–06–08) St. Clair College (OUAA) free agency (1971–10) Niagara Falls Flyers (OHA) free agency (1971–10) Montreal Voyageurs (AHL) free agency (1971–10–06)

Subtractions Player New team Via Reverse Draft (1971–06)

Draft picks

Amateur Draft

See main article: 1971 NHL Amateur Draft.

Round	Pick	Player	Nationality	College/Junior/Club team
2	15.	Ken Baird		Flin Flon Bombers (WCHL)
3	29.			Trois-Rivières Ducs (QMJHL)
4	43.			Montreal Junior Canadiens (OHA)
5	57.	Ray Belanger		Shawinigan Bruins (QMJHL)
6	71.	Gerry Egers		Sudbury Wolves (NOJHL)
7	85.			Winnipeg Jets (WCHL)
8	99.	Angus Beck		Charlottetown (Junior A)
8	104.	Rod Lyons		Halifax (Junior)

See also

• 1971–72 NHL season

References

• Golden Seals on Hockey Database
• Golden Seals on Database Hockey