The 1979–80 Chicago Black Hawks season was the 54th season of operation of the Chicago Black Hawks in the National Hockey League. The club was coming off a first-place finish in the Smythe Division in the 1978–79, despite finishing with a 29-36-15 record. In the 1979 playoffs, the Black Hawks were swept by the New York Islanders in the quarter-finals. Off-season During the off-season, the Black Hawks named Eddie Johnston as their new head coach, as Bob Pulford stepped down to focus on his general manager duties. Johnston was previously the head coach of the New Brunswick Hawks, Chicago's AHL affiliate, in 1978–79, leading the team to a 41-29-10 record. Johnston was also a former goaltender, playing in the NHL from 1962-1978, earning a 234-257-80 record with a 3.25 GAA in 592 career games while playing for the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, St. Louis Blues and the Chicago Black Hawks. Johnston won two Stanley Cup championships with the Bruins in 1970 and 1972. With the NHL expanding to 21 teams, as the Edmonton Oilers, Hartford Whalers, Quebec Nordiques and Winnipeg Jets joined the league from the WHA, the Hawks remained in the Smythe Division, with the Oilers and Jets joining Chicago, Colorado Rockies, St. Louis Blues and Vancouver Canucks to form the only six team division in the league. At the 1979 NHL Expansion Draft, Chicago made a deal with the Quebec Nordiques, as the Hawks agreed to not reclaim Real Cloutier from the Nordiques in exchange for Quebec's first round draft pick in the 1980 NHL Entry Draft. Prior to the draft, the Hawks reclaimed Bobby Hull and Terry Ruskowski from the Winnipeg Jets and John Garrett from the Hartford Whalers. During the draft, Chicago lost Hull to Winnipeg, Garrett and Jean Savard to the Whalers, Doug Hicks and Reg Thomas to the Edmonton Oilers. The Hawks added Rich Preston from the Jets at the draft. Regular season Keith Magnuson retired three games into the season, and was replaced by Terry Ruskowski as team captain. On October 10, 1979, Chicago beat Edmonton 4-2. This was also the debut of future Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky. The Black Hawks had a poor start to the season, as they club had a record of 3-6-3 in their first 12 games. The club continued to struggle, as Chicago won only eight of their first 29 games, going 8-11-10, however, the Hawks