pplpod goes deep into one of hockey's most transformative seasons—the 1978-79 NHL campaign that rewrote the sport's entire rulebook. The Montreal Canadiens were peaking as a dynasty while the league's front office teetered on collapse, caught between the old-guard establishment and an industry desperately reinventing itself. This episode unpacks how iconic retirements (Bobby Orr, Ken Dryden), seismic broadcasting changes, and the looming WHA merger combined to create a year that reads less like a sports almanac and more like a case study in institutional upheaval. The 1979 Challenge Cup against the Soviet Union and the shocking Cleveland Barons merger bookend a season of tectonic shifts. Whether you're a hockey historian or fasci ...