The Nordiques improved to 41–34–5 to qualify for the playoffs, but lost in the first round to eventual Avco Cup champions Winnipeg Jets.
During the off-season, the league would lose the Houston Aeros, as they elected to fold as the club was not part of an NHL-WHA merger, leaving the WHA with seven teams.
The league also announced that games against all-star teams from the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia and Finland would once again count in the standings.
Offensively, Quebec was led by Real Cloutier, who won the Bill Hunter Trophy by earning a league high 129 points.
It was the fourth year in a row that a player from the Nordiques (Marc Tardif in 1976 and 1978, and Cloutier in 1977) would win that award.