1979 WHA playoffs

The 1979 WHA playoffs was the postseason tournament of the World Hockey Association's 1978–79 season. The seventh and final tournament concluded with five of the surviving six teams competing for the Avco World Trophy; the merger between the WHA and the National Hockey League loomed ahead after the announcement of a merger in late March, with the four teams to move to the NHL already selected. The playoffs were threatened to not be played entirely due to a dispute over the playoff pool in which the league wanted to cut the pool to $88,000 less than last year due to less games being played. It was noted at the time that the original WHA playoff pool was at one point $740,000 but now was considerably less than that; the dispute was tabled to after the playoffs.

Among the notable events, phenom Wayne Gretzky made his first playoff appearance as a professional player as the Edmonton Oilers raced all the way to the Avco Cup Final. Winnipeg lost the entire "Hot Line" of Bobby Hull (who played four games before retiring), Anders Hedberg & Ulf Nilsson (who each left for the NHL), which had scored 146 combined goals the previous season and even replaced their Avco Cup champion coach (Larry Hillman) after 61 games for Tom McVie. Team captain Lars-Erik Sjoberg played just nine games due to a torn Achilles tendon that he suffered in the preseason. The Jets were bolstered by the acquisition of several players from the liquidated Houston Aeros such as Rich Preston, Morris Lukowich, and Terry Ruskowski. Gary Smith was a late addition to the team, having gone from going winless in eleven starts with the extinct Indianapolis Racers to playing 11 games to end the season for the Jets on his way to being tabbed as the goaltender for their playoff run. The New England Whalers, still without the services of the Hartford Civic Center, played their last games as "New England" at the Springfield Civic Center while the Cincinnati Stingers played their last games as a franchise.

For only the second time in WHA history and first since 1976, the team with the best regular season record failed to win the championship. The Winnipeg Jets completed their WHA dynasty with their third championship in four seasons, doing so over the regular season champion Edmonton Oilers in the Avco Cup Final. Rookie Wayne Gretzky led the playoffs in points with 20 on the strength of ten goals for the Oilers, which was only matched by Willy Lindstrom of the Jets, who had ten goals in ten games. In Game 5 of the Avco Cup Final, Ron Chipperfield scored five goals to set the new WHA record for goals scored in a postseason game as the Oilers forced a Game 6 with a 10-2 victory. In Game 6, the Jets scored five goals in the first two periods and dominated their way to a 7-3 win on home ice to complete the WHA. Dave Semenko of the Oilers scored the final goal in WHA history, doing so with twelve seconds left in the third period.

Rich Preston of the Jets was the final person awarded the WHA Playoff MVP.