The Complete Historical and Statistical Reference

[JETStender]

TUESDAY, JUNE 7, 1977 WFP

More direction, balanced teams key to success
MONTREAL (CP) — Alan Eagleson, executive director of the National Hockey League Players Association, said Monday the key to the league's continuing financial problems is a greater degree of competition on the ice. "We have about six teams that are halfs, six that are middle-of-the-road and six that are in real trouble on the ice," Eagleson said during the first full day of the NHL annual meetings,.

"Yet nobody seems to be concerned about the obvious lack of competition within the league. The league is very much in need of strong direction." The Toronto lawyer said it was an indication of something wrong that a five-man search committee seeking a successor to Clarence Cafnpbel! as NHL came up with only one name.

"It's very strange that the committee came up with only one name — there should have been some interest from prominent businessmen in Canada and the United States for such a position."

The search committee unearthed only John Ziegler, vice-president of Detroit Red Wings, but Brian O'Neill, NHL executive director, has also been mentioned. "You hear things like moving the league office from Montreal to Toronto and that sort of thing," said Eagleson. "Those are types of unstable things that don't help. We need a contract and someone to run things with an iron hand for 18 months to give some stability."

Eagleson attended a meeting with the 18 players representatives in Bermuda last week, where the NHLPA drew-up its requests for a revised agreement with the owners, who sent a committee to speak for them at the players' meeting. Eagleson delivered a letter Monday to Campbell from the players* representatives to the board of governors. In it were eight areas of changes the players seek, including some minor rule adjustments.

Among the major requests are veto power over trades for any player who has spent five years with the same club or 10 years in the league, and a divisional realignment that would group the NHL in two nine-team sections with a partial interlocking schedule.

Eagleson said traditional rivalries and a reduction of travel costs were behind their suggestion that Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Vancouver Canucks. Buffalo Sabres, Detroit Red Wings. St. Louis Blues. Minnesota North Stars. Los Angeles Kings and Colorado Rockies form one section, with New York Islanders. New York Rangers, Boston Bruins. Philadelphia Flyers. Chicago Black Hawks. Cleveland Barons. Washington Capitals. Atlanta Flames and Pittsburgh Penguins forming the other.

NHLPA, while not opposed to assimilation of several World Hockey Association teams into the NHL as long as the current player compensation agreement is changed, is concerned first with problems facing some NHL teams. N "Expansion is just one problem faced by owners and players and should be handled in conjunction with all the other problems.

"Denver (Colorado), Cleveland, St. Louis and Atlanta are in trouble," Eagleson said. "There are 100 job opportunities there in danger of extinction, and I see no reason to eliminate 100 jobs just to pick up 100 somewhere else. "This league was built on attendance, which lately has been lagging, and they've got to find a way to get people back into the rinks."

Harold Ballard, president of the Maple Leafs, took time out earlier from lambasting the idea of incorporating any WHA clubs into the NHL to give his views on how the weak clubs can improve.

"I think the buildings they have now are adequate," Ballard said. "All they've got to do is work at it Look at the Islanders — they didn't trade draft choices and now they've got a good team and you can't buy a ticket. "The only thing we have to do is get a couple of highclass hockey players on each club."

Ballard said he would be willing to give up third — and fourth — round amateur draft choices to weaker teams "if the other guys would do the same thing

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WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 1977

Additional powers for new president
Decision day postponed

MONTREAL (CP) — The new National Hockey League president will not be officially named until June 22 because the NHL's board of governors will have to approve changes in the constitution to broaden the president's powers.

And what is likely to happen is that the president will also assume the position of chairman of the board, says outgoing president Clarence Campbell. "Right now, the only one whose duties are clearly defined is the president," Campbell said Tuesday. "He's the one who signs cheques, he's the one one who hires people."

Bill Wirtz of Chicago Black Hawks, who chaired Tuesday's meeting of the board, said a meeting in Chicago June 22 will implement the recommendations of the search committee to broaden the powers of the president.

"We were discussing the office of the presidency and what powers the new president needs to conduct this league in the future," Wirtz said. "We did not get down to details. This is a condition preceding the election. I would say on June 22 we will have an announcement on the new president of the National Hockey League."

Wirtz chaired the morning meeting because John Ziegler, the present chairman of the board, is a candidate to succeed the 71-year-old Campbell. Actually, Ziegler, a 43-year-old lawyer from Detroit, is likely to be the man named in Chicago.

The morning session of the board did not bring up the NHL's relations with the rival World Hockey Association, although Ed Snider, who headed the NHL fact-finding committee which conducted exploratory talks with the WHA, said it war likely to be the top item on the agenda during the afternoon sessions. Snider, president of Philadelphia
Flyers, said he felt strongly towards a merger "because I analyzed the facts over a period of years."

"I feel, in my own personal opinion, it would be appropriate for Philadelphia Flyers and the National Hockey League to go ahead with improving our game and strengthening all the weaknesses we have without also being involved in a war with another league. "I have stated many times that I don't think anybody wins a war — everybody gets scared.

"I think it's semantics," said Snider. "War in sports has proven disastrous. "It was proven in the American Football League and the National Football League and they merged. The NBA (National Basketball Association) and ABA (American Basketball Association) merged. It's inevitable, so why delay it?

"Let's get it over with and get down to the important business at hand which is to improve our game." Snider said he had not polled any of the other governors as Harold Ballard, president of Toronto Maple Leafs, has done.

Ballard said Monday he felt there were at least seven clubs against any agreement with the WHA. "I believe that of the clubs on Mr. Ballard's list, other then Toronto, I think that everybody there is keeping an open mind," Snider said.

Ballard said Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres, Toronto, Chicago Black Hawks, Detroit Red Wings, Colorado Rockies and likely New York Islanders would be opposed to any NHL-WHA agreement. Meanwhile, several WHA owners were in a downtown Montreal hotel waiting for developments. Seven club owners were reported ready with the money needed to make the jump to NHL.

The NHL fact-finding committee's report was heatedly discussed during the afternoon sessions but no decisions were made. "It will be the first item on the agenda when we resume tomorrow morning," said Campbell. Campbell said it would take a simple majority vote by the board to decide whether the fact-finding group would continue its work.

"The report draws no conclusions," Campbell said. "'They can vote on the policy of merger or non-merger. They can do that with a simple majority. "But to get a formal admission of anybody — that requires a three-quarters majority. It has got to be done by individual clubs.

"You can't just pass a resolution saying you are going to take in two, three, four or five teams. There must be a formal application under the constitution. "The individual teams have got to apply, they've got to qualify. They have got to make undertakings to abide by the constitution, all the league's agreements and indemnify and so on. The damn document will be an inch thick by the time we are through. "It (the accommodation) can't be done without that formal action."

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WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 1977

WHA reps ready

MONTREAL (CP) — While National Hockey League governors grapple with their
problems at the league's annual meeting, seven World Hockey Association representatives wait a block away, ready to pursue an accommodation between the leagues if asked.

"We haven't had any formal discussions here with the NHL people." said Bill DeWitt. owner of Cincinnati Stingers and one of the four WHA club officials on an inter-league factfinding committee which has studied consolidation.

Well represented

Other committee members waiting for word and questioning reporters as to what has happened behind the NHL's closed doors are Harold Baldwin of New England Whalers, Nelson Skalbania of Edmonton Oilers and Harrison Vickers of Houston Aeros.

"We're prepared to meet with the NHL people if they ask us," said DeWitt, admitting they hadn't. "Naturally we've got friends who keep us advised as to what's transpired. I'd say I know two-thirds of the NHL governors who are friendly and would talk to me anytime." DeWitt said he "wouldn't rate the ehances" of NHL governors agreeing to accept a number of WHA teams into the senior league.

Has no malice

"I wouldn't say one way or the other — it's total speculation at this point." DeWitt also declined comment on remarks this week by Harold Ballard, president of Toronto Maple Leafs and apparently the leader of the NHL hawks opposing an agreement with any WHA clubs.

"I don't know Mr. Ballard —I met him once and that was three years ago," DeWitt said. "Maybe there's bad blood between him and somebody, but we don't feel any toward him. He's entitled to his opinion.1*

DeWitt said the factfinding committee had had no feedback from NHL clubs after the last inter-league meeting in New York late last month. Several WHA team officials and chairman of the board Ben Hatskin of Winnipeg were quoted as saying a proposal for consolidating the leagues was close, if not achieved.

"I can't comment on that," DeWitt said. "I think the nature of our discussions we agreed to keep confidential."'

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WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, THURSDAY, JUNE 9, 1977

Near-unanimous agreement to pursue topic
NHL continuing merger talks

MONTREAL (CP) — The National Hockey League's fact-finding committee looking into a possible association with teams in the World Hockey Association has been given the green light to continue its exploratory talks.

"The National Hockey League board of governors today directed the fact-finding committee to continue its work regarding possible expansion and to investigate and consider the various means by which that might be accomplished," said NHL president Clarence Campbell a f t e r emerging from Wednesday afternoon's session.

And while neither Campbell nor Ed Snyder of Philadelphia Flyers, who is the main man behind a possible fusion with the WHA, would reveal what the vote was to continue the committees work, both said there was near-unanimous agreement.

"I don't think I want to say what the number of teams voting .against was," said Snyder. "But the fact-finding committee wouldn't have continued if it did not have a solid expression to continue.
"I consider it a very strong attitude towards continuing negotiations but certainly the issue is so complex that nobody can make up their minds right now. There are a number of questions to be answered.

"I do not consider it to be an expression towards expansion, but I consider it to be definitely not a rebuff against it." There were indications prior to Wednesday's announcement that some anti-expansion or anti-merge hard-liners had softened their stand.

Sam Pollock, general manager of Montreal Canadiens, told a reported from La Presse that if he were a reporter he "would write that many strides are being taken towards a merger." Pollock made that statement before Wednesday's sessions got under way and after the governors had decided to form three committees to discuss all aspects of a possible association with teams from the WHA.

"I would say that the people are now formulating for themselves a more rational opinion now that they have the facts — something to work on," said Campbell. Snyder said he did not know when his committee would meet again with the WHA but Pollock indicated it would be before the NHL governors meet in Chicago June 22.

Asked if an agreement could be worked out in time for the 1977-78 season, Campbell said: "It's possible. Even miracles happen in this league." "I wouldn't say it was too late," added Pollock. "There are two or three ways of looking at it. You've got to have a schedule and you can't wait until the day before the season starts.

"I see it two ways — you either go with the same 18 teams we had last year, minus any franchises such as Cleveland that aren't settled, or with some new clubs. But it comes to a point where they might have to play as their own division." Alan Eagleson, executive director of the NHL players' association, said the NHLPA's position "has not changed since the meetings it had with the owner representatives in Bermuda late last month.

"Our over-all concern is the stability of hockey," he said, adding that between four and six WHA teams could join the NHL. Quebec, Edmonton, Cincinnati and New England appear to be ready with Winnipeg and Houston still in the process of making final arrangements for the necessary funds.

Bill Dewitt, president of the Cincinnati Stingers, said the WHA merger committee had not scheduled meetings with the NHL group, but it was possible they would meet Wednesday night or today.

"We came here with a positive attitude about this," Dewitt said. "We were never discouraged or really enthusiastic when'we heard the comments early in the week," he added, referring to the anti-merger stand taken by Harold Ballard, president of Toronto Maple Leafs.

Dewitt said it was possible some WHA teams could be playing with NHL teams next season. "I just wouldn't rule it out at this point. During the morning sessions, the governors did some general housekeeping on financial matters but the fate of the Cleveland Barons franchise was not discussed but should be decided

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WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 1977

Swig is off the ~~~hook
New owners for Barons
MONTREAL (CP) — Cleveland Barons, a franchise with a history of trouble since it originally joined the league as California Seals in 1967, will operate next season under new ownership.

The NHL announced Thursday that it had given Mel Swig the approval to complete the sale and transfer of the franchise to a group headed by Sanford Greenberg and George Gund.

The new group will assume the debts incurred by the franchise including $1.5 million owed to Charles 0. Finley, who sold the club to the league in 1974 before Swig purchased it the following summer. The new owners will also have to pay $2.5 million in bank loans that Swig ran up while the team was in Oakland and Cleveland.

"The league has given approval, the league has approved the terms of the deal specifically and now it's between Sandy, Mr. Gund and Mel," said Peter O'Malley, president of Washington Capitals. "Mel told us he was leaving here to go to Cleveland: to settle." The decision was the only major announcement made as the board of governors adjourned the 60th annual meeting. It will be convened in Chicago June 22

The Seals, who played in the 12,000- seat Oakland Alameda Coliseum, were first owned by a 53-man group headed by Barry van Gerbig. The group tried to veil the team to Potter Palmer before the start of 1968-69 season, but the conditional transaction, made in June, 1968, fell through in November.

The Seals were then sold to TransNational Ommunications who operated the club for one season before Finley bought in prior to the 1970-71 season. Finley, who owned Oakland Athletics of baseball's American League at the time and still does, dressed his hockey team in his favorite colors—kelly green and gold. He changed the nickname to California Seals and had his skaters fitted with white skates.

But despite the gimmicks, Finley could not draw people to his rink and got fed up losing money and the league then bought the club from him Jan. 28, 1974. The NHL lost $10 million while running the team.

Swig, who will get a reported $500,000 out of the deal with the Greenberg group, took over and had plans to keep the club in the Bay Area.

He wanted to build a new sports complex in the Yerba Buena complex near San Francisco, but the plans fell through and last summer, the club went to Cleveland.

Meanwhile, Clarence Campbell, president of the NHL, said Thursday the important league decisions will be made when the governors meet in Chicago later this month.

For the most part, it was a 60th annual meeting that had most decisions deferred until the Chicago session. There the fact-finding committee on a possible association with teams from the World Hockey Association will make its final report

The new president will be officially named, although most people have reported that it will be John Ziegler, a 43-year-old lawyer from Detroit. Campbell said business discussed at Thursday's meetings ranged from routine reports to administrative business.

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WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 1977

Racers bank on new help
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana National Bank said Thursday it has taken over the assets of the World Hockey Association Indianapolis Racers in a move aimed at shoring up the team's weak financial position.

Bank board chairman Thomas W. Binford said the bank was not assuming operating control or the team's outstanding liabilities. Daily control of the Racers will remain with general manager Brian Conacher. Among the team's assets is its franchise in the WHA, Binford said.

At a news conference here, Conacher said the team would prefer to remain in the WHA next season as the first step of a two-stage WHA-National Hockey League merger or expansion for the 1978- 79 season.

But Conacher admitted it Is uncertain whether the Racers will be able to play another year In the WHA. The NHL now is discussing the possibility of merging with the younger league.

The Racers, said Conacher, want to stay in the WHA, adding that the team did not have the $3.2 million entry fee the NHL would require to accept WHA teams. Conacher also said the Racers stand to lose $750,000 from 1976-77 operations, even though the team's average attendance of 9,250 a game was the highest in the league.

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Sun., June 12, 1977

Racers closer to extinction

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - The World Hockey Association's Indianapolis team moved another step closer to extinction Saturday as General Manager Brian Conacher said the Racers lack the money to meet their June 15 payroll.

Meanwhile, Racers' Coach Jacques Demers said he'd been given permission to talk to the Cincinnati Stingers about the coaching vacancy with that team.

The Indiana National Bank took control of the Racers' assets on Thursday after the team failed to meet scheduled loan repayments. However, bank officials made it clear they were not assuming any financial obligation of the team.

At that time, Conacher made an appeal for new investors, but none have come forth. The management group which operated the team until the bank's takeover appears to have decided to invest no additional funds at this time, so the future looks bleak.

However, Conacher said he isn't ready to give up the battle to save the franchise. He'll be going to Chicago for Monday's WHA meetings. The league's fact-finding committee is expected to report to league trustees then on merger possibilities with the National Hockey League and report on what it learned at the recent NHL meetings in Montreal.

"We have no money to pay our next payroll," Conacher said. "That includes the office staff, our coach, myself and three players."

Conacher said he didn't know where the new investors would come from, but said it was critical for more season tickets to be purchased immediately.

"If people come forward to buy tickets, they can show how much they really want hockey and thus interest other people in putting new money into the team," said Conacher.

Demers said he was anxious to discuss the Stingers' position. However, he said Stingers' owner Bill DeWitt planned to wait until he meets with Conacher in Chicago to be certain he isn't charged with tampering. Demers is under contract to coach the Racers next season.

The Stingers had previously requested permission to discuss the job with Demers, but were told by former team president Harold Ducote that talking to him would be considered tampering by the ownership.

Ducote resigned earlier when the bank took over. Conacher is currently operating the team, which is battling for survival due to financial problems. He'll be joined in Chicago by Tom Jones, legal counsel to the Racers' limited partners, and representatives of the bank. "I feel like I'm captain of the Titanic," Conacher said. "I'm at the wheel and I'm trying to convince everybody all we’re really doing is stopping for ice."

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WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15, 1977

Against merger mavericks
WHA teams pay insurance
By REYN DAVIS
A motion by Winnipeg Jets, seconded by Quebec Nordiques, has been passed, forcing World Hockey Association teams to make $400,000 deposits with the league by July 1.

The fee is intended to scare off the weaker teams who stand in the way of a merger. . .a year from now or next month.

Despite the dentals of WHA chairman Ben Hatskin, the league's pro-merger teams are apparently willing to wait a year if there can be assurances an accommodation with the National Hockey League is forthcoming in 1978.

The Jets were represented by club president Jack McKeag and trustee Oscar ' Grubert at league meetings in Chicago Monday and Tuesday.

Three WHA teams, perhaps more, are posing problems for the league's promerger clubs who wish to join the NHL right away. Indianapolis Racers, San Diego Mariners and Calgary Cowboys are reported to want upwards of $2 million apiece to fold

Le Soleil, a respected Quebec newspaper, said Tuesday the WHA had decided to abandon merger plans for this coming season due to "compelling" costs. "It's a false story," said Hatskin, upon arriving from Chicago. "Merger plans are going full speed ahead."

He said the WHA's merger committee of Harold Baldwin (New England), Bill DeWitt (Cincinnati), Harrison Vickers (Houston) and Nelson Skalbania (Edmonton), had been given "full power to go ahead with the deal."

He did not elaborate on the contents of "the deal." However, Hatskin indicated the next meeting of the NHL and WHA merger committees will take place "within 48 hours" after the NHL's meeting in Chicago June 23-24.

Skalbania, the outspoken chairman of Edmonton Oilers, said the problems holding up a merger are not within the NHL. "The problems are internally in the WHA," said Skalbania.

The WHA has scheduled its amateur draft Thursday over the phone. The draft was postponed twice, pending talks with the NHL. Similarly, the NHL postponed its draft until yesterday. Hatskin said the fact the two leagues were drafting separately did not mean an end to any plans of an accommodation. "We knew all along that we couldn't hold our drafts together," said Hatskin.

"Everything takes time." But while the pro-merger forces are apparently trying to chase their weaker "partners", to save themselves compensation money, the real possibility of • six or eight-team WHA exists for next season. Meanwhile, the NHL governors are said to be willing to offer the WHA teams who can afford the $3 million expansion price, a division of their own next season with no interdivisional play until the playoffs.

However, the NHL Players Association has recommended two very large divisions with the continent split in half, using an imaginary north-south line. Another recommendation is an unbalanced scheduled to ease the travel burden.

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JUNE 15, 1977

Financial Problems Remain
WHA Lives—At Least For Now
CHICAGO (AP) — The World Hockey Association has set a June 30 deadline for an accommodation with the National Hockey League, WHA President Bill MacFarland said Tuesday.

The WHA wants to p a r t i c i p a t e in the restructuring of major league hockey, became it would be to everyone's benefit," said MacFarland in the aftermath of a Monday meeting here of the league's board of trustees.

Meanwhile, the WHA will bold its amateur draft on Thursday. MacFariand said all current members of the WHA have agreed to operate for a. 1977-78 season if an accommodation with the NHL is not reached by the end of this month.

The trustees met to review the current status of the league as well as the possibility of some sort of merger agreement with the NHL.

The draft originally had been scheduled June 1 but was postponed because of the possibility of an agreement with the older NHL.

"If we can't accomplish that in time for an orderly implementation for the coming season, then we are going ahead with what will be the tightest league, both geographically and competitively, in our history, said MacFarland.

The first-round order of the draft, rearranged by several inter club trades, is: Houston, Calgary, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Indianapolis, Birmingham, Cincinnati, Winnipeg again, Quebec, Houston again and New England.

Those are the nine teams which agreed to a l977-78 season if some sort of agreement is not reached with the NHL. Of them, Indianapolis, Birmingham and Houston are believed to be in financial difficulties to varying degrees. Phoenix and San Diego were in the WHA this past season.

The WHA trustees, according to MacFarland, instructed the league's fact-finding committee to continue discussions with its NHL counterpart regarding a possible accommodation between the two leagues. The NHL will meet here later this month and U expected to deal with the WHA issue.

Also acted on by the trustees, Mac Karl and said, was the dispensation of the San Diego franchise, which the WHA now has repurchased and dissolved.

The trustees decided to continue discussions with a group headed by Jerry Saperstein, with whom former San Diego owner Ray Kroc had been in negotiation with, with the possible end result being the Issuance of an expansion franchise to be located in the Miami, Fla., area.

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JUNE 18, 1977

Merger Predicted

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -
There will be a pro hockey merger this fall, new Cincinnati Stingers' Coach Jacques Demers flatly predicted Friday, but bit former Indianapolis Racers probably will not be Included.

"It's funny," be said, "because I tbink Indianapolis would be accepted right away (into the National Hockey League) if they had the money."

Demers, who coached the Racers to the Work) Hockey Association E a s t e r n Division championship last year and to the playoff semifinals this season, was named coach of the WHA Stingers on Thursday. He took the job because tame was running out and be could get no guarantee there would even 'be a team here.

He said it's possible someone—or some group-will step out of the woodwork at the last minute with the money to keep the" Racers in business. "if I knew it would happen, I would stay...I would gamble," the 32-year-old Demers told a news conference at Market Square Arena. "But there was never really a positive note indicated to me that something would be worked out."

"It's with great, great regret that I leave," he said softly, "1 went to the baseball game last night and people came up to me and wished me luck, but I just realized this morning I was gone, and it really hurts."

A decision on a merger could be reached next week, and Demers said he believes Cincinnati, Houston, New England, Quebec, Edmonton and Winnipeg will be taken into the NHL.

Ironically, be said, of all the WHA cities, "the most proven one, fan-wise, is Indianapolis." The Racers led the WHA in attendance last season, and Demers said they could average 12,000 or more in the NHL. "There's no question about it a major league city aide there's a place for hockey here. We cannot blame non-support of Indianapolis fanwise. They've been great to us."

"The advantage of Cincinnati is they have their own building, their own concessions...They own everything," he said. Demers signed a one-year contract with the Stingers-he wanted it that way.

"I'm just scared," be said. "This is my fifth year in hockey, going into the sixth year. I just want to go one year at a time. If I keep winning, they'll keep me there 20 yean." "But this is my last crack at it," said Demers.

"If anything happens in Cincinnati like it happened here, I'd quit hockey and open a business in Montreal." "I love hockey, but I'm not going to try this again. Nobody likes to be bounced around.""

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Wed., June 22,1977

NHL Talking Of a Merger

CHICAGO (AP) - The formal election of John Ziegler as National Hockey League president was the main item on the agenda today, out interest centered on merger as the NHL Board of Governors opened a three-day meeting.

Ziegler, vice president of the Detroit Red Wings, will replace Clarence Campbell, who has headed the NHL for 31 years. His election was delayed during a recent NHL meeting in Montreal by the need for constitutional rewording which would permit him to serve as chairman of the board as well as president.

The governors also are expected to discuss a possible merger with the World Hockey Association for the 1977-78 season after concluding meetings between owners and representatives of the. NHL Players Association.

In Toronto, Ron Roberts, executive director of the WHA Players Association, said WHA owners have agreed to a "multi-million dollar settlement" with his association that could pave the way for merger.

"All contracts will be honored," Roberts said. He said the deal covers two years, in the event expansion doesn't occur this year.

The Toronto Globe and Mail said the six WHA teams that can .afford the $3.25 million to jump to the NHL-Cincinnati, New England, Quebec, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Houston—have agreed to pay off player contracts totalling in excess of $5 million from Indianapolis, Birmingham, San Diego and Calgary—WHA clubs unable to raise the entry fee.

"The aspect of accommodation—that's what we'll call it for lack of a better word—will arise in the course of the sessions with the (NHL) players," Campbell said earlier by telephone from his Montreal office. "They (the players) have not defined their position on the matter."

In view of the players association's power to terminate the current collective bargaining agreement with owners should a merger take place, the players are expected to make their stand on the matter clear tomorrow and Friday. One of the conditions the players ask in exchange for their assent to merger is the removal of the compensation required when a team signs a free agent

NHL rules provide that a team signing a free agent must compensate the player's former team with players, cash, draft choices or a combination of the three/The players claim that fear of what the new team might have to give up inhibits teams from signing free agents.

"A player is worth more to a team if it doesn't have to give up anything to sip him," explains St. Louis Blues General Manager Ensile Francis. "He has much more value.

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Wed., June 22,1977

Barons' GM says hockey package is put together

RICHFIELD, Ohio (AP) - Harry Howell, acting general manager of the Cleveland Barons, said Tuesday "a good source" lias forecast the National Hockey League and World Hockey Association will merge this week.

"I would say right now that there is a possibility of a merger as early as this week," said Howell. "At first I thought there would be no way, because of the problems and technicalities involved, but I understand a package has been put together." Howell said the package would admit six WHA teams to the present 18-leam NHL, and there then would be realignment of the 2-1 teams geographically.

The NHL Board of Governors was scheduled to begin three days of meetings today in Chicago. The possible merger and realignment was expected to ' get high priority, with any merger expected la include Quebec, Edmonton, New England and Cincinnati of the WHA. Other WHA teams under consideration are Houston, Winnipeg and, possibly, Indianapolis.

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Wed., June 22,1977

Merger path is cleared

TORONTO "(AP) ,— The World Hockey Association and WHA' Players Association have reached an agreement that paves the way for a merger with the National Hockey League, Ron Roberts, executivedirector of the players association, said Tuesday.

Roberts said the WHA owners have agreed to a "multi-million dollar settlement" with his association. Roberts negotiated the settlement with the WHA two weeks ago while the NHL governors held (heir annual meeting in Montreal, "We were pleased with the outcome," Roberts said.

"All contracts will be honored. That .doesn't preclude an independent arbitrator settling some contractual arrangements, but the players are protected." Roberts said Hie deal covers this year and next in the event an expansion does not occur this year. "Numerous players "will be forced out of work because of expansion, but, then again, several teams will fold without it and the players would be out of work anyway," Roberts added.

The NHL governors, meeting Wednesday in Chicago, are expected to discuss the WHA merger proposal. The Globe and Mail, meanwhile, says the six WHA teams that can afford the $3.25 million jump to the NHL—Cincinnati, New England, Quebec, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Houston— have agreed to pay off player contracts totalling in excess of $5 million from Indianapolis, Birmingham, San Diego and Calgary, WHA clubs unable to raise the NHL fee.

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Thursday, June 23,1977

National Hockey League
Tries To Save Cleveland

CHICAGO (AP) - The fate of the Cleveland Barons hung in the balance today as owners of the National Hockey League franchise scrambled to solidify a sale that would prevent the club from ceasing operation.

The NHL's Board of Governors, holding a special meeting, gave the Barons until 2 p.m., EOT, today to consummate a sale, or the board would consider the club folded.

George Gund III, who heads a group attempting to buy the Barons, says the deal will be completed and the franchise will not fold.

Gund, reached at a hotel in Cleveland, said it was "really too bad that this came out. An extraordinary amount of paper work involved, including sending couriers to San Francisco, is holding up this deal," he said.

"But 1 can assure you it will be resolved by Friday, and there will be a Cleveland Barons team in the NHL next season."

Also at the meeting Wednesday, the selection of John A. Ziegler as NHL President Clarence Campbell's successor became official.

Plans were also mapped for today's meeting with the players association. The meeting between the players association and owners was to focus on possible modification and renegotiation of the players' collective bargaining agreement. The players association has the power to tear up the current pact with the owners should a merger take place between the NHL and the World Hockey Assn.

Campbell said Wednesday the sale of the Cleveland club by Mel Swig should have been completed two weeks ago to a group headed by Sanford Greenberg, owner of the Barons' Richfield Coliseum home. But problems have arisen among the purchasers, he said, and failure to carry out the deal will mean the first folding in recent history of an NHL franchise. Should the team be terminated, Campbell said, Swig can sell his players individually or the NHL can purchase the contracts and then hold a dispersal draft.

Earlier Wednesday, the board named the 43-year-old Ziegler, a Detroit attorney, as president and chief executive of the NHL. Campbell, who has been president for 31 years, will remain at his job until Ziegler takes over in August at scheduled meetings in Toronto.

On the topic of merger, Campbell said he did not foresee it without the players wanting a new agreement. He also said that possibilities appeared remote of a merger or expansion that would include WHA teams.

"Individual applications must be made and accepted," said Campbell, "and so far none has been made. I cannot visualize it happening now. Nobody has said, 'Let's stop talking and do something about it.'" Campbell said he understands the WHA has set a June 30 deadline to make a move, but there also has been talk of a July 15 deadline.

"The public doesn't seem to understand the general mechanics involved for such a move," said Campbell.

[JETStender]

THURSDAY, JUNE 23, 1977

Hal
Sigurdson
SPORTS EDITOR

If you are expecting momentarily some dramatic announcement out of Chicago concerning the impending marriage of the National Hockey League and the World Hockey Association you are likely to be disappointed.

NHL governors are meeting out there at the Airport Hilton and a possible marriage with the WHA is being discussed. But if you are anticipating some firm declaration saying these cities are in, these are out; this will be done, this will not; you are expecting too much from a diverse group whose only common bond is greed.

The best you can expect from this crowd is a firm maybe. An example of the speed with which the NHL reaches major decisions was yesterday's long-awaited announcement John Ziegler of Detroit has been appointed to succeed Clarence Campbell as president. The governors realized more than 2 1/2 years ago that a combination of age and an impossible work load had taken an inevitable toll on the man who has held the post since 1946. Several capable replacements have been available, but it took this bunch until yesterday to agree on which one to hire. And even then it was close as an llth hour putsch headed by Bill Jennings of New York Rangers tried to derail Ziegler in favor of Campbell's long-time assistant, Brian O'Neill.

So instead of a clear-cut picture on merger, amalgamation, expansion or.whatever you choose to call this NHL-WHA bonding, what we're likely to get is a statement the NHL will entertain applications to join their lodge. The invitation will include WHA cities. Terms and conditions for each application will be set out. We will then have to wait to learn which WHA teams elect to buy those terms, then which applications are accepted.

The message: bring money

What is becoming increasingly apparent is the size of the dowry WHA teams will be expected to bring to the marriage bed. The initiation fee has been set at $3.2 million but that is only the beginning. WHA teams which cannot afford to merge will have to receive heart balm to keep them out of court. Contracts of unwanted players will have to be honored. So will the remaining portions of contracts of league employees and referees.

It is also likely a total amalgamation will be impossible in time for next season with all the scheduling and realignment problems to be solved. All that's likely to happen next season' is for WHA teams to continue playing one another with an invitation to take part in a common playoff.

If a merger eventually lurches into place, realignment will necessarily follow. The ideal structure as far as Winnipeg is concerned is an all-Canadian division embracing Quebec City, Montreal, Toronto, Edmonton and Vancouver. The best we can expect is a grouping including Edmonton, Vancouver, Denver, Minnesota and either Chicago, St. Louis or Los Angeles. Will that provide better hockey we've been getting? Yes, but not much.

[JETStender]

THURSDAY, JUNE 23, 1977

Reins of power will be in Ziegler's hands

CHICAGO (CP) –John Augustus Ziegler, Jr., a bantam sized lawyer from Detroit, will take over the reins of power in the National Hockey League later this summer.

But Ziegler, 43, says it is wrong to consider him a successor to Clarence Campbell, who has held the position since 1946. "I object very much to being called a successor to Mr. Campbell," said Ziegler. "In my opinion, no one will succeed Mr. Campbell. "There is no one in sports who has brought more to a game, to a sport and to a business than this man. He is unique, has been and always will be."

Ziegler was the only choice of an NHL presidential search committee formed more than a year and a half ago when Campbell announced his intention to resign.

He has been associated with NHL hockey since 1960 and an alternate governor for Detroit Red Wings since 1966. Last summer, Ziegler was selected as the NHL's chairman of the board and while in this position was instrumental in helping salvage the troubled Cleveland Barons franchise last winter. When he was officially introduced as' the new president

Wednesday, Ziegler was nattily attired in a dark blue suit with his razor-cut hair neatly in place. He fielded questions carefully, pausing to joke every once in a while. Born in Grosse Point, Mich.. Feb. 9, 1934, Ziegler graduated from the University of Michigan in 1957, receiving a Bachelor of Arts and a law degree. He has been in a private law practice since 1957 and is a partner in the Detroit law firm of Ziegler, Dykhouse and Wise.

He has worked on many NHL committees and has been involved in various aspects of the NHL's litigation and relations and negotiations with the players' association. For the last seven years he has also been vice-president and general counsel for the Red Wings. Ziegler is also the top legal counsel for the vast Norrin Corp., a conglomerate of 102 companies, including a flour mill, a grain company, an import wine and liquor company based in New York and a vast cattle-raising enterprise.

But hockey is something that Ziegler, a five-foot-eight former athlete, has grown to love.
"I played three sports in high school," he said in a recent interview. "I was a spIit-T quarterback in football, a shortstop in baseball and a centre and a wing in hockey. "We went undefeated in my senior high school year in football, bat, I really wasn't that good in hockey, although I really love the game."

And Ziegler, who will have broader powers than Campbell had under changes in the NHL's constitution approved Wednesday, says he plans to work with the governors and players "to bring economic and competitive vitality to the game" he says he loves so much. The league's board of governors, meanwhile, continued to drag its feet Wednesday on the possible accommodation of teams from the World Hockey Association.

There was no vote taken on the matter at a special session of the board and it is unlikely the NHL moguls will tip their hands until they meet with the representatives of the players' association starting today. "There would have to be a resolution inviting applications," explained outgoing president Campbell. "These would have to set out the terms."

"The league, I think, would arrive at a conclusion as to whether it would want to go on with that concept if it was clearer of what the consequences would be so far as the collective bargaining agreement was concerned.

"The position taken by the players' executive secretary (Alan Eagleson) is that he's not going to tell us in advance because he can't," Campbell said, adding that the players' association wants to know the NHL's position on any merger before announcing the players' position.

[JETStender]

Fri., June 24,1977

Cooke against merger

CHICAGO (AP) – National Hockey League owners will have to get around Jack Kent Cooke of the Los Angeles Kings if they hope to make any advancement towards a merger with the World Hockey Association.

"It's one against 17," said R. Alan Eagleson, head of the NHL Players Association late Thursday night after a series of meetings involving the owners, board of governors and members of the Players Association. While the owners refuse to hold any news conferences or to make any announcements, it was learned that the sale of the
Cleveland Barons had been completed prior to the deadline set by the governors and that the team would compete next season.

Eagleson met with newsmen and said, "We are willing to work all summer for a solution (to the prospective merger). We came to these meetings with our position very clear. We made a series of suggestions and told them, 'Here is our package. Can you buy it?'"
The package includes every thing from compensation on tree agents to how many teams should make up the NHL in case of expansion.

The league now stands at 18 teams with possibly six WHA teams awaiting entrance. To preserve competitive balance, the player group does not want a league of more than 20 teams.

"The WHA people should take a serious look at matters and consider if six teams can't get "in, then maybe they should try for four," said Eagleson. Eagleson said suggestions have been made that possibly five WHA teams be accepted while three NHL teams be dropped or combinations of teams be made to get the number down to 20.

Eagleson said WHA teams like Quebec, New England, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Cincinnati could be accepted and merged with teams like Denver, St. Louis and Cleveland. He added that would be logical but unlikely.

In case of expansion, the current collective bargaining agreement between the owners and players would be open for renegotiation. Eagleson also said that any money the players receive from expansion would go toward their pension fund.

With the start of the hockey season less than four months away, Eagleson said a decision must be reached soon. If matters are not resolved Friday, the third and final day of the present meetings, then meetings might be held periodically the rest of the summer

[JETStender]

Saturday, June 25,1977

WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, SATURDAY, JUNE 25,1977

JETS TO NHL?

CHICAGO (CP) — The National Hockey League has extended an invitation to World Hockey Association teams to join them for the 1977-78 season, provided they meet the conditions set down by the NHL.

The Winnipeg Jets are likely to be among the six WHA teams that will join the NHL.

John A. Ziegler Jr., President-elect of the NHL Announced Friday that the league's board of governors approved a resolution permitting the expansion fact-finding committee to pursue negotiation;- with the WHA leading to an expansion of the NHL." "The proposal would be to have those teams play in their own division for this corning season and on some form of integration over a period of the following two years." Ziegler said.

[JETStender]

WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, SATURDAY, JUNE 25,1977

Hatskin dream comes true

By REYN DAVIS

Ben Hatskin came off the golf course Friday morning to learn the league he had championed for five seasons is going to its chosen reward—a merged National Hockey League,

"To achieve this type of coup in five years, why, it's wonderful," said the founder of the,-Winnipeg Jets, now the WHA's chief executive officer.

Seventy-five pounds lighter, and infinitely wiser, -Hatskin sees no role for himself inxthe future plans of either the Jets or the NHL. In a vote of 16-2, governors of the NHL decided Friday to proceed with plans to expand by the addition of "at least" six WHA clubs by next season.

"I think it's a logical and evolutionary step the NHL is taking," said Jack McKeag, the Jets' president. . . . . "Just to be part of the NHL is exciting. Even if we'll be playing in a division of our own, at least we'll have a crack at them in the playoffs. "And then who knows what will happen? You know you can't think small."

The two dissenting votes in Chicago were cast by Jack Kent Cboke of Los Angeles Kings and A. Paul Mooney of Boston Bruins. Even Harold Ballard's vote was among the "yeas", and the Toronto Maple Leaf president fancied himself as the NHL's leading opponent of a merger.

Dr. Gerry Wilson, vice-president of the Jets, spent the day in Chicago discussing the immediate future of Winnipeg's first-round draft choice, Ron Duguay, with his agent, Alan Eagleson, executive director of the NHL Players' Association. But he had a vested interest in Friday's announcement.,

"Everyone's theme seemed to be: 'Let's get hockey back to some semblance or order,", said Dr. Wilson. However, Dr. Wilson detected a. certain smugness among the NHL players toward their counterparts in the WHA.

"They seemed to be saying, 'If Joe Blow can score 50 goals in THAT league, then they'll really have to strengthen before they can play competitively in the NHL," said Dr. Wilson. Hatskin said he believes six of the existing nine WHA teams will enter the NHL this fall, namely-New England Whalers, Quebec Nordiques, Cincinnati Stingers, Houston Aeros, Edmonton Oilers and the Jets.. While the cost of joining the NHL is. expected to be §2.75 million for each WHA team the price of leaving the WHA will likely cost an extra $500,000, putting the total price tag at $3,250,000.

Hatskin indicated that either a draft or an auction would be used to locate players under contract to WHA-teams destined to fold. The Jets are said to be interested in several players including defencemen Pat Stapleton and Kim Clackson of Indianapolis Racers, and Calgary Cowbqy forwards Peter Dnscoll, Warreii Miller and Ron Chipperfield.

Another player who,might interest the' Jets is Ernie Wakely,.one of the team's originals who has been an outstanding WHA goaltender. The WHA teams will be confined to their own division during the regular schedule with provisions for 18 inter-divisional games the following two seasons. By the fourth, the NHL will be a fully integrated league.

Dr. Wilson said it would be the Jets' responsibility to arrange a series of exhibition games with the more attractive NHL teams this fall.

Full details of the Jets' method of raising capital to finance their way into the NHL will likely be announced this week.

The first $1 million is due JuJy 1 with the second million scheduled to be paid by Sept. 1. "I don't think we'll have any trouble meeting the requirements," said McKeag. "We are confident our community will rise to the occasion or we wouldn't have gone this far."

One of the best benefits of a merger will be experienced next June when the WHA teams will take part in a common draft of juniors along with their NHL brethren.

[JETStender]

WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, SATURDAY, JUNE 25,1977

Hal Sigurdson
SPORTS EDITOR


When the news there really is 'going to be a wedding finally filtered through from Chicago, unhappily the marriage broker who arranged !t wasn't around. Instead of taking the appropriate bows, Bobby Hull was somewhere in the wilds of Toronto getting his golden thatch re upholstered. .

That's too bad. Without Hull, this impending bonding of the World Hockey Association and the National Hockey League would never have happened. Without Hull, the World Hockey Association would probably have sunk without a trace, amounting to no more than a figment of Gary Davidson's, imagination.

When the Winnipeg Jets signed Hull to that then unprecedented multi-million dollar contract, the WHA achieved instant stature and credibility. He was its largest gate attraction, its roost commanding goodwill ambassador. Because he signed a WHA contract, others signed and the reverberations were felt round the hockey world. More than; any other factor, he was responsible for the .death of the pre-historic Reserve clause which bound players to one team virtually from cradle to grave.

Appropriately, the announcement the first step toward total integration will be taken next season came just hours before the fifth anniversary of Hull's flamboyant signing at Portage and Main.

"To achieve this kind of coup in just five years is wonderful," WHA board chairman Gentle Ben Hatskin was saying moments after the Chicago announcement. And of course he was right.

Five years«go it would have easier finding contented Conservatives than people willing to predict the NHL and WHA would some day be playing under the same banner. Even five months ago the Toronto Blue Jays carried shorter odds.

Incentive Hull needed?

But it has remained Hull's goal and he has stayed with it even though temptations to give up have often been great. Recently, Hull has talked of retirement as an active player. Only last'month he was telling a St. Nicholas Men's Club dinner gathering he still hasn't made up his mind. One presumes Friday's announcement will provide the incentive Hull needs to gear his 38-year-old body for another 80-game season. It wouldn't seem quite right if he didn't.

All this is not without its ironic touch. Hull's signing with the WHA triggered an incredible increase in hockey salaries. Friday's merger announcement, the merger he helped achieve, is the signal the joy ride is ' over.

When Hull left Chicago to sign with the Jets the average NHL salary was perhaps $30,000. Five years later it is $97,000 and there isn't a player collecting this bounty who doesn't owe it partially to the Golden Jet. But making (journeymen hockey players higher paid than the prime minister was never his intention. From time to time he has complained bitterly of fellow 'players being over-paid and under-worked. Now those days are over. Bobby giveth and Bobby taketh away.

Hockey people, players and management alike, are agreed the game's genuine stars will, continue to receive large paycheques, but 'the day of the journeyman being paid like an Arab oifsheik are gone. The day of untried rookies receiving a king's ransom merely to sign a contract will end next season .when the NHL and WHA adopt a common draft.

But while the bonding of the NHL and WHA is 99 per cent certain —the NHL has approfed 'it, But the WHA .could still back away—Winnipeg's participation still isn't definite. Not quite.

Graham happy with terms

The NHL has set out its terms for expansions.. Each:, individual application will be judged separately. Jets' board chairman Bob Graham calls those terms "fair and reasonable" but Winnipeg still has to meet them. Graham didn't spell out those terms. In some cases, he said, they have not been "precisely resolved." Others carry options. But one of the conditions is certain to be a firm commitment to build an arena with not less than 15,000 seats. We still don't have one of those and despite assurances from various sources we will, no one has put it in writing.
Then there's the money. The initiation fee originally suggested was $3.2 million. Graham says that figure has been considerably reduced, but whatever the numbers the Jets haven't come out and said they can write a cheque to cover it.

Everyone in the Jets' executive suite seems confident all obstacles can be cleared and there is no reason to think they aren't right. But even if they are, the work will be only half done. To compete in the NHL with the same level of success they've'enjoyed in the WHA for the last couple of seasons the Jets have to land some more quality players and the right man to coach them. That alone is enough to give most hockey teams all it can handle.

Murphy's law tells us if something can go wrong, it will. Before everything shakes itself out plenty is likely to go wrong. But there should be one undiluted blessing. Hopefully, we've heard the last of the WHA Finance Company Trophy.