The Complete Historical and Statistical Reference

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WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, FRIDAY, AUGUST 19,1977

Cowboys go under

CALGARY (CP) – Calgary Cowboys of the World Hockey Association have folded because of lack of sufficient support, club directors said Thursday.

The directors said at a news conference the franchise should be disbanded because of what they called poor support by hockey fans here.

The other factor in the decision is that the Calgary Corral, built in the early 1950s, seats about 6,500 fans and is considered too small for a professional hockey arena by today's standards.

"With no major league merger in sight and the lack of a definitive building commitment, the directors have concluded that the franchise is not economically viable," president Bill Hay and team owner Jim Pattison said in a joint statement.

They said refunds would be mailed Friday to season ticket holders.

Pattison, who operated WHA franchises for two years in Calgary and Vancouver, also noted the lack of accommodation of WHA teams by the National Hockey League in explaining the decision to fold the Cowboys. He said the Calgary Exhibition and Stampede Board, owners of the Corral, have not announced any plans for a new building.

Following a successful season in 1975-76—the Cowboys first seaon after arriving from Vancouver—season ticket sales dropped 600 last year from 2,900 in 1975-76 At the end of the 1976-77 season, Pattison said, 4,400 season tickets would have to be sold if the team remained in Calgary. To date, 2,226 tickets have been sold.

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SATURDAY, AUGUST 20, 1977

Strong circuit could do trick says Hatskin
By REYN DAVIS

One strong division of remaining World Hockey Association teams will do more to bring about a merger of the National Hockey League and WHA than anything else, claims Ben Hatskin.

And the WHA's major domo earnestly believes one of those teams will be the maverick Edmonton Oilers. "Our teams have got to be stronger," said Hatskin. "Player-wise and money-wise. We have to prove we're as strong as (hey are. Then it will happen automatically. Hatskin, the one-time Blue Bomber centre, returned from meetings in Montreal earlier in the week with the same two titles but more power than ever.

He remains chairman of the board and chief executive officer. Essentially, he's the president, too, succeeding Bill MacFarland who stepped down to become the WHA's general counsel.

His office, still minus a WHA logo on its oak doors, is located under the high ceilings on the top floor of a spanking new building at 175 Hargrave.

It's the Canadian head office of the WHA. The American base is located in Hartford, Conn. Certainly the most taxing problem confronting Hatskin and his WHA people at the moment is the tenuous situation in Edmonton where Peter Pocklington is trying to buy Colorado Rockies of the NHL. Pocklington withdrew Edmonton's WHA franchise on Tuesday when he stormed out of the Montreal meetings.

Hatskin feels there are three reasons why Pocklington will ask to come back to the WHA. "One, it'll cost him $2 million to leave the WHA, according to our bylaws. "Two, the WHA teams would probably sue him first. ' "And three, the NHL would be facing a law suit, too, if they moved into one of our cities so soon after seeing every last detail about our franchise in the merger submission."

Pocklington berated the WHA, calling its members "second-class citizens" after walking out in the heat of a verbal battle over the division of players formerly with the defunct San Diego Mariners. "We recognized the need for a better team in Edmonton," said Hatskin. "Out of his first 10 choices, we were willing lo give him nine. If he had argued longer, instead of walking out, he might have got him too."

That one player is believed to be Andre Lacroix. The WHA's all-time leading point-getter. Lacroix' contract is guaranteed by the WHA. So is Paul Shmyr's. Both players arc rumored lo be going to Houston.

Whether seven or eight teams play, the WHA will bi1 a single-division league next season. Ties with international hockey powers will be strengthened, according to Hatskin. Cincinnati Stingers will compete in a tournament in Prague, Czechoslovakia in September, while Winnipeg Jets will attend a tournament in Stockholm, Sweden.

League champion Quebec Nordiques will go to Moscow for the- Izvestia Tournament in mid-December while the Jets will lravi-1 to Japan to face the Russian National team three times in the Christmas holiday.

In turn, teams from Russia, Czechoslovakia. Sweden and Finland will travel to North America to play WHA teams during the season.

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WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, TUESDAY, AUGUST 23,1977

Ingram behind Racers’ bench
NEW YORK (AP) — In Indianapolis, Ron Ingram, former coach of the now defunct
San Diego Mariners, was named coach of Indianapolis Racers of the World Hockey Association.

Ingram's appointment was announced by Nelson Skalbania, a Vancouver businessman and new majority owner of the Racers, a team which itself almost passed out of existence
until a proposed WHA merger with the NHL fell through two weeks ago.

Skalbania promised a business-like approach to the Racers operation this coming season. He said a new general manager to be announced later this month had to be more businessman than a hockey man. "He doesn't have to know the difference between a basketball and a puck," 'Skalbania said, noting it would be the coach's job to know hockey.

Skalbania said Ingram is "tough with the players, and I want him to be tough." Ingram said his coaching style is similar to that of Jacques Demers, the Racers' coach the past two seasons before signing with Cincinnati Stingers when it appeared the Indianapolis franchise would fold this summer.

The new coach said he likes his players to forecheck and expects discipline. He said that as an opposing coach, he believed the Racers last season showed "a lot of desire and a lot of hustle."

He said he expects to make some changes in the Indianapolis roster, but hasn't made any decisions yet.

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WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, TUESDAY, AUGUST 23,1977

MacFarland steps aside

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Howard Baldwin has been named president of the World Hockey Association, succeeding Bill MacFarland who has stepped aside "for personal reasons."

Baldwin, 35, will remain as the managing general partner of New England Whalers, the franchise with which he has been affiliated since the WHA's inception in 1972.

Prior to that Baldwin served as business manager of the National Hockey League's Philadelphia Flyers. "For personal reasons I am unable to relocate my family in Hartford, the new home of the WHA executive offices," MacFarland'said in tendering his resignation from the position.

"Individually and collectively, our teams have never been stronger," said Baldwin, "because in preparing for NHL application, each of our teams put its franchise in the best possible shape. Now, we're looking forward to going ahead as a strong, unified, totally sound WHA."

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WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, TUESDAY, AUGUST 23,1977

Rockies in Edmonton?

EDMONTON (CP) — Peter Pocklington, co-owner of Edmonton Oilers of the World Hockey Association, said Sunday he has referred the possible purchase of the Colorado Rockies of the National Hockey League to his lawyer.

"I want to check out the legalities of such a move before I go ahead and talk to Colorado' owner Jack Vickers," he said.Jn an interview. "There's no sense going after something that's unfeasible legally." Pocklington said he is most concerned that the WHA might throw up a roadblock to a deal—"an injunction that could arise."

The Oilers suspended WHA operations last week but the league claims rights to the Edmonton territory. Pocklington said last week he intended to purchase the Rockies, and move the NHL team to Edmonton for the 1977-78 season.

If the legal question is settled, Pocklington said he will talk to'Vickers and hopefully make a deal within the next few days.

Vickers wants $3 million for the Rockies. Pocklington would also have to assume the contracts of the 26 players which are valued at about $2.2 million.

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WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, FRIDAY, AUGUST 26, 1977

Oilers staying in WHA

EDMONTON (CP) - Plans by Peter Pocklington, co-owner of Edmonton Oilers of the World Hockey Association. to buy the National Hockey League's Colorado Rockies and transfer them here have been dropped because of legal problems.

The legal question was too difficult to solve in so short a time." Glen Sather, Oilers coach, said Thursday. It was just more feasible for Peter to stay in (he WHA."

Pocklington walked out of a WHA trustees meeting in Montreal last week because the. league would not adhere to certain demands which included allowing the Oilers -first light of refusal" on several players from defunct teams in San Diego and Calgary.

When Quebec Nordiques put in a strong bid for three Calgary players Pocklington "suspended operations." and said he was planning to buy the Rockies from Denver oilman Jack Vickers for a reported S3 million.

The WHA was reported considering a $2 million fine for Pocklington based on a court ruling that the NHL cannot infringe on WHA territory.

The WHA says the Oilers were never voted out of the league. Two 1977-78 schedules, one with seven teams and one with the Oilers included.

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WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, SATURDAY. AUGUST 27.1977

Revamped Oilers ready for WHA

EDMONTON' (CP) — Edmonton Oilers have been revamped on the ice and in the front office for the next World Hockey Association season after giving up hopes for the time being of entering the National Hockey League.

Owner Peter Pocklington stomped out of a WHA meeting in Montreal last week when league trustees balked at his demand for "first right of refusal" to a number of lop players from two now-defunct teams. San Diego Mariners and Calgary Cowboys.

Later the WHA trustees had a change of heart and awarded Edmonton the rights to 13 new players— nine pros and four college youngsters, including the players PockImgton had demanded. In the meantime. Pocklington jfailed. because of legal difficulties, in an attempt to buy the NHL franchise of Colorado Rockies.

Heading the list of new players, announced at a news conference Friday, are all-star defenceman Paul Shymr. 31, from San Diego and centre Ron Chipperfield. 23. from Calgary. "Edmonton is a key market and needs a competitive team," Ben Hatskin, WHA chairman of the board, said in explaining the trustees' action. This city's 16,000-seat Coliseum is rated one of the best hockey arenas on the continent.

Glen Sather will coach the club again. Brian Conacher of Toronto is the new general manager: Shymr, one of three WHA players chosen for the Team Canada squad, was the Oilers' No. 1 choice. Chipperficld, who scored 42 goals in his first WHA season—197.1-75—but only 27 last year, will provide strength at centre.

The other pros to whom Oilers gained rights: Kevin Morrison. 27, San Diego defence-left wing; Kevin Devine, 22. San Diego forward; Warren Miller, 23, Calgary right wing: Joe Micheletti, 23. and Chris Evans. 30. Calgary defencemen; Norm Ferguson. 31, San Diego right wing; and Randy Legge, 21, San Diego defenceman. The Oilers said that of the pros, ail except Legge and Evans are under contract Shymr's salary is reported to exceed $100,000.

The four college players are Denver centre Doug Berry, second draft pick of Calgary; "Denver teammate Perry Schnarr, a right-winger: Don Micheletti. a Minnesota centre and brother of Joe; and forward Steve Stoyanovich. a fourth-round pick of New York Islanders.

Meanwhile, the Edmonton Journal says Bep Guidolin, who started last season as coach and general manager and later was shunted aside to chief scout, has been fired.

The newspaper says Bruce MacGregor, a former Oiler player and like Sather and Guidolin a veteran of the NHL, would assume Bep's scouting duties.

Oilers open their training camp Sept. 21.

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Now complete to Sept 1 1977. Only 2 more seasons to go.

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WFP SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 3,1977

Micheletti back in Oiler clutches

By REYN DAVIS
Edmonton Oilers, the would-be mavericks who wanted to ditch their World Hockey Association partners and buy their way into the National Hockey League, have won the fight for Joe Micheletti.

The Oilers, so awful their owner (Peter Pocklington) called them "turkeys" at a WHA meeting recently, were handed Micheletti on Friday only minutes before he stepped on a plane for Sweden.

So bad they have asked their WHA brothers for help, but so rich they offered to buy the Colorado Rockies for $3 million cash on the barrel-head, the Oilers claimed Micheletti as one of the nine first-refusal choices of players from disbanding teams.

Other choices include Warren (Butch) Miller and Ron Chipperfield, who, like Micheletti, played last season for Calgary Cowboys. Miller was surrendered to Edmonton by New England Whalers while Quebec Nordiques gave the Oilers the rights to Chipperfield.

The loss of Micheletti, 22, came as a blow to the plans of the Jets. He represented onequarter of their off-season recruitment program. Even worse, the Jets are not sure about the status of Kim Clackson, another 22-year-old defenceman under contract.

Indianapolis Racers want Clackson back, and the WHA is sympathetic. Though the Racers folded at one point last summer, they have been revived with all rights to their previous players.

Clackson is one of those players. So is Pat Stapleton, his defence partner, who also wants to come to Winnipeg. Now the Jets are trying to work out a deal that would give them the fights to both Clackson and Stapleton.

Indianapolis might part with them just to slash its payroll. But In return they would want some of Winnipeg's talent too. If it's important, Clacksofi Is with the team in Sweden. "Possession," is claimed by general manager Rudy Pilous, "Is nine-tenths of the law." But that's what he said about Micheletti.

"He wanted to play so badly for the Jets,'' said Michelctti's agent brother, Don, "Playing with the Golden Jet (Bobby Hull) would have been great."

Micheletti was aware he might be prevented from playing for the Jets. However, he was told the team would try to make a deal with Edmonton in the form of compensation. What's frustrating for the Jets Is the concept of having to give Edmonton some of the their talent when the Oilers have had five seasons to build a good team.

"It works two ways," said Jets' president Jack McKeag. "If we don't help Edmonton they continue to be a bad team and a terrible draw around the league."

Furthermore, the Oilers are still sensitive about the deal that sent Barry Long to Winnipeg last winter. Long was dealt for further considerations. When he began to play a major role in the team's success, Edmonton decided "further considerations" should be a centre, Peter Sullivan. The Jets refused. Ironically, the favor the Jets have received for giving Joe Micheletti to the Oilers is a third-round draft choice next summer.

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WFP SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 3,1977

Europe against NHL for world crown?

AKRON, Ohio (AP) — The National Hockey League's retiring president, Clarence Campbell, predicts formation of a pro European hockey league soon and foresees its champion playing the NHL titleholder for a world crown.

In the interim, the veteran executive says he expects increased international competition between NHL clubs and foreign hockey powers. Campbell also pledges that the NHL won't sign underage junior players even if the competing World Hockey Association does.

The comments came in an hour-long telephone interview from Montreal with radio station WHLO in Akron.

Campbell added that there is no merit in merger with the WHA.

The $1.4 million such a merger would bring the NHL would fall far short of offsetting the long-term debts and other problems the WHA's faltering teams would bring with them, Campbell said.

"The door for merger is no longer open," Campbell said, adding that the only way a WHA team might get into the NHL is through an NHL expansion franchise if the WHA were to fold.

He admitted the NHL has a few trouble spots of its own but said the problem wasn't so much a lack of money as the unwillingness of owners to sink more funds into teams that were operating in the red.

Parity will come only when front offices stop such foolish mismanagement as trading off future draft choices, he added.

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Friday, September 9, 1977

NHL owners get some power from the players

TORONTO (CP) — National Hockey League clubs acquired more freedom to demote players to the minors and buy out players' contracts under terms of a new collective agreement hammered out with the NHL Players Association on Thursday.

The new five-year agreement, which takes effect immediately, also provides'for a waiver draft, or intra-league draft, which gives weaker teams a chance to draft from the stronger clubs.

The agreement was announced jointly by NHL president John Ziegler and NHLPA executive-director Alan Eagleson following almost 10 hours of bargaining. The agreement provides for a new standard players' contract which would allow a team to buy up a player's contract for one third of his NHL salary. The player then would be a free agent and could find employment with another club without his former club having to be compensated.

The owners also received agreement from the players for an expanded preseason exhibition schedule, an extended training camp period and a series of exhibition games against international teams, up to a maximum of 18 games a season.

In return, the NHL will set up a dental plan for all players, coaches and general managers and will assume full responsibility for a $600,000 loan the NHLPA made last season to keep the Cleveland Barons franchise alive. The collective agreement also provides for a minimum player salary of $12,500 this season, increasing to $25,000 by 1981-82.

The new five-year agreement, expiring in 1982, replaces the previous five-year pact that would have run until 1980. Eagleson said the new contract does not allow for any more freedom of movement for players who wish to play out their contract and move on.

Players now can play out their option and sign with another team but teams are discouraged from signing such free agents because, under the present system, they are obliged to compensate the player's former team with a player or players of equal value.

The new collective agreement gives NHL clubs the right to demote a player to a minor league club, without his consent, provided his NHL salary is paid. The demotion may be exercised only once in the season, it may not last more than 14 days and a player may not be sent down during the Dec. 7 - Jan. 23 period.

The demotion option expires at the January all-star break, said Eagleson. The waiver draft will be held Oct. 10 and clubs must submit their protected lists by Oct. 7. Each of the 18 NHL teams will be allowed to protect 18 forwards and defencemen, two goalies plus three additional players who have not played more than two professional seasons

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WFP Saturday, September 10, 1977

Stronger U.S. Teams in the future
TORONTO (CP) — The National Hockey League's board of governors and players' association took steps during meetings here to ensure a more competitive entry from the United States in future international hockey tournaments!

The successful Canada Cup tournamertt Inaugurated last fall will be staged again in 1979 but has been renamed the Canadian-American Cup. A game, but' undermanned, U.S. squad comprised of nativerborn players or Canadian-born skaters who have taken out American citizenship papers hardly figured In the final outcome of the Canada Cup and placed in the lower tier of the world championships at Vienna last May.

Alan Eagleson, the NHLPA's executive director and organizer of the 1976 Canada Cup, said efforts are being made to allow players on NHL teams located in the U.S. to play (or that country if they so desire. "Some Canadian players who are on U.S. NHL teams might want to play for the U.S. team," said Eagleson. "We'll be talking to the international hockey people about allowing such a move."

The NHL governors and players' association are also working on a five-year plan for Involvement in international hockey that will include a 10-game tour of the league by Czechoslovakia and Soviet or Swedish hockey teams; during the 1977-78 season, Canadian and U.S. teams competing in the 1978 world championships in Prague and the 1979 Can-Am tournament.

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WFP FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1977

Hal Sigurdson SPORTS EDITOR

The most thoughtful, perceptive, intelligent people any of us know are those whose opinions dovetail neatly with our own. We constantly quote the wisdom of sources which enforce our own arguments.

Now I happen to think the National Hockey League made a deadly mistake a few weeks ago when it voted to reject a merger with the rival World Hockey Association. I believe the decision was damaging not only to the WHA, but also to the NHL and to the long range future of professional hockey in North America.

However, just because a displaced share-cropper from Churchbridge, Saskatchewan, happens to hold that view doesn't mean it should immediately be engraved in stone. There are all sorts of relatively sane people who think Harold Ballard, Paul Mooney and Jack Kent Cooke were the heroes of that merger debacle, but Frank Orr happens to agree with me, which is why I intend to quote him and not those other guys.

Orr writes hockey for the Toronto Star and, on occasion, for the Hockey News, which is where he expressed the following "thoughtful, perceptive and intelligent" views. In the September issue Orr wrote: "From the NHL's point of view, there were good reasons to be both for and against an accommodation with the rival league. The pro-merger folks felt that a joining of the leagues would bring about a restoration of order to the game, mainly a lowering of costs.

"On the other side, Mooney (Boston Bruins' president) felt a 24-tcam league was just too large, too big a drain on the player source. Ballard (Toronto Maple Leafs' owner) said the WHA had taken 18 players from the Leaf organization and he wanted nothing to do with a group which had caused so much trouble.

"A merger of the two leagues could have brought* about order in the game with no more costly bidding for players and a survival of the teams in the good hockey cities. "But that's gone for now. The WHA will continue its operation and although some NHL people predict its quick demise, it's likely the old war between the leagues will be revived. If the WHA is to survive, it must go heavily into the market for players, expecially young talent.

"One pro-merger NHL governor felt it would have premitted continued attrition on weak teams, would have allowed the fittest to survive and produced a stronger, albeit smaller, league. '"I was for the merger because it would have brought into our league some cities which are potentially better than some we have now,' the man said. "We would have had 24 teams, sure, which is a bit large, although the National Football League survives well with more.

'"But with the WHA under our banner, we could have started to weed out the bad franchises, those with financial problems. The NHL could then have enforced its franchise rules to the letter —no more lagging behind in payments to (he league, cither in franchise fees or league operational payments. When a team failed to meet its commitments, that would be it. That franchise would be killed and the players distributed through the league. We could have lopped off the weak teams and strengthened the others.'"

Exactly. The people who really understood what merger was all about recognized it as a-means to reduce the number of major league teams, not increase them. Of course 24 teams is too many. But because merger was rejected, we now have 26. This is progress? And because the WHA is back in business, the NHL will be forced to continue propping up its weak sisters.

Another consequence will be the continuation of the bidding war for players of modest or improved talent. We saw an indication of things to come when Robert Picard, a defenseman with the junior Montreal Royals last season, decided he didn't want to play for the NHL Washington Capitals after all and signed with the WHA Quebec Nordiques instead. The reason he changed his mind, we can be reasonably sure, is because Quebec offered him more money.

Good. I hope the WHA continues to stick it to the NHL every chance it gets. The only unfortunate thing is this time it was the Capitals who wound up as losers. The Caps had the good sense to vote for merger and Max McNab, their general manager, is one of the good guys. One hones the WHA will get more selective in its targets.

The people who worked hardest to kill merger were Ballard, Mooney and Cooke (Los Angeles Kings). Shouldn't their teams be the primary targets? The Minnesota North
Stars, New York Islanders and Vancouver Canucks also cast negative votes. That should qualify them as secondary targets.

The ammunition in this war is money. It should be spent where it will do the most good and offer the most satisfaction.

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Saturday, Sept. 24.1977

NHL Barons said stable;
marketing poses problem

KENT, Ohio (UPI) – Peter Larsen, president of the Cleveland Barons, said Friday the National Hockey League team, with a year of adversity and turmoil behind it, is financially stable, but management still faces the task of marketing a winning product.

"They've been through adversity together," Larsen said at the team's Kent State University training facility. They know there's a stable situation here now. They know the contracts will be honored. That's coming a long way."

Last season the franchise nearly folded and players had threatened to strike

Thinking positively about the club's chances of making the playoffs this season, Larsen and his management team have been scouring northern Ohio in an attempt to draw interest and sell season tickets for the 1977-78 campaign. The task, however, has not produced significant results nor the sought after season ticket holder, currently only about 3,000.

"We've got a hot-bed of hockey in Cleveland," Larsen happily admits. "It's been here 48 years." But most of the support from hockey comes from Cleveland's far west side, where hockey programs have become institutions in the schools, unlike most of the most educational outlets on the city's far east side and inner city.

Larsen plans to combat this by making his players more visible in the community; moving the Barons' practices around northern Ohio; holding clinics; dropping in on active hockey programs in the schools; "and working win people who don't know one end of a hockey stick from the other and interest them in hockey.

"We can do it with this product because it's exciting," he says. "But we've got to get them to the games. We've got to create a reason for them to go to the games and that takes top-flight, professional sports entertainment."

While Larsen worries about attendance and the marketability of the franchise, .he plans to leave the on-ice operation to General Manager Harry Howell and Coach Jack Evans, saying both have his support. But Larsen is quick to tell them what is needed.

"We need more goals," he says. "Defensively, we've got to tighten up. ! - "But we need more goals. They (Howell and Evans) say we're 60 goals away from the playoffs. (That's 60 more than the 80-85 goals the club scored last year). That's two or three players, perhaps. Jack says he thinks he's three players away from the situation he'd like to be faced with."

To do that, the Barons will: have to make some trades before the regular season begins, Larsen says.

"Harry will have to trade to' strengthen the club," Larsen readily admits. "It'll have to happen, but it has to fit into the Howell-Evans plan of running the team."

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WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1977

WHA owners see lots of double duty
By REYN DAVIS

Nelson Skalbania owns one and a half teams in the World Hockey Association. Ben Hatskin, the league's chief executive officer, is still owed $1.25 million by the public company which owns Winnipeg Jets. Howard Baldwin, the founder and general partner of New England Whalers, is also the WHA's president. "We're just protecting our interests," says Hatskin. "If there's no league we stand to lose a bundle."

Other leagues would not begin to tolerate the divided passions of owners and administrators. But the WHA has never minded, contending the question of ethics comes a distant second to the practical needs of the league. "Name a better chief executive officer than Hatskin?" they argue. "Show us a better young business mind than Howard Baldwin?"

Yes, but try to tell us that Hatskin's socks aren't the colors of the Jets. Or that Baldwin doesn't pine to see the Avco Cup paraded through the streets of Hartford.

Skalbania's unique situation evolved last summer within hours after the announcement that the National Hockey League had rejected a proposed merger with the five-year-old WHA.

Skalbania, at the time, shared the ownership of Edmonton Oilers with Peter Pocklington. He still does. But Pocklington had only one ambition — an NHL franchise, with or without the rest of the WHA.

Once Skalbania was masonably certain the WHA would operate again, he pounced on the
Indianapolis Racers floating blissfully in the draughts of an Indianapolis bank anxious to dump the repossessed franchise. For $1 million' Skalbania bought the franchise and the privilege of keeping or discarding the Indianapolis players under the previous administration. He had the WHA rights to all of the players, Kim Clackson included.

Interestingly, three of the Racers' best players were either traded or sold to Skalbania’s other team — the Oilers — who, by then, had decided to stay in the WHA.

No fewer than nine players have changed hands between the two teams.

Meanwhile, the league seems more concerned about the financial solvency of the two franchises rather than the circumstance of its owners.

Sent to Edmonton were Mike Zuke, a promising centre; Blair McDonald, the Racers' best forward; and Dave Inkpen, a rapidly improving young defenceman. Returned to Indianapolis were defenceman Barry Wilkins, Bill Prentice and Kevin Morrison, and forwards Claude St. Sauveur, Rusty Patenaude and Bobby Russell. Russell has since been released by the Racers.

There were those who naturally contended that Edmonton was using Indianapolis as its dumping grounds for Pocklington’s self-described "turkey" contracts. But Indianapolis, which has been a surprisingly good hockey town, hasn't deserved the innuendo that it is, at all subservient to Edmonton.

However, these are the suspicions that will exist when one owner owns two franchises. Certainly the paying public would like to believe the competition between owners is as genuine as the competition between cities, fans and players.

In horse racing, at least, they have the decency to lump together the eligibles owned by the same stable, and call them entries sharing one number so one bet can cover both. The WHA should be able to guarantee its public the same degree of undivided interest regardless of the integrity of the people involved.

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WEEKEND MAGAZINE. OCT. 22.1977

The Making of the President
As the new NHL president,
John Ziegler still has to prove
himself to some of his bosses

By Rosie Di Manno

John Ziegler’s office in Montreal is a stark, tare room with a utilitarian desk and a couple of straight-back chairs. "Just temporary." he hastens to explain: the office Ziegler is assuming has yet to be vacated by the man who's occupied ft for the past 31 years - Clarence Campbell.

John Ziegler is the new president of the National Hockey League, replacing a man many people considered irreplaceable. At a ceremonial photo session where he was obliged to sit in Campbell's chair, the 5T Ziegler joked that his feet didn't reach the floor. Others might suggest that the 43-year-old American is hi over his head. Of course, given the slate of the NHL these days, Paul Bunyan would have been in over his head.

Campbell and the NHL are synonymous. They've grown old together. But tack in the spring of 1975 word came down from NHL powers that someone had better sun looking for a new ringmaster. Campbell conceded that maybe it was time to move over. A selection committee was formed consisting of Campbell. Bruce Norris of the Detroit Red Wings, Bill Jennings of the New York Rangers, Roy Boe of the New York Islanders and Jacques Courtois of the Montreal Canadiens. In the end, afl they could pass along to the governors of the league was one name — John Ziegler.

Ziegler already held a prestigious NHL post as chairman of the board. Since the NHL's 1967 expansion the office of chairman had acquired more and more authority until the president reported directly to the chairman and not to the board of governors. As chairman, Ziegler brought discipline to board meetings which had traditionally been meandering, long-winded affairs cluttered with anecdotal history. His methodical approach, he says, "got to the objective.

Through close association with his mentor. Detroit owner Bruce Norm, Ziegler had already become vice-president and alternate governor of the Red Wings. He was also the senior partner in a thriving Detroit law firm — Ziegler, Dykhouse, Wise and Huth. That's why Ziegler's answer was no thanks when Norm, acting as a representative of the selection committee, first approached him about the job last November. But in the ensuing months he became more intrigued, and when the committee made a second offer in January he was prepared to listen.

The league wanted Ziegler more than he wanted the league. If he were to assume the presidency, he told the committee, it would be under a new set of rules. There was no way he would allow himself to be isolated from the board of governors and its decisions which so acutely affected league policy. Ziegler would have to be more than an administrator. He'd have to be the boss, unencumbered by an intermediary.

Ziegler had the leverage to get changes in the NHL constitution allowing the president to hold the office of chairman as well. Technically, the board retains the right to elect another chairman next June, but the constitutional amendments leave Ziegler with the authority to chair board meetings, as well as all sub-committees — which he alone will appoint. In his insistence on this point he had Campbell's support. The old president had in fact been operating under greater authority than was provided in the constitution, though no one ever voiced an objection. Ziegler could not be sure the governors would be as obliging with him. "He wanted everything documented before he started," says Campbell.

When the board got around to voting in June, Ziegler received almost unanimous approval. (One member, Cleveland's Mel Swig, abstained.) Although it appeared to be a united front, there had been behind the scenes haggling for months. Should the new president come from within the ranks of the NHL or from the outside? The governors managed to come to an agreement but Alan Eagleson, executive director of the NHL Players Association, openly grumbled about the selection. He had advocated a tough guy — any tough guy — from outside the league.

The vote itself was more like a sigh of relief. "Have you ever been lo a meeting that starts in the morning and goes on all night?" asks Harold Ballard, president and owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs. "A tot of us just wanted to get the bloody thing over with. Maybe we were a little hasty."

It is the nature of NHL governors — which is to say, it's in their best interest — to rally around the new president. But Ballard doesn't play it so cozy. On the desk in his luxurious office in the bowels of Maple Leaf Gardens is a copy of the morning paper opened to a picture of Ziegler and Campbell shaking hands in Montreal. "Campbell was a real man's man," he says, apparently sincere. "John Ziegler is a nice little fellow too. I wonder, though, if he's bitten off more than he can chew." He leans across the desk to emphasize the point. "It appears to me he has a few friends, governors, that he's been lo bed with. They ran scare you unless you're a real strong type. I- don't know if he's scared, but he's too soft. He's also a procrastinator." Says Ziegler, "If I was afraid I wouldn't have taken the job. And if I'm great at anything, maybe procrastinating is it. It's nice to be acknowledged."

Ziegler has indeed long been fast friends with some of the most powerful governors. As a director of the NHL Services in New York, Ziegler worked closely with Ed Snider of Philadelphia. Bill Wirtz of the Chicago Black Hawks, who preceded him as chairman, is an old friend, as is Bill Jennings in New York, who was also a member of the selection committee. And Ziegler’s relationship with Bruce Norris is dose and of long standing. As president, might he now be in a position to return past favors? "If anyone thought that when they elected me, they made a very stupid decision," he says sharply, anger beginning to rise.

The son of an insurance salesman, John Ziegler grew up in the comfortable Detroit suburb of St. Clair Shores. At 4 his mother started him tap dancing and the young Ziegler discovered he loved to dance, a passion that's never worn off. Stricken with polio while still a child, he rebounded by immersing himself in sports. Despite his size he was a good quarterback for his high school team, leading it to an undefeated season in his senior year. He secretly dreamed of being a professional baseball player, but turned down an offer to play semi-pro ball to go to college, then law school, graduating from the University of Michigan in 1957. Almost immediately he began doing legal work for Bruce Norris's, gradually assuming the bulk of Norris' business. Together, with a couple of other young lawyers, Ziegler established the Detroit law firm in 1970. Hockey had become his most satisfying athletic diversion, and he continued to play in a senior league until seven years ago. After one particularly rambunctious game he appeared at work the next morning with two colorful shiners and had to postpone several court appearances.

Twenty years as a lawyer have accentuated the traits that comprise John Ziegler’s personality. Intense, reflective, analytical, he rarely takes counsel from other people. "Once his mind is made up, it's made up," says John Wise, one of his law partners. "It's not that he's stubborn. Usually he has thought of all the other arguments and dismissed them. Nine times out of 10 you're not liable to change his mind." Reticent in speech and manner, Ziegler painstakingly structures his sentences till the thought is complete and the meaning impossible to misinterpret. It can be exasperating: one is tempted to grab him by the shoulders and shake him until the words spill out haphazardly.

It's almost midnight and Ziegler’s business day is slowly winding down. For eight hours he's been in a meeting at Hotel Toronto with Alan Eagleson and player representatives, banging out details of a longhoped- for collective bargaining agreement. The meeting went well and he can now enjoy his belated meal with some peace of mind. He sips a martini, pops the olive, licks his lips appreciatively and orders another. If he's tired it doesn't show. In the past six years he hasn't spent more than two weeks in any city at one time.

Everything about him is meticulous, from his impeccable manners to the liming of a witty comment or self-derisive stab. The charm seems as natural as breathing. Rare in the belching world of hockey is the man whose tastes run beyond pretzels and beer. People around the NHL might snicker at Ziegler’s pride in being able to deduce the recipe of an unknown sauce or dressing. Yet Ziegler can shed the reserve, get up at a party and perform an impromptu soft shoe.

How will the NHL's mighty react to the man who now holds the reins of power? In a gesture reminiscent of John F. Kennedy, whom he resembles, he losses back his head and runs his fingers through his hair. "Why do you insist on talking about how much power I may or may not have? Here I am, brand new, following somebody who's been here for 31 years. There's great skepticism among many people. That's the thing that may be important as to whether I'm able to achieve and lead and persuade and direct these 18 independent clubs."

The NHL's greatest asset is also its most insurmountable problem: any team, by casting a negative vote where a unanimous decision is required, can veto a motion possibly beneficial to the other 17 teams. Despite his consolidation of authority, Ziegler maintains that his only power to prevent such things is the power of persuasion. It helps, too, that as chairman he eliminated some of the distrust among feuding governors, establishing his credentials as a mediator. "I think my selection as president was a further recognition that what was needed was someone whom they could trust to deal with everyone on the same basis."

Still, his good record as chairman doesn't mean he'll be an immediate success now. He's already been associated with one of the biggest sports Tizzies of the decade — the NHL's non-expansion into World Hockey Association cities. Ziegler headed the NHL fact-finding committee on expansion, an exhaustive project that took four months. What upset many people was that he bypassed conventional procedure. According to the constitution there must be a declaration on the part of the league that it is willing to expand before any expansion application can even be considered. Ziegler never got such a declaration. This put him in an awkward position as chairman: he had to refuse a vote on the question of merger. A negative vote would have killed his own investigation before it was completed. This insistence that his vote be deferred (until the report came in put him, in the minds of many governors, among the ranks of the pro-expansionists. "He was defeated and it must have been a hard blow," says Harold Ballard. "He'll wise up, even if he has to learn by the school of hard knocks."

Ziegler concedes he was in favor of the concept of expansion, but not with the final presentation. (Expansion into WHA cities - a process the WHA preferred to call a merger - was defeated because of the economic risks. WHA teams were seeking to buy in to the NHL on borrowed money.) "Once all the facts came out I concurred in the result," says Ziegler. "If I had a vole, based on what was before the governors at that time, I would have voted no."

Another emotional issue Ziegler has faced is his nationality. He's an American, and hi some quarters that is unforgivable. The three former NHL presidents - Campbell. Frank Calder and Red Dutton - were Canadians. So what if 15 of the 18 franchises are American? "It's a personal thing," argues Alan Eagleson. "As a nationalist I was firmly convinced that the next president should be a Canadian." Campbell says he expects Ziegler to "react like a Canadian," whatever that means. Ziegler himself plays innocent "To me, hockey has always been a non-border sport" He does agree, however, that the game "has more national significance in Canada than the US."

Many Canadians became alarmed when it was suggested that the NHL offices be moved from Montreal to an American city, probably New York. Ziegler dismisses the idea now although the New York facilities are being expanded and he will spend a couple of days a week there. His rationale is that the NHL's existence as a profit-making corporation is not in Canada but in the United States. NHL Services, based in New York, is the corporation that takes care of the licensing and marketing of NHL-endorsed products and all the rest of the league's commercial interests. The other advantage of New York is that one of the league's priorities is to get hockey back on American network television.

There remain the routine crises. Ziegler has inherited a number of legal and economic headaches. Last season, 12 of the NHL's 18 teams operated at a toss, blowing a collective $17 million. And for all Ziegler’s conciliatory gifts he's still stuck with 18' owners of disparate temperaments. "It's a bear-pit," admits Campbell. "Ziegler will have to suffer through that because I know I did. He'll have to earn their respect."

For his efforts, Ziegler will get a healthy $225,000 a year. That's about twice what Campbell was getting, though Campbell had a generous pension arrangement. That $225,000 puts Ziegler on a par with U.S. basketball commissioner Larry O'Brien and a step behind baseball's Bowie Kuhn and U.S. football's Pete Rozelle. Ziegler calls the financial arrangements "satisfactory." He has given up his law practice and has left his family behind. Divorced, he commutes on weekends to Detroit where he picks up his four children and takes them to his 90-acre spread north of the city.

With owners arguing that greedy players are bleeding them white, doesn't Zfcgler's own million-dollar, five-year contract present an unhealthy example? "I have to agree with your assumption," he says, sipping cognac. "But since I'm not going to comment on my salary I'm not going to answer your question."

Back in Montreal, Clarence Campbell, 72, is hanging onto his office for just a bit longer, getting things straightened out. He looks a litue tired silling there, a little drawn, a little sad. He's behind a walnut desk with an oversized top, built especially for him. "This desk is empty already. A lot of stuff on top, but nothing inside."

The office walls are lined with photographs, paintings, momenlos. There he is in Las Vegas accepting a sports executive of the year plaque from John Wayne, Welcoming Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, Waving six cheques worth $12 minion after expansion in 1967. A younger Campbell, just turned 41, shaking hands with his predecessor, Red Dutton. His own oil paintings. A miniature hockey stick autographed by the Soviet team in 1972. A drawing by Montreal caricaturist Aislin of a sinister-looking Campbell trying to pawn the Stanley Cup during the Canada-Soviet summit series. Photographs of senators, governors and past owners, many of them long dead. Ziegler can have those, he supposes. Campbell will stay on as consultant. "I'll be around. I'm sure they'll find someplace for me to sit."

Ziegler? "Right now he's acting more like a lawyer but what he's doing is feeling his way. He’ll make a fine president because of his patience and dear thinking. I don't think anyone's expecting 31 years from him, though.

[JETStender]

WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 1977

Jets issue S.O.S.

By REYN DAVIS

Despite a record number of season tickets (7,430), a handsome profit ($219,577) on last year's operations and the prospect of another entertaining hockey season, the cold fact remains: Winnipeg Jets are going broke.

This is the gloomy story being told to the 4,567 founders and subscribers who own the World Hockey Association franchise. "The hard truth is.. .we cannot survive in a 10,000-seat arena with the present level of operating expenses and long-term debt," said Jack McKeag, the Jets' president. "We've operated on a shoestring long enough."

The team's working capital has been depleted, dipping from a high of $500,000 when public ownership began in 1974 to a debt of $450,000 following the taking out of a loan recently to pay additional league assessment of $200,000 to the WHA and to cover the second of six annual payments of $257,000 to the original owners.

The Jets owe $1.5 million to the private vendors. Ben Hatskin and the Simkin family, who sold the club to the community-owned company for $2,311,019 in 1974. The last payment is due July 15, 1981.

According to McKeag, more seats and more working capital are badly needed. "We're confident we can do the financing in a decent-sized facility," said McKeag. The Jets are averaging 9,300 fans after four home games. He feels the Jets have proved they are an "economically viable franchise" that warrants the expansion of the existing arena or the construction of a new one as promised by the City of Winnipeg on Jan. 19,1977.

That resolution, passed in council, reads as follows: "That if the City of Winnipeg can receive adequate assurance that an economically viable franchise will be located in the City of Winnipeg in the National Hockey League, the World Hockey Association or any new league resulting from an amalgamation or joint operation of the NHL and WHA showing satisfactory stability, the City will undertake to provide and arena, public or privately owned, to meet the minimum requirements."

McKeag says the Jets need no fewer than 14,000 seats and no more than 16,000. "A deck inside the existing building excites us," he said. On the subject of more working capital, McKeag hopes a financing program is started that was to have been carried out had a merger with the NHL been approved last summer. "We have had a plan developed that would enable us to raise the funds and still maintain the team on a community controlled basis," said McKeag in a written report.

"The financing plan has two main thrusts — the first combined a tax shelter vehicle for the raising of the substantial part of the monies, along with the sale of shares being available to present members and to all members of the public."

A decision regarding the fundraising plan will be reached Monday, Nov. 7, at the club's annual meeting at 5:30 p.m. in the Winnipeg Convention Centre.

[JETStender]

WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, Friday, January 13, 1978

Early WHA draft?

HARTFORD, Conn. (CP) - The bitterness over last summer's abortive merger negotiations with the National Hockey League still lingers in the World Hockey Association, and the breach it left between the rival leagues is widening.

WHA president Howard Baldwin is seeking owner approval of an immediate junior amateur draft — months before the NHL holds its own draft — setting the stage for a battle this summer over young talent.

The WHA also wants to continue its heavy commitment to international hockey, at least on the present scale of 41 games this season on three continents. ' There also are plans for adding two franchises in Japan, staffed by Japanese and Canadian players, when and if a new rink is built in Tokyo.

The WHA got lost in last season's junior draft because it was so involved in the merger talks. When the NHL's board of governors would not give the needed unanimous consent for such a move, the WHA had to pull itself together quickly to survive as an eightteam league.

Baldwin, managing general partner of New England Whalers, expressed strong feelings about relations with the NHL, including the suggestion that it would be better for the WHA to hold a joint junior draft with the senior league.

"I don't really care what the NHL does," Baldwin said. "We kind of hung around and waited for the NHL last summer and we ended up not signing any juniors. We're not going to wait this year."

What Baldwin, in effect, was telling the NHL is that the WHA under his stewardship this season has become more stable despite several franchises still in financial trouble. There have been fewer legal battles or owner arguments. "But we are not so naive as to think that we are not without many problems," Baldwin said.

The only route for professional hockey to prosper is merger, he said, but he conceded that this is not possible now. "There is no question that it is in the best interest of professional hockey to have one league. It is illogical for two professional leagues with the same goals to be knocking heads at every front, not only for players but also for television and for international hockey.

"The owners of these teams in both leagues must realize that our sport is far behind the others and that we must be more aggressive and progressive if we are to survive."

Then in an indirect warning to the NHL, Baldwin said the WHA "will not and cannot go through another summer like the last one."

"We must push ahead at this time and become far more aggressive in the areas of player signings and we must' remain in the forefront in regards to international hockey. It is essential that this league keep injecting itself with young stars, , ."

With board chairman Ben Hatskin of Winnipeg by his side, Baldwin said he was recommending that the board of trustees hold an immediate junior draft on eligible players and "we each commit to sign'at least three players of top calibre."

Baldwin and Hatskin both said there would be no snatching of underage players as was the case in Birmingham when owner John Bassett of Toronto signed 18-year-old Ken Linseman to a contract with the Bulls.

Under Baldwin's plan, there would be three rounds of juniors to be drafted by the WHA, or 24 players. With senior officials of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association in the audience, Baldwin said the WHA would not violate its agreement with the CAHA and the American Hockey Association of the United States on underage juniors.

"If we sign a player, that player must fulfill his junior eligibility. I'll be very surprised if by next July we have not made a dramatic impact on the signing of potentially good, young players for our league."

That would mean players would be drafted only in their 30th year. Hatskin said the league would forfeit a $150,000 bond if it drafted 18-yetfr-olds. Meanwhile, outside of the occasional meeting with an NH.L owner on a one to- one basis, there hasn't been even a glimmer in the embers of the merger blow-up.

'There's nothing right now," Baldwin said.- "We're Just concentrating on building a good league. That's what we\ tried to do this year and I think we succeeded”

We're going to continue to do that. Whatever the byproducts of that might be is something that you can't determine now."

[JETStender]

Wednesday. JANUARY 18,1978

Rangers seek Jets Swedes
By ReyN DAVIS
QUEBEC City--Identically mind-boggling offers of $475,000 a season have been made to Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson by New York Rangers for the next two seasons.

The Rangers offer is the, best of eight bids by National Hockey League clubs for the' two stars of Winnipeg Jets of the rival World Hockey Association.

Philadelphia Flyers made the second highest bid offering both players $375,000.

The players, not to mention the Jets and their WHA partners, are flabbergasted by the offers. , Don Baizley, their lawyer, revealed the financial terms of the as yet unsigned Rangers' contracts to the eight trustees of the WHA on Tuesday afternoon during meetings at the Auberge des Gouverneurs.

"It's now a question of what will the league do to keep its two superstars," said AI Maclnnes, the Jets' lawyer.

"Either the price' is too high." he said, or the Jets and the league will counter with an offer of their own.

Nelson Skalbania, owner of Indianapolis Racers, said the Rangers' offer to the two players is valid proof the NHL recognizes the talent of .WHA players.

The president of Madison Square Garden, which owns the Rangers' hockey club, is Sonny Werblin —the man who signed Joe Namath, who played for New York Jets in' the upstart American Football League.

Hedberg and Nilsson spent a day in New York last week where they presumably met the Rangers' owners. If they do accept the offers which appear irresistible, they would, in fact, become the highest paid players in hockey history. Bobby Orr's contract with the Chicago Black Hawks calls for $600.000 a season but the injured superstar, out of action with a chronic knee problem, has declined to draw the full amount of the contract. Phil Ksposito. a Rangers' centre, is reported to earn $350.000 per season.

Attempt lo weuken WHA?

There is a feeling here the Rangers' exorbitant bid is an attempt to weaken or kill the WHA. It is also ironic that the length of the would-be contracts is two seasons. . .which is as long as it will be before the Jets occupy a new or expanded arena in Winnipeg, capable of seating 16.000.

If the Jets and the WHA match the Rangers' offers, Winnipeg would have by far the most expensive line in hockey — $1.2 million. Bobby Hull, earns $250,000. As rookies from Sweden in the 1971-75 season, Hedberg and Nilsson earned $55,000 apiece. Simple arithmetic shows that Hedberg and Nilsson would earn $60,000 a month in New York — where the cost of living is high, but not that high —$6,000 a game and $100 every
minute.

It appears that is the price the Rangers are willing to pay to be contenders again in the NHL.

Derlago will he Jet pick

General Manager Rudy Pilous says Bill Derlago, the high-scoring centre of Brandon Wheat Kings, will be one of the Jets' choices when WHA teams designate their six picks of eligible juniors on Feb. 1. Pilous says he likes the idea of the early selections mainly because he expects each team will sign at least two of the six they choose.

"I don't agree with all the publicity-they are giving it," he said, "and I know the kids who are drafted will get repercussions from their junior managements. That isn't good either." He said the Jets will make their biggest effort ever to sign at least two good juniors. "My people tell me that that's the way we're going," he said. "It's going to cost us, But if you're going to play in a big ballpark you've got to use a big bat."

[JETStender]

WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 1978
Hedberg, Nilsson sitting pretty
It all adds up to money
By REYN DAVIS

Money brought them here and money will take them away.

It may sound terribly materialistic, but there Isn't a man, woman or child in Winnipeg who wouldn't love to be in the skates of two of its prize citizens, Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson. New York Rangers are dead serious about hiring them for mind-boggling sums of $475,000 apiece for each of the next two seasons.

Why that much?

Insiders say the Rangers are willing to part with $1.9 million because they want the National Hockey League rights to the players for many years to come.
Their NHL rights are presently owned by no one, due to the fact they were neither drafted by an NHL club in the year of their 20th birthdays nor have they ever played in the NHL.

But don't discount the Jets or the World Hockey Association, a league they have richly endowed with excellence In entertainment for the past four seasons. They have been great ambassadors for the WHA and Winnipeg and, for that matter, Sweden.

"They are two fine European kids who are a real credit to our league," said Bill DeWitt, the president of Cincinnati Stingers. "I would love to see them stay a lot more than,, say, Mark Napier (Birmingham Bulls) who says he'll take a cut of $50,000 just to get to the other league."

Ben Hatskln, the Jets' founder and the WHA's, chairman of the board, has said the league will do "everything in its power" to keep the two players. I t s .ironic to note that Sonny Wcrblin. the man behind the Rangers' offer, is the same Sonny Werbiin who lured the Alabama star, Joe Namath, to New York Jets of the upstart American Football League.

Hatskin liked the nickname "Jets", chosen by Wcrblln for his football team. So he named his junior hockey club after them. Today, they're the professional Jets of the WHA. If Hatskin is involved — and he's bound to be involved, either as an owner of the Jets or as the league's top executive — one can rest assured that he's never been intimidated by the bright lights or long dollars of big cities.

He engineered the coup of Bobby Hull from a doubling NHL and the sleeping Chicago Black Hawks, owned by the powerful Wirtz family. It's said the future of the league is at slake. Thai's the dilemma the league faces. If its teams band together to meet the New York offer the expense could kill the WHA. And if the league bows out of the running, and they leave for the Rangers, a good franchise could go down and, with it, the league.

"I have a lot of faith something can still be done," said Dr. Gerry Wilson, the orthopedic surgeon who discovered them while studying at a Stockholm university in 1974.

"I know 1 won't stop trying," The Jets' president, Jack McKeag, said he hasn't seen anything in writing. "It'.) really premature of us to start talking now," he said. Oscar Grubert, a Jets' director and former trustee, said if five WHA teams could afford to contribute $80,000 apiece and if the team could come up with $200,000 for each player, the packages would approach the Rangers' offers.

"I believe they might stay for something less than the Rangers offered," said Grubert. "After all they created a system here that they haven't got in New York," Hedberg and Nilsson signed with the Jets in May of 1974 for approximately $55,000. Hedberg had actually received a higher offer from Toronto Maple Leafs. However, he elected to go to the Jets to be with Nilsson and to be a teammate of Bobby Hull's, Despite a barrage of physical abuse in their rookie and sophomore seasons, they showed tremendous courage and perservered.

Now, ironically, some of the players who cursed them, slashed them, fought them and speared them because they happened to be Swedes who merely shook their heads In dismay, were urging them to stay in the WHA this week during the All-Star break in Quebec, claiming that If they leave the league would surely collapse. Neither Hedberg nor Nilsson nor their lawyer, Don Baizley, has sought to gain publicity from these discussions.

"Things have been hot privately for many weeks now," said Hedberg, doubting that the public's awareness of their situation will affect their play. But their decision preys on the minds of teammates, management and fans who realize how exceedingly well, they have served the Jets