|
|
Post by JETStender on Jan 31, 2009 2:04:11 GMT -5
WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, TUESDAY, JUNE 13, 1978
Gretzky-signing starts revolt
By THE CANADIAN PRESS
The palace revolt that Ben Hatskin seemed to be expecting has taken place with the signing of 17-yearold Wayne Gretzky by Indianapolis Racers' owner Nelson Skalbania.
Skalbania announced Monday he has signed Gretzky, a scoring star last season with Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds of the Ontario Major Junior Hockey League, to a personal services contract. The contract was reported worth $1.75 million for seven years.
Hatskin, World Hockey Association chief executive officer, has spoken recently against signing of such under-age juniors but he has hinted he feared such a move by some of the league owners.
Hatskin met last month with Iona Campagnolo, federal minister of fitness and amateur sport, and was warned the government would object to any such signings.
Campagnolo said then: "Mr. Hatskin indicated to me that the league has no intention of signing any underage juniors. However, he also said that member clubs may have other ideas."
Last week, WHA president Howard Baldwin told a news conference following a league meeting in Toronto the owners were unable to resolve the question. Normally, junior players are not signed until they reach 20. But Skalbania isn't the first major league owner to sign exceptional under-age junior players.
The latest case involved John Bassett of'the WHA's Birmingham Bulls who last year signed Ken Linsetnan; then 18, from Kingston Canadians of the OMJHL, an act which incurred the wrath of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) and the WHA brass as well.
Skalbania's move is likely to again stir up the CAHA, especially the major junior team operators whose box offices suffer when their star juniors are signed away by the pros. 1 Jim McAuley, president of the Sault Greyhounds, said Monday his first reaction was to shut down the club.
"In Wayne's contract with us there is a clause that he has to pay us $20,000 should he turn professional before his junior eligibility is over," said McAuley. "So, we get $20,000. Look what we stand to lose in gate receipts with the likes of him gone.
"There is going to have to be some kind of government intervention on this type- of conduct or junior hockey operators just won't be able to operate because of lost revenue."
CAHA president Gord Renwick said Monday there seemed little the association could do about the signing but Ontario Hockey Association president Larry Belisle said steps must be taken against the WHA. "I don't think there's much the CAHA or federal government can do," Renwick said in a telephone interview with the London Free Press.
But Belisle told the Free Press there are three things that must be done immediately to prevent further signings of junior stars which reduce the box-office appeal of the junior clubs.
Belisle said a $150,000 bond posted by the WHA after the dispute over the signing of Linseman should be retained.
He said the CAHA also should attempt to persuade the Intel-national Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) to halt approval of international games the WHA has arranged with European teams.
Belisle also suggested Campagnolo be asked to intervene on the CAHA's behalf.
In Montreal, National Hockey League president John Ziegler would offer no comment on Gretzky's signing. Asked if the NHL might draft under-age players in its amateur draft on Thursday, Ziegler said there was nothing before the board of governors on the matter.
|
|
|
|
Post by JETStender on Jan 31, 2009 2:04:25 GMT -5
WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, TUESDAY, JUNE 13, 1978
Hal Sigurdson
SPORTS EDITOR
Last season the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds paid Wayne Gretzky, a 17-year-old centre, $75 a week to play for their entry in the Ontario Major Junior Hockey League.
Sunday he became an instant millionaire when he signed what is purported to be a seven-year personal services contract with Nelson Skalbania, pro-tern owner of the World Hockey Association Indianapolis Racers. He also received $50,000 down payment for walking-around money.
Now that a WHA team has actually gone out and signed an under-aged junior player rather than merely debating the ethics of the matter, the snit is sure to hit the fan. The rival National Hockey League will be righteously indignant. Junior operators, especially those in Sault Ste. Marie, will claim sabotage and say they cannot stay in business-if the pros pick off their prime gate attractions before their junior eligibility has expired.
For their part, WHA owners will claim it serves the NHL ruddy well right for being pig-headed about merger and for sending out well-heeled raiding parties to pick off WHA stars like Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson. An eye-for-an-eye and all that. They'll also insist the junior operators are ripping off their players and are in no position to start throwing stones at anyone. There may be some merit to all these viewpoints, but I wonder if anyone will stop to consider what all this will mean to the central figure in this mini-drama — young Gretzky?
The natural reaction, I suppose, is why should anyone worry about a kid who has just signed a deal that will make him far, more money in seven years than most of us will see in a lifetime. Well, like the man said, money isn't everything. Just ask Derek Sanderson.
Sanderson was older chronologically but perhaps even younger emotionally when the dear, departed WHA Philadelphia Blazers paid him $1 million to get lost. The money literally destroyed him. Today, still only 31, Sanderson is washed up as a hockey player. His health and his wealth have evaporated. He has been left to battle his own way back from the clutches of drugs and booze.. How will sudden riches and a cash bonus of 50 grand affect a 17-year-old kid who has never seen more than 75 bucks in a single pay packet? Has anyone- even, bothered to wonder.?
Gretzky of course, isn't the first teenager to play in hockey's major leagues. Many others have preceded him. Some, like Bobby Hull, Gordie Howe and Bobby Orr, have thrived on the experience-. But when Hull and Howe turned pro, hockey wasn't making instant millionaires out of its teen-aged stars. Even Orr's contract, a record for its time, pales when compared to today's pay standards. Besides, Orr had Alan Eagleson to act as his surrogate mother.
Gretzky will have to be an exceptionally mature, well-adjusted person to avoid the pitfalls awaiting the inexperienced youngster who has had sudden wealth thrust upon him. Many players two or three years older when they turned pro have run into trouble. Several have had their pockets picked by sharp-shooters always ready to separate the unwary from their cash.
If professional hockey has any social conscience it should address itself to this very real problem. The least a profession which insists on signing babies can do is provide competent baby-sitting services. Even if it doesn't recognize the moral obligation, it should do it for business reasons. The pros periodically sign under-aged juniors because there simply aren't enough quality grads to go around. If they aren't prepared to concern themselves over potentially wasted lives, they should at least be-concerned over potentially wasted careers.
|
|
|
|
Post by JETStender on Jan 31, 2009 2:04:40 GMT -5
WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, TUESDAY, JUNE 13, 1978
Main problems still unsolved
MONTREAL (CP) — Two trouble spots, still were not resolved, leaving announcement of individual trophy winners as the main item Monday at the first day of the National Hockey League annual meetings.
NHL president John Ziegler told a news conference after a five-hour governors' meeting problems facing New York Islanders and Cleveland Barons would be discussed further today.
Islanders' president Roy Boe is reported to owe a total of $19.5 million through various sports interests, including $12 million to his NHL partners, while the Barons have stopped sales of season tickets for the next campaign.
"Mr. Boe was here today," Ziegler said, "and we had a good session. On May 12 we had entered into an agreement that, pending this meeting, there would be no player transactions — trades, sales or otherwise — without the league's approval." It had been reported Boe was considering selling a high-value talent such as Denis Potvin. the 1977-78 winner of the James Norris Memorial Trophy as the NHL's best defenceman. to try to meet debts. "We have maintained that position." Ziegler said, referring to the restraint on deals by the New York club.
The precarious situation facing chairman of the board George Gund III and the Cleveland franchise was discussed in a preliminary way toward the end of the meeting, and Ziegler declined comment on that case as well.
Meanwhile, apart from Potvin capturing the award as best defenceman, it was announced right wing Gay Lafleur of Montreal Canadiens is the 1977-78 winner of the Hart Memorial Trophy as most valuable player and forward Mike Bossy of the Islanders is the Calder Memorial Trophy winner as rookie of the year.
Forward Butch Goring of Los Angeles Kings, is the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy winner as the player best combining sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct with a high degree of playing ability, and left wing Bob Gainey of the Canadiens is the recipient of the Frank J. Selke Trophy as the best defensive forward in the first year the award has been in existence. Several rule changes were made, most ostensibly designed to speed play, but one change — a team time-out concept —went the other way.
"Each team will now be allowed one 30-second time-out in a game, and the coach will signal when he wants to take it." said Scotty Morrison, referee-in-chief. Regulations against unnecessary freezing of the puck, by goaltenders or any other players, were broadened to make the tactic less attractive.
Last year, the rule stipulated that an unharried goaltender could not stop play by smothering the puck behind the goal line, but "we have deleted the words when the puck is behind the goal line.' " Morrison said.
A ban on unchecked players holding, freezing or playing the puck with stick, skates or body along the boards in such a way as to stop play has been broadened to cover the whole ice, he said.
Another change saw the icing rule modified. Where formerly icing was called if a penalty-killing team returned to full strength after the puck was iced and before it crossed the opposing team's goal line, play now will continue.
Another new rule bans any extraneous markings on the ice that do not have the league's consent. Bat in an innovation. Ziegler said the league will permit, on a one-year trial basis, advertising on rink boards "subject to quality control and standards that are yet to be set."
Ziegler said the league has collected all money due major junior teams in payment for graduating players taken in the NHL's annual draft and that the league hopes relations with junior clubs will continue to improve.
|
|
|
|
Post by JETStender on Jan 31, 2009 2:04:54 GMT -5
WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 14, 1978
Move for Barons in stars?
MONTREAL (CP) — At the moment, officially, there will be 18 teams in the National Hockey League for the 1978-79 season.
But the gut feeling is Cleveland Barons are dead as a separate entity and will be merged with Minnesota North Stars and play out of Minnesota next season. There is also some thought being given to the Barons being replaced in the NHL structure by a club or two from the rival World Hockey Association, although this is being downplayed by officials from both leagues.
"I have no comment to make on the Cleveland situation right now," said John Ziegler, NHL president after he emerged from a day-long board of governors meeting. "Right now, our schedule makers have instructions to make a schedule for 18 teams. There is no change in those instructions." No doubt there is some opposition to the proposed Barons-North Stars amalgamation because weak teams like St. Louis Blues, Colorado Rockies, Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals believe it might hurt them as it strengthens woefully-weak Minnesota.
A committee is studying the proposal originally presented to the NHL governors on Monday and given in an amended form on Tuesday morning. And while there were reports of Cleveland's death, the fact a WHA team or two might be added to the NHL was being bandied about. But Peter Pocklington, owner of Edmonton Oilers, said his team was not interested on a team-to-league basis in hooking up with the older league. "We are interested on a league-to-league basis."
There were rumors that Bill Wirtz of Chicago Black Hawks, one of the league's influential governors, was meeting with officials from four WHA clubs — Edmonton, Winnipeg Jets, New England Whalers and Quebec Nordiques. The rumors were not verified although Rudy Pilous, one of Winnipeg's executives, was seen lurking around the hotel's convention floor.
Pilous was also seen talking with Harold Ballard, the blustery owner of Toronto Maple Leafs who was one of the major opponents to a NHL-WHA merger last season. Meanwhile Ziegler said New York Islanders have been given until July 18 to come back to the NHL board with a plan for reorganization. The Islanders were supposed to have the plan ready for the annual meetings, but it was not at the stage at which the NHL had hoped.
Ziegler announced the board of governors had turned down a proposal to institute a five-minute sudden-death overtime period. He also said the league had approved a resolution making helmets mandatory beginning next year, but the NHL Players' Association still has to approve it.
Stronger action will be taken against those criticizing game officials next season with stiffer fines approved. Not only will the individual delivering the criticism be penalized, but so will his team.
Ziegler also said the board decided to reintroduce a rule ordering non-combatants to move away from the scene of a fight. In other developments, Marcel Pronovost, coach of Buffalo Sabres, Jacques Plante, an assistant coach of Philadelphia Flyers and Andy Bathgate, a former high-scoring winger, were elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame.
The Maple Leafs concluded trades with Pittsburgh and Los Angeles Kings. Toronto sent defenceman Randy Carlyle and centre George Ferguson to Pittsburgh in exchange for defenceman Dave Burrows. The deal with the Kings saw the Leafs send defenceman Brian Glennie, forwards Kurt Walker and Scott Garland and a second round draft pick in the 1979 amateur draft to Los Angeles for defenceman Dave Hutchison and left winger Lome Stamler. Wayne Babych, a right winger with Portland Winter Hawks of the Western Canada Hockey League, has apparently agreed to terms with St. Louis.
|
|
|
|
Post by JETStender on Jan 31, 2009 2:05:09 GMT -5
WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, THURSDAY, JUNE 15,1978
Four WHA reps invited to party
By REVN DAVIS
As Ben Hatskin explained, "it just happened!"
With precious little notice, and even less fanfare, four teams from the World Hockey Association were suddenly asked to send representatives to the National Hockey League's annual meeting in Montreal this week.
Invited were Quebec Nordiques, Edmonton Oilers, New England Whalers and Winnipeg Jets. "Houston isn't one of them for sure," said Hatskin, the WHA's chief executive officer.
But a peace gesture seems obvious. The NHL appears to be willing to reopen talks toward the concept of one united league, perhaps as early as next season.
A story in yesterday's Journal de Quebec quotes Alan Eagleson as saying only four WHA franchises interest the NHL, and those were the four invited.
Eagleson would like to see the merger of two more NHL teams, as happened Wednesday when Cleveland Barons and Minnesota North Stars combined to form one franchise in Minnesota..
If two more joined, then the NHL would have 16 franchises with four more destined from the WHA to make the total 20.
Again, the NHL's leading proponent of a peace with the rival league is Philadelphia Flyers' chairman, Ed Snider.
Even Bill Wirtz, president of Chicago Black Hawks and newly-elected chairman of the board of NHL governors, suggested it was time to have a look and that something should be done in the near future.
Harold Ballard, president of Toronto Maple Leafs, agreed that a meeting with the WHA was in order. Ballard, more than anyone else, was responsible for the defeat of a planned merger last summer. Meanwhile, the situation in Houston is one of mystery.
The Aeros' owner. Ken Schnitzer has not been seen for days. Puzzled players and their coach wonder if they’ll be in the NHL or WHA or a league at all.
Last week the Canadian millionaire Nelson Skalbania met with Schnitzer over lunch. Skalbania, who owns 51 per cent of the Indianapolis Racers, is rumored to be trying to sell his interest to Indianapolis people so he can buy the Aeros.
Three days ago, Skalbania shocked the hockey world by signing 17-year-old Wayne Gretzky to a seven-year, $1.75 million personal services contract.
If, indeed, the Aeros are purchased by Skalbania it can be assumed that Gretzky will be playing in Houston next season. In Ottawa, Sport Minister Iona Campagnolo, commenting on the Gretzky case, said the federal government is powerless to stop the signing of under-age players to professional contracts.
"Ns law has been broken and there is absolutely no direct action we can take," Campagnolo said. She said WHA officials had assured her at a recent meeting they had no intention of signing players under the age of 20.
"It's obvious that the WHA has no control over its owners," she said. The minister said the situation has been brewing since the WHA was refused entry into the NHL last
year.
"It's part of a complex problem which will take a long time to resolve," said Campagnolo. One area in which Campagnolo could slap the wrists of the WHA is through Hockey Canada, the body that governs this country's role in international hockey.
The WHA has tentatively arranged a 36-game series with Swedes, Czechs, Finns and Russians next winter.
Curiously, however, the only WHA teams that truly covet the international games are the league's three Canadian-based clubs who have said publicly that they will not sip under-age juniors.
|
|
|
|
Post by JETStender on Jan 31, 2009 2:05:25 GMT -5
WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, THURSDAY, JUNE 15,1978
Struggle ends: Barons, Stars merge
MONTREAL (CP) — The struggle Cleveland Barons maintained to exist in the National Hockey League is over — the franchise officially expired Wednesday night.
And while the owners of the Barons, George and Coition Gund, will stay in hockey partnership with the current Minnesota 'management, the star-crossed Cleveland franchise, which began as California Seals in 1967 is dead.
The Minnesota-Cleveland merger was the only important matter to come out of Wednesday's sessions. The NHL also honored its individual award winners and all-star teams.
But the announcement by NHL president John Ziegler, after a day-long meeting, was what everyone was waiting for to occur. "We are pleased to be able to announce that the Cleveland Barons and the Minnesota North Stars have reached an agreement to combine their teams," Ziegler said.
"The team will be located in Minneapolis. Under this combination, there is to be a special draft of ' players. This will be conducted tomorrow morning prior to the amateur draft.
"In this special draft, the new Minnesota North Stars will be permitted to protect 10 players plus two goaltenders from the combined present reserved list of two teams, "The Washington Capitals and St. Louis Blues will each be given the non-assignable option to draft one of the non-protected players from the list."
'But early today, the Capitals said they would not participate in the special draft but would take the 18th over-all pick in the amateur draft instead. This pick will stand as a transfer of Cleveland's amateur first-round choice. This selection was once ranked first in the draft but has been moved to No. 18.
Although it was previously announced that all Cleveland draft picks had lapsed, except the second- round pick traded to Washington, the original negotiations with the merging Minnesota-Cleveland club had allowed the following:
• Protect nine players plus two goaltenders and Cleveland's first round pick.
• Protect 10 players plus two goaltenders and lose Cleveland's first-round pick.
The clubs 'agreed 'to the later arrangement. The new North Stan were able to fill with one player after the first draft of players and then Vancouver Canucks and Pittsburgh Penguins were each allowed to pick a player. The North Stars were allowed another fill and then Colorado Rockies had a shot at the players available.
Among the players, available in today's special draft were defencemen Bob Stewart and Jim Neilson from Cleveland and Tom Reid from Minnesota. Some of the forwards up for grabs are Minnesota's Steve Jensen as well as Jean-Paul Parisei Dave Gardner, Fred Ahern and' Kris Manery of the Barons. After, the draft the remaining. players' become the responsibility and obligation of the new Minnesota North'Stars," Ziegler said, North Stars will be paid $30,000 for each player taken in the . special draft. At the amateur draft, 'new Minnesota will assume and have all of the choices of old Minnesota.
They will have the first draft position and have the first draft position thereafter." Like many Cleveland employees, some of their players did not know what to say about the move. "There's not much to say," centre Dave Gardner said in a telephone interview from his home in Port Perry, Ont.. "I don't know what to think. In a way, it's too bad we didn't all become free agents."
Gordon Gund said the Barons had done a marketing survey in the Cleveland: area and found Interest, minimal in hockey
"We made the approach to Minnesota," he said.’” We took the first step." "We believe this transaction solves two significant problems we were having to deal with," said Ziegler. "It was clear that after work by people in Cleveland that the response was not sufficient, at least not encouraging enough'' to continue.
"It offered an opportunity to solve a financial problem for the league, but it gives an opportunity that we will have what most of the general .managers feel will tie a very strong team. We are providing an opportunity for our non-playoff clubs, plus Colorado, to add a player which we all believe will be to the benefit of each one of those teams."
Minnesota will play in the Adams Division, replacing Cleveland. The "new" North Stars will take over notes owed to former owner Charles Finley with one, worth $1.1 million, due in December. Gordon Ritz, president of, the, North Stars, said the North Stars were delighted too' join up with Cleveland. ,
"I think the combined operation is going-to give the NHL and the Adams Division a potent combination. I know the Minnesota fans are excited, about the addition of the Cleveland personnel." It was not known how the NHL schedule will be affected by the merger or who will be the general manager or coach.
However it was felt that Lou Nanne, the general manager and coach at Minnesota at the end of last-season, would be the general manager of the joint club next year.
In other developments, Ziegler said the NHL office will not move out of Montreal this season.
|
|
|
|
Post by JETStender on Jan 31, 2009 2:05:37 GMT -5
WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, FRIDAY, JUNE 16,1978
OTTAWA (CP)-The government should get tough on professional hockey to prevent
further signings of under-age juniors, Stuart Leggatt, (NDP—New Westminster) said Thursday.
The signing of 17-year-old Wayne Gretzky to a $1.75 million personal services contract by Nelson Skalbania, owner of Indianapolis Racers of the World Hockey Association, was the first of several deals, Leggatt told the Commons.
He called on Sport Minister Iona Campagnolo to re-iterate the government's dim view of such signings. Campagnolo said she hopes to name the chairman of a special study group on non-professional hockey by the end of the month. The group, mainly to study junior hockey, was recommended in the report of a special Commons-Senate committee on hockey.
There were also renewed reports the government is prepared to back demands to the International Ice Hockey Federation that it block a proposed WHA series with Soviet Union and Czechoslovakian teams to protest the signings.
Campagnolo has made it clear to the presidents of the two leagues of the government's opposition to the signings, but there was little she could do to block them. Leggatt said the government should have acted on a recommendation by the hockey committee for bursaries and scholarships to allow players options other than turning professional for pursuit of their hockey careers.
|
|
|
|
Post by JETStender on Jan 31, 2009 2:05:51 GMT -5
WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, FRIDAY, JUNE 16,1978
WHA POSTPONES ANNUAL MEETINGS
HARTFORD, Conn. (CP) — With the future of Houston Aeros still up in the air, World Hockey Association president Howard Baldwin said Thursday the league's annual meetings in Edmonton, June 20-21, have been postponed.
Baldwin said the annual meetings now will be held "on or before July 1."
Baldwin said the WHA had opted for the delay in order to resolve the future of the financially-plagued Houston club, only member of the eight-team league still not committed to operating in the 1978-79 schedule.
|
|
|
|
Post by JETStender on Jan 31, 2009 2:06:11 GMT -5
WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, SATURDAY, JUNE 17, 1978
By Jim Taylor
VANCOUVER — In 1974, Vancouver Blazers signed a 19- year-old defenceman named Pat Price and handed him a six-year, $1.3 million contract to play in the World Hockey Association. He was the biggest bust since Dolly Parton.
On Sunday, en route from Vancouver to Edmonton in a private jet, another kid named Wayne Gretzky signed a seven-year personal services contract with Nelson Skalbania, who owns the WHA's Indianapolis Racers and, if you believe the stories, much of the western world. The contract is worth $1.75 million. If Gretzky flops as a hockey player he gets the money anyway. Wayne Gretzky is 17 years old.
It is, by any measure, a tremendous gamble. Because while there are those in hockey who insist that Gretzky is the next Bobby Orr, there are others who say he isn't: that he is too slow, that he's not big enough, that he controls the puck well and has some dazzling moves — but that once the pros see them a couple of times they'll shut them off, as the Russians and Swedes did in the world junior tournament last year.
Gretzky is a product of the instant star system —the system that all but destroyed Pat Price. And Price was two years older. What, then, will it do to Wayne Gretzky — and why did Skalbania figure he was worth that kind of money?
The answer is simply that Skalbania has grown weary of the cold war with the National Hockey League. He wants the shooting to start again —an all-out attack to force the older league into a merger position. And the way to do that is the way the old American Football League forced the National Football League to take it into the lodge.
IN THE AFL'S CASE, IT IGNORED NFL PLAYERS, went directly to the colleges, and signed all the top young graduating quarterbacks. It poured money on them — money in amounts up to then considered ludicrous. And eventually the NFL had to look at the books and say: "Look, it's cheaper for us to let them in than to throw away our profits meeting their bids for players."
Now that the NHL is firmly committed to leaving junior players alone until they graduate, the WHA's course of attack is clear: zip into the juniors with open cheque books, skim the cream of the juniors a year or more before they graduate, and wait for the NHL to do the mathematics.
Skalbania has already done them. He figures it has cost each NHL club $1 million per year in salary and bonus escalations made necessary by the competitive presence of the WHA. Given a merger, he suggests, the bonuses for first-round picks would drop from $200,000 to $20,000, and the yearly salaries from $150,000 to $50,000.
They could be scare figures, hung out there to worry the ones like Gretzky into signing now, lest the tap be shut off before it's their turn at the trough. But, figures aside, the theory seems valid. It remains to be seen whether the NHL buys it — or if the rest of the WHA is prepared to go the Skalbania route.
The WHA hasn't been all that hepped up on signing under-age juniors. John Bassett Jr., owner of the Birmingham Bulls, was suspended by his own league last season for signing a kid named Ken Linseman before he was eligible. A week or so ago Bassett informed the governors that if they didn't okay the raids he'd sign his own 17-year-old son, then take the case to a Canadian court as a test case.
Skalbania seems to have gotten around the league by signing Gretzky to a personal services deal rather than a standard hockey form. There is, however, an extra pitfall: Success or failure as a hockey player, Gretzky gets the money. "If he can't play hockey," Skalbania says, "he's going to be the most expensive handball partner I've ever hand."
BASSETT, TOO, KNOWS ABOUT PERSONAL SERVICE deals. He gave them to Jim Kiick, Larry Csonka and Paul Warfield in his late lamented venture into the World Football League. The league folded, but at last report the three were still living off the money.
But in all this talk about money and raids and shooting wars the big question remains unanswered, as it must in every case: how will it effect Wayne Gretzky, now a millionaire at 17? Price couldn't handle it in 1974.
He totalled a $27,000 Ferrari. He sprained an ankle running down a hallway in his elevator shoes. He alienated himself with coaches and players alike. He got too much too soon, and he lacked the tools to handle it. The smartest thing he did was to realize it.
After one year he walked out on the contract, when he could have had the money just for showing up each season. He joined New York Islanders, spent a year in the minors at Fort Worth, and finally made it back to the big leagues — a journeyman defenceman making far less money, but a maturing kid who could hold his head up.
There will be an acceptance problem for Wayne Gretzky — and quite possibly a talent problem. The star system has hyped him beyond belief. Before he'd completed his first year in junior hockey, Sports Illustrated did a lengthy piece calling him "without question, the most exciting junior hockey player since Guy Lafleur." How will Ws teammates react to that? How will the journeymen professionals view to skinny kid with all the money?
For Wayne Gretzky, it is not going to be easy. He is, after all, only 17. With all those dollar signs, that's too easily forgotten.
|
|
|
|
Post by JETStender on Jan 31, 2009 2:06:24 GMT -5
WINNIPEG FREE PRESS TUESDAY, JUNE 20, 1978
Shenkarow: Jets will operate
Barry Shenkarow has dismissed as rumor an out-of-town report that Winnipeg Jets will suspend operations for the next two seasons while an arena is built for them for service in the National Hockey League.
"No truth whatsoever," said the youngest of the Shenkarow brothers, major investors in the Jets. "Nobody in the NHL has asked me to sit out two years for our building to be built."
Shenkarow said the Jets have "a lot" of other players to announce as signed, and that the team will definitely be playing hockey next season.
|
|
|
|
Post by JETStender on Jan 31, 2009 2:06:41 GMT -5
WINNIPEG FREE PRESS WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21, 1978
Jets eye Aeros amid merger din
By REYN DAVIS
The owners of Winnipeg Jets are shopping for hockey players in Houston today while lawyers meet in New York in an attempt to thrash out a legally-satisfying merger of the National Hockey League and World Hockey Association.
The Jets, currently thin in numbers, appear to be concentrating on the Aeros whose situation has been in limbo since the end of the season. Fed up with the WHA, owners of the Aeros have said it will be the NHL or nothing. The latter seems to be happening.
Houston's lineup is appealing enough. The roster includes the two-time WHA scoring champion, Andre Lacroix, who would be an ideal centre for Bobby Hall; richly talented young players such as Terry Ruskowski, Morris Lukowich, Rich Preston, Cain Connor, John Tonelli. John Hughes and Scott Campbell; and veterans like Ernie Wakely, Paul Popiel and John Schefla.
In Birmingham, there are signs the Bulls are getting out of the WHA. Their coach, John Brophy, is attending American Hockey- League meetings. The teams president, John F. Bassett, gave away a promising junior, Tony McKegney, to Buffalo Sabres because one of the conditions of McKegney's contract was that he would play with Ken Linseman, and Bassett is said to be selling his contract to Philadelphia Flyers.
Esssett's limited partners in Birmingham — one of whom is former U.S. Open champion, Hubert Green —are reported to be angered by his remarks that he let McKegney go because season ticket holders were protesting the fact he is black. One of them said McKegney's signing would have opened op a potentially new market for hockey in Birmingham.
Howard Baldwin, the WHA president, denies the league is folding or a merger is about to happen. -The WHA will operate next season with eight franchises," he said. Meanwhile, the WHA has employed same lawyers who acted on behalf of the American Basketball Association in its successful merger talks with the National Basketball Association. The "ABA" lawyers have been meeting with NHL lawyers for the past 10 days.
"Yes, lawyers have been talking."' said Ben Hatskin, the WHA's chief executive officer, confirming the report.
"I suppose a merger is a possibility. We should know within a week. At our annual meeting around July 1 our clubs will have to decide either to — or get off the pot, or we'll be in the same boat we were in a year ago.
"Nobody's signing players, hiring people or nothing." Hatskin said seven teams paid assessments of $300,000 at the last WHA meeting. He said Bassett paid "a bit" more than $300,000 because be was in default of 1977’s assessment
The Birmingham limited partner, however, claims only four teams — New England Whalers, Winnipeg Jets, Edmonton Oilers and Quebec Nordiques— posted the $300,000, and that that money will be used as part of the indemnity to be paid to WHA clubs not included in any merger.
He also said WHA teams have been "gagged" from creating any publicity on the prospect of a merger, claiming that publicity could "blow the whole deal".
A meeting occurred earlier this week between general manager Sammy Pollock of Montreal Canadiens and Ed Snider, chairman of Philadelphia Flyers. Both men were central figures on the NHL's merger committee a year ago. It was Snider who raised the issue again at the NHL's annual meeting last week in Montreal.
The price of admission to the NHL for each WHA club is said to be as same as last year's $4 million. However, the NHL might then take part in the indemnification settlements with the folding WHA teams.
|
|
|
|
Post by JETStender on Jan 31, 2009 2:06:58 GMT -5
THURSDAY, JUNE 15,1978
Stingers'Officials Deny Team Will Be Out Of Hockey Merger Plans
CINCINNATI (AP) — The top official of the Cincinnati Stingers disagrees with reports that the World Hockey Association club is being squeezed out of a possible merger with the National Hockey League.
Bill DeWitt, executive vice-president of the Stingers, said he expects the Stingers to' be part of a merger if it occurs. "We aren't involved in any talks, but we have notified those teams which are — and the league—that we certainly want to be a part of any merger," said DeWitt, who helped organize and operate the four year-old franchise.
A published report this stated that Cincinnati, Birmingham and Indianapolis would not be absorbed into the NHL if the rumored merger materializes. DeWitt admits that "an accommodation with the NHL" would be beneficial to the franchise. "We thought that last year when the merger talks fell through."
However, he added "We have not talked to the NHL. We aren't going to chase them." Five years ago, the Stingers had an opportunity to become an expansion team in the NHL but found the entry price too steep and opted for a WHA franchise.
Earlier this month, the Stingers reached their goal of selling 5,000 season tickets to keep the franchise afloat. DeWitt said reports that the WHA was about to fold had "a number of inaccuracies. The figure of $300,000 indemnity for clubs not included to a merger isn't realistic."
The report said New England, Quebec, Winnipeg and Edmonton would each put up $300,000 to pay off the other three clubs if a merger took place.
|
|
|
|
Post by JETStender on Jan 31, 2009 2:07:11 GMT -5
WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, THURSDAY, JUNE 22, 1978
Toronto story says Jets by '80
TORONTO (CP) — The Globe and Mail says it has learned that the 17 National Hockey League governors will be asked to vote soon on a proposal to absorb four World Hockey Association clubs in an NHL expansion.
The newspaper said in a copyright story in today's editions that the vote probably will be taken within two weeks.
The Globe and Mail said the proposal to be put to the NHL will be that three WHA clubs—New England Walers, Quebec Nordiques and Edmonton Oilers—join the NHL for the 1978-79 season, and that Winnipeg Jets would join two years later.
The newspaper quoted a WHA source as saying the junior league has negotiated all the legal releases needed to make sure the proposal will avoid anti-trust suits or other legal snags.
The report said'the fact that a merger package is being put together has been known only to a handful of NHL governors and to John Ziegler, NHL president. Ziegler issued a statement in New York Wednesday saying the NHL board of governors has not received any proposal relating to the WHA.
"With respect to any discussions that may or may not be taking place between individuals in both leagues, the NHL does not and will not have any comment. "In the event a proposal is presented to the board of governors, then, and only then, will the NHL have further comment on the subject."
|
|
|
|
Post by JETStender on Jan 31, 2009 2:07:24 GMT -5
WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, THURSDAY, JUNE 22, 1978
Merger talk news to Ziegler
MONTREAL (CP) — John Ziegler, president of the National Hockey League, denied Wednesday that a merger with some teams of the rival World Hockey Association is imminent. Ziegler's denial was in response to news stories that the WHA was on the verge of collapse and a closed meeting was set for today or Friday at which time four WHA teams would seek admission to the NHL
Ziegler said in a statement issued in New York:' "The board of governors of the National Hockey League has not received any proposal relating to the World Hockey Association. With respect to any discussions that may or may not be taking place between individuals in both leagues, the NHL does not and will not have any comment. "In the event a proposal is presented to the board of governors, then, and only then, will the NHL have further comment on the subject."
Ziegler's statement stemmed from the fact there has been a rash of reports since the NHL's annual meeting here last week that some type of merger or accommodation would take place between the two leagues.
A news report from Birmingham, Ala., home of the Bulls of the WHA, said New England Whalers, Quebec Nordiques, Edmonton Oilers and Winnipeg Jets each put up $300,000 last week as indemnification for the teams not trying to join the NHL.
The other four clubs in the WHA last season were Houston Aeros, Indianapolis Racers, Cincinnati Stingers and the Bulls.
A WHA spokesman at the league's Hartford, Conn., headquarters said: "There is no substance to the report. We have seven teams committed to the WHA next season and we are going ahead as the WHA."
The Birmingham story said the $300,000 indemnifation payments were viewed as a goodwill gesture and said there was no such plan when the NHL and WHA held talks last year. The indemnity payments were reported as a guarantee the teams, not included in any merger, would not file anti-combine suits in Canada and anti-trust suits in the United States.
|
|
|
|
Post by JETStender on Jan 31, 2009 2:07:43 GMT -5
WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, FRIDAY, JUNE 23,1978
Officials from both leagues unwilling to talk
Answer to be known soon
By THE CANADIAN PRESS
The continuing saga of a fusion between the National Hockey League and World Hockey Association will probably come to an end one way or another sometime early next week.
That is when the NHL's board of governors and representatives of four World Hockey Association clubs — New England Whalers, Winnipeg Jets, Quebec Nordiques and Edmonton Oilers — will likely get together to hammer out remaining details of an NHL accommodation of the WHA clubs.
Officials from both leagues are being very guarded in their comments on the matter. No one wants to say officially where and when the meetings will be held. The WHA people do not want to get burned the way they were last year when they went to the NHL revealing all and returning empty handed. The NHL people are wary of United States anti-trust laws.
Last June 24, it appeared plans for accommodating six WHA teams were all set, but as the summer progressed it became obvious any such plans were losing their popularity among the governors. Then in early August, the WHA owners were delivered a shocking piece of news from John Ziegler, the NHL's chairman of the board who had been elected to assume the presidency in the fall. The message was terse and simple — the NHL had decided not to expand and would go ahead with 18 teams. The WHA operated as an eight-team league this past season.
There were some rumblings during the recent NHL meetings in Montreal that secret meetings were going on with NHL and WHA officials.
No one would confirm or deny them in Montreal, but they were later confirmed in Edmonton. Because of the tricky anti-trust laws in the United States, the two leagues have to be careful in the manner in which they accomplish any marriage.
There have been reports those WHA teams prepared to join the NHL each put up $300,000 to start paying off the other WHA clubs who will not be included. They are also expected to hand over another $1 million each next week and by doing so, those clubs will not launch any lawsuits against the NHL for invading WHA territory.
"Look this thing (merger) would be a great thing for hockey," Larry Gordon, a former NHL executive and now one of Edmonton's executives, said Thursday. "We are not being led down the garden path," said Gordon. "It is quite evident we are building a club that will be competitive in either league.
"We feel right now that with the 20 contracts we have, we'd have a team that would win the WHA championship hands down. We would have a competitive team if we were in the other league." If the NHL decides to expand to include the WHA teams, it would take a three-quarters majority from the 17 members of the NHL's board.
Harold Ballard of Toronto Maple Leafs, one of the people most opposed to the plan last summer, has been strangely silent this year. Little has been said by Paul Mooney, the president of the NHL's Boston Bruins or Jack Kent Cooke, the owner of Los Angeles Kings, both opponents to the plans last year.
'"We're a lot further ahead this year than we were at this time last year," one source said. "There are still some things to be done." But the feeling is that by sometime next week, the final decision on a planned merger for next year will be known. It will not be a summer- long drag-out serial this year.
|
|
|
|
Post by JETStender on Jan 31, 2009 2:08:42 GMT -5
WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, FRIDAY, JUNE 23,1978
Odds against Jets until seats added
By REYN DAVIS
The man who could veto a merger of hockey's two major leagues says the possibility that Winnipeg would not be involved until 1980 "leaves me cold".
Teams in Quebec, Edmonton and New England are said to have the inside track in the expansion of the National Hockey League to 20 clubs. "I'm concerned about Winnipeg," said Ron Roberts, executive director of the World Hockey Players' Association.
"I feel Winnipeg has demonstrated to be a major league team and a major league town. I can't see any meaningful merger happening without including Winnipeg, especially if they have the commitment for a building." But the Jets don't have the commitment for the construction of a new building.
An ad hoc committee has studied the situation, and has recommended that the city do nothing until the Jets are in the NHL, and then it should build a new arena.
But that means waiting. In response the Jets have offered to buy the existing arena for $1 and expand it themselves. The city is expected to give its answer in two weeks. New England plays in an 8,000-seat facility in Springfield, Mass., while their own building in Hartford, Conn., is being rebuilt after collapsing last January. The Nordiques play in a 10,012-seat building that has standing room in the aisles for 3,000 more.
For this coming season the Jets think they could squeeze another 1,000 seats' in the Arena, and that would give them a seating capacity of 11,000 or more. Buffalo Sabres had only 10,400 seats in their first season in the NHL. The following spring they started an expansion of their building by lifting the roof and adding 4,816 seats.
Today the Sabres claim their balcony .seats are the best in the NHL. Earlier this week the Toronto engineer who says he can expand the Arena by 5,000 seats for $2.5 million, came to Winnipeg to explain his scheme to the Winnipeg Enterprises Corp., landlords of the Arena-Stadium-Velodrome complex. "It would be pretty bare," said Coun. Jim Ernst, chairman of the Enterprises. "You'd be sitting on something that would resemble apple boxes."
The Enterprises had its own feasibility study done of the Arena, and said it would cost $10 million to expand the Arena by 5,000 seats. "Granted, our proposal would have entailed sprucing up the old building," said Coun. Ernst. But the difference is conspicuously great — $7.5 million, to be precise — in the two submissions.
Coun. Ernst thinks 400 seats could be added to the Arena immediately. More, he warns, would pose a health hazard. In Dallas, Tex., Roberts said a merger cannot happen "until I agree". "But," he added, "looking at it for the over-all good of hockey, I think a merger would be a good thing."
He said that according to his players' association agreement with the league, that if two or more WHA teams leave to go to the National Hockey League, "then they'll have to honor all contracts of players not accounted for on other WHA teams". And that could mean $8-$10 million in salaries, he estimated.
|
|
|
|
Post by JETStender on Jan 31, 2009 2:09:01 GMT -5
WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, FRIDAY, JUNE 23,1978
Jim Taylor
VANCOUVER — The first thing to remember in all this hockey merger fuss is that John Ziegler and Harold Baldwin are not lying — exactly.
What they are doing is avoiding the total truth.
They are saying no proposal for merger of the National Hockey League and the World Hockey Association has been presented to the NHL Board of Governors. That is correct. They are saying reports that NHL and WHA officials have met in secret to discuss an amalgamation are in error. That, too, is correct.
What they are not saying is for the past 10 days or more, lawyers representing the NHL have met in secret with lawyers representing the WHA. The WHA's legal heavies are from the same New York firm that represented the American Basketball Association in the long and complicated merger proceedings with the National Basketball Association. Technically, neither group could be called league officials — but each has been given authority to complete the merger preparations.
THEY ARE NOT SAYING A merger is imminent, because the very word merger is profanity of the sort that attracts government people waving anti-trust suits. They are not saying the plan is for Edmonton, New England and Quebec City to join the NHL this year, with Winnipeg to take a year out and go NHL when its new arena is ready.
They are not saying Birmingham, Indianapolis and Cincinnati have agreed to fold their operations to clear the way for the demise of the WHA — thus killing off any nasty suggestions that it is, indeed, a merger— or that Houston may yet survive although its WHA operation has all but expired. They are not saying any of these things because everything pivots on those lawyers working out the complexities of a merger that isn't really. But hockey people elsewhere must believe it's coming because BY JUNE 1, NHL TEAMS USUALLY have the league schedule in front of them. The Cleveland-Minnesota merger naturally delayed things — but as of Wednesday the NHL had not begun laying out a 17-team schedule.
One of the reasons Vancouver Canucks are having a few problems signing Curt Fraser and Stan Smyl is that they are being pursued by Edmonton and Winnipeg, which gives them momentary bargaining power. But the Canuck offers reportedly have a rider that negotiations begin again in the event that there is a merger.
The Jets are already negotiating with players from the soon-to-be-defunct Houston operation. This seems strange for a team that won't be playing next year. What it could mean is that Winnipeg players would go into the dispersal draft for one year but must be returned to the Jets when they go NHL.
CHECK WITH HOCKEY PEOPLE around the country and you get arguments over whether rights to NHL players who jumped to the WHA will revert to their old NHL clubs, or whether they'll all go into a pool to be skimmed by Edmonton, New England and Quebec City. No one is arguing whether, they're all arguing how. Put together, they do not add up to two leagues totally at war and maintaining the status quo. Obviously, a great many people supposedly in a position to know are thinking in terms of a 20-team NHL come next season. And that in itself raises some intriguing questions.
Where does Bobby Hull play next season? He's got to play somewhere. At this stage of his career he hardly has a season to spare. Will Chicago Black Hawks demand that he come back, at least for a year. Does he go into the dispersal draft with the merely mortal, or will he be auctioned on a lendlease basis to the highest bidder?
WHAT DOES WAYNE GRETZKY DO TO earn the next two years' share of that $1.75 million personal services contract he signed with Indianapolis owner Nelson Skalbania? Gretzky has two more years left in his junior hockey eligibility. The NHL is on record that it will neither sign nor play juniors signed before they graduate. So Gretzky isn't eligible to play in the NHL and won't have a WHA in which to perform. Will he go back to Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds as the richest junior in captivity, or was Skalbania right when he said: "If he can't play hockey, I'm going to have the most expensive handball partner in history."
That last one could be the funniest of all. Because it was Skalbania who said that merger was the only answer, that if the leagues merged teams wouldn't have to pay those huge bonuses to untried kids, because the bidding war would be over. He said, as I recall, that merger would drop bonuses from $200,000 to $20,000 and annual salaries from $150,000 to $50,000.
And if he'd waited six months, that might be what he'd have paid for a Gretzky. Some contend that Skalbania signed Gretzky in defiance of his own league to force the WHA to escalate the war —and thus speed merger talks. If it's true, and it works, the four survivors should erect a statue in his honor.
He could be holding a hockey stick and sinking slowly into a sea of red ink.
|
|
|
|
Post by JETStender on Jan 31, 2009 2:09:20 GMT -5
WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, FRIDAY, JUNE 23,1978
Iona puts her weight behind hockey merger
MONTREAL (CP) — Iona Campagnolo, the Canadian minister of sport, has been pushing the National Hockey League for an accommodation or merger with the rival World Hockey Assssociation in an effort to save the major league hockey franchises in Quebec City, Winnipeg and Edmonton.
There have been fears since the WHA began play in the 1972-73 season that the league would fail financially and see the loss of major league hockey in the three cities and the fears are as strong as ever in the summer of 1978.
The NHL and WHA held merger talks through much of last summer, but in early August the NHL said it would not expand in any way and would play the 1977-78 seasoniwith its 18 teams.
At the NHL annual meetings in Montreal earlier this month there were rumors of secret merger talks. The rumors were later confirmed in Edmonton.
Campagnolo said in an interview in La Presse on Friday that saving major league hockey for the three cities would also solve the main problem faced by junior hockey leagues in Canada — the signing of underage juniors to professional contracts by the competing leagues.
The minister said she was working with the two leagues as well as the federal justice department on merger possibilities and admitted pressuring NHL president John Ziegler about the problem.
"It's true that I exerted certain pressures," Campagnolc said. "I explained very clearly to John Ziegler that hockey had a different connotation in Canada than in the United States. "If we (Canada) lost Quebec City, Winnipeg and Edmonton, we would lose more than three good hockey towns. We would lose one of the dimensions of Canada's culture.
Hockey is more than a question of money in Canada—it's our national passion. "We're often considered dull and apathetic, but hockey allows Canadians to show another side of their temperament. "Because of geography, weather and our linguistic question, we always have to make concessions and show that we are reasonable, but hockey allows us to liberate a part of our aggressiveness.
"As minister of sport, it was my duty to say these things to John Ziegler and make him understand that he had to find a way to assure the survival of major league hockey in Quebec City, Winnipeg and Edmonton." Because of intricate anti-trust laws in the United States, however, the two leagues are being careful in the manner in which they accomplish any marriage. But the U.S. anti-trust laws do not bother Campagnolo.
"As far as I see it, Quebec City, Winnipeg and Edmonton are within Canadian territory and the head office of the National Hockey League is in Montreal," she said. "Why should we be subject to American laws?
"I'm not a lawyer, but politically there certainly are some gestures which could be taken." The minister said she would be willing to explain to the vice-president or president of the United States that that country's antitrust laws could not be applied in the event of an NHL merger of Canadian WHA cities.
The questions surrounding the possible fusion between members of the two leagues will probably come to an end sometime early next week.
That is when the NHL's board of governors and representatives of four WHA clubs — New England Whalers, Winnipeg Jets, Quebec Nordiques and Edmonton Oilers — will likely get together to hammer out the remaining details of an NHL accommodation of the WHA clubs.
Officials from both leapes are being very guarded in their comments on the matter. No one will say officially where and when the meetings will be held.
|
|
|
|
Post by JETStender on Jan 31, 2009 2:09:36 GMT -5
WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, SATURDAY, JUNE 24, 1978
Aeros ineligible for slice: Hatskin
By BEVN DAVIS
Houston Aeros are perched precariously on a limb, belonging to the trunk of neither league —the World Hockey Association or National Hockey League.
"They're all on their own," said Ben Hatskin, the chief executive officer of the WHA.
If Hatskin knows what he's talking about — and he presumably does — the Aeros would be in no position to collect indemnification that could amount to $1.3 million, or more, if four WHA teams go to the NHL next week.
Apparently the Aeros were history in the eyes of their WHA partners when they failed to show up at a meeting in Toronto two weeks ago, when each club posted a $300,000 assessment to stay in the league.
The Aeros were one of the WHA's 12 original franchises. They won two championships and they won more games (285) than any other team since the league began.
On Monday afternoon, at 3 o'clock, a press conference has been called by the Aeros' owner, Kenneth Schnitzer. Not even Bill Dineen, the Aeros' coach and general manager and vice president, knows what it's all about.
But with Winnipeg Jets stalking their players and the prospects of a merger occurring without them, the Aeros would appear to be folding in virtual isolation
|
|
|
|
Post by JETStender on Jan 31, 2009 2:09:55 GMT -5
WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, MONDAY, JUNE 26, 1978
Merger Week or new bluff?
By GLENN COLE
DETROIT (CP) —The National Hockey League has reconvened its annual meeting here starting today and by chance there will also be some members of the World Hockey Association staying in the same hotel.
Whether all of this will lead to an expansion of the NHL to bring in four WHA clubs- New England Whalers, Edmonton Oilers, Quebec Nordiques and Winnipeg Jets—is on the minds of most hockey people. No one from either side is 'saying it will; then again, no one is saying it will not.
President Michael Gobuty is expected to represent the Jets. "It will break Tuesday or it won't break at all," said Peter Pocklington, the owner of the Oilers, prior to leaving from Edmonton for the meetings. "Our release with our other (WHA) partners expires Wednesday." But the WHA people are being guarded for the most part in their comments. They do not want to be lose face like they did last summer.
Cincinnati Stingers and Houston Aeros were the other teams involved last season, but they are not going to be this time. The WHA four clubs wishing to join with the other league have reportedly put up $300,000 to start paying off those clubs not included in the merger plans—the Stingers, the Aeros, Birmingham Bulls and I n d i a n a p o l i s Racers.
They are also expected to hand over another $1 million each next week and by doing so, those clubs will not launch any lawsuits against the NHL for invading WHA territory.
If Winnipeg is forced to sit out one or two years while an arena is built, that would leave Quebec, Edmonton and the Whalers to join the other 17 clubs which might mean a divisional realignment. The NHL announced last January in Buffalo that it would be playing an unbalanced schedule with more i n t r a - d i v i s i o n a ' l games planned. Just how the inclusion of the WHA's teams would affect these plans can only be speculated.
Following the merger of Cleveland Barons and Minnesota North Stars earlier this month, the "new" North Stars replaced Cleveland in the Adams Division, leaving the NHL with the Norris Division as its only five-team group.
It might be logical to assume that Edmonton would be placed in the Smythe Division as a natural rival to Vancouver Canucks while the Whalers might be put in the Patrick Division along with teams like New York Islanders and New York Rangers.
I d e a l l y , the Nordiques should be in a division with Montreal Canadiens. so perhaps a Norris. Division team might shift to make room. Then again, they might decide to totally realign the divisions on a geographical basis, something which a few owners have been asking for at recent board meetings. No more than four NHL governors can vote against the project if it is to succeed.
|
|
