World Hockey Association
Sport | Ice hockey |
---|---|
Founded | September 13, 1971 |
Ceased | June 22, 1979 |
Countries | United States Canada |
Most titles | Winnipeg Jets (3) |
The World Hockey Association (French: Association mondiale de hockey) was a professional ice hockey major league that operated in North America from 1972 to 1979. It was the first major league to compete with the National Hockey League (NHL) since the collapse of the Western Hockey League in 1926. Although the WHA was not the first league since that time to attempt to challenge the NHL's supremacy, it was by far the most successful in the modern era.
The WHA tried to capitalize on the lack of hockey teams in a number of major American cities and mid-level Canadian cities, and also hoped to attract the best players by paying more than NHL owners would. The WHA successfully challenged the NHL's reserve clause, which had bound players to their NHL teams even without a valid contract, allowing players in both leagues greater freedom of movement. Sixty-seven players jumped from the NHL to the WHA in the first year, led by star forward Bobby Hull, whose ten-year, $2.75 million contract was a record at the time. The WHA took the initiative to sign European players, ushering in a new era in North American hockey.
The WHA was chronically unstable, with franchises occasionally relocating or folding in the middle of the season. It had an acrimonious relationship with the NHL, resulting in numerous legal battles, as well as competition for control of players and markets. In spite of this, merger talks began almost immediately. NHL owners voted down a 1977 plan to merge six WHA teams (the
As a result, the WHA ceased operations, and four teams joined the NHL for the 1979–80 season: the Edmonton Oilers, New England (renamed Hartford) Whalers, Quebec Nordiques, and Winnipeg Jets. Of these four teams, two of the three Canadian teams — the Nordiques and Jets — eventually moved south to Denver and Phoenix, respectively, although the NHL would return to Winnipeg with the 2011 relocation of the Atlanta Thrashers, who would rename themselves to become the second incarnation of the Winnipeg Jets. The Whalers later moved from Hartford to Raleigh, North Carolina and were renamed the Carolina Hurricanes. The Oilers are the only WHA merger team to retain both their original nickname and city. The final WHA game was played on May 20, 1979, as the Jets defeated the Oilers to win their third Avco World Trophy.
History
Founding
The World Hockey Association was founded in 1971 by American promoters
The average NHL salary in 1972 was $25,000, the lowest of the four major sports, while each player was bound by a reserve clause, that automatically extended their contract by one year when it expired, tying them to their team for the life of their career.[6] In October 1972, the WHA announced that it would not use the reserve clause, stating that "The reserve clause won't stand up to the scrutiny of ... players, players associations, the United States Congress, the public, and the Supreme Court."[7] The WHA also promised much higher salaries than the NHL offered, and by the time the league began play, it had lured 67 former NHL players to its league, including Bernie Parent, Gerry Cheevers, Derek Sanderson, J. C. Tremblay, and Ted Green.[8] The biggest name signed was former Chicago Black Hawks star Bobby Hull, who agreed to a ten-year, $2.7 million contract with the Winnipeg Jets, the largest in hockey history at the time, and one that lent the league instant credibility.[9]
The NHL tried to block several of the defections. The Boston Bruins attempted to restrain Sanderson and Cheevers from joining the WHA, though a United States federal court refused to prohibit the signings. The Black Hawks were successful in having a restraining order filed against Hull and the Jets pending the outcome of legal action the Black Hawks were taking against the WHA. The new league was eager for the court action, intending to challenge the legality of the reserve clause.[10]
In November 1972, Judge A. Leon Higginbotham Jr. of the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia placed an injunction against the NHL, preventing it from enforcing the reserve clause and freeing all players who had restraining orders against them, including Hull, to play with their WHA clubs. The decision effectively ended the NHL's monopoly on major league professional hockey talent.[11]
Teams
On November 1, 1971, twelve teams were formally announced. They included cities without NHL teams such as the
Although the league had many players under contract by June 1972, including a few NHL stars such as Bernie Parent, many of them were career minor league and college players. The new league was not considered much of a threat, until
The WHA officially made its debut on October 11,
The
Problems
Right from the start, the league was plagued with problems. Many teams often found themselves in financial difficulty, folding or moving from one city to another, sometimes mid-season. Citing arena troubles, two of the original twelve teams, the Dayton Arrows and the
The
Ahead of the 1973–74 season,
The league bottomed out in 1975–76 with its third expansion team, the Spurs. A mainstay of the minor Western Hockey League, they were originally supposed to join the NHL in the same way the Vancouver Canucks and California Golden Seals had in the preceding decade. When the NHL reneged on the agreement, and Spurs owner Ivan Mullenix was unable to negotiate an early entry into the NHL, he accepted an offer to join the WHA for the 1975–76 season. However, Denver residents felt betrayed after three years of hype for an NHL team. They did not consider the WHA a major league, and stayed away from Spurs games.
However, halfway through the season, the NHL's Kansas City Scouts began serious talks about moving to Denver. Knowing he could not even begin to compete with an NHL team, Mullenix began talks with a group of Ottawa businessmen who insisted the Spurs move immediately as a condition of further talks. As a result, the Spurs abruptly moved to become the Ottawa Civics while on a road trip. After only seven games as the Civics, the franchise folded when it became clear that the Ottawa group did not have nearly enough financing to buy the team. The Spurs/Civics franchise only played 41 games total, making them easily the shortest-lived franchise in WHA history. The NHL soon fulfilled its promise to Denver by moving the Scouts there to become the Colorado Rockies in the 1976 offseason.
Part of the financial trouble was attributed to the high player salaries. For instance, the
Unfortunately, his play did not live up to the expectations of his salary, and between an early-season injury, intemperate remarks to the press, and Blazer financial troubles, Sanderson's contract was bought out before the end of the season.As well, big stars lacked supporting players and the quality of the on-ice product suffered.
Competing for talent
The WHA won several key victories, including a court ruling that prevented the NHL from binding players to its teams via the reserve clause, and the signings of more NHL stars such as Gordie Howe, Andre Lacroix, Marc Tardif, and in later years, Frank Mahovlich and Paul Henderson.
In the 1974–75 season, to broaden a depleted talent pool, the WHA began signing European players, which the NHL had largely ignored up to that time, in serious numbers, including stars such as Swedish Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson and Czech center Vaclav Nedomansky, who had just defected from Czechoslovakia. Winnipeg especially loaded up with Scandinavian players and became the class of the league, with Hedberg and Nilsson combining with Bobby Hull to form one of hockey's most formidable forward lines. Along with the mass import of European stars, Vancouver attempted unsuccessfully to lure Phil Esposito away from the NHL by offering a contract similar to that of Bobby Hull, with a million dollars upfront.[15]
International play
The 1972
The WHA organized the 1974 Summit Series against the Soviets, giving an opportunity for Hull and 46-year-old Gordie Howe to play for Canada against the Soviet team, which the Soviets won 4-1-3.
In the 1976 Canada Cup, the NHL and NHLPA broadened the scope of the competition, inviting to the tournament a number of hockey countries and allowing each invited country to send the best possible team they could muster, so this time WHA players were permitted. WHA players played on four of the tournament's six teams.
In December 1976 and January 1977, the Super Series '76-77 tournament took place, opposing the HC CSKA Moscow (Red Army) and WHA teams. The Red Army won the series 6–2.
Decline and merger
By the 1976–77 season, it had become evident that many of the WHA's franchises were teetering on the verge of financial collapse, and that the (at one time) combined 32 teams of the NHL and WHA had badly strained professional hockey's talent pool.
In 1977, merger discussions with the National Hockey League were first initiated, with Houston, Cincinnati, Winnipeg, New England, Quebec, and Edmonton applying for entry to the NHL, who voted the proposal down. Merger discussions resumed in 1978, but Houston was not part of the proposal this time. During the final series of talks, Aeros owner Kenneth Schnitzer suggested to the NHL that either his team be admitted as an expansion team independent of a merger, or he would attempt to purchase an existing club and relocate it to Houston. Neither came to fruition, and as a result the Aeros elected to fold on July 6, 1978. Another proposal had the
The final two seasons of the WHA saw the debut of many superstars, some of whom became hockey legends in the NHL, including Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Mike Liut, and Mike Gartner. The Birmingham Bulls alone featured future NHLers Rick Vaive, Michel Goulet, Rob Ramage, Ken Linseman, Craig Hartsburg, Rod Langway, Mark Napier, Pat Riggin and Gaston Gingras.[16]
By the end of the final season, only six teams remained. Facing financial difficulty and unable to meet payrolls, the WHA finally came to an agreement with the NHL in early 1979. Under the deal, four WHA clubs – the Edmonton Oilers, New England Whalers (renamed the Hartford Whalers),
The WHA was able to extract three key concessions. First, the WHA teams were allowed to protect two goaltenders and two skaters to keep their rosters from being completely stripped clean by the NHL teams. Second, the NHL allowed all of the WHA's Canadian teams to be part of the deal. The NHL had originally been willing to take only the Oilers, Whalers, and Jets, but the WHA insisted that the Nordiques be included as well. Third, although the NHL had insisted on treating the deal as an expansion, it agreed to freeze the expansion fee for each team at $6 million U.S., the same fee paid by every other team that had joined the NHL in the 1970s. By comparison, when the Atlanta Flames were sold and moved to Calgary one year later, the sale was $16 million U.S.
The deal came up for a vote at the NHL Board of Governors meeting in Key Largo, Florida on March 8, 1979. The final tally was 12–5, one vote short of passage, as a three-quarters majority was required to permit a merger.[18] The Boston Bruins, Los Angeles Kings, Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs and Vancouver Canucks voted against the deal. The Bruins were not pleased with having to share New England with the Whalers. Los Angeles and Vancouver feared losing home dates with NHL teams from the East. Montreal and Toronto were not enamored at the prospect of having to split revenue from Hockey Night in Canada broadcasts six ways rather than three.[17]
When a second vote was held in Chicago on March 22, 1979, Montreal and Vancouver changed their votes, allowing the deal to go forward. Vancouver and Los Angeles were won over by the promise of a balanced schedule, with each team playing the others twice at home and twice on the road. The Canadiens' owners,
The agreement officially took effect on June 22, 1979 (three months to the day after the deciding vote). On that day, the WHA folded and the NHL formally granted expansion franchises to Edmonton, Hartford, Quebec City, and Winnipeg.
Legacy of the WHA
On the ice, the WHA teams had proven themselves to be the NHL's competitive equals, winning more games than they lost in interleague exhibition games.[19]
The WHA had many lasting effects on NHL hockey. The NHL used to recruit virtually all its players from Canada, but following the success of the Jets' Hedberg and Nilsson, scouts began looking overseas for the best players that Europe could offer. Teams such as the Whalers and Fighting Saints offered excellent opportunities for young American players, and several U.S.-born or -raised NHL stars of the early 1980s (such as Mark Howe, Rod Langway, Dave Langevin, Robbie Ftorek, and Paul Holmgren) had begun their pro careers in the WHA. As a result, the NHL evolved into a truly cosmopolitan league during the 1980s.
The WHA ended the NHL policy of paying its players only a fraction of the league's profits and, combined with the abolition of the reserve clause, led to much higher player salaries. Many great stars began their careers in the WHA, including Mark Howe, Wayne Gretzky, Mike Gartner, Mike Liut, and Mark Messier, who was the last WHA veteran to play in the NHL; he opened his professional career with 52 games with the Indianapolis Racers and Cincinnati Stingers in 1978–79, and played his last NHL game on April 3, 2004. The final active player and official in any on-ice capacity for the league was referee Don Koharski, who started as a linesman for the WHA and retired at the end of the 2008–09 NHL season.
The WHA instituted sudden death overtime for regular season games to break ties. If no team scored during a 10-minute overtime period, the game ended in a tie. In the 1983–84 season, the NHL then instituted a 5-minute sudden death overtime period to break regular season ties.[20]
The WHA had experimented with blue colored pucks, which were supposedly easier for fans to see. The NHL did not adopt the blue pucks, but any remaining blue WHA pucks are highly sought after collectors' items.
Fate of surviving teams
The former WHA clubs, by the terms of the expansion, could protect only two goalies and two skaters each in the
The 1980s was a successful period for the former WHA teams. The Oilers shattered numerous NHL records and amassed a Stanley Cup dynasty, winning five Cups in its first eleven seasons.[21] The Jets of the 1980s, decimated by the dispersal draft, developed a solid nucleus of players that helped the club achieve respectable regular-season finishes. After missing the playoffs in their first NHL season, the Nordiques quickly became competitive, advancing as far as the third round of the playoffs in their third season. Quebec developed an intense rivalry with the Montreal Canadiens. The Whalers had similar rivalries with the Boston Bruins and New York Rangers, and skated to the 1986–87 Adams Division title.
In the 1990s, the former WHA clubs suffered from escalating player salaries (ironically, the same trend that was instigated by the WHA). The ex-WHA clubs based in Canada were also hit hard by the declining value of the Canadian dollar. The Nordiques moved to Denver in 1995 and became the Colorado Avalanche, where they have won the Stanley Cup three times (1996, 2001, 2022), the Winnipeg Jets moved to Phoenix in 1996 and became the Phoenix Coyotes, and the Hartford Whalers moved to North Carolina in 1997 and became the Carolina Hurricanes, where they have won the Stanley Cup in 2006. To date, the Oilers remain as the last ex-WHA team still in its original city, where they have won the Stanley Cup five times.[22] Only the Jets (current Arizona Coyotes) franchise has not yet won the Cup, with their furthest advance in the Stanley Cup playoffs being the Western Conference Finals in 2012. Due to ongoing arena issues the Jets/Coyotes franchise suspended operations in 2024, if the franchise obtains a new arena by no later than 2029 they can rejoin the NHL.
Hockey Hall of Fame members
List of WHA players and executives inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame:
- Andy Bathgate, Vancouver Blazers
- Gerry Cheevers, Cleveland Crusaders
- Mike Gartner, Cincinnati Stingers
- Michel Goulet, Birmingham Bulls
- Wayne Gretzky, Indianapolis Racers, Edmonton Oilers
- Gordie Howe, Houston Aeros, New England Whalers
- Mark Howe, Houston Aeros, New England Whalers
- Harry Howell, New York Golden Blades/Jersey Knights, San Diego Mariners, Calgary Cowboys
- Bobby Hull, Winnipeg Jets
- Dave Keon, Minnesota Fighting Saints, Indianapolis Racers, New England Whalers
- Rod Langway, Birmingham Bulls
- Frank Mahovlich, Toronto Toros/Birmingham Bulls
- Mark Messier, Cincinnati Stingers, Indianapolis Racers
- Vaclav Nedomansky, Toronto Toros/Birmingham Bulls
- Bernie Parent, Philadelphia Blazers
- Jacques Plante, Edmonton Oilers
- Bud Poile, WHA executive vice-president
- Marcel Pronovost, coach-Chicago Cougars
- Maurice Richard, coach-Quebec Nordiques
- Glen Sather, Edmonton Oilers
- Norm Ullman, Edmonton Oilers
Trophies and awards
This is a list of the trophies and awards handed out annually by the World Hockey Association.
- Avco World Trophy – Awarded to the playoff champion
- Gary L. Davidson Award / Gordie Howe Trophy – Most valuable player of the regular season
- Bill Hunter Trophy – Leading scorer of the regular season
- Lou Kaplan Trophy – Rookie of the year
- Ben Hatskin Trophy – Best goaltender
- Dennis A. Murphy Trophy – Best defenseman
- Paul Deneau Trophy – Most gentlemanly player
- Howard Baldwin Trophy / Robert Schmertz Memorial Trophy – Coach of the year
- WHA Playoff MVP – Most valuable player in the playoffs
Timeline of teams
Three Canadian teams completed all seven WHA seasons based in the same city, and were the same three Canadian teams that ultimately joined the NHL. The other WHA team to enter the NHL, the Whalers, were the only other WHA team to play all of its home games over seven seasons within a relatively small geographical area, having moved 100 miles (160 km) from Boston to Hartford. Of the original 12 WHA franchises, only the Winnipeg Jets remained for all seven seasons without relocating, changing team names, or folding.
Franchise | Cities/Names | Years | Fate |
---|---|---|---|
Alberta/Edmonton Oilers | Alberta Oilers | 1972–1973 | Joined NHL, 1979, as Edmonton Oilers |
Edmonton Oilers | 1973–1979 | ||
Chicago Cougars | Chicago Cougars | 1972–1975 | Folded, 1975 |
Cincinnati Stingers | Cincinnati Stingers | 1975–1979 | Joined Central Hockey League, 1979-80 |
Calgary Broncos, Cleveland Crusaders, Minnesota Fighting Saints |
Calgary Broncos (never played) | 1972 | Folded, 1977 |
Cleveland Crusaders | 1972–1976 | ||
Minnesota Fighting Saints | 1976–1977 | ||
Denver Spurs, Ottawa Civics |
Denver Spurs | 1975–1976 | Folded, 1976 |
Ottawa Civics | 1976 | ||
Dayton Arrows, Houston Aeros |
Dayton Arrows (never played) | 1972 | Folded, 1978 |
Houston Aeros | 1972–1978 | ||
Indianapolis Racers | Indianapolis Racers | 1974–1978 | Folded, 1978 |
Baltimore Blades
|
Los Angeles Aces (name changed after San Francisco moved) | 1972 | Folded, 1975 |
Los Angeles Sharks | 1972–1974 | ||
Michigan Stags | 1974–1975 | ||
Baltimore Blades | 1975 | ||
Minnesota Fighting Saints | Minnesota Fighting Saints | 1972–1976 | Folded, 1976 |
New England Whalers
|
New England Whalers | 1972–1979 | Joined NHL, 1979, as Hartford Whalers (now Carolina Hurricanes) |
Jersey Knights,
San Diego Mariners |
New York Raiders | 1972–1973 | Folded, 1977 |
New York Golden Blades | 1973 | ||
Jersey Knights | 1973–1974 | ||
San Diego Mariners | 1974–1977 | ||
Ottawa Nationals, Toronto Toros, Birmingham Bulls |
Ottawa Nationals | 1972–1973 | Joined Central Hockey League for 1979-80 season |
Toronto Toros | 1973–1976 | ||
Birmingham Bulls | 1976–1979 | ||
Miami Screaming Eagles, Philadelphia Blazers, Vancouver Blazers, Calgary Cowboys |
Miami Screaming Eagles (never played) | 1972 | Folded, 1977 |
Philadelphia Blazers | 1972–1973 | ||
Vancouver Blazers | 1973–1975 | ||
Calgary Cowboys | 1975–1977 | ||
Phoenix Roadrunners | Phoenix Roadrunners | 1974–1977 | Folded, 1977 |
San Francisco Sharks,
Quebec Nordiques |
San Francisco Sharks (never played) | 1972 | Joined NHL, 1979, as Quebec Nordiques (now Colorado Avalanche) |
Quebec Nordiques | 1972–1979 | ||
Winnipeg Jets
|
Winnipeg Jets | 1972–1979 | Joined Winnipeg Jets , suspended operations in 2024)
(now Arizona Coyotes |
WHA All-Star Game
Every season of the World Hockey Association had an All-Star game, but the format changed with regularity.[23]
- 1972–73 Eastern Division 6, Western Division 2 @ Quebec
- 1973–74 Eastern Division 8, Western Division 4 @ St. Paul
- 1974–75 Western Division 6, Eastern Division 4 @ Edmonton
- 1975–76 Canadian-based teams (5) 6, US-based teams (9) 1 @ Cleveland
- 1976–77 Eastern Division 4, Western Division 2 @ Hartford
- 1977–78 AVCO Cup champion Quebec Nordiques 5, WHA All-Star team 4 @ Quebec
- 1978–79 WHA All-Star team vs Dynamo Moscow in a three-game series @ Edmonton. WHA won all 3 games 4–2, 4–2, 4–3
See also
References
- Footnotes
- ^ Jeff Jacobs (June 27, 1994). "Forget Rest; 1979 Draft Best of All". Hartford Courant.
- ^ Willes, 2004, pp. 8–9
- ^ Willes, 2004, p. 14
- ^ "World Hockey Association sees action next October". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. November 2, 1971. p. 15.
- ^ Willes, 2004, p. 18
- ^ Willes, 2004, pp. 11–12
- ^ Willes, 2004, p. 17
- ^ Pincus, 2006, p. 139
- ^ Willes, 2004, p. 33
- ^ McFarlane, 1990, p. 132
- ^ McFarlane, 1990, p. 133
- ^ "A Nowhere Ride". Sports Illustrated. May 28, 1979.
- ^ Hockey Trade Rumors – NHL Rumors from around the league – 37 Year Cup Drought – The Legacy of Harold Ballard
- ^ Avery, Martin. "From Derek Sanderson to Derek Jeter to Sean Avery".
- ISBN 978-0-7710-3086-4
- ISBN 1-55263-618-6
- ^ ISBN 1-57243-213-6.
- ISBN 0-9644774-0-8
- ^ "WHA vs NHL". WHAhockey.com. Retrieved May 25, 2014.
- ^ "New Rules Are Nothing New". National Hockey League. Retrieved April 21, 2017.
- ^ "1984-85 Edmonton Oilers voted greatest NHL team in history". CBC Sports. The Canadian Press. June 5, 2017. Retrieved November 26, 2021.
- ^ Duhatschek, Eric (August 23, 2012) [December 29, 2010]. "Harley Hotchkiss: Finding practical solutions to everyday problems". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. Retrieved May 19, 2014.
- ^ "A to Z Encyclopaedia of Ice Hockey - Wh".
- General
- McFarlane, Brian (1990). 100 Years of Hockey. Summerhill Press. ISBN 0-929091-26-4.
- Pincus, Arthur (2006). The Official Illustrated NHL History. Reader's Digest. ISBN 0-88850-800-X.
- Willes, Ed (2004). The Rebel League: The Short and Unruly Life of the World Hockey Association. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart. ISBN 0-7710-8947-3.
External links
- Internet Hockey Database – standings and statistics
- WHA Hockey.com – unfinished, but still the most complete history of the league
- WHA Hall of Fame