1910 NHA Constitution

In the course of researching the history of the NHL's sponsorship system I came upon an interesting little bit of legal lore that may interest a few people out there.

You may or may not know that the National Hockey League was borne out of a legal dispute between the owners of a preceding hockey league named the National Hockey Association (NHA). The NHA was founded in 1909 by J. Ambrose O'Brien as an amalgam of teams he owned in Northern Ontario and the Montreal Wanderers, winners of the Stanley Cup in 1906, 1907 and 1908. The league quickly added teams in Montreal (Shamrocks, two-time winners of the Stanley Cup, and Canadiens, created to capture the attention of the city's francophone population), Ottawa (Senators, then five-time and defending Stanley Cup champions), Quebec City (Quebec HC, a.k.a. "Bulldogs") and Toronto (including Toronto HC, known as the "Blueshirts", from which the modern-day Maple Leafs are descended).

It was due to disputes between eventual Blueshirts owner Eddie Livingstone and the rest of the NHA owners that the rest formed another league, the NHL, in order to carry on their hockey business while excluding Livingstone. I won't get into the details—a cursory internet search will provide you with a breadth of information on the subject.

When the NHL was formed it carried over the rules (notably six-man hockey; most other leagues still played seven-man rules which included the now-deprecated rover), officials (including president and secretary-treasurer Frank Calder, who would remain in those positions with the NHL until he had a heart attack at a board meeting in 1943, dying 10 days later) and constitution of the NHA.

The NHA originally used the constitution of the Eastern Canada Hockey Association (ECHA, formerly known as the Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association [ECAHA]). After the NHA's first season of operation the Shamrocks left, rejoining 'amateur' ranks with the likes of the Montreal Victorias (Stanley Cup champions in the late 1890s) and Montreal HC (the hockey wing of the Amateur Athletic Association, inaugural Stanley Cup champions in 1893). Ambrose O'Brien chose to return his clubs in Northern Ontario (Cobalt & Haileybury) back to the Timiskaming Professional Hockey League from whence they came and sold the Montreal Canadiens to George Kennedy; he couldn't afford the salaries commanded by the top players in the country. Seeking to stabilize the league and to clarify the league's business rules a three-man committee comprised of league president Emmett Quinn, former secretary-treasurer Eddie McCafferty and Wanderers manager Dickie Boon wrote a new constitution, adopted at the annual board meeting held in November of 1910.

A draft version of the constitution was published November 9, 1910 in the Montreal Gazette. At the bottom of this post you will find a link to the Google News archive version of the page in The Gazette. I also took it upon myself to transcribe the articles of the constitution as presented in The Gazette and create a PDF for your viewing ease (and also to save me the trouble of html coding in order to reproduce it in an acceptable format to suit the blog's theme).

Click here to view the PDF at scribd.com.

Note that Section 21 set a salary cap of $5,000 per team. This was very contentious with the players of course. The Ottawa Senators players even contemplated starting their own league as many had their salaries halved. They ended up not being able to secure ice time in any of the big rinks and backed down from the threat. Interesting, considering the state of player relations as they relate to the salary cap today...

Also note that the number of teams in Section 12 was left blank. It appears blank on the newspaper page; it may have been a misprint or omission on their part. Given the context of the article and the talks between the clubs about admitting the Quebec Hockey Club and a club from Toronto I believe the number was meant to be six (Renfrew, Canadiens, Wanderers, Ottawa, Quebec, Toronto). Six sounds right given the context of the rest of the constitution too—see Section 16 regarding the expulsion of a member club. It calls for a vote by all of the clubs except the club facing expulsion and four votes are required to pass the motion. That means that there would be at least five clubs, and since it calls for four votes and not 'unanimous' I believe they left a margin of one dissenting vote (four assenting, one dissenting, one club facing expulsion; six total). In any case for the sake of accuracy I have left the space blank, as I do not wish to misrepresent what was printed at the time.


References:

"To Place Hockey on Better Basis; Draft of New Constitution for National Association Was Completed Yesterday; Salary Limit of $5,000; Severe Penalties Will Be Exacted for Violations of Rules by Players or Clubs." Montreal Gazette 9 Nov 1910, 10. Web. 24 Dec. 2012.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=vncuAAAAIBAJ&sjid=A4UFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6396%2C856888.

The Sponsorship System - The Pre-Expansion NHL's Monopsony on Players

The NHL's primary source of young, talented hockey players has always been the Canadian junior leagues. Prior to the 1960s scouting from U.S. colleges and European leagues was extremely rare and only a handful of players in the NHL were not Canadian. Before the implementation of the amateur draft the NHL clubs had created elaborate farm systems whereby they exercised complete control over the movement of almost all professional and high-level amateur players in North America. There is a lot of confusing information out there regarding how this recruitment system worked and I freely admit that I've certainly misspoken about it in the past because frankly I did not completely understand how the NHL's system worked. Inasmuch as I decided to write this to get the information out there I also wrote it because I wanted to research it for the sake of clearing things up for my own benefit and understanding.

The 1930s and early '40s dealt severe financial blows to the NHL. The combination of the effects of The Great Depression and the loss of talent to the war effort at the turn of the decade killed off four of the league's ten franchises. The Philadelphia Quakers né Pittsburgh Pirates were first to go, in 1931. In the span of only four years the (original) Ottawa Senators suspended operations, resumed operations, moved to St. Louis and folded in '35. Neither Montreal nor Manhattan could support two NHL franchises and the Maroons and ('Brooklyn') Americans were gone after '38 and '42, respectively.

The NHL was not alone in its plight. The Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA), the governing body of the amateur game in Canada, found that many of its constituent leagues' teams were experiencing similar difficulties. Of great concern to the CAHA was the way in which the NHL was poaching players off its Junior teams' rosters. The CAHA's position was that it had spent the money to 'develop' players from novices to juveniles and juniors and that the NHL, in signing these players, should compensate the CAHA for having provided the players with a hockey education in the first place.

The genesis of what became the sponsorship system was an agreement reached in 1936 between the NHL and CAHA, in which the two organizations decided:

• to respect each other's players suspensions,
• the CAHA would adopt NHL playing rules,
• the NHL would not sign junior players from the CAHA without the junior club's consent,
• the NHL would not sign any player from the CAHA while the player's amateur club was in competition

The agreement between the CAHA and NHL was amended every year that followed and little by little the NHL gained more of a foothold in the CAHA's operations. By the mid-1940s the NHL had begun direct, outright subsidy of Junior A clubs under the CAHA's control. In exchange for financially supporting the junior clubs the CAHA allowed the NHL control over their operations and exclusive professional playing rights to the boys who played for the sponsored teams.

Through sponsorship agreements the NHL clubs would be allowed to place up to 18 players on a given team on their "sponsorship list", giving the club exclusive negotiating rights with that player until after he turned 20 years old and his junior eligibility expired. Once within the club's sponsorship system the player no longer had any control over where he played. If he ran afoul of his Junior A coach he could be shipped off to a Junior B club in another town within the NHL club's system.

The Sponsorship System

The system I speak of was a hierarchy of minor pro and amateur affiliations. The CAHA-NHL agreement only allowed for the NHL clubs to each sponsor a pair of Junior A teams but it also allowed minor pro (WHL, AHL, CPHL/EPHL/QHL) teams to sponsor junior teams in their own right, and Junior A teams to sponsor a pair of Junior B, Juvenile or Midget teams in their own right. Through the Joint Affiliation Agreement between the NHL, AHL and WHL the NHL clubs would gain de facto control over their minor league affiliates' sponsors as well. This pyramid of affiliations and sponsorships would allow NHL clubs to retain exclusive playing rights of hundreds of boys and men.

Take the Montreal Canadiens as an example. In the 1965-66 season they sponsored the Montreal Junior Canadiens and Peterborough TPT Petes of the OHA Jr. A league. The Canadiens also had affiliation agreements with the AHL's Cleveland Barons, Providence Reds and Quebec Aces, and the WHL's Seattle Totems and CPHL's Houston Apollos. The Barons sponsored Jr. A teams in Kirkland and Verdun, the Reds sponsored its own pair of Jr. A teams, the Aces sponsored the Regina Pats, the Totems sponsored another pair of Junior teams, and the Apollos sponsored a couple Junior B teams. Several of these Junior A and B teams in turn sponsored other Junior B, Juvenile and Midget clubs. All in all the Montreal Canadiens had 21 Junior A, Junior B, Juvenile and Midget clubs under its control. The Canadiens could place up to 18 players from each of its sponsored clubs on a list of sponsored players, a list of players which no other professional team in North America (since the NHL exercised control over the other leagues) could touch. In effect the Canadiens could direct the careers of over 300 young players.

By virtue of the amateur and minor pro affiliation agreements the NHL had a monopsony (a monopoly is a single seller in a market of several buyers; a monopsony is a single buyer in a market of many sellers) on the supply of players. They lorded over the CAHA, USAHA, the AHL and WHL through these agreements and owned the CPHL outright. They had ultimate control over almost all hockey in North America. (Note that I have not made any mention of the International Hockey League. They had no agreement with the NHL and as such were considered an 'amateur' league.)

In addition to sponsorship lists the NHL used a few other instruments to obtain and retain control over the supply of players. One such instrument was the negotiation list, a list upon which four players over the age of 18 could be placed for the right of exclusive negotiations. The action of placing a player on a negotiation list was unilateral. The player did not have to provide his consent; in fact they didn't even have to be notified of being placed on a negotiation list. The exclusive negotiation rights could be renewed for an additional year without the player's consent if the NHL club could demonstrate to the NHL President (Clarence Campbell) that the club had made a concerted effort to sign the player.

Now when I say 'sign' I don't necessarily mean an actual player's contract. The NHL also had three 'option' contract documents to which they could sign players in order to retain their exclusive playing rights without having to actually pay them an ongoing salary: the now-notorious 'A', 'B' and 'C' forms. This area of NHL contract 'law' may be the most muddled and confusing nowadays. I began the research into the area of the sponsorship system by first asking myself “What the hell are 'A', 'B' and 'C' forms anyway?”

Try-Out Agreement “A”

If a player signed an 'A' form he would be bound by the agreement to show up to the club's training camp if they requested him to be there (and as consideration the club would pay for a hotel room, meals and travel expenses from his hometown to the training camp). If the club offered him a contract he was bound to sign a contract with them on terms to be mutually agreed upon at a later date.

If the player refused to appear to try-out he could be suspended from “all professional and amateur organizations” (WHL, AHL, CPHL, CAHA, USAHA, etc.) until he carried out the try-out. If it was signed before September 1 of any given calendar year it would expire at the end of October of the same calendar year. If it was signed after September 1 it would expire at the end of October of the following calendar year, thus guaranteeing the player would be bound to appear at the following season's training camp.

A player signed to an 'A' form could also play in up to five NHL regular season games, plus another three in the case of an emergency, without signing a Standard Player's Contract. The club could also trade or otherwise transfer the rights created by the agreement to another club.

The rescission of the agreement would occur if and only if the player attended a try-out and the club did not offer him a contract.

Option Agreement “B”

The 'B' form was very, very rarely used. It was similar to the 'A' form in that it bound the player to appear at training camp and he would sign a contract if the club offered him one (although he could negotiate the terms). The agreement also gave the player a measure of control which he did not have with an 'A' or 'C' form: he could demand a contract from the team at any time. It would have to be “at a rate of salary equal to the fair average salary of the League in which the Club is a member.” If the club did not offer him such a contract within 15 days of his notice to them then the option agreement was rescinded and he was free to sign with any other team.

Note that he did not have to agree to the terms of the contract offered by the club, but they had to offer him one at the average salary of the league at a minimum. If they low-balled him he could notify them in writing that they had failed to meet the requirements of the option agreement and the agreement would end unless they offered him an average salary.

Like the 'A' form this agreement could be transferred to another team. It would be in effect so long as the club extended the player the average salary offer whenever he demanded it. The only players I know of who signed a 'B' form were Jean Beliveau and Jacques Plante.

Option Agreement “C”

The 'C' form was the most restrictive to the player. Like the 'A' and 'B' forms it forced him to appear at the club's training camp. What was different about it was that it stipulated the terms to which he would sign a Standard Player's Contract at some point in future, including a signing bonus and the different salaries he would earn depending on whether he played in the NHL, AHL, WHL or QHL/CPHL. He couldn't negotiate the terms later: they were already agreed upon when he signed the 'C' form. There was also a clause which forced the player to “agree that he will play hockey only for such hockey team as may be designated by the Club”. In other words whether or not he actually signed a contract the team could dictate where he played, including as an amateur. As with the other forms the agreement could be traded or assigned to another club.

The final clause in the agreement was perhaps the most restrictive: the agreement would last only one year but the club could automatically renew it for another year, over and over in perpetuity, if they made the player a (negotiated) cash payment for every year's extension. In effect the restrictions on player movement and the rest of the agreement (the predetermined terms of a players contract, showing up to training camp) could be imposed on the player forever as long as the club kept paying the annual renewal fee.


Donald R. Ellis, the Director of the NHL Central Registry Bureau of Player Information from 1953 to 1983, wrote an article within the book Years of Glory edited by Dan Diamond entitled "Waivers, Drafts, and the Sponsorship List". A great deal of the information contained in this blog post was first gleaned from Ellis's work. Within it he wrote that the 'A', 'B' and 'C' forms could not be signed by players younger than 18 but I have found conflicting sources.

One such source is an article entitled "The Economics of the National Hockey League" published in The Canadian Journal of Economics in 1969 by Dr. J. C. H. (Colin) Jones of the University of Victoria Department of Economics. In it he cites two sources which say that the forms "attempt to bind amateurs to a particular professional club when they have reached sixteen years of age". The sources named were the CAHA Hockey Rules of 1954-1955 and the appendices of a U.S. congressional hearing on antitrust legislation as it should apply to professional team sports in 1957.


The amateur draft was instituted in 1963 but the sponsorship system did not begin breaking down until 1966, when the sponsorship lists were frozen. No new players could be added to any team's sponsorship list from that point on and by 1970 direct NHL control of junior clubs would end. As a point of trivia this is how Brad Park ended up with the Rangers: the Maple Leafs had sponsored him (he was a member of the Marlboros Jr. A team) but when the sponsorship lists were frozen in '66 Punch Imlach left Park off their ultimate sponsorship list and elected to keep another player instead. As he was no longer sponsored Park was eligible for the '66 amateur draft and the Rangers chose him second overall. What a steal!

No new 'A', 'B' and 'C' forms could be signed after May 1, 1968. By the beginning of the 1970-71 season the final vestiges of the sponsorship system disappeared as the last sponsored players turned 20 and lost their junior eligibility. Thereafter the NHL would rely on the amateur draft as its source of young talent.


References:

"Ruling Ice Groups Reach Agreement: C.A.H.A. and N.H.L. Repair Rift at Meeting Held in Toronto." Montreal Gazette 15 Aug 1938, 14. Web. 24 Dec. 2012. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=bokxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Z6gFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5094,1658569.

Barnes, James. The Law of Hockey. Markham, Ont.: LexisNexis Canada, 2010. 73-97. Print.

Ellis, Donald R. "Waivers, Drafts, and the Sponsorship List." Years of Glory, 1942-1967: The National Hockey League's Official Book of the Six-Team Era. Ed. Dan Diamond. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1994. 88-97. Print.

Jones, J. C. H. "The Economics of the National Hockey League." The Canadian Journal of Economics. 2.1 (Feb. 1969): 1-20. Web. 24 Dec. 2012. http://www.jstor.org/stable/133568

1975 NHL Intra-League Draft

1975: the number of NHL and WHA teams combined was at an all-time high (32). Teams in both leagues were struggling to make ends meet. The WHA's Chicago Cougars and Baltimore Blades (née Michigan Stags) folded after the '74-'75 season. The Kansas City Scouts, only a year old, were already facing financial ruin. The Golden Seals had been owned and operated by the NHL for over a year. The Pittsburgh Penguins were bankrupt. The NHL obviously had much more pressing matters at the annual meetings in June to consider than the intra-league draft. As such it was very brief; reportedly it took less than 10 minutes.

Overall	Player Chosen	By	From	Player Removed From Protected List	Claim player or cash
1	Dale Lewis	New York Rangers	Los Angeles Kings	Hartland Monahan	cash
2	Hartland Monahan	Washington Capitals	New York Rangers	Tom Williams	cash

The rules were the same as before: protected lists of 18 skaters and a pair of goaltenders, $40,000 draft price. The Penguins weren't permitted to take part due to their bankruptcy; there was a very real possibility that the Penguins would fold.

The Penguins were rescued from bankruptcy by businessmen Al Savill and Otto Frenzel, and former Minnesota North Stars GM Wren Blair. The Penguins would live to see another day. The same could not be said of the intra-league draft. Mid-way through the '75-'76 season the end for the intra-league draft had come: there would be no draft in 1976. June 17, 1975 would go down as the day the last intra-league draft was held by the NHL. Hartland Monahan was the last player ever taken in an NHL intra-league draft.

←1974 Intra-League Draft

The Waiver Draft→

NHL Draft Results

1974 NHL Reverse Draft

The 1974 Reverse Draft was held June 13. The draft price was $15,000.

Overall	Player Chosen	By	From
1	Glen Seperich	Syracuse Eagles (AHL)	Detroit Red Wings (Tidewater Wings [AHL])
2	Bill Butters	Denver Spurs (WHL)	Toronto Maple Leafs (Oklahoma City Blazers [CHL])
3	Rene Drolet	Tidewater Wings (AHL)	Philadelphia Flyers
4	Graham Parsons	Richmond Robins (AHL)	Minnesota North Stars (New Haven Nighthawks [AHL])
5	Alan Hangsleben	Nova Scotia Voyageurs (AHL)	Montreal Canadiens (Nova Scotia Voyageurs [AHL])
6	Harry Shaw	Rochester Americans (AHL)	Minnesota North Stars (New Haven Nighthawks [AHL])

The previous day the NHL had announced that conditional franchises had been awarded to Vincent Abbey and Ivan Mullenix, the owners of the WHL's Seattle Totems and Denver Spurs respectively, to begin play in those cities in 1976. The WHL announced it was suspending operations for the '74-'75 season later that day. The Totems, Spurs and Salt Lake Golden Eagles moved to the Central Hockey League for the '74-'75 season. The WHL's indefinite suspension of operations became permanent.

I suspect the Spurs' selection of Bill Butters was either voided (having ostensibly been chosen by a team without a league at the time) or a cash deal was made to sell his rights back to the Maple Leafs; he was back in Oklahoma City by the beginning of the season in the fall.

In 1975 the Spurs and Totems' conditional NHL franchises were revoked. The financial situation of many of the league's teams were precarious (particularly the Penguins, Scouts and Golden Seals): more expansion was thought to be too risky at the time. The Totems folded while the Spurs decided to move to the WHA instead. The WHA Spurs didn't last long though; attendance at the then-new McNichols Sports Arena was atrocious and Mullenix was bleeding money. He conditionally sold the team to interests in Ottawa around New Year's Day, 1976, and the team played a few more games as the "Ottawa Civics" before folding for good in mid-January. Over-expansion was taking its toll...

1974 NHL Inter-League Draft

The 1974 Inter-League Draft was held June 12, immediately following the expansion draft. Only the expansion Kansas City Scouts and Washington Capitals took part.

Overall	Player Chosen	By	From
1	Jim Hrycuik	Washington Capitals	Hershey Bears (AHL)
2	Hugh Harvey	Kansas City Scouts	Hershey Bears (AHL)

Hrycuik later scored the very first goal in Capitals franchise history, beating Eddie Giacomin at 5:06 of the first period in the Capitals' first regular season game against the Rangers on October 9, 1974. The Capitals lost the game 6-3, the first of 67 losses in the '74-'75 season. They went on to set a record in futility by winning only eight games that season, a low-mark that is still unsurpassed by an NHL team having played 70 or more games in a season.

1974 NHL Intra-League Draft

The 1974 NHL Intra-League Draft took place June 10 at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal. This year, because it was an expansion year, the rules were modified slightly such that the teams could lose only one player. As in the past first-year pros were exempt and the draft price was $40,000. Also exempt this year were goalies. Any player claimed in the proceedings had to be kept on the claiming team's 16-man protected list in the expansion draft, which took place later that week.

Overall	Player Chosen	By	From	Player Removed From Protected List	Claim player or cash
1	Jim Neilson	California Golden Seals	New York Rangers	Walt McKechnie	claim
2	Dave Fortier	New York Islanders	Philadelphia Flyers	Brian Lefley	cash
3	Jim Wiley	Vancouver Canucks	Pittsburgh Penguins	Jim Mair	cash
4	Brian Ogilvie	St. Louis Blues	Chicago Black Hawks	Butch Williams	cash
5	Ron Busniuk	Detroit Red Wings	Buffalo Sabres	Al McLeod	cash

The biggest news story surrounding this year's draft was fall-out from the first selection. Before the draft the Golden Seals, Rangers and Bruins had come to an agreement such that the Seals would take Jim Neilson with their first pick, drop Walt McKechnie from their protected list to make room for Neilson, the Rangers would claim McKechnie as compensation, and they would trade McKechnie to the Bruins at a later date for Derek Sanderson. All was going according to plan until the Sabres had their turn. Because McKechnie was claimed as compensation for losing Neilson McKechnie wasn't placed on the Rangers' protected list. Sabres GM Punch Imlach, being Punch Imlach, thought he could claim McKechnie from the Rangers (his rationale being "McKechnie was the best player available"), thus negating the pre-arranged deal the Rangers and Bruins had agreed to. NHL President Clarence Campbell immediately ruled that the selection was invalid, explained that this year a team could only lose one player and the Rangers had already lost Neilson to the Golden Seals, and the Sabres would have to make another selection or forfeit their pick. Imlach threatened to appeal to the Board of Governors but Campbell rebuffed him, telling him appeals on this matter would not be allowed.

Imlach waived his selection and the rest of the teams passed as well, ending the draft. Two days later McKechnie was traded to the Bruins for Sanderson.

←1973 Intra-League Draft

1975 Intra-League Draft→

NHL Draft Results

1973 NHL Intra-League Draft

The 1973 NHL Intra-League Draft took place June 12 at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal. The draft price was $40,000, and each team protected 18 skaters and a pair of goalies. It was a short affair this year, lasting only about half an hour with only a half-dozen players taken in a single round of drafting. Montreal Gazette sports editor Ted Blackman's article about the draft was titled "NHL draft strictly dullsville". He went on to describe the atmosphere at these meetings as very quiet:

"With the amateur draft moved ahead three weeks to beat the WHA to the punch, the NHL meetings have lost all excitement. Most of the governors' meetings are hush-hush secret sessions on war strategy, the halls are quiet and not one decent rumor has been started."

The WHA had arrived, baby.

Overall	Player Chosen	By	From	Player Removed From Protected List	Claim player or cash
1	Bert Marshall	New York Islanders	New York Rangers	Dave Pulkkinen	cash
2	Ray McKay	California Golden Seals	Buffalo Sabres	Danny Helm	cash
3	Doug Mohns	Atlanta Flames	Minnesota North Stars	Bill Plager	claim
4	Ron Jones	Pittsburgh Penguins	Boston Bruins	Jim Shires	cash
5	Lou Angotti	St. Louis Blues	Chicago Black Hawks	Kevin O'Shea	cash
6	Joe Noris	Buffalo Sabres	St. Louis Blues	Murray Kuntz	cash

←1972 Intra-League Draft

1974 Intra-League Draft→

NHL Draft Results

1978 NHL Dispersal Draft

If you were forced to sum up the business of hockey in the 1970s with only one word I think a very strong argument could be made for the word 'expansion'. In 1966 there were six 'major' professional hockey teams in North America. By 1974 there were 32; 18 in the NHL and 14 in the WHA. In retrospect this number of teams was far more than the market could support and the WHA, on relatively shaky financial ground, dwindled down from 14 teams in '74-'75 to only six in their last season of play, '78-'79. While the NHL was substantially stronger it was not immune to the effects of "over-expansion" and in 1978 the Cleveland Barons, the franchise formerly known as the California Golden Seals and one of the first NHL franchises to have moved its operations since the Ottawa Senators moved to St. Louis in 1934, were on the verge of insolvency.

The Barons had seemingly been on the cusp of folding ever since they had moved to Cleveland in 1976. They narrowly escaped death in February of 1977 when the owners couldn't make payroll. Majority owner Mel Swig, a San Francisco real estate developer and former owner of the Seals when they played in the WHL in the '60s, sold his share at the end of the '76-'77 season to minority owners George and Gordon Gund, venture capitalists from Cleveland who orchestrated the move from Oakland to the Coliseum at Richfield. The Gund brothers operated the Barons for another year, lost a reported $3,500,000 doing so, and were looking to fold the team outright.

The NHL faced other problems too, namely the New York Islanders and the Minnesota North Stars. The Islanders were in heavy debt, no doubt in part a result of the arduous expansion fees paid in 1972. They still owed millions to the league. Operating partner Roy Boe sold his stake in the Islanders that summer to minority partner John Pickett, who came to agreements to pay off the team's debts.

The North Stars weren't in immediate danger of folding, not like the Barons were, but the owners were fed up with losing money and looking to sell. The nine-man group composed of Walter Bush Jr., John Driscoll, Harry McNeely, Robert McNulty, John Ordway, F. T. Weyerhauser, Bob Ridder, Gordon Ritz and Wheelock Whitney Jr. found buyers in George and Gordon Gund. Rather than fold the Barons outright the Gunds negotiated with the North Stars ownership group and the league (in particular board chairman John Ziegler, who helped save the team in '77) to come to a compromise: the Barons and North Stars would merge.

This agreement was reached on June 14, the day before the Amateur Draft took place. The Gund brothers would assume ownership of the combined team, to remain in Minnesota and retain the North Stars name and colours, and take the Barons' place in the Adams Division. The 'new' North Stars would forfeit all of the Barons' amateur draft picks and allow the five other worst teams in the league to have their pick of North Stars and Barons players in a brief dispersal draft. The draft would only last one round, the only participants would be the Capitals, Blues, Canucks, Penguins and Rockies (in that order), and the teams would pay the North Stars $30,000 for each selection.

The Dispersal Draft was held immediately preceding the Amateur Draft at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal. The North Stars would be allowed to protect 10 skaters and a pair of goalies from the combined pool of North Stars and Barons players. After the Capitals and Blues had made their selections the North Stars would be able to add another player to their protected list, and again after the Canucks and Penguins had made their choices.

All of the Barons' amateur draft picks were cancelled (including the fourth round pick held by the Islanders) except for the second round pick held by the Capitals and, depending on the Capitals' course of action, the first round pick. The Capitals were given a choice between exercising the first pick in the dispersal draft or using the Barons' first round amateur draft pick (which would also be moved to last in the round, 18th overall, instead of the original 5th overall). The Islanders' fourth round pick, held by the Barons, was forfeited; the Islanders would not be able to use the Barons' pick or their own in the fourth round.

Barons GM Harry Howell and North Stars GM Lou Nanne worked together to pick the protected players. They protected an equal number of players from each team. From the North Stars they chose to retain Per-Olov Brasar, Brad Maxwell, Bryan Maxwell, Glen Sharpley, Tim Young and goalie Pete LoPresti. From the Barons they protected Mike Fidler, Rick Hampton, Al MacAdam, Dennis Maruk, Greg Smith and goalie Gilles Meloche.

Player Chosen	By
forfeited	Washington Capitals
Mike Crombeen	St. Louis Blues
Ron Zanussi	Minnesota North Stars (fill-in)
Randy Holt	Vancouver Canucks
passed	Pittsburgh Penguins
Bob Stewart	Minnesota North Stars (fill-in)
passed	Colorado Rockies

The Capitals chose to forfeit the first pick in the dispersal draft in exchange for the last pick in the first round of the amateur draft (they chose Tim Coulis). The Penguins and Rockies didn't bother picking players and waived their picks altogether (I suspect they didn't want to pay the $30,000 asking price).

This brief affair, carried out the morning of June 15, was the final footnote in the tumultuous existence of the Barons/Seals franchise.


Trivia for you: the Gunds didn't make much money in Minnesota either. By 1989 they wanted to move the team to the San Francisco Bay Area, where there were rumours of a new arena to be built in the early '90s. The NHL, wanting to keep a team in The State of Hockey, wouldn't approve the move. The Gunds threatened to move the team anyway and take the NHL to court if they tried to stop them, as Al Davis did when he moved the NFL's Raiders to Los Angeles. As a compromise the league allowed the Gunds to sell the team to Howard Baldwin and Morris Belzberg, who would ostensibly keep the North Stars in Minnesota, while the Gunds would get an expansion franchise to play in the Bay Area beginning in 1991, a year before the NHL had intended on expanding. The Gunds' new team would get to take some of the North Stars' players with them and the North Stars would participate in the 1991 Expansion Draft alongside the new team. That team became the San Jose Sharks, of course. Isn't it a strange coincidence that the men who moved pro hockey out of the Bay Area in 1976 and merged that failed enterprise into the North Stars in 1978 would split the North Stars apart in 1991 to put pro hockey back in the Bay Area?

1966 NHL Intra-League Draft

The 1966 NHL Intra-League Draft was held June 15 in the ballroom of the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal. The draft price was $30,000 (US). The four teams that qualified for the Stanley Cup playoffs at the end of the 1965-66 season—Black Hawks, Red Wings, Canadiens and Maple Leafs—were permitted to protect 18 skaters and three goaltenders. The fifth place team, the Bruins, were permitted to protect 19 skaters and three goalies, while the last place Rangers were allowed to protect 20 skaters and three goalies. The number of goaltenders allowed to be protected was increased to three from two because of the foreboding expansion in 1967; the NHL had already decided that the number of protected goalies per team in the '67 Expansion Draft would be only one. If they were only allowed to protect two goalies in this intra-league draft then hypothetically a team could lose two of its top three goalies in the span of about a year, which was felt to be too much of a burden.

Overall	Player Chosen	By	From	Player Removed From Protected List	Claim player?
Round 1
1	Orland Kurtenbach	New York Rangers	Toronto Maple Leafs	John Brenneman	claim
	pass	Boston Bruins
2	Al Lebrun	Detroit Red Wings	New York Rangers	Max Mestinsek	claim
3	Don Blackburn	Toronto Maple Leafs	Montreal Canadiens	Wally Boyer	claim
4	Wally Boyer	Chicago Black Hawks	Montreal Canadiens	Al MacNeil	claim
	pass	Montreal Canadiens
Round 2
5	Al MacNeil	New York Rangers	Montreal Canadiens	Mike McMahon	claim
6	Ted Taylor	Detroit Red Wings	Montreal Canadiens	Pat Quinn	claim
Round 3
7	Ray Cullen	Detroit Red Wings	New York Rangers	Bryan Campbell	claim

1966 was the first year that a player dropped from a team's protected list to make room for another could be immediately claimed by the team who had lost a player, without forfeiting their own turn. The teams who exercised this option had to pay the other team the full draft price. As it turned out every team exercised this option and in effect this resulted in no actual cash changing hands in this entire draft; it all evened out in the end. This was changed after expansion to allow the teams who had lost a player to claim the player dropped by the other team for a reduced price (see my post about the 1972 Intra-League Draft).

←1965 Intra-League Draft

1968 Intra-League Draft→

NHL Draft Results

1964 NHL Intra-League Draft

The 1964 NHL Intra-League Draft took place on June 10, the day after the Inter-League Draft. Note that Boston and New York, being at the bottom of the league standings at the end of the '63-'64 season and having failed to qualify for the playoffs, each had 'bonus' picks at the beginning of the first round. The price for each pick was $20,000 (US) and each team protected two goaltenders and 18 skaters.

Overall	Player Chosen	By	From	Player Removed From Protected List
Round 1
	pass	Boston Bruins
1	Jim Mikol	New York Rangers	Boston Bruins	Bob Woytowich
2	Bob Woytowich	Boston Bruins	New York Rangers	Wayne Maxner
	pass	New York Rangers
3	Gary Bergman	Detroit Red Wings	Montreal Canadiens	Al Langlois
4	Dickie Moore	Toronto Maple Leafs	Montreal Canadiens	Gerry Ehman
	pass	Chicago Black Hawks
	pass	Montreal Canadiens
Round 2
5	Murray Hall	Detroit Red Wings	Chicago Black Hawks	Bob Dillabough
Round 3
6	George Gardner	Detroit Red Wings	Boston Bruins	Terry Sawchuk
7	Terry Sawchuk	Toronto Maple Leafs	Detroit Red Wings	Gerry Cheevers

←1963 Intra-League Draft

1965 Intra-League Draft→

NHL Draft Results

1968 NHL Intra-League Draft

By request here are the results of the 1968 NHL Intra-League Draft, held June 12. Each team protected 14 skaters and two goalies, and the draft price was $30,000.

The protected lists were as follows:

Boston Bruins	Chicago Black Hawks	Detroit Red Wings	Los Angeles Kings	Minnesota North Stars	Montreal Canadiens
Goaltenders
Gerry Cheevers	Denis DeJordy	Roger Crozier	Gerry Desjardins	Chuck Goddard	Rogie Vachon
Eddie Johnston	Dave Dryden	Roy Edwards	Wayne Rutledge	Cesare Maniago	Gump Worsley
Skaters
Don Awrey	Dennis Hull	Ron Anderson	Bryan Campbell	Dave Balon	Ralph Backstrom
Johnny Bucyk	Bobby Hull	Bobby Baun	Bill Flett	Andre Boudrias	Jean Beliveau
Wayne Cashman	Doug Jarrett	Gary Bergman	Brent Hughes	Wayne Connelly	Yvan Cournoyer
Gary Doak	Chico Maki	Alex Delvecchio	Ted Irvine	Ray Cullen	Dick Duff
Phil Esposito	Wayne Maki	Kent Douglas	Eddie Joyal	Bill Goldsworthy	John Ferguson
Ted Green	Gilles Marotte	Ron Harris	Skip Krake	Danny Grant	Terry Harper
Ken Hodge	Pit Martin	Gordie Howe	God Labossiere	Claude Larose	Ted Harris
John McKenzie	Stan Mikita	Nick Libett	Real Lemieux	Milan Marcetta	Jacques Laperriere
Glen Sather	Doug Mohns	Bruce MacGregor	Lowell MacDonald	Bob McCord	Jacques Lemaire
Eddie Shack	Eric Nesterenko	Frank Mahovlich	Poul Popiel	J.P. Parise	Henri Richard
Dallas Smith	Jim Pappin	Dean Prentice	Doug Robinson	Jim Pateron	Bobby Rousseau
Fred Stanfield	Bobby Schmautz	Pete Stemkowski	Dale Rolfe	Bill Plager	Serge Savard
Ed Westfall	Pat Stapleton	Jim Watson	Bill White	Bob Woytowich	Gilles Tremblay
Tom Williams	Ken Wharram		Bob Wall	Mike McMahon	J.C. Tremblay
New York Rangers	Oakland Seals	Philadelphia Flyers	Pittsburgh Penguins	St. Louis Blues	Toronto Maple Leafs
Goaltenders
Eddie Giacomin	Charlie Hodge	Doug Favell	Les Binkley	Glenn Hall	Johnny Bower
Gilles Villemure	Gary Smith	Bernie Parent	Joe Daley	Seth Martin	Bruce Gamble
Skaters
Arnie Brown	John Brenneman	Dick Cherry	Lou Angotti	Al Arbour	Ron Ellis
Reg Fleming	Larry Cahan	Gary Dornhoefer	John Arbour	Red Berenson	Paul Henderson
Rod Gilbert	Norm Ferguson	Jean Gauthier	Andy Bathgate	Craig Cameron	Bryan Hextall
Phil Goyette	Stan Fuller	Earl Heiskala	Leo Boivin	Terry Crisp	Larry Hillman
Vic Hadfield	Ted Hampson	Jim Johnson	Wally Boyer	Darryl Edestrand	Tim Horton
Wayne Hillman	Billy Harris	Forbes Kennedy	Val Fonteyne	Larry Keenan	Dave Keon
Harry Howell	Bill Hicke	Andre Lacroix	Earl Ingarfield	Ab McDonald	Murray Oliver
Orland Kurtenbach	Gary Jarrett	John Miszuk	George Konik	Noel Picard	Pierre Pilote
Don Marshall	Bert Marshall	Simon Nolet	Dunc McCallum	Barclay Plager	Marcel Pronovost
Jim Neilson	Tracy Pratt	Leon Rochefort	Keith McCreary	Bob Plager	Bob Pulford
Bob Nevin	Doug Roberts	Brit Selby	Noel Price	Rejean Richer	Duane Rupp
Jean Ratelle	George Swarbrick	Bill Sutherland	Jean Pronovost	Jim Roberts	Floyd Smith
Rod Seiling	Bryan Watson	Ed Van Impe	Ken Schinkel	Gary Sabourin	Norm Ullman
Ron Stewart	Howie Young	Joe Watson	Gene Ubriaco	Ron Schock	Mike Walton

The draft results:

Overall	Player Chosen	By	From	Player Removed From Protected List	Claim player or cash	Fill-in
Round 1
1	Carol Vadnais	Oakland Seals	Montreal Canadiens	Larry Cahan	claim	Claude Provost
2	Brian Conacher	Detroit Red Wings	Toronto Maple Leafs	Gary Marsh	claim	George Armstrong
3	Charlie Burns	Pittsburgh Penguins	Oakland Seals	George Konik	claim	Brian Perry
4	Larry Mickey	Toronto Maple Leafs	New York Rangers	Larry Hillman	claim	Larry Jeffrey
5	Larry Hillman	Minnesota North Stars	New York Rangers	Bill Plager	claim	Camille Henry
6	Jacques Plante	St. Louis Blues	New York Rangers	Seth Martin	cash	Bob Jones
	pass	Los Angeles
7	Ron Buchanan	Philadelphia Flyers	Boston Bruins	Jean Gauthier	claim	Ted Hodgson
	pass	Chicago Black Hawks
	pass	Boston Bruins
	pass	New York Rangers
	pass	Montreal Canadiens
Round 2
8	Fern Rivard	Minnesota North Stars	Philadelphia Flyers	Chuck Goddard	cash	Don Blackburn
9	Myron Stankewicz	St. Louis Blues	Los Angeles Kings	Rejean Richer	cash	Dave Amadio
Round 3
10	Larry Hale	Philadelphia Flyers	Minnesota North Stars	Bill Sutherland	claim	Bill Collins
Round 4
11	Bill Sutherland	Toronto Maple Leafs	Minnesota North Stars	Duane Rupp	claim	Parker MacDonald

The big news this year was Oakland's picking Carol Vadnais first overall. Supposedly Montreal 'gifted' Vadnais to Oakland by leaving him off the protected list in lieu of another player the Seals wouldn't have wanted. The price of this courtesy—again, supposedly—was that the Seals sent their first and second round picks in 1973's amateur draft to the Canadiens for the Canadiens' second round pick in '72 and the right to draft Vadnais. I can't find any period sources to substantiate this.

As you can see Larry Hillman and Bill Sutherland had busy days. Within the span of minutes Hillman was claimed by the Rangers from the Leafs when the Leafs dropped him from their protected list to make room for Larry Mickey, and then was picked by the North Stars from the Rangers. Sutherland was similarly dropped by the Flyers, claimed by the North Stars and picked by the Maple Leafs.

George Konik, the player claimed from the Penguins after the Penguins picked Burns, never played in the NHL again. He chose 'retirement' over playing for the Seals. He had a college degree (he played hockey at the University of Denver) and an off-season job in Minnesota, so he chose to pursue that career instead. He played in the 'amateur' USHL and for the U.S. national team, having become a naturalized citizen. His last pro hockey was played in the '72-'73 season for the WHA's Minnesota Fighting Saints.

←1966 Intra-League Draft

1969 Intra-League Draft→

NHL Draft Results

1965 NHL Intra-League Draft

The 1965 NHL Intra-League Draft took place on June 9, the day after the Inter-League Draft. Several players involved in the Inter-League Draft and other transactions on the 8th of June were moved as part of the Intra-League Draft proceedings the very next day.

Overall	Player Chosen	By	From	Player Removed From Protected List
Round 1
1	Gerry Cheevers	Boston Bruins	Toronto Maple Leafs	Jack Norris
2	Earl Ingarfield	New York Rangers	Montreal Canadiens
	pass	Toronto Maple Leafs
3	Pat Stapleton	Chicago Black Hawks	Toronto Maple Leafs	Bryan Watson
	pass	Montreal Canadiens
4	Bryan Watson	Detroit Red Wings	Chicago Black Hawks	Butch Paul
Round 2
5	Poul Popeil	Boston Bruins	Chicago Black Hawks
Round 3
6	Norm Schmitz	Boston Bruins	Montreal Canadiens
Round 3
7	Keith Wright	Boston Bruins	New York Rangers

Earl Ingarfield, Pat Stapleton, Bryan Watson and Keith Wright were each moved twice in the span of a day. Ingarfield went from being Rangers' property to the Canadiens and back to Rangers, Stapleton went from the Bruins to Maple Leafs to Black Hawks, Watson went from the Canadiens to the Black Hawks to the Red Wings, and Wright went from the Canadiens to Rangers to Bruins.

Some trivia for you: Arthur Stewart "Butch" Paul, the player the Red Wings dropped from their protected list when they claimed Bryan Watson, was killed less than a year later in a car crash. He died Friday, March 25, 1966 while driving home from a CPHL game in Memphis against the Tulsa Oilers.

←1964 Intra-League Draft

1966 Intra-League Draft→

NHL Draft Results

1965 NHL Inter-League Draft

The 1965 Inter-League Draft was held on Tuesday, June 8. The draft price was $20,000. Three of the draft choices were so-called "bookkeeping" choices, in which the NHL club claimed a player from one of their own farm teams. In effect the NHL team would be paying their own farm club.

Overall	Player Chosen	By	From
Round 1
1	Claude Dufour	Boston Bruins	Hershey Bears (AHL) (Montreal Canadiens)
2	Don Simmons	New York Rangers	Rochester Americans (AHL) (Toronto Maple Leafs)
3	Larry Johnston	Toronto Maple Leafs	Tulsa Oilers (CPHL) (Toronto Maple Leafs)
4	Ernie Wakely	Chicago Black Hawks	Quebec Aces (AHL) (Montreal Canadiens)
5	Norm Schmitz	Montreal Canadiens	Omaha Knights (CPHL) (Montreal Canadiens)
6	Pat Hannigan	Detroit Red Wings	Buffalo Bisons (AHL) (Chicago Black Hawks)
Round 2
7	Glen Sather	Boston Bruins	Pittsburgh Hornets (AHL) (Detroit Red Wings)
8	Larry Mickey	New York Rangers	St. Louis Braves (CPHL) (Chicago Black Hawks)
9	Keith Walsh	Montreal Canadiens	Pittsburgh Hornets (AHL) (Detroit Red Wings)
10	Irv Spencer	Detroit Red Wings	Pittsburgh Hornets (AHL) (Detroit Red Wings)
Round 3
11	Keith Wright	New York Rangers	Cleveland Barons (AHL) (Montreal Canadiens)
12	Dunc McCallum	Detroit Red Wings	Vancouver Canucks (WHL) (New York Rangers)

The day also featured several trades and a couple waiver claims, which overshadowed the draft proceedings a bit.

Before the draft the Red Wings claimed Don McKenney off waivers from the Maple Leafs and the Rangers claimed Bill Knibbs off waivers from the Bruins. Each of these transactions carried a $30,000 price.

The Canadiens traded Cesare Maniago and Gary Peters earlier in the day to the Rangers for Earl Ingarfield, Gord Labossiere, Dave McComb, Noel Price and $10,000. (Ingarfield was left exposed in the Intra-League Draft the following day and was reclaimed by the Rangers.)

Meanwhile the Maple Leafs traded Ron Stewart to the Bruins for Orland Kurtenbach, Andy Hebenton and Pat Stapleton. (Stapleton was left exposed in the Intra-League Draft and taken by the Black Hawks.)

After the Inter-League Draft and before the protected lists for the Intra-League Draft had to be submitted the Canadiens completed another trade, sending Bryan Watson to the Black Hawks for Don Johns and $30,000. (Watson was dropped off the Black Hawks' protected list during the Intra-League Draft and was claimed by the Red Wings.)

1971 NHL Inter-League Draft

The 1971 Inter-League Draft was held June 7. It was a short affair, with only four teams exercising picks. All other teams passed.

Overall	Player Chosen	By	From
1	Gary Kurt	California Golden Seals	Cleveland Barons (AHL)
2	Andy Brown	Detroit Red Wings	Baltimore Clippers (AHL)
3	Andy Spencer	Vancouver Canucks	Tidewater Wings (AHL)
4	Jim McLeod	St. Louis Blues	Portland Buckaroos (WHL)

1969 NHL Reverse Draft

The 1969 Reverse Draft, where WHL and AHL teams were allowed to pick players from the NHL teams, was held June 12. The results were as follows. Where applicable I have noted the minor-league affiliate (or national team) the player had played for the previous season.

Overall	Player Chosen	By	From
Round 1
1	Germain Gagnon	Salt Lake Golden Eagles	Montreal Canadiens (Houston Apollos [CHL])
2	Bill Young	Phoenix Roadrunners	Chicago Black Hawks (Greensboro Generals [EHL])
3	Wilf Martin	Denver Spurs	Montreal Canadiens (Cleveland Barons [AHL])
4	Noel Price	Springfield Kings	Pittsburgh Penguins
5	Rene Drolet	Quebec Aces	Philadelphia Flyers (Quebec Aces [AHL])
6	Dunc McCallum	Providence Reds	Pittsburgh Penguins
7	Doug Volmar	San Diego Gulls	Detroit Red Wings (U.S. National Team)
8	Gary Kurt	Cleveland Barons	New York Rangers (Omaha Knights [CHL])
9	Gary Bauman	Vancouver Canucks	Minnesota North Stars (Memphis South Stars [CHL])
10	Jean Lapointe	Hershey Bears	Philadelphia Flyers (Quebec Aces [AHL])
11	Pierre Pilote	Buffalo Bisons	Toronto Maple Leafs
12	Billy Orr	Rochester Americans	New York Rangers (New Haven Blades [EHL]
13	Jerry Lafond	Seattle Totems	Oakland Seals (Providence Reds [AHL])
Round 2
14	Rick Pagnutti	Salt Lake Golden Eagles	Los Angeles Kings (Springfield Kings [AHL])
15	Peter McDuffe	Phoenix Roadrunners	Chicago Black Hawks (Greensboro Generals [EHL])
16	Jacques Caron	Denver Spurs	Los Angeles Kings (Denver Spurs [WHL])
17	Bob Sneddon	Springfield Kings	Montreal Canadiens (Quebec Aces [AHL])
18	Roger Pelletier	Quebec Aces	Philadelphia Flyers (Quebec Aces [AHL])
19	Kevin O'Shea	San Diego Gulls	New York Rangers (Canadian National Team)
20	Jean Gauthier	Cleveland Barons	Boston Bruins
21	Jack Stanfield	Vancouver Canucks	Chicago Black Hawks (San Diego Gulls [WHL])
22	Jean-Guy Gratton	Hershey Bears	Montreal Canadiens (Trois-Rivières Maple Leafs [Quebec Jr. A])
23	Camille Henry	Buffalo Bisons	St. Louis Blues
Round 3
24	Galen Head	Salt Lake Golden Eagles	Detroit Red Wings (Johnstown Jets [EHL])
25	John Wright	Phoenix Roadrunners	Toronto Maple Leafs (University of Toronto [CIAU])
26	Georges Guilbault	Denver Spurs	St. Louis Blues (Kansas City Blues [CHL])
Round 4
27	Doug Shelton	Denver Spurs	Minnesota North Stars1

1. Doug Shelton was traded to the North Stars by the Black Hawks May 6, 1969 to complete the trade for Andre Boudrias and Mike McMahon (Feb. 14, 1969)

1969 NHL Intra-League Draft

The 1969 NHL Intra-League Draft was held June 11. Each team protected 14 skaters and two goalies, and the draft price was $30,000.

The protected lists:

Boston Bruins	Chicago Black Hawks	Detroit Red Wings	Los Angeles Kings	Minnesota North Stars	Montreal Canadiens
Goaltenders
Gerry Cheevers	Denis DeJordy	Roger Crozier	Gerry Desjardins	Cesare Maniago	Rogie Vachon
Eddie Johnston	Jack Norris	Roy Edwards	Wayne Rutledge	Fern Rivard	Gump Worsley
Skaters
Don Awrey	Dennis Hull	Bobby Baun	Bryan Campbell	Bob Barlow	Ralph Backstrom
Johnny Bucyk	Bobby Hull	Gary Bergman	Bill Flett	Ray Cullen	Jean Beliveau
Wayne Cashman	Doug Jarrett	Carl Brewer	Dennis Hextall	Sandy Fitzpatrick	Yvan Cournoyer
Gary Doak	Chico Maki	Wayne Connelly	Brent Hughes	Pete Goegan	John Ferguson
Phil Esposito	Gilles Marotte	Alex Delvecchio	Bill Inglis	Bill Goldsworthy	Terry Harper
Ted Green	Pit Martin	Kent Douglas	Ted Irvine	Danny Grant	Ted Harris
Ken Hodge	Ray McKay	Ron Harris	Eddie Joyal	Claude Larose	Jacques Laperriere
Jim Lorentz	Mike McMahon	Gordie Howe	Skip Krake	John Miszuk	Jacques Lemaire
Don Marcotte	Stan Mikita	Nick Libett	Ross Lonsberry	J. P. Parisé	Claude Provost
John McKenzie	Doug Mohns	Bruce MacGregor	Leon Rochefort	Tom Polanic	Henri Richard
Derek Sanderson	Jim Pappin	Frank Mahovlich	Dale Rolfe	Tom Reid	Bobby Rousseau
Dallas Smith	Paul Shmyr	Garry Monahan	Eddie Shack	Darryl Sly	Serge Savard
Fred Stanfield	Pat Stapleton	Hank Monteith	Bob Wall	Brian D. Smith	Gilles Tremblay
Ed Westfall	Ken Wharram	Pete Stemkowski	Bill White	Tom Williams	J. C. Tremblay
New York Rangers	Oakland Seals	Philadelphia Flyers	Pittsburgh Penguins	St. Louis Blues	Toronto Maple Leafs
Goaltenders
Ed Giacomin	Charlie Hodge	Doug Favell	Les Binkley	Glenn Hall	Bruce Gamble
Gilles Villemure	Gary Smith	Bernie Parent	Joe Daley	Jacques Plante	Al Smith
Skaters
Dave Balon	Bob Dillabough	Serge Bernier	John Arbour	Al Arbour	Wayne Carleton
Arnie Brown	Gerry Ehman	Mike Byers	Doug Barrie	Red Berenson	Ron Ellis
Bill Fairbairn	Norm Ferguson	Reggie Fleming	Charlie Burns	Ron Buchanan	Paul Henderson
Rod Gilbert	Ted Hampson	Jean-Guy Gendron	Craig Cameron	Claude Cardin	Tim Horton
Vic Hadfield	Bill Hicke	Wayne Hillman	Bryan Hextall	Phil Goyette	Dan Johnson
Al Hamilton	Harry Howell	Jim Johnson	Keith McCreary	Ab McDonald	Dave Keon
Orland Kurtenbach	Earl Ingarfield	Andre Lacroix	Tracy Pratt	Noel Picard	Jim McKenny
Real Lemieux	Gary Jarrett	Ralph MacSweyn	Jean Pronovost	Roger Picard	Murray Oliver
Don Marshall	Mike Laughton	Gerry Meehan	Duane Rupp	Barclay Plager	Bob Pulford
Jim Neilson	Bert Marshall	Rosie Paiement	Ken Schinkel	Bob Plager	Pat Quinn
Bob Nevin	Brian Perry	Dick Sarrazin	Ron Schock	Bill Plager	Brit Selby
Jean Ratelle	Doug Roberts	Bill Sutherland	Bill Speer	Jim Roberts	Norm Ullman
Rod Seiling	Gene Ubriaco	Ed Van Impe	Bryan Watson	Gary Sabourin	Mike Walton
Ron Stewart	Carol Vadnais	Joe Watson	Bob Woytowich	Frank St. Marseille	Ron Ward

The draft results:

Overall	Player Chosen	By	From	Player Removed From Protected List	Claim player or cash	Fill-in
Round 1
1	Dick Sentes	Minnesota North Stars	Montreal Canadiens	Brian Smith	cash	Dick Duff
2	Tony Esposito	Chicago Black Hawks	Montreal Canadiens	Jack Norris	claim	Pete Mahovlich
3	Glen Sather	Pittsburgh Penguins	Boston Bruins	Bill Speer	claim	Barry Wilkins
4	Matt Ravlich	Detroit Red Wings	Chicago Black Hawks	Kent Douglas	cash	Eric Nesterenko
	pass	Los Angeles Kings
5	Larry Hillman	Philadelphia Flyers	Montreal Canadiens	Jean-Guy Gendron	claim	John Vanderburg
	pass	Oakland Seals
6	Andre Boudrias	St. Louis Blues	Chicago Black Hawks	Roger Picard	cash	Bobby Schmautz
7	Marv Edwards	Toronto Maple Leafs	Pittsburgh Penguins	Al Smith	claim	Nick Harbaruk
	pass	New York Rangers
	pass	Boston Bruins
8	Larry Mickey	Montreal Canadiens	Toronto Maple Leafs	John Vanderburg	cash	Floyd Smith
Round 2
9	Grant Erickson	Minnesota North Stars	Boston Bruins	Sandy Fitzpatrick	cash	Stan Gilbertson
10	Lou Angotti	Chicago Black Hawks	St. Louis Blues	Bobby Schmautz	claim	Ian Campbell
11	Dean Prentice	Pittsburgh Penguins	Detroit Red Wings	Charlie Burns	cash	Poul Popeil
12	Ron Anderson	St. Louis Blues	Los Angeles Kings	Ian Campbell	cash	Gord Labossiere
Round 3
13	Charlie Burns	Minnesota North Stars	Pittsburgh Penguins	Pete Goegan	cash	Forbes Kennedy
14	Bob Blackburn	Pittsburgh Penguins	New York Rangers	Forbes Kennedy	claim	Guy Trottier
15	Wayne Maki	St. Louis Blues	Chicago Black Hawks	Claude Cardin	cash	Jean-Paul Leblanc
Round 4
16	Howie Menard	Chicago Black Hawks	Los Angeles Kings	Jean-Paul Leblanc	cash	Howie Hughes

←1968 Intra-League Draft

1970 Intra-League Draft→

NHL Draft Results

1969 NHL Inter-League Draft

The 1969 Inter-League Draft was held June 10. The draft price was the same $15,000 as it had been before.

Overall	Player Chosen	By	From
Round 1
1	Darryl Sly	Minnesota North Stars	Vancouver Canucks (WHL)
2	Bill Saunders	Chicago Black Hawks	Portland Buckaroos (WHL)
3	Nick Harbaruk	Pittsburgh Penguins	Vancouver Canucks (WHL)
4	Chuck Hamilton	Detroit Red Wings	Hershey Bears (AHL)
5	Bob Barlow	Philadelphia Flyers	Vancouver Canucks (WHL)
6	Jerry Lafond	Oakland Seals	Providence Reds (AHL)
7	Bob Pate	Montreal Canadiens	Denver Spurs (WHL)
Round 2
8	Sandy McGregor	Pittsburgh Penguins	Baltimore Clippers (AHL)

1971 NHL Intra-League Draft

The 1971 Intra-League Draft was known more for the antics of Punch Imlach than the transactions themselves.

The draft was held June 8. Each team protected 18 skaters and two goalies. When a goalie was lost another could be added to the protected list as a fill-in. The draft price was $40,000.

Overall	Player Chosen	By	From	Player Removed From Protected List	Claim player or cash
Round 1
1	Wayne Carleton	California Golden Seals	Boston Bruins	Gerry Ehman	cash
2	Al Smith	Detroit Red Wings	Pittsburgh Penguins	Jim Rutherford	claim
3	Dennis Kearns	Vancouver Canucks	Chicago Black Hawks	Murray Hall	cash
4	Dave Burrows	Pittsburgh Penguins	Chicago Black Hawks	Dean Prentice	cash
5	Ray McKay	Buffalo Sabres	Chicago Black Hawks	Jean-Guy Talbot	cash
6	Gary Edwards	Los Angeles Kings	Buffalo Sabres	Bruce Landon	cash
	pass	Minnesota North Stars
7	Larry Brown	Philadelphia Flyers	New York Rangers	Larry Hillman	cash
8	Don Marshall	Toronto Maple Leafs	Buffalo Sabres	Brian Marchinko	cash
9	Mike Parizeau	St. Louis Blues	New York Rangers	Claude Laforge	cash
	pass	Montreal Canadiens
	pass	Chicago Black Hawks
	pass	New York Rangers
	pass	Boston Bruins
Round 2
10	Frank Hughes	California Golden Seals	Toronto Maple Leafs	Doug Roberts	cash
11	Fred Speck	Vancouver Canucks	Detroit Red Wings	Ron Ward	cash
12	Tim Horton	Pittsburgh Penguins	New York Rangers	Bob Blackburn	cash
13	Rene Robert	Buffalo Sabres	Toronto Maple Leafs	Floyd Smith	cash
14	Frank Spring	Philadelphia Flyers	Boston Bruins	Garry Peters	claim
Round 3
15	Stan Gilbertson	California Golden Seals	Boston Bruins	Bill Hicke	cash
16	Rey Comeau	Vancouver Canucks	Montreal Canadiens	Jim Wiste	cash
17	Hugh Harris	Buffalo Sabres	Montreal Canadiens	Paul Andrea	cash
18	Brian Lavender	Minnesota North Stars	Montreal Canadiens	Bob Murdoch	claim
Round 4
	Dick Duff	Buffalo Sabres	Buffalo Sabres	Rene Robert
19	Rene Robert	Pittsburgh Penguins	Buffalo Sabres	Wally Boyer	cash
Round 5
	Reg Fleming	Buffalo Sabres	Buffalo Sabres	Hugh Harris
Round 6
20	Danny Lawson	Buffalo Sabres	Minnesota North Stars	Reg Fleming	cash
Round 7
	Reg Fleming	Buffalo Sabres	Buffalo Sabres	Dick Duff
Round 8
21	Rod Zaine	Buffalo Sabres	Pittsburgh Penguins	Reg Fleming	cash
Round 9
	Reg Fleming	Buffalo Sabres	Buffalo Sabres	Rod Zaine
Round 10
22	Tom Miller	Buffalo Sabres	Detroit Red Wings	Reg Fleming	cash
Round 11
	Reg Fleming	Buffalo Sabres	Buffalo Sabres	Tom Miller
Round 12
23	Ken Murray	Buffalo Sabres	Toronto Maple Leafs	Reg Fleming	cash
Round 13
	Reg Fleming	Buffalo Sabres	Buffalo Sabres	Ken Murrary

(Note: After goalies Al Smith and Gary Edwards were drafted the Penguins and Sabres filled in their protected lists with Paul Hoganson and Rocky Farr, respectively.)

As you can see from the results the Sabres had no problem bending the rules a bit to get what they wanted. You see, there was nothing that said a team couldn't draft one of its own unprotected players. Punch Imlach used 35-year-old Reg Fleming, who because of his age and his salary was not likely to be picked by another team anyway, as a pawn. Fleming was 'drafted' and 'dropped' nine times, and in the process the Sabres acquired four players well after the rest of the teams were done drafting. As Imlach drafted a player from another team he'd drop Fleming, who wasn't claimed, and then reclaim him in the next round by dropping the player he'd just drafted. If the drafted player was claimed by another team the Sabres didn't really stand to lose anything: they'd get the $40,000 back from having drafted the player in the first place and they were right back were they started. If they lost Fleming to another team, so what? He was 35; he never played another game in the NHL after this anyway.

Trivia for you: Rene Robert was drafted from the Maple Leafs by the Sabres in the second round but was lost to the Penguins in the fourth round as Punch Imlach was reshuffling his list of players. Imlach wanted to have Robert on his team but ended up having to trade Eddie Shack to the Penguins in 1972 to finally get him.

←1970 Intra-League Draft

1972 Intra-League Draft→

NHL Draft Results

1970 NHL Intra-League Draft

The 1970 NHL Intra-League Draft was held the morning of June 9, 1970, a day before the expansion draft.

Overall	Player Chosen	By	From	Player Removed From Protected List	Claim player or cash
Round 1
1	Paul Curtis	Los Angeles Kings	Montreal Canadiens	Bill Inglis	claim
2	Guy Trottier	Toronto Maple Leafs	New York Rangers		cash
3	Bill Lesuk	Philadelphia Flyers	Boston Bruins	Dick Cherry	claim
4	Bob McCord	Montreal Canadiens	Minnesota North Stars	Ted Harris	claim
5	Gary Croteau	Oakland Seals	Detroit Red Wings		cash
6	John Gofton	Minnesota North Stars	Rochester Americans (AHL)		cash
7	Lowell MacDonald	Pittsburgh Penguins	Los Angeles Kings	Craig Cameron	claim
8	Steve Atkinson	St. Louis Blues	Hershey Bears (AHL)		cash
9	Gerry Lemire	New York Rangers	St. Louis Blues		cash
10	Tom Martin	Detroit Red Wings	Phoenix Roadrunners (WHL)		cash
Round 2
11	Paul Andrea	Oakland Seals	Vancouver Canucks (WHL)		cash
12	Jean-Guy Lagace	Minnesota North Stars	Pittsburgh Penguins		cash
13	Chris Evans	St. Louis Blues	Phoenix Roadrunners (WHL)		cash

You'll notice several of the players were nominally taken from minor league teams. These players were still eligible to be chosen, even though they'd been traded to minor league teams, because of arcane rules about how many games they'd played in the NHL.

←1969 Intra-League Draft

1971 Intra-League Draft→

NHL Draft Results

1970 NHL Inter-League Draft

The 1970 Inter-League Draft was held June 9, just after the intra-league draft. The Buffalo Sabres were the only team to participate. The Canucks were excluded because they had been a WHL team themselves, thus they already had a few minor league players under contract. The rest of the league was excluded in order to give the expansion Sabres the best pick of the minor league players. This was a relatively small concession as of the four picks only Bill Inglis had any NHL experience up to that point.

Overall	Player Chosen	By	From
1	Kevin O'Shea	Buffalo Sabres	San Diego Gulls (WHL)
2	Cliff Schmautz	Buffalo Sabres	Portland Buckaroos (WHL)
3	Brian McDonald	Buffalo Sabres	Denver Spurs (WHL)
4	Bill Inglis	Buffalo Sabres	Montreal Voyageurs (AHL)1 (Montreal Canadiens)

1. Bill Inglis was claimed by the Montreal Canadiens from the Los Angeles Kings in the Intra-League Draft earlier in the day. He never played for the Montreal Canadiens or their affiliate in the AHL.

A tidbit of trivia for you: Kevin O'Shea and Cliff Schmautz each had more famous brothers playing in the NHL. Kevin's older brother Danny played 370 games, mostly with the North Stars. Cliff's younger brother Bobby played 764 games, mostly with the Bruins.

1970 NHL Expansion Draft

As promised here follows the results of the 1970 Expansion Draft that occurred June 10, 1970.

The protected lists:

Boston Bruins	Chicago Black Hawks	Detroit Red Wings	Los Angeles Kings	Minnesota North Stars	Montreal Canadiens
Goaltenders
Gerry Cheevers	Gerry Desjardins	Roger Crozier	Denis Dejordy	Cesare Maniago	Phil Myre
Eddie Johnston	Tony Esposito	Roy Edwards	Jack Norris	Gump Worsley	Rogie Vachon
Skaters
Don Awrey	Bryan Campbell	Gary Bergman	Paul Curtis	Charlie Burns	Ralph Backstrom
Johnny Bucyk	Dennis Hull	Carl Brewer	Dick Duff	Bill Collins	Jean Beliveau
Wayne Carleton	Bobby Hull	Wayne Connelly	Bill Flett	Jude Drouin	Pierre Bouchard
Wayne Cashman	Doug Jarrett	Alex Delvecchio	Ray Fortin	Barry Gibbs	Yvan Cournoyer
Phil Esposito	Cliff Koroll	Ron Harris	Lucien Grenier	John Gofton	John Ferguson
Ted Green	Chico Maki	Gerry Hart	Eddie Joyal	Bill Goldsworthy	Terry Harper
Ken Hodge	Pit Martin	Gordie Howe	Real Lemieux	Danny Grant	Jacques Laperriere
Don Marcotte	Ray McKay	Nick Libett	Ross Lonsberry	Ted Harris	Guy Lapointe
Bobby Orr	Stan Mikita	Bruce MacGregor	Gilles Marotte	Claude Larose	Jacques Lemaire
John McKenzie	Doug Mohns	Frank Mahovlich	Larry Mickey	Danny Lawson	Peter Mahovlich
Derek Sanderson	Eric Nesterenko	Hank Monteith	Garry Monahan	Murray Oliver	Mickey Redmond
Dallas Smith	Jim Pappin	Dale Rolfe	Jim Peters	Danny O'Shea	Henri Richard
Rick Smith	Paul Shmyr	Fred Speck	Matt Ravlich	J. P. Parisé	Bobby Rousseau
Fred Stanfield	Pat Stapleton	Pete Stemkowski	Eddie Shack	Tom Reid	Serge Savard
Ed Westfall	Bill White	Garry Unger	Juha Widing	Tom Williams	J. C. Tremblay
New York Rangers	Oakland Seals	Philadelphia Flyers	Pittsburgh Penguins	St. Louis Blues	Toronto Maple Leafs
Goaltenders
Ed Giacomin	Gary Smith	Doug Favell	Les Binkley	Glenn Hall	Bruce Gamble
Gilles Villemure	Chris Worthy	Bernie Parent	Al Smith	Ernie Wakely	Jacques Plante
Skaters
Dave Balon	Paul Andrea	Barry Ashbee	John Arbour	Ron Anderson	Jim Dorey
Arnie Brown	Gary Croteau	Serge Bernier	Wally Boyer	Steve Atkinson	Ron Ellis
Larry Brown	Norm Ferguson	Gary Dornhoefer	Nick Harbaruk	Red Berenson	Brian Glennie
Bill Fairbairn	Ted Hampson	Jean-Guy Gendron	Bryan Hextall	Christian Bordeleau	Jim Harrison
Rod Gilbert	Dennis Hextall	Larry Hale	Dunc McCallum	Tim Ecclestone	Paul Henderson
Vic Hadfield	Ernie Hicke	Earl Heiskala	Keith McCreary	Jim Lorentz	Dave Keon
Ted Irvine	Bill Hicke	Larry Hillman	Jim Morrison	Ab McDonald	Rick Ley
Jim Krulicki	Harry Howell	Wayne Hillman	Dean Prentice	Noel Picard	Jim McKenny
Don Luce	Earl Ingarfield	Jim Johnson	Jean Pronovost	Barclay Plager	Mike Pelyk
Jim Neilson	Gary Jarrett	Andre Lacroix	Dwayne Rupp	Bob Plager	Bob Pulford
Bob Nevin	Mike Laughton	Bill Lesuk	Glen Sather	Bill Plager	Brit Selby
Brad Park	Bert Marshall	Lew Morrison	Ken Schinkel	Jim Roberts	Brad Selwood
Jean Ratelle	Wayne Muloin	Simon Nolet	Ron Schock	Gary Sabourin	Guy Trottier
Rod Seiling	Doug Roberts	Ed Van Impe	Bryan Watson	Frank St. Marseille	Norm Ullman
Walt Tkaczuk	Carol Vadnais	Joe Watson	Bob Woytowich	Bob Wall	Mike Walton

The draft results:

Overall	Player Chosen	By	From	Fill-In
1	Tom Webster	Buffalo Sabres	Boston Bruins	Garnet Bailey
2	Gary Doak	Vancouver Canucks	Boston Bruins	Dan Schock
3	Al Hamilton	Buffalo Sabres	New York Rangers	Mike Robitaille
4	Orland Kurtenbach	Vancouver Canucks	New York Rangers	Ron Stewart
5	Don Marshall	Buffalo Sabres	New York Rangers
6	Ray Cullen	Vancouver Canucks	Minnesota North Stars	Dan Seguin
7	Tracy Pratt	Buffalo Sabres	Pittsburgh Penguins	Lowell MacDonald
8	Pat Quinn	Vancouver Canucks	Toronto Maple Leafs	Rene Robert
9	Jim Watson	Buffalo Sabres	Detroit Red Wings	Bobby Baun
10	Rosie Paiement	Vancouver Canucks	Philadelphia Flyers	Garry Peters
11	François Lacombe	Buffalo Sabres	Montreal Canadiens	Leon Rochefort
12	Darryl Sly	Vancouver Canucks	Minnesota North Stars	Walt McKechnie
13	Phil Goyette	Buffalo Sabres	St. Louis Blues	Larry Keenan
14	Jim Wiste	Vancouver Canucks	Chicago Black Hawks	Jean-Paul LeBlanc
15	Reg Fleming	Buffalo Sabres	Philadelphia Flyers	Brent Hughes
16	Danny Johnson	Vancouver Canucks	Toronto Maple Leafs	Gord Nelson
17	Mike McMahon	Buffalo Sabres	Pittsburgh Penguins	Bob Blackburn
18	Barry Wilkins	Vancouver Canucks	Boston Bruins
19	Skip Krake	Buffalo Sabres	Los Angeles Kings	Jim Stanfield
20	Ralph Stewart	Vancouver Canucks	Montreal Canadiens	Claude Provost
21	Jean-Guy Lagace	Buffalo Sabres	Minnesota North Stars
22	Mike Corrigan	Vancouver Canucks	Los Angeles Kings	Noel Price
23	Craig Cameron	Buffalo Sabres	Los Angeles Kings
24	Wayne Maki	Vancouver Canucks	St. Louis Blues	Terry Crisp
25	Chris Evans	Buffalo Sabres	St. Louis Blues
26	Ed Hatoum	Vancouver Canucks	Detroit Red Wings	Tom Martin
27	Doug Barrie	Buffalo Sabres	Pittsburgh Penguins
28	Poul Popeil	Vancouver Canucks	Detroit Red Wings
29	Gerry Meehan	Buffalo Sabres	Philadelphia Flyers
30	Ron Ward	Vancouver Canucks	Toronto Maple Leafs
31	Paul Terbenche	Buffalo Sabres	Chicago Black Hawks	Lou Angotti
32	John Schella	Vancouver Canucks	Montreal Canadiens
33	Brian Perry	Buffalo Sabres	Oakland Seals	Gerry Ehman
34	Bob Dillabough	Vancouver Canucks	Oakland Seals	Dick Mattiussi
35	Howie Menard	Buffalo Sabres	Oakland Seals
36	Garth Rizzuto	Vancouver Canucks	Chicago Black Hawks
Goaltenders
37	Dunc Wilson	Vancouver Canucks	Philadelphia Flyers
38	Rocky Farr	Buffalo Sabres	Montreal Canadiens
39	Charlie Hodge	Vancouver Canucks	Oakland Seals
40	Gary Edwards	Buffalo Sabres	St. Louis Blues

As mentioned in my previous post about the 1972 Expansion Draft the draft order was determined by a game of chance, a wheel akin to that of roulette. 36 numbers were on the wheel: one 2, two 3s, three 4s, four 5s, five 6s, six 7s, five 8s, four 9s, three 10s, two 11s and one 12, corresponding to the 36 possible combinations of the roll of two six-sided playing dice. The GMs had a choice of numbers over 7 or under 7; if the pointer landed on one of the 7s it was considered a 'draw' and the wheel was to be spun again. Sabres' GM Punch Imlach won a coin toss to have his choice of numbers "over 7" or "under 7". Anecdotal stories say he picked "over 7" because 11 was his favourite number. I'm not entirely sure that's true. Punch was known to be a little melodramatic and I suspect this is all just an urban legend as it relates to Gilbert Perreault's uniform number.

Note that many modern sources state Imlach had numbers 11-20 while the Canucks' Bud Poile was left with numbers 1-10. This totally false, a complete fabrication: I have a copy of a picture of Ron Andrews standing with the wheel clearly showing the wheel's construction, with the six 7s prominently bolded and 36 spots on the wheel. I would share this picture with you but I do not hold the copyright. (edit: found a copy on Google news, see http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=04syAAAAIBAJ&sjid=IbkFAAAAIBAJ&pg=892%2C2407891)

On the first spin of the wheel it landed on 8, giving Imlach his choice of first goalie or first skater (or first overall, as skaters were chosen before goalies) in the expansion draft. He chose the latter. A second spin of the wheel determined who had first choice in the amateur draft. The story goes that when the wheel stopped Clarence Campbell believed it had landed on '1', giving the Canucks first overall. Dramatic retellings of the story state that the Canucks management team erupted in joy at having won the right to first overall in the draft of amateurs, universally believed beforehand to be Gilbert Perreault no matter who won the right to the pick. There's only one problem with this story: there were no '1's on the wheel! Well, except in '10', '11' and '12', all of which gave Imlach and the Sabres the pick. As it turned out it had landed on 11 and the Sabres had first pick in the amateur and expansion drafts.

With the first overall pick Imlach took Tom Webster of the Bruins, which reportedly greatly angered Bruins' GM Milt Schmidt. It was rumoured that Schmidt and Imlach had a back-room deal in which Imlach would take Garnet Bailey, allowing the Bruins to protect Webster, and in return Schmidt would give Imlach some 'considerations'. Instead Imlach took Webster (Schmidt protected Bailey) and traded him after the draft to the Red Wings for Roger Crozier, arguably a better goalie than any of the four taken in the draft.

Needless to say Punch Imlach was not the most popular man at the draft proceedings in 1970. He wasn't any more popular in 1971, but that's another story...