10 NHL Stars That Shunned The WHA

The World Hockey Association was a rebel hockey league that existed from 1972 to 1979 to compete against the National Hockey League. In the inaugural WHA draft, many NHL stars were selected by the original 12 WHA teams and many of these players were in their prime as stars in hockey.

The original World Hockey Association General Player Draft was held on February 12 and 13 of 1972. Although the draft lasted 123 rounds, the first round or preliminary round played the most important role in attempting to secure superstar talent away from the National Hockey League. In that preliminary round, each of the twelve proposed franchises wrote down four players, secret ballot style, and submitted them.

Of the names selected in that preliminary round, few would play a single game in the WHA. The following players that declined and stayed in the NHL would have changed the history of professional hockey if they’d made a different decision.

Stan Mikita – Chicago Cougars

Stan Mikita was selected by the Chicago Cougars. Chicago Black Hawks legend and Hockey Hall of Famer played 22 seasons in the National Hockey League, all with the Blackhawks. The year he retired from the NHL was the year the WHA and NHL merged, 1979-80.  Stan was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1983.

Bobby Clarke – Alberta Oilers

In February of 1972, Bobby Clarke was just coming into his own with the Philadelphia Flyers. Two years later, Clarke captained the Flyers to their first of two consecutive Stanley Cup victories. Clarke was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1987 and might well have been a member of the Alberta Oilers if the offer was right in 1972. Would that one move have had the butterfly effect enough to keep both the Flyers and Oilers from Stanley Cup championships over the next decade and a half?

Ken Dryden – Los Angeles Sharks

Ken Dryden already had one Stanley Cup and the Calder Trophy under his belt when he was drafted by the Los Angeles Sharks of the WHA. In what could have been his first season with Los Angeles, Dryden won his second of six Stanley Cup championships he would win with the Montreal Canadiens. Dryden entered the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1983.

Gilbert Perreault – Los Angeles Sharks

Gilbert Perreault was in his second season of his Hall of Fame career with the Buffalo Sabres when the Los Angeles Sharks selected him in the preliminary round. Perreault played seventeen seasons in the NHL, all with the Sabres. The closest Gilbert came to a Stanley Cup ring was when Buffalo fell to the Flyers in the 1974-75 final. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1990.

Peter Mahovlich – Minnesota Fighting Saints

With his size, toughness and scoring ability, Peter Mahovlich would have been the leader of the Minnesota Fighting Saints. Mahovlich remained with the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens where he was part of four Stanley Cup winning teams. In all, Peter played nearly 900 NHL regular season games with the Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens and Pittsburgh Penguins. If he had jumped to the WHA, he wouldn’t have been able to play in the historic 1972 Summit Series for Team Canada. However, his brother Frank Mahovlich did choose the WHA route, playing 237 regular season games between 1974-75 and 1977-78 with the Toronto Toros and Birmingham Bulls.

Steve Shutt – New York Raiders

Steve Shutt was drafted by the WHA’s New York Raiders right out of the OHA’s Toronto Marlboros. Shutt chose to take his chances with the powerful Montreal Canadiens and despite the odds, he played in 50 games with the Habs in his rookie NHL season, 1972-73. The following year, he was a regular with the club. A 60 goal scorer in 1976-77, Shutt was a part of five Stanley Cup winning teams with Montreal and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1993. He appeared in 930 regular season games in the NHL between 1972-73 and 1984-85 with the Canadiens and Los Angeles Kings.

Brad Park – Ottawa Nationals

Already established as one of the NHL’s top defenseman, Brad Park chose to stay with the New York Rangers instead of jumping ship to the WHA’s Ottawa Nationals. Park enjoyed a long NHL career with the Rangers, Boston Bruins and Detroit Red Wings before his induction to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1988. Considering Ottawa’s instability and short-lived stay in the WHA, it was a good move on Brad’s part.

Eddie Shack – Ottawa Nationals

Eddie Shack was nearing the end of his interesting NHL career when the Ottawa Nationals selected him. One has to wonder what Eddie Shack would have become in the WHA. Perhaps, Shack would have finally been able to showcase his offensive talents. A veteran of 1,047 regular season games in the National Hockey League, Shack played for the New York Rangers, Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins, Los Angeles Kings, Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins between 1958-59 and 1974-75.

Jacques Lemaire – Quebec Nordiques

Jacques Lemaire finished his NHL career with his name engraved on the Stanley Cup eight times as a player, all with the Montreal Canadiens. When the Quebec Nordiques selected him in the WHA draft, Lemaire already had three of those Stanley Cups under his belt. Despite having a 1974-75 hockey card depicting him as a member of the Buffalo Sabres, Lemaire played his entire NHL career with the Habs, appearing in 853 regular season games between 1967-68 and 1978-79. Jacques was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1984. He won another Stanley Cup in 1995 as the head coach of the New Jersey Devils.

Guy Lapointe – Quebec Nordiques

Guy Lapointe won six Stanley Cups with the Montreal Canadiens and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1993. Lapointe, like his long time teammate Jacques Lemaire, was selected by the Quebec Nordiques but never played in the World Hockey Association. Guy appeared in 894 regular season NHL games between 1968-69 and 1983-84 with the Canadiens, St. Louis Blues and Boston Bruins.

What would have happened if even half of these players had joined Bobby Hull, Bernie Parent, Norm Ullman and Derek Sanderson in pioneering hockey history in the WHA? The league certainly would have competed better with the NHL from the beginning. Perhaps, earlier merger plans that the WHA had with the NHL would have gone through with the Houston Aeros and Cincinnati Stingers surviving extinction and becoming NHL clubs along with the Edmonton Oilers, New England Whalers, Quebec Nordiques and Winnipeg Jets. Or, perhaps, the WHA would still be in existence, living in conjunction with a smaller, weaker NHL.

 

The 4 Bill Hunter Trophy Winners In The WHA

Over the entire seven year history of the WHA, the Bill Hunter Trophy was given out each year to the player in the rebel league that finished the regular season with the most points. To put it another way, it was the World Hockey Association’s equivalent to the NHL’s Art Ross Trophy.

 Just four players won the award over the seven years, three winning on two occasions. Looking back, one would think that hockey greats Bobby Hull and Gordie Howe would be among this select group. However, that is not the case.

Andre Lacroix

Playing for the Philadelphia Blazers in the WHA’s inaugural season, Andre Lacroix was the first ever recipient of the Bill Hunter Trophy. Lacroix scored 50 goals and assisted on 74 others in 1972-73 for a total of 124 points. He was also the Bill Hunter Trophy winner two years later in 1974-75 as a member of the San Diego Mariners. That season, he scored just 41 but assisted on 106 for 147 points. He is one of just four major league hockey players to surpass 100 assists in a season. The other three are Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Bobby Orr.

Andre was no stranger to being at the top of a scoring race. He won the Eddie Powers Trophy in 1965-66 as the OHA’s top point-getter while playing major junior for the Peterborough Petes. Lacroix played in every WHA season from 1972-73 to 1978-79. He also appeared in 325 NHL games with the Philadelphia Flyers, Chicago Black Hawks and Hartford Whalers.

Mike Walton

In between Lacroix’s two Bill Hunter Trophy wins was Mike Walton, WHA scoring champion in 1973-74. Walton scored 57 goals and assisted on 60 for 117 points with the Minnesota Fighting Saints. It was the first of three years Walton would play in the WHA, all with Minnesota. He had a respectable NHL career, playing in 588 regular season games between 1965-66 and 1978-79 with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins, Vancouver Canucks, St. Louis Blues and Chicago Blackhawks. Not a Calder Trophy winner in the National Hockey League, Walton made some hockey trivia, winning the CHL rookie of the year in 1964-65 and the AHL rookie of the year in 1965-66.

Marc Tardif

The Quebec Nordiques dominated the Bill Hunter Trophy for the final four years of the WHA with Marc Tardif and Real Cloutier alternating victories. Tardif won in 1975-76 with 71 goals and 77 assists for 148 points. His 154 points on 65 goals and 89 assists in 1977-78 will forever be a WHA record for most points in a single season. At the time, it was a major league record, two points better than Phil Esposito’s total with the Boston Bruins in 1970-71.

Tardif was the second overall pick at the 1969 NHL Amateur Draft by the Montreal Canadiens. He played parts of four seasons with the Habs before jumping to the Los Angeles Sharks of the WHA for the 1973-74 season. He moved to the Nordiques midway through the 1974-75 season and remained with the club throughout their WHA days and four years into their existence in the NHL.

Real Cloutier

Real Cloutier is the only one of the four players to begin his career in the WHA. He was a ninth overall draft pick of the Nordiques at the 1974 WHA Amateur Draft. He played with Quebec from 1974-75 until the demise of the WHA after the 1978-79 season. He carried on with the NHL Nordiques for four more years and ended his NHL career with two partial seasons with the Buffalo Sabres.

Cloutier was the Bill Hunter Trophy winner in 1976-77 and 1978-79. In his first win, he scored 66 and assisted on 75 for 141 points. He reached 75 goals in 1978-79, adding 54 assists for 129 points. In 1973-74, as a junior with the Quebec Remparts of the QMJHL, Cloutier honed his scoring touch with 93 goals and 123 assists for 216 points in just 69 games. However, Real was a full 35 points behind league leader Pierre Larouche of the Sorel Eperviers who led the league with 251 points.

Hockey Trivia: The WHA And Its Amateur Draft

The World Hockey Association existed for just seven years in the 1970’s. Most years, they ran an amateur draft alongside that of the National Hockey League. Often, the results of the drafts in each league were quite similar and the prospects had the option to choose between the two professional hockey leagues. The NHL was stable and the WHA was a risky venture that offered a chance to make a whole lot of money or lose everything.

Test and expand your knowledge of hockey trivia with these four questions based on the WHA’s Amateur Draft.

Q. In 1973, the first overall draft pick at the WHA Amateur Draft opted to play for what NHL team?

A. Bob Neely was selected first overall in the 1973, WHA Amateur draft but decided to sign with the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Maple Leafs chose Neely tenth overall in the 1973 NHL Entry Draft. Bob went on to play 283 regular season games in the NHL, scoring 39 goals and assisting on 59 for 98 points. He played an additional 26 games in the Stanley Cup playoffs, adding 12 points.

Neely played pro hockey from 1973-74 to 1979-80 in the NHL, CHL and AHL. Typically, a player will go from being an offensive star in junior to a role player and even enforcer in the NHL. Bob is an odd case study where that went nearly in reverse.

With the Roger Neilson coached Peterborough Petes of the OHL in 1972-73, Neely led the league with 304 penalty minutes over 55 regular season games. However, he also scored 24 and totalled 76 points. With the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1976-77, he wasn’t exactly a powerhouse but his 17 goals and 33 points over 70 games were decent numbers for that time in NHL history. However, his penalty minute totals were certainly eye-catching at just 16 PIM.

Q. Bob Neely was a draft pick of what World Hockey Association team?

A. The Chicago Cougars selected Bob Neely. The Cougars were an original WHA team that played three seasons before folding. Their greatest success came in their second season when they lost in the Avco Cup finals to the Houston Aeros.

Q. What first overall pick in 1974 played one season in the WHA then moved to the NHL where he had a 700+ regular season game career?

A. Pat Price was selected first overall by the Vancouver Blazers. Price played one full season with the Blazers then went on to play for the New York Islanders, Edmonton Oilers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Quebec Nordiques, New York Rangers and Minnesota North Stars.

In 1975, Pat was the eleventh overall pick at the NHL Amateur Draft by the Islanders after four years of junior with the Saskatoon Blades. The defenseman topped out with eleven goals as a member of the Edmonton Oilers in 1979-80, the team’s first year in the NHL. Price retired after playing just 14 games with the North Stars in 1987-88.

Q. Who was the last first overall pick in the WHA Entry Draft?

A. Scott Campbell was taken first overall by the Houston Aeros in 1977. The league would continue for one more season but did not have a draft before that last season. Campbell played a year for the Aeros then moved on to the Winnipeg Jets.

Scott was also taken ninth overall by the St. Louis Blues at the 1977 NHL Amateur Draft. He would play three games with St. Louis but not until 1981-82. After three years of junior with the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League, Campbell played pro from 1977-78 to 1981-82 in the WHA, NHL and CHL.