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.
