20,000 Leagues under the Sea

The WHA and its rampant player theft vied with the Summit Series for Headline space in the summer of 1972.

The WHA signed 65 to 70 NHLers, including several guys who were selected to Team Canada.

The new league also signed a truckload of players from the three minor pro leagues; the American, the Central and the Western. Those leagues were quite different from each other. The American was the NHL's spare parts league - the best, most complete players. The Central was the prospects league. Everyone else ended up in the Western League.

These differences show up in the player breakdown between
- Prospects, 22 and Under
- Veterans, 23 to 31
- Old Timers, 32 and up
in that final season, 1971-72, before the WHA launched.

The AHL had 11 teams, with 204 skaters playing at least 25 games
- Prospects, 39%
- Veterans, 50%
- Old Timers, 11%

The WHL had 6 teams, with 96 skaters dressing for at least 25 games:
- Prospects, 14%
- Veterans, 50%
- Old Timers, 36%

The CHL also had 6 teams, with 102 regular skaters:
- Prospects, 54%
- Veterans, 45%
- Old Timers, 1%

But that doesn't tell the real story, lets re-jig that CHL split:
- 22 and Under, 54%
- 23-years-old, 22%
- Veterans, 23%
- Old Timers, 1%

In 71-72, there were Twenty-five guys 24 years and older in the Central League. The WHA signed 17 of them; 4 of the top 5 scorers [using Point Per Game] and 16 of the top 20.

Lets see how those 16 did when they stepped up. We'll compare their PPG in 71-72 to their first WHA season:

		CHL		G	A	Pts	WHA
C	Ross Perkins	1.43	Alberta Oilers	21	37	58	0.82
C	Jean Payette	1.35	Quebec Nordiques	15	29	44	0.62
C	J P LeBlanc	1.29	Los Angeles Sharks	19	50	69	0.90
C	Bob Sicinski	1.25	Chicago Cougars	25	63	88	1.14
R	Bernie Blanchette	1.05	Chicago Cougars	7	7	14	0.30
D	Bart Crashley	1.04	Los Angeles Sharks	18	27	45	0.64
D	Dick Proceviat	0.81	Chicago Cougars	4	14	18	0.34
R	Dan Lodboa	0.67	Chicago Cougars	15	18	33	0.57
C	Brian Conacher	0.65	Ottawa Nationals	8	19	27	0.39
R	Alain Caron	0.63	Quebec Nordiques	36	27	63	0.93
L	Brian Bradley	0.57	New York Raiders	22	33	55	0.71
R	Bill Hicke	0.56	Alberta Oilers	14	24	38	0.52
L	Brit Selby	0.56	New England Whalers	13	30	43	0.60
C	Tommy Earl	0.52	New England Whalers	10	13	23	0.30
F	Bill Young	0.51	Los Angeles Sharks	14	12	26	0.52
D	Bob Ash	0.48	Winnipeg Jets	3	14	17	0.22

That's a WHA-E of 76%.
The two guys who blew that .76 out of the water were Alain Caron [one of the Old Timers] at 1.48, and Brian Bradley at 1.25.
The Oiler's two signings came in at .57 for Ross Perkins and .93 for the other Old Timer Hicke.  Perkins won the OIler's "Unsung Hero" award for his effort in the WHA's first.
Brian Conacher, spent the weeks before Ottawa's training camp as Second Banana to Foster Hewitt''s play-by-play of the Summit Series.

WHA teams also signed some 23-year-olds, including the Top Four scorers from that age group [by PPG]:

		CHL		G	A	Pts	WHA
L	Cal Swenson	1.23	Winnipeg Jets	7	21	28	0.36
R	Bill Klatt	1.14	Minnesota Fighting Saints	36	22	58	0.74
R	Tom Martin	1.13	Ottawa Nationals	19	27	46	0.62
L	Jan Popiel	0.97	Chicago Cougars	31	34	65	0.86

The Twenty gus listed above were mostly depth players for their WHA sides.
For the most part they were out of organized hockey long before the WHA-NHL merger.

And, finally, two young defensemen moved to the WHA:

		CHL		G	A	Pts	WHA
D	Ron Plumb	0.72	Philadelphia Blazers	10	41	51	0.65
D	Ken Baird	0.27	Alberta Oilers	14	15	29	0.39

These two had the longest WHA careers with Plumb part of the rebel league for its duration. And, only Plumb would've rated a second look from the Team Canada 74 selectors.

In the next few days we'll break down the other two leagues as well.