Saturday, October 2, 2010

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.

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