Changing the Game

by Stephen Laroche

  “I believe Ron worked harder than anyone else trying to keep the puck out of the net. He showed his stuff and never gave up — sign of a true professional,” said Doug Mohns. “Ron would be my pick for the team’s Most Valuable Player. I don’t know how our goaltenders lasted until the end of the season. Their goals against was 446. You have to wonder how many shots, in total, they had to try and stop.”

  Ron Low

  TWO LEAGUES FIND PEACE

  Seven seasons of war between two rival hockey leagues helped define the sport in the 1970s, but it was a conflict that caused a great deal of collateral damage for both the NHL and the WHA. Although player salaries finally increased to a respectable level for the era, the on-ice product began to suffer and there was a frenzy of franchises shifting and going under.

  There were several attempts at striking a compromise throughout the decade, but it often seemed as if they were merely talk instead of serious negotiations. The WHA’s first attempt to discuss the idea came in 1977, and they proposed that six member clubs (Cincinnati, Edmonton, Houston, New England, Quebec and Winnipeg) join the NHL, bringing their membership to 24 teams. The NHL Board of Governors discussed the idea internally, but it was turned down flatly.

  A year later, talks began again without the soon-to-fold Houston Aeros and the WHA faced rejection again. Out of desperation, ownership in Houston attempted to come in on their own as an expansion team and even offered to buy an existing team with the intention of relocation. Once again, the NHL balked, since they were already dealing with an internal merger of the Cleveland Barons and Minnesota North Stars.

  The WHA had at least one ace up their sleeves, as they began signing underage prospects at a frantic pace to undermine the NHL Amateur Draft. Wayne Gretzky was the most prominent of these young stars, but the Birmingham Bulls went on a spree to get top talent such as Michel Goulet, Rick Vaive and Craig Hartsburg. The 1978–79 season was bleak at best for the WHA, as the Indianapolis Racers folded after 25 games and there were only six teams remaining. It was during this campaign that merger talks picked up, and it became apparent that only Edmonton, New England, Quebec and Winnipeg were being considered for admission by the NHL.

  To its credit, the WHA insisted that all three Canadian-based clubs be a part of the merger, and that caused a great deal of consternation for the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs and Vancouver Canucks. When the merger was put to a vote, the Canadian teams along with the Boston Bruins and Los Angeles Kings voted against it, and it did not meet the required numbers needed to support it.

  There were a variety of reasons for their votes, but the fallout was probably not anticipated by Molson Breweries, who owned the Canadiens at the time. Hockey fans in Edmonton, Quebec City and Winnipeg staged a major boycott of their products and their sales began to drop nationally as well. The Canadian teams were also not at all interested in splitting national television revenues. During a second vote on March 22, 1979, the Canucks and Canadiens chose to change their votes. Vancouver was persuaded by the promise of a balanced schedule, and the merger became official.

  At that time, the WHA was still in the midst of their final season and Gretzky had moved from Indianapolis to Edmonton through a trade. At the end of the playoffs, the Jets defeated the Oilers for the last AVCO Cup. Each of the four “new” teams had to cough up $6,000,000, while Birmingham and Cincinnati received $1,500,000 parachute payments and were given the chance to join the Central Hockey League for the 1979–80 season.

  It was not going to be easy for the WHA expatriates, because the NHL put forth a series of restrictive conditions on the merger. In effect, the WHA teams were basically destroyed and were practically forced to build from scratch. The NHL held a reclamation draft, which allowed the 17 existing teams to put in a claim on any players they had lost over the past seven seasons and the WHA teams did not receive any compensation. They were “graciously” allowed to protect two skaters and two goalies before the expansion draft, but the pickings were rather slim by then. The annual amateur draft became the Entry Draft, and several of the young players the WHA signed as underagers, such as Rob Ramage, Mike Gartner and Mark Messier, were made available to the established NHL clubs. The new entries got a chance to make their picks at the end of each round.

  The 1979–80 campaign was a rough one for the Jets and Nordiques as a result of a combination of factors, but the Oilers and the newly rechristened Hartford Whalers squeaked into the playoffs. In time, Edmonton proved to be the most successful of the four teams and won five Stanley Cup championships.

  Unfortunately for the NHL, some franchises were still in dire straits financially. The Atlanta Flames moved to Calgary for the 1980–81 season. The upside of that move was the creation of an instant rivalry. In 1981–82, the NHL realigned their divisions and based them on geographic proximity, and that move was a success. The troubled Colorado Rockies headed east to become the New Jersey Devils in 1982–83, after which the league enjoyed a decade that did not see a single franchise move or another expansion team come on the scene.

  EXPANSION YEAR RECORD: 28–39–13

  (69 points — fourth in Smythe Division)

  COACH: Glen Sather

  GENERAL MANAGER: Larry Gordon

  FIRST GAME: October 10, 1979 —

  4–2 loss vs. Chicago Black Hawks

  FIRST GOAL: October 10, 1979 by Kevin Lowe

  EDMONTON

  OILERS

  The roots of the Edmonton Oilers go back to the 1972–73 season, when the franchise became an original member of the World Hockey Association. The team spent their first season as the Alberta Oilers before changing to their more familiar name. Over the course of seven campaigns, the Oilers were usually in the middle of the pack and made the playoffs on five occasions.

  It was not until the 1978–79 season that the Oilers reached the next level, and they did it as a direct result of the coaching abilities of Glen Sather. They had a good nucleus of young talent, but the biggest addition to the roster came on November 2, 1978, when they gave up $700,000 to get Peter Driscoll, Ed Mio and a 17-year-old budding superstar named Wayne Gretzky from the floundering Indianapolis Racers. By the end of the season, Edmonton finished in first place in the league and was heavily favoured heading into the playoffs. After they eliminated the New England Whalers in seven games, they faced the Winnipeg Jets for the AVCO Cup but lost in six.

  During this time, the NHL and WHA agreed to merge. The Oilers became one of four new NHL clubs in 1979–80. The rather unbalanced terms favoured the NHL greatly, but Edmonton did not lose as many players as the other teams in the now-defunct WHA because they reacquired Risto Siltanen, Stan Weir and Dave Semenko through trades. Luckily, they were permitted to protect Gretzky along with goalies Mio and Dave Dryden. In the 1979 NHL Expansion Draft, the team added some blueline strength in Colin Campbell, Pat Price, Doug Hicks and Lee Fogolin and they got gifted grinder Dave Hunter back.

  In the early years of the Edmonton Oilers, the club scoured the hockey world for the best talent. Their first NHL Entry Draft was a great one as they took Kevin Lowe with their premier selection and added Mark Messier in the third round. Both proved ready for action in time for the season opener, but they had to wait for Glenn Anderson because he was going to play for the Canadian Olympic Team instead.

  “I don’t think there will be too many guys over 30 on the club, not that that’s exactly a sin,” said Sather in a 1979 interview. “If we’re going to struggle in our first year, and that’s a possibility, I’d rather do it with kids than guys, say, 32 or 33 with only a few years left in their careers. I plan on building with youth … like teams like the New York Islanders.”

  On October 10, 1979, the Oilers began their NHL odyssey with a road game against the Chicago Black Hawks. Their opponents got off to a 2–0 lead in the first three minutes, but Edmonton evened it up with goals from Lowe and Hunter. Gretzky got his first NHL point with an assist on Lowe’s tally, but the tie was quickly erased and the contest
ended with a 4–2 win for the home team. Three days later, they began a four-game home stand but didn’t earn their first victory until the Quebec Nordiques came to town on October 19. At home, the team played in front of a full house every night, and the fan support reflected how much the community supported their local heroes.

  For some Oilers fans, the first month of NHL action was an exercise in frustration, since they managed only one victory against five losses and four ties. Slowly things began to turn around as they went 4–7–2 in November, two of those wins coming against the New York Islanders. As Gretzky began to pick up his offensive production, teammates Blair MacDonald and Stan Weir also generated their fair share of goals.

  Over the first half of the season, Dryden and Bill Flett each announced their retirement and the youth movement began to gather steam. Goaltending became a major problem because Mio sustained injuries, so as a result Jim Corsi had more chances to play. They also used some unproven talents, but more as a stop-gap measure than as a long-term solution.

  Edmonton had the opportunity to play an exhibition game against the touring Moscow Dynamo team on January 4, 1980, but lost 4–1. A little more than a month later, MacDonald and Gretzky became the team’s first representatives at an NHL All-Star Game, around the same time that the Oilers’ young superstar began to close the gap in the scoring race. He averaged nearly two points per game over the second half of the schedule, and while setting some of his earliest records, he began to receive serious consideration for the Hart Trophy.

  At the trade deadline, the Oilers made some moves that ultimately helped them secure a playoff spot. They gave up veteran Bobby Schmautz to get more youth and strength in Don Ashby of the Colorado Rockies, and they sent tough-guy Cam Connor to the New York Rangers for the troubled but promising Don Murdoch. The best deal of them all, however, saw captain Ron Chippefield go to the Nordiques for goalie Ron Low. Over the remainder of the regular schedule, Gretzky’s scoring and Low’s play in net helped Edmonton go 8–2–1 and they narrowly beat out Washington by two points to qualify for postseason action.

  In 1979–80, the NHL adopted a system that allowed the top 16 teams in the league to make it to the playoffs. The Oilers had to take on the Philadelphia Flyers — a team that finished first overall and went undefeated for 35 straight games that year. Most observers expected blowouts in the series, but Edmonton kept each game to a single goal and two of them went into overtime as the Flyers swept them in three straight.

  For the rest of the 1980s, the Oilers proved themselves one of the best organizations in the NHL and were built into a Stanley Cup championship dynasty. They made it to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in 1983 and went on to win it all in five of the next seven seasons. Gretzky was the team’s primary superstar but his supporting cast included legends like Anderson, Messier, Lowe, Jari Kurri, Paul Coffey and Grant Fuhr. In the 1990s, the club experienced some tough times when they missed the playoffs for the first time, but they bounced back with the addition of talents such as Curtis Joseph and Ryan Smyth to the lineup.

  In 2005–06, they made it to the Stanley Cup Final again but lost to the Carolina Hurricanes and have not been back to the postseason since. Now in a long rebuilding phase, they have had the first overall selection in the NHL Entry Draft for three years running from 2010 to 2012. It is only a matter of time before these youngsters help the Oilers become a success once again.

  Wayne Gretzky

  From the start, the hockey community touted Gretzky as a future superstar. His accomplishments on the ice as a youth helped the hype continually build, to the point where he turned pro as a 17-year-old with the WHA’s Indianapolis Racers in 1978–79. He was an instant star, and the team traded him to the Oilers after just eight games. In a remarkable debut season, he finished third in the league’s scoring race with 110 points and won the Lou Kaplan Trophy as Rookie of the Year.

  “I remember seeing something on Wayne on television when I was younger,” reflected Dave Semenko. “For a number of years, I didn’t hear a lot, and when we went to play against them in Indianapolis it all came back to me. It was just one game and he did play well, but from the one meeting there was no way to predict what he would do. It didn’t take him long to make us realize that he was something special. We spent a year in the WHA and he just excelled by leaps and bounds. I don’t recall him talking about going into the NHL. I think he knew his ability and didn’t have any doubts.”

  Not wanting to let the game’s most prized prospect get away, the Oilers made him a priority selection before the expansion and entry drafts. Gretzky was not at all intimidated by heading to the NHL and showed a great deal of poise when dealing with doubters and critics.

  “As the summer went on, I heard more talk about how it’s going to be a different story this year,” said Gretzky. “That I won’t get 110 points like I did in the World Hockey Association in my first year of pro. Every year people have told me how I’m going to be in trouble at a higher level. I heard more of that talk this summer than I heard all my life… . Not that it’s anything new. I knew I’d hear all that stuff again. Different guys told me how everybody is going to try and run me in the NHL. One guy bragged that it took him 10 years to run Bobby Orr, but that he finally did it. Some of it was a psyche job, but most of it was serious. A lot of guys I met want me to be prepared.”

  From those who had seen him, however, the praise was often glowing. Bobby Orr himself commented on the youngster to the press at the time.

  “He’s good. I watched him in junior and I’ve heard so much about him that I know he’s good. The puck follows him around.”

  Teammate Dave Dryden also had an honest appraisal of his abilities.

  “Talent-wise, his biggest asset is his ability to control the puck and himself,” he said. “He has that rare ability to wait for somebody to make a little mistake and take advantage of it for everything it’s worth. Most players have preconceived notions of what they’re going to do. I’m convinced he doesn’t. You can’t compare him to anybody else. He’s unique, a delight to watch.”

  Part of Gretzky’s preparation involved gaining weight as he moved from 158 to 170 pounds. He made his hotly anticipated debut on the road against the Chicago Black Hawks to open the 1979–80 season. He recorded an assist on Kevin Lowe’s goal that night but did not personally score until the Oilers took on Vancouver four days later. His start was a bit slow in comparison to some of the years he would have later, but once he got warmed up, fans were in for a real treat.

  Over his first 39 games, Gretzky racked up 58 points and was 25 points behind Marcel Dionne in the NHL’s scoring race. He was selected to play for the Campbell Conference at the 1980 NHL All-Star Game on February 5, 1980, but did not get any points. Just 10 days later, he tied a league record by getting seven assists in a win over the Washington Capitals. He also made history as the youngest player at the time to get 100 points in a season when, on February 24, he assisted on a goal by Brett Callighen.

  He closed the gap between himself and Dionne rather quickly.

  “I don’t know if I can catch up to Jesus [Dionne] or God [Lafleur],” he joked.

  As the regular schedule wore down, Gretzky had a six-point night against the Toronto Maple Leafs on March 29. He became the youngest player to record 50 goals in a season when he put the puck past Minnesota’s Gary Edwards on April 2. Toronto’s own superstar, Darryl Sittler, had some hefty praise for Gretzky and believed that he was the leading Hart Trophy candidate.

  “For a 19-year-old to play on a new team in the league and to do as well as he has, well, it’s unbelievable. To me, he’s got to be the Most Valuable Player in the league.”

  The Oilers squeaked into the playoffs but were eliminated by the league-leading Philadelphia Flyers in three straight, but very close, games. Gretzky felt at the time that the team had met its goals and set the bar even higher for the next year.

  “We made the playoffs and that was our number one goal. Next year, we’ll try
for 10th or 11th place in the regular season, then … who knows?”

  Named to the NHL’s Second All-Star Team, he finished the year tied for the league’s scoring lead with Dionne but lost out on the Art Trophy as he had scored fewer goals. Because of his WHA experience, the NHL did not consider him a candidate for the Calder Trophy. Team owner Peter Pocklington publicly aired his displeasure through a guest column in The Hockey News.

  “I’m, of course, emotionally and personally involved. But when I look at it from a point of view of what’s good for hockey, I believe that Wayne should get the award. He’s the upcoming player, certain to be a national hero in Canada in the next decade… . On the other hand, I don’t suppose that whether or not he got the trophy is going to make any difference in how he is going to be accepted by the public.

  “I guess I really don’t understand why they won’t give it to him. It doesn’t make that much of a difference, even though Wayne certainly cares about it, as do an awful lot of people who have seen him play. It doesn’t matter a damn one way or the other because the kid is great — Calder or no Calder.”

  There was some consolation, however, as he was awarded the Lady Byng Trophy for his gentlemanly play and then won the Hart Trophy, an award he did not surrender until 1987–88. Gretzky went on to establish numerous scoring records and win four Stanley Cup titles over the course of his career with the Oilers and beyond.

  Wayne Gretzky

  Blair MacDonald

  MacDonald was perhaps the first player who ever begged the question, “Does playing with Wayne Gretzky inflate your stats?” Long before the arrival of the Great One at the pro level, MacDonald was a proven performer with a nose for the net.