WHA – A Look Back at the Upstart Hockey League – Hockey Writers – Hockey History

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WHA – A Look Back at the Upstart Hockey League – Hockey Writers – Hockey History

As the National Hockey League continued to grow in the early 1970s, there was a need for more teams in many cities throughout the United States and Canada but with so much risk, the league was reluctant to try to grow too quickly. After all, it took almost 41 years to break out of the “Original Six” format and add six more teams.

Related: The NHL's Original Six

With smaller markets yearning for professional hockey, it became clear that there was a legitimate opportunity to create a rival to the NHL, both in presence and in television ratings and thus the World Hockey Association was founded in 1972. The WHA wasn't the first league to attempt to steal the NHL's glory, but it's still the most successful to date.

67 NHL Players Jumped to the WHA

The goal of the WHA was to take advantage of the lack of teams in a few big cities but without players who were household names, it seemed clear that the league would not stand a chance – like the Western Hockey League and the Pacific Coast Hockey Association that came before it.

The newly formed league dug deep into its pockets – much to the dismay of the NHL – and signed sixty-seven NHL players, chief among them Gerry Cheevers, Bernie Parent, and Bobby Hull – who received an unprecedented 10-year, $2.75 million contract with the WHA's Winnipeg Jets. The following year, the league would have the biggest name in hockey – Gordie Howe – after the NHL turned its back on “Mr. Hockey”, creating a great conflict between the two leagues that will never end.

The first season of the WHA

In its embryonic stages, the WHA had 12 teams – New England Whalers, Cleveland Crusaders, Philadelphia Blazers, Ottawa Nationals, Quebec Nordiques, New York Raiders, Winnipeg Jets , the Houston Aeros, the Los Angeles Sharks, the Minnesota Fighting Saints, the Alberta Oilers and the Chicago Cougars. Many of the nicknames had cultural significance in their specific areas which helped to quickly capture the hearts of the city's fans. Many believe that putting teams in cities where NHL franchises already call home would be a big risk, but the WHA stuck to the plan and on Oct. 11, 1972, the first crop of games were played by a rival professional hockey league.

The league was divided into two groups – the Eastern Division and the Western Division – and it took a little time during the first campaign of 1972-73 before it was clear who the best teams were. Out of the East, it was the Whalers who finished on top after a 78-game regular season – finishing with 94 points and a 46-30-2 record. Finishing five points behind New England were the Crusaders, followed by the Blazers, Nationals, Nordiques and Raiders.

In the west, Hull and the Jets finished the season with a 43-31-4 record, good for 90 points. The Eros kept it close, but in the end finished with eight points followed by the Sharks, Saints, Oilers, and finally, the Cougars.

The WHA has its own All-Star Game

In the first All-Star game, Mpumalanga was drawn against the West and although the WHA did not have the same firepower as the NHL, it had players like Hull, JC Tremblay and Andre Lacroix. Fans were still attracted to the newly formed league and 5,435 turned out to watch the event in Quebec City on Jan. 6 – it paled in comparison to its big brother's All-Star Game, which packed Madison Square Garden with 16,986 people.

Four teams in each division made the playoffs – eight in total – and it was evident during the first league games that there was little equality in WHA hockey. The opening round of the postseason featured four series, none of which made it past the do-or-die seventh game — in fact, none during the postseason did.

Cleveland beat the Blazers, completing a road sweep of Philadelphia. With goaltender Gerry Cheevers in net, it was clear the Crusaders were a force to be reckoned with, as the 32-year-old is fresh off two Stanley Cup championships – not to mention the Ben Hatskin Award as the league's best goaltender. New England beat the Nationals 4-1 in the opening round, thanks to Terry Caffery, who won the Lou Kaplan Trophy as the league's top player.

Winnipeg had little trouble with Minnesota, thanks to Hull in charge. The 34-year-old had already won the Stanley Cup, as well as countless NHL trophies and proved worthy of his salary, receiving the Gary L. Davidson award as the league's most valuable player. For Houston, it wasn't that easy – beating the Sharks in six games.

There will be less competition in the second round, as New England and Winnipeg sweep their opponents. For Cleveland, it was the closest the team had ever reached the championship, while Houston was one year away from the championship – and a streak created by Gordie Howe and his two sons, Marty and Mark. The WHA Final Series was set and the two teams would fight for the prize that would never reach the legendary status of Lord Stanley's Cup – the Avco World Trophy (later renamed the Avco Cup). The trophy's name comes from AVCO Financial Services Corporation, which donated the trophy – and $500,000 – to the league when it started.

It looked like the top two teams had made it to the finals, but no one had to tell the Whalers that. On May 6, 1973, New England defeated the Jets in just five games – it would be the Whalers' only championship, in the WHA and later in the NHL. The Whalers finished the postseason with a 12-3 record, scoring 70 goals and allowing only 49, good for a 21-goal differential.

The WHA's impact on the NHL

After its first season, the WHA continued to grow – perhaps too quickly for its own good.

The following season, the league added two new teams to its roster and before long there were franchises that were suspect more quickly than they had started, making it difficult for the league to find consensus. By the 1976-77 season, it was clear that the league was facing financial problems. Many of the NHL talent the league had signed a few years ago jumped ship and returned to a competitor, while some players knew it was only a matter of time before they found a solid job elsewhere.

What Could Be, Messier & Gretzky in the WHA Edmonton Oilers

1979 spelled the end of the league, but not before one last spark of talent. That talent was Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier, and the team was now known as the Edmonton Oilers. The rising talent of the hockey world was passing through the WHA in the hope of developing their career and fulfilling their NHL dreams, rather than suffering hockey purgatory in the American Hockey League. The two were turning heads and preparing for famous careers but it was too little too late for the WHA.

In June 1979, the league officially folded – but its legacy did not. With most of the teams already folded, only six franchises – the Cincinnati Stingers, Birmingham Bulls, Oilers, Whalers, Nordiques and Jets – remained above water, and after months of negotiations, the -WHA and NHL. they reached an agreement and four of the remaining six WHA teams were bought by the NHL and incorporated into the league. The Stingers and Bulls were paid $1.5 million each as compensation and the NHL added teams by expansion.

Related: Gretzky's Most Unbroken Records

The WHA may have only been around for about eight years, yet it has certainly helped to benefit the game of hockey. NHL scouts took note of the European talent that the young league was getting and groomed them and they also started sending scouts. The NHL also took note of the WHA's new pay rules and no longer pays players a smaller portion of the league's profits, allowing for higher salaries.