Quote:
Originally Posted by cyclone3483
True the WHA attracted some top notch players, but it also ran with a bunch of hasbeens and neverwillbes who could not make it in the NHL. There was a huge drop off from the top 3 or 4 players on each team to the rest of their team mates.
Here are all the guys that were the leading scorer for the WHA at one point or another:
Andre Lacroix - .61 ptsPG in NHL, 1.45 in WHA
Marc Tardif - .77 in NHL, 1.49 n WHA
Mike Walton - .76 in NHL, 1.33 in WHA
The only one on the list to have some similar success in the NHL was Real Cloutier - 1.09 in the NHL, 1.53 in WHA
How about this...leading scorers in the first WHA season:
Lacroix, Ron Ward, Danny Lawson, Bobby Hull, Norm Beaudoin, Tom Webster, Chris Bordeleau, Terry Caffery, Gord Labossiere, and Wayne Carleton. If you are scratching your head on most of those names (other than Hull of course), it's because they could not star in the NHL, but they flourished against weak players in the WHA.
|
You are forgetting players like Gerry Cheevers, Frank Mahovolich, Johnny Mckenzie, Dave Dryden, Ted Green, Dave Keon, Pat Stapleton, Rejean Houle etc. Many never played past the end of the WHA but were still good players when the originaly signed on with the rival league. A league that lasted 7 years.
Then there's all the Young Stars that went on to have sucessful NHL careers. Mark Howe, John Tonelli, Mark Napier, Kent Nilsson, Mike Rogers, Ken Linseman, Rick Vaive, Michel Goulet, Craig Hartsburg, Rob Ramage, Pat Riggin, Mike Gartner, Pekka Rautakalio. Forgot about Gretzky and Messier
A collection of players from that league took on the Russians in 74. A similar team the NHL players had trouble beating in 72. A series that was a lot closer than what the final numbers stated.
http://www.chidlovski.com/personal/1974/game00.htm
It wasn't that bad a league IMO.