The year the Blues skipped the draft

[GordonBlue]

Originally Posted by Toonage

lol. The arena didn't open until February 1988.

Wild Bill was very ambitious.

and originally only sat around 8000 people.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by Toonage

lol. The arena didn't open until February 1988.

Wild Bill was very ambitious.

Speaking of Wild Bill...…

In the spring of 1971, Davidson and Murphy contacted Walt Marlow, a sportswriter at the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, to pitch the idea of new pro hockey league. Marlow, who grew up in eastern Alberta, suggested they set up a meeting with Edmonton businessman “Wild Bill” Hunter.

“I’d known Walt for several years, and though I’d never heard of the WHA, I was excited about it because Walt seemed to be,” Hunter recalled in an interview shortly before his death in 2002.

“I flew down to Anaheim, and Murphy picked Walt and me up at the airport and drove us to Davidson’s place, where we sat around the pool and discussed their plans for a new pro league.

“It didn’t take very long before I realized these guys didn’t know a damn thing about hockey. It was ridiculous.

“I arranged to take Murphy and Davidson to a Los Angeles Kings game that night. When the referee went to drop the puck for the opening faceoff, Gary turned to me with a puzzled look on his face and said, ‘What are they doing?’

“That’s when I knew we had a lot of work to do.”

On June 27, 1972, Hull agreed to a deal that paid him a signing bonus of $1 million in cash and $250,000 per season for five years as a player, followed by $100,000 per year for five years as a Jets executive.

Hatskin was on the hook for the signing bonus, but he needed some help with the rest of the deal. Hull’s contract with Winnipeg marked the first time in the history of pro sports that every member of a league chipped in to sign one player.

“Bobby was the best player in the NHL when he jumped to our league,” said Hunter. “He might not have been the fastest or the strongest, but his enormous skills, combined with his charisma, made him by far the most desirable player for us.

“I’ll never forget the meeting in Chicago when it came time for the other teams to cough up their dough. Some of the American owners got cold feet, so Benny and I filibustered for 12 hours to wear down their reserve.

“I told them, ‘We don’t want any cheques from you bastards, either; it’s gotta be cash!’

“They couldn’t believe two guys from Edmonton and Winnipeg were talking to them like that, but after Bobby joined our league and they saw what a huge impact he had, those same guys were slapping us on the back.

https://edmontonsun.com/2012/10/09/w...5-e817aedf0654