Bobby Hull was the best player in the 1960s, and in the 1970s he continued his superstar play in the WHA. He also became one of the games greatest innovators by opening the flood gates of Europeans into the WHA. Slava Fetisov would follow in his footsteps in the 1990s by opening the flood gates of Russians into the NHL.
Great video. I have fond memories of the WHA. Went to a lot of Toronto Toros games, and enjoyed being a supporter. Sadly they had to leave town (Thanks to Ballard charging very high rent to use Maple Leaf Gardens), but the league was better overall than they were given credit for, especially in the last few years of it's existence. Shame on the NHL for raping the 4 teams entering the NHL in 1979, but all 4 teams battled through it.
Yes, we can all agree that in 1972 there were 16 NHL Teams, but 10 of those Teams had been added in a 6 Year Span. The League had 6 Teams for 5 Decades.
NHL owner took advantage from players for many years. They the owners were making millions and giving the players chump change. The WHA also helped raise the money that players started receiving.
BOBBY HULL IS A TOP 5 PLAYER OF ALL TIME. As diehard BLACKHAWKS FAN it broke my heart when Bobby left but I knew Bill Wirtz was a cheapskate owner who was known as Dollar Bill Wirtz . The greatest family Hockey group EVER was Bobby, Bret and Dennis. THE GOLDEN JET, AWSOME.
I do not think any new league that started and tried to compete with the top league or original league ever succeeded. NFL there was USFL, NBA there was ABA, I don't think anyone tried to compete against MLB and the NHL had WHA try and compete none survived or were able to take out the original league. But I think with hockey it was good for the NHL as it got more people watching hockey in small cities, towns and small markets. The NHL did not look like they had any plans to expand. But when you try and compete you are trying to attract fans so huge contracts were given to so many players to move over to the WHA. So it was a huge problem to pay and keep these players.But there were huge turnovers in franchises. But again the NHL survived and also expanded by picking up 5 or 6 teams. So in a way the WHA offered fans more hockey and they also gifted the NHL franchises after they folded. They say the championship trophy was not ready and the championship team had to use there conference finals trophy. You would think they would be able to have a trophy for championship they had a full year to get one lol!!!
