The 1972 NHL Expansion and Inter-League Drafts

In November, 1971 the NHL awarded two new expansion franchises: one to Atlanta Hockey Inc., to play out of the new Omni Coliseum in Atlanta, and the other to Nassau Sports Ltd., playing out of Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Long Island, New York. The decision to place teams in Atlanta and Long Island were seen as pre-emptive strikes against the World Hockey Association who might otherwise have operated teams in the new arenas. For the third time in only five years the NHL was expanding.

Like the 1967 and 1970 expansion drafts before it the 1972 draft allowed the new teams, the Atlanta Flames and New York Islanders, to draft players from the existing clubs. The two new teams paid $6,000,000 expansion fees and with those fees were allowed to pick 21 players, three players from each of the 14 existing teams. In other terms they paid $285,714.29 per new player. (The Islanders also paid a $4,000,000 indemnification fee to the Rangers for having encroached upon the Rangers' 'territory', so in a sense the Islanders spent $476,190.48 on each player!)

The rules were similar to the previous expansion drafts in 1967 and 1970: existing teams protected their best players (in this case 15 skaters and two goalies) and the expansion teams could have their pick of the rest. When a pick was made the team losing a player was allowed to add another to its protected list. The existing teams could lose only a maximum of three players, including a maximum of one goaltender. The Seals, Flyers, Canadiens and Blues could exempt themselves from losing a goaltender because they had each lost a goalie in the 1970 Expansion Draft. Montreal and St. Louis chose to leave themselves open losing a goalie again. First-year pros were also exempt.

Like the 1967 Expansion Draft, unlike the 1970 draft, the goaltenders were chosen first. Because each team could only lose one goaltender they didn't have to fill their protected list with another, they could fill with a player of any position. This had particular implications for the Canadiens which I will explain after the table of results.

The draft order was determined by a coin toss and a gentlemen's agreement between Flames General Manager Cliff Fletcher (who, if you're a new hockey fan, you might not know is the father of Minnesota Wild GM Chuck Fletcher) and Islanders GM Bill Torrey. The rules were that two coin tosses were to occur to determine who would chose first in the expansion draft and who would chose first in the amateur draft. The winner of the former coin toss would also chose first in the inter-league draft, only participated in this year by the Islanders and Flames. The expansion draft order would reverse after the second round of goalie selections, so that the team who lost the coin toss for first pick (of a goaltender) would get the first choice of skater.

The rules for determining the draft order were similar in 1970, when Sabres GM Punch Imlach won a coin toss for first choice in the intra-league draft and a roulette-esque game of chance over Canucks GM Bud Poile for first choices in the expansion and amateur drafts. Imlach chose Tom Webster with the first pick in the expansion draft, whom he traded to the Red Wings later that day for goalie Roger Crozier, giving him arguably the better goaltending between the two expansion clubs on top of having the first choice of forwards and defencemen. To top it off he had first overall in the amateur draft and chose future hall-of-famer Gilbert Perreault; the Canucks settled for Dale Tallon.

This brings us back to the gentlemen's agreement I mentioned before. Rather than leave themselves open to being on the losing side of both coin tosses, as Bud Poile was in 1970, Fletcher and Torrey decided to have the single coin toss for first overall in the amateur draft (since the amateur draft was expected to produce a future star player while the expansion draft was merely a pick of the dregs of the established teams). The winner of the coin toss would retain first choice in the amateur draft and cede first choices in the expansion and inter-league drafts to the other. Torrey won the coin toss, giving the Flames first choice (of goaltenders) in the expansion and inter-league drafts while the Islanders retained first choice in the amateur draft (and by extension the first choice of skaters in the expansion draft).

The existing teams protected the following players:

Boston Bruins	Buffalo Sabres	California Golden Seals	Chicago Black Hawks	Detroit Red Wings	Los Angeles Kings	Minnesota North Stars
Goaltenders
Gerry Cheevers	Roger Crozier	exempt	Tony Esposito	Andy Brown	Gary Edwards	Cesare Maniago
Eddie Johnston	Dave Dryden		Gary Smith	Al Smith	Rogie Vachon	Gump Worsley
Skaters
Don Awrey	Steve Anderson	Ivan Boldirev	Chris Bordeleau	Red Berenson	Ralph Backstrom	Fred Barrett
Garnet Bailey	Mike Byers	Gary Croteau	J.P. Bordeleau	Gary Bergman	Doug Barrie	Jude Drouin
John Bucyk	Butch Deadmarsh	Stan Gilbertson	Dennis Hull	Arnie Brown	Serge Bernier	Barry Gibbs
Wayne Cashman	Al Hamilton	Joe Johnston	Bobby Hull	Guy Charron	Bob Berry	Bill Goldsworthy
Phil Esposito	Tim Horton	Pete Laframboise	Doug Jarrett	Bill Collins	Larry Brown	Danny Grant
Ken Hodge	Jim Lorentz	Reggie Leach	Jerry Korab	Alex Delvecchio	Mike Corrigan	Ted Harris
Don Marcotte	Don Luce	Bert Marshall	Cliff Koroll	Gary Doak	Paul Curtis	Buster Harvey
Fred O'Donnell	Ray McKay	Walt McKechnie	Darryl Maggs	Tim Eccleston	Butch Goring	Dennis Hextall
Ron Plumb	Gerry Meehan	Gerry Pinder	Keith Magnuson	Tom Gilmore	Jim Johnson	Doug Mohns
Bobby Orr	Gilbert Perreault	Dick Redmond	Chico Maki	Larry Johnston	Real Lemieux	Lou Nanne
Derek Sanderson	Tracy Pratt	Bobby Sheehan	Pit Martin	Al Karlander	Bill Lesuk	Bob Nevin
Dallas Smith	Rene Robert	Paul Shmyr	Stan Mikita	Serge Lajeunesse	Barry Long	Dennis O'Brien
Fred Stanfield	Paul Terbenche	Rick Smith	Jim Pappin	Nick Libett	Gilles Marotte	Murray Oliver
Carol Vadnais	Jim Watson	Bob Stewart	Pat Stapleton	Mickey Redmond	Doug Volmar	J. P. Parise
Mike Walton	Randy Wyrozub	Tom Webster	Bill White	Ron Stackhouse	Juha Widing	Tom Reid
Montreal Canadiens	New York Rangers	Philadelphia Flyers	Pittsburgh Penguins	St. Louis Blues	Toronto Maple Leafs	Vancouver Canucks
Goaltenders
Ken Dryden	Ed Giacomin	exempt	Cam Newton	Jacques Caron	Bernie Parent	George Gardner
Michel Plasse	Gilles Villemure		Jim Rutherford	Peter McDuffe	Jacques Plante	Dunc Wilson
Skaters
Pierre Bouchard	Ab DeMarco	Barry Ashbee	Syl Apps	Curt Bennett	Bobby Baun	Dave Balon
Yvan Cournoyer	Jim Dorey	Bill Brossart	Larry Bignell	Andre Dupont	Ron Ellis	Greg Boddy
Terry Harper	Bill Fairbairn	Bobby Clarke	Dave Burrows	Jack Egers	Brian Glennie	Andre Boudrias
Rejean Houle	Rod Gilbert	Bill Clement	Steve Cardwell	Chris Evans	Jim Harrison	Dave Dunn
Jacques Laperriere	Vic Hadfield	Gary Dornhoefer	Darryl Edestrand	Fran Huck	Paul Henderson	Jim Hargreaves
Guy Lapointe	Ted Irvine	Rick Foley	Nick Harbaruk	Mike Murphy	Pierre Jarry	Dennis Kearns
Claude Larose	Bruce MacGregor	Bob Kelly	Bryan Hextall	Danny O'Shea	Dave Keon	Orland Kurtenbach
Jacques Lemaire	Jim Neilson	Ross Lonsberry	Sheldon Kannegiesser	Kevin O'Shea	Rick Ley	Wayne Maki
Frank Mahovlich	Brad Park	Rick MacLeish	Rick Kessell	Barclay Plager	Jim McKenny	Gerry O'Flaherty
Pete Mahovlich	Jean Ratelle	Simon Nolet	Al McDonough	Bob Plager	Garry Monahan	Rosie Paiement
Henri Richard	Dale Rolfe	Jean Potvin	Greg Polis	Phil Roberto	Mike Pelyk	Poul Popeil
Jim Roberts	Bobby Rousseau	Don Saleski	Jean Pronovost	Gary Sabourin	Larry Pleau	Bobby Schmautz
Serge Savard	Rod Seiling	Dave Schultz	Duane Rupp	Frank St. Marseille	Darryl Sittler	Dale Tallon
Marc Tardif	Pete Stemkowski	Ed Van Impe	Ron Schock	Floyd Thompson	Errol Thompson	Don Tannahill
J.C. Tremblay	Walt Tkaczuk	Joe Watson	Bryan Watson	Garry Unger	Norm Ullman	Barry Wilkins

The draft proceeded as follows on June 6, 1972:

Overall	Player Chosen	By	From	Fill-In
Goaltenders
1	Phil Myre	Atlanta Flames	Montreal Canadiens	Chuck Lefley
2	Gerry Desjardins	New York Islanders	Chicago Black Hawks	Dan Maloney
3	Dan Bouchard	Atlanta Flames	Boston Bruins	John McKenzie
4	Billy Smith	New York Islanders	Los Angeles Kings	Bob Woytowich
Skaters
5	Bart Crashley	New York Islanders	Montreal Canadiens	Bob Murdoch
6	Kerry Ketter	Atlanta Flames	Montreal Canadiens
7	Dave Hudson	New York Islanders	Chicago Black Hawks	John Marks
8	Norm Gratton	Atlanta Flames	New York Rangers	Glen Sather
9	Ed Westfall	New York Islanders	Boston Bruins	Nick Beverley
10	Ron Harris	Atlanta Flames	Detroit Red Wings	Leon Rochefort
11	Garry Peters	New York Islanders	Boston Bruins
12	Larry Romanchych	Atlanta Flames	Chicago Black Hawks
13	Larry Hornung	New York Islanders	St. Louis Blues	John Arbour
14	Bill MacMillan	Atlanta Flames	Toronto Maple Leafs	Denis Dupere
15	Bryan Lefley	New York Islanders	New York Rangers	Steve Andrascik
16	Randy Manery	Atlanta Flames	Detroit Red Wings	Ralph Stewart
17	Brian Spencer	New York Islanders	Toronto Maple Leafs	Guy Trottier
18	Keith McCreary	Atlanta Flames	Pittsburgh Penguins	Eddie Shack
19	Terry Crisp	New York Islanders	St. Louis Blues	Noel Picard
20	Ernie Hicke	Atlanta Flames	California Golden Seals	Wayne Carleton
21	Ted Hampson	New York Islanders	Minnesota North Stars	Bob Paradise
22	Lew Morrison	Atlanta Flames	Philadelphia Flyers	Bill Flett
23	Gerry Hart	New York Islanders	Detroit Red Wings
24	Lucien Grenier	Atlanta Flames	Los Angeles Kings	Wayne Lachance
25	John Schella	New York Islanders	Vancouver Canucks	John Wright
26	Bill Plager	Atlanta Flames	St. Louis Blues
27	Bill Mikkelson	New York Islanders	Los Angeles Kings
28	Morris Stefaniw	Atlanta Flames	New York Rangers
29	Craig Cameron	New York Islanders	Minnesota North Stars	Gord Labossiere
30	John Stewart	Atlanta Flames	Pittsburgh Penguins	Ken Schinkel
31	Tom Miller	New York Islanders	Buffalo Sabres	Danny Lawson
32	Bob Leiter	Atlanta Flames	Pittsburgh Penguins
33	Brian Marchinko	New York Islanders	Toronto Maple Leafs
34	Pat Quinn	Atlanta Flames	Vancouver Canucks	Wayne Connelly
35	Ted Taylor	New York Islanders	Vancouver Canucks
36	Larry Hale	Atlanta Flames	Philadelphia Flyers	Mike Parizeau
37	Norm Ferguson	New York Islanders	California Golden Seals	Marshall Johnston
38	Bill Heindl	Atlanta Flames	Minnesota North Stars
39	Jim Mair	New York Islanders	Philadelphia Flyers
40	Frank Hughes	Atlanta Flames	California Golden Seals
41	Ken Murray	New York Islanders	Buffalo Sabres	Jack Taggart
42	Rod Zaine	Atlanta Flames	Buffalo Sabres

Note that, as I said before, the Canadiens could have exempted themselves from losing another goaltender in an expansion draft (they lost two in 1967 and one in 1970, most of any club up to that point), and chose not to. They had a plethora of talented young goaltenders and were willing to lose one in order to keep a few of their top prospects. Behind closed doors the Canadiens made deals with both the Flames and Islanders so that Montreal would get to keep its pick of prospects. In exchange for taking the players the Canadiens wanted them to take the Flames and Islanders would receive several Canadiens players as compensation at a later date.

When the Flames took Phil Myre first overall in the expansion draft this allowed the Canadiens to protect Chuck Lefley, then a point-per-game player for the AHL's Nova Scotia Voyageurs (Montreal's top affiliate). The Islanders and Flames agreed to take Bart Crashley and Kerry Ketter as the first and second skater selections, allowing the Canadiens to keep Bob Murdoch (defenceman Robert John Murdoch, who played for the Canadiens, Kings and eventually the Flames; not winger Robert Lovell Murdoch, who played for the Golden Seals, Barons and Blues). Over the following couple months the Canadiens made several trades with the Flames and Islanders to compensate them; the Flames ended up with Rey Comeau, Noel Price, Lynn Powis and Ted Tucker while the Islanders got Denis DeJordy, Chico Resch and Germain Gagnon. Going back to the Canadiens were mostly high draft picks and 'cash'. I say 'cash' with scare quotes because it was well understood at the time that the consideration in these deals was not money but rather having followed the Canadiens' draft plans.

Later that day the Flames chose defenceman Bill Speer first overall in the Inter-League Draft. Speer had signed a contract with the WHA's New York Raiders and never played in the NHL again. The Flames chose to pass on the rest of their selections while the Islanders picked four players. Where applicable I have added the NHL team that held the chosen player's rights in parentheses. (Bill Speer's rights were sold to the Providence Reds by the Bruins on Nov. 5, 1971.)

Overall	Player Chosen	By	From
1	Bill Speer	Atlanta Flames	Providence Reds (AHL)
2	Neil Nicholson	New York Islanders	Salt Lake Golden Eagles (WHL) (California Golden Seals)
3	Don Blackburn	New York Islanders	Providence Reds (AHL) (New York Rangers)
4	Connie Forey	New York Islanders	Hershey Bears (AHL) (Pittsburgh Penguins)
5	Dennis Kassian	New York Islanders	Cincinnati Swords (AHL) (Buffalo Sabres)

Sources:
"Hockey Draft Is To Start Tuesday". The Spartanburg Herald. Associated Press. (Spartanburg, South Carolina). June 5, 1972. s. B p. 3. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=l4AsAAAAIBAJ&sjid=NM0EAAAAIBAJ&pg=6650%2C901924
"The protected lists". Montreal Gazette. June 6, 1972. p. 13