Sunday, October 21, 2012

1965 NHL Inter-League Draft

The 1965 Inter-League Draft was held on Tuesday, June 8. The draft price was $20,000. Three of the draft choices were so-called "bookkeeping" choices, in which the NHL club claimed a player from one of their own farm teams. In effect the NHL team would be paying their own farm club.

OverallPlayer ChosenByFrom
Round 1
1Claude DufourBoston BruinsHershey Bears (AHL)
(Montreal Canadiens)
2Don SimmonsNew York RangersRochester Americans (AHL)
(Toronto Maple Leafs)
3Larry JohnstonToronto Maple LeafsTulsa Oilers (CPHL)
(Toronto Maple Leafs)
4Ernie WakelyChicago Black HawksQuebec Aces (AHL)
(Montreal Canadiens)
5Norm SchmitzMontreal CanadiensOmaha Knights (CPHL)
(Montreal Canadiens)
6Pat HanniganDetroit Red WingsBuffalo Bisons (AHL)
(Chicago Black Hawks)
Round 2
7Glen SatherBoston BruinsPittsburgh Hornets (AHL)
(Detroit Red Wings)
8Larry MickeyNew York RangersSt. Louis Braves (CPHL)
(Chicago Black Hawks)
9Keith WalshMontreal CanadiensPittsburgh Hornets (AHL)
(Detroit Red Wings)
10Irv SpencerDetroit Red WingsPittsburgh Hornets (AHL)
(Detroit Red Wings)
Round 3
11Keith WrightNew York RangersCleveland Barons (AHL)
(Montreal Canadiens)
12Dunc McCallumDetroit Red WingsVancouver Canucks (WHL)
(New York Rangers)

The day also featured several trades and a couple waiver claims, which overshadowed the draft proceedings a bit.

Before the draft the Red Wings claimed Don McKenney off waivers from the Maple Leafs and the Rangers claimed Bill Knibbs off waivers from the Bruins. Each of these transactions carried a $30,000 price.

The Canadiens traded Cesare Maniago and Gary Peters earlier in the day to the Rangers for Earl Ingarfield, Gord Labossiere, Dave McComb, Noel Price and $10,000. (Ingarfield was left exposed in the Intra-League Draft the following day and was reclaimed by the Rangers.)

Meanwhile the Maple Leafs traded Ron Stewart to the Bruins for Orland Kurtenbach, Andy Hebenton and Pat Stapleton. (Stapleton was left exposed in the Intra-League Draft and taken by the Black Hawks.)

After the Inter-League Draft and before the protected lists for the Intra-League Draft had to be submitted the Canadiens completed another trade, sending Bryan Watson to the Black Hawks for Don Johns and $30,000. (Watson was dropped off the Black Hawks' protected list during the Intra-League Draft and was claimed by the Red Wings.)

7 comments:

  1. Great stuff.

    A minor correction: Bill Knibbs was taken on waivers by the Rangers from the Bruins.

    Also Keith Wright was claimed by Rangers from Omaha (CPHL) and Don Simmons was claimed by Rangers from Tulsa (CPHL).
    Also of note concerning final draft pick Dunc McCallum:
    The Rangers traded Bob Cunningham to Red Wings to get McCallum back and this happened either June 8th or 9th.

    Some spelling:
    Larry Johnston as pick three here.

    And Rick Sentes for pick one of the 1969 Intra-League draft.

    Best regards,

    Paul

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    Replies
    1. The minor league affiliates I have listed are not necessarily the teams they last played for, they are the affiliates that the players were assigned to on the day of the draft. I know Simmons played for Tulsa in '64-'65 and not Rochester but he was assigned to Rochester on that day. Same with Wright, he was assigned to Cleveland; the Omaha Knights ceased to be a Montreal affiliate after the '64-'65 season.

      And yes, Knibbs was claimed BY the Rangers FROM the Bruins. Sorry for the confusion. My computer files and my hand-written notes are correct but for some reason I typed it the wrong way in this blog post.

      As for the spelling issues, Johnson instead of JohnsTon is a typo. My fault. "Rick Sentes" vs. "Dick Sentes"? Frankly I just went off of what the sources at the time called him. In the early '70s NHL guides he's listed as "SENTES, RICHARD JAMES (DICK)". By contrast in my '78-'79 WHA guide he's listed in the WHA all-time records as "Sentes, Rick". I think unless Mr. Sentes himself chimes in I'll just leave it be for now, but thank you for pointing it out.

      It's funny you mention it because earlier today I was thinking to myself about nicknames and spellings of player names whilst typing "J. P. Parisé". I couldn't remember if my earlier posts had read "J. P.", "J-P" or "Jean-Paul", and I probably haven't been consistent with my use the acute accent on the 'e' at the end. Nor have I used accents anywhere else (i.e. I haven't written "André Lacroix", "Réal Lemieux", etc.).

      I'll have to go back and do some copy editing...

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    2. Mark,

      I must admit you possess a wealth of hockey history and I have enjoyed your website.

      You even have access to parent NHL teams making assignments to their farm teams?

      Might you know how goaltender Wayne Rutledge became property of the NY Rangers when his final junior days were with Bruins junior affiliate Niagara Falls Flyers in 1962?

      BR,

      Paul

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  2. The papers at the time were pretty good about naming the affiliate whose 'list' the players were assigned to. I don't actually have the complete lists; I wish!

    I can't be sure about Rutledge, but he may have been one of the few players of the time who secured his outright release from his NHL club. He was definitely a Bruins product, having played for the Flyers and the Kingston Frontenacs of the EPHL. After his brief stint in Kingston in '62-'63 he moved on to the EHL's Clinton Comets (the same team amateur team that Eddie Giacomin played for in the late '50s), and then the Windsor Bulldogs of the OHA Senior A League. He won an Allan Cup with the Bulldogs and stayed with the team when they transferred to the IHL in 1963 (at that time still considered an 'amateur' league), but after only one year the Bulldogs folded. I suspect that after the Bulldogs folded he was a free agent and tried out for the Rangers.

    He played for the Baltimore Clippers (the Rangers' AHL affiliate) in an exhibition game in 1964 agains the Rangers: http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JS4_AAAAIBAJ&sjid=r1AMAAAAIBAJ&dq=wayne%20rutledge&pg=4564%2C1656862

    Just my suspicions, I can't say for sure, but it's a start if you want to look into it further.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Mark,
      Still love your blog. I have read more about Rutledge and Giacomin and I think they took a similar path to the NHL. As a teenager Eddie supposedly signed a C-form with the Detroit Red Wings and for whatever reason did not want to pursue his career with them. From what I understand one could get out of his commitment if he played one full season for a non-NHL affiliated team. Meaning industrial ("beer", like I played in) or senior league as well as the EHL (Clinton Comets!) or IHL during the early 60s. Providence Reds owner Lou Fieri signed "free agent" Eddie as a 21 year old and he played five full seasons before GM Emile Francis of the Rangers orchestrated an outstanding trade, summer 1965.

      Now back to Mr. Rutledge. I think he signed his C-form with the Bruins, played three years of junior for their affiliates, got dis-enchanted for whatever reason (saw Bernie Parent and Doug Favell coming up behind him?), and decided to "sit out" next two seasons (1962-64) to play senior/EHL/IHL hockey. Muzz Patrick, GM of the Rangers in his last (1964) summer at that position, signs Rutledge and he plays three solid seasons in the CPHL. But on the Rangers goalie depth chart Wayne falls behind Giacomin and Gilles Villemure (Rangers first goalie fill in 1967 NHL Expansion Draft) and is scooped up by the Los Angeles Kings as the last goalie picked. The Kings had to take a Rangers goalie as the other five original teams had lost their two goalies already. Note: Bruins lost Parent and Favell to the new Flyers.

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    2. Hi Paul,

      Thanks for still reading. I'd like to keep adding to the blog but I've had to commit my time to other things over the better part of the last year.

      On the subject of Eddie Giacomin I'm not sure he ever actually signed a C-form with the Red Wings. He never played for an affiliate as far as I can tell. A cursory Google search says he attended a "training camp" in 1958 (or even as early as 1954); it may have been a try-out for the Red Wings organization, for a spot on one of their sponsored junior clubs, and he didn't make the cut. Some sources point out that around that time teams in Sudbury were sponsored by the Red Wings, however I never found anything substantiating that the Red Wings had affiliates in beer leagues like the Nickel Belt League. I think people may be conflating it with the Wings' affiliation with the Eastern *Pro* League's Sudbury Wolves beginning in 1959.

      As far as I know Eddie Giacomin's career played out as such: he played (unaffiliated) minor hockey in Sudbury, tried out for a spot in the Red Wings' organization at some point between the ages of 15 and 18 and never made the cut, and continued to play hockey in the local mens leagues. At the age of 19 his brother Rollie got a call from somebody out in D.C. that the Washington Presidents of the EHL needed a goalie, and Eddie went in Rollie's place. After Eddie's four-game stint for Washington (he won all four games) he went back home to Sudbury and suffered third-degree burns to his legs in a grease fire accident. He recovered over the summer and signed a deal with the Clinton Comets of the EHL to become a back-up goalie and assistant trainer. At some point in 1960 he signed a contract with the Providence Reds, and ended up traded to the Rangers in '65.


      Regarding Rutledge, I found a couple interesting pieces of information from electronic copies of the Utica Observer-Dispatch. (Warning: they're big PDFs.) First, from Friday Nov. 16, '62: http://fultonhistory.com/newspaper%202/Utica%20NY%20Daily%20Observer/Utica%20NY%20Observer%201962%20a%20pdf/Utica%20NY%20Observer%201962%20a%20-%200505.pdf

      "Wayne Rutledge will be in the nets for the Clinton Comets this weekend as they face the Ramblers in Philadelphia tonight, clash with the New Haven Blades at the Arena tomorrow evening and play the Ducks in Commack Sunday.
      Replacing Norm Defelice, out with the flu, Rutledge is being sent here by Comets General Manager Wren Blair, who also handles the Kingston Frontenacs of Canada's Eastern League, for whom the young goalie has won three out of four games thus far this season."

      In 1958 Wren Blair became the Comets' GM, and he arranged for them to become a Bruins affiliate in 1960. He's the one who orchestrated Rutledge's demotion from Kingston to Clinton. It would be like being demoted from the AHL to the ECHL today.

      Rutledge played for the Comets over that weekend:

      http://fultonhistory.com/newspaper%202/Utica%20NY%20Daily%20Observer/Utica%20NY%20Observer%201962%20a%20pdf/Utica%20NY%20Observer%201962%20a%20-%200571.pdf

      http://fultonhistory.com/Newpapers%20Disk2/Utica%20NY%20Daily%20Observer/Utica%20NY%20Observer%201962%20a%20pdf/Utica%20NY%20Observer%201962%20a%20-%200728.pdf

      As of Dec. 1, '62 Rutledge was returned to Kingston: http://fultonhistory.com/Process%20Small/Newspapers/Utica%20NY%20Daily%20Press/Utica%20NY%20Daily%20Press%201962%20pdf/Utica%20NY%20Daily%20Press%201962%20-%208167.pdf

      Records show Rutledge only ever played the four games for Kingston Frontenacs in 1962, so when he was reassigned back to Kingston in December he must have told Blair he was ending in his pro career and going to play senior hockey for Windsor instead. A couple years go by, the Bruins don't re-up Rutledge's C-form option, and he becomes a free agent.

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