1979 NHL Expansion Draft
| 1979 NHL expansion draft | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Date(s) | June 13, 1979 |
| Network(s) | DuMont |
| Overview | |
| League | National Hockey League |
| Expansion teams | Edmonton Oilers Hartford Whalers Quebec Nordiques Winnipeg Jets |
| Expansion season | 1979–80 |
The 1979 NHL expansion draft was held on June 13, 1979. The draft took place to fill the rosters of the National Hockey League's new teams for the 1979–80 season: the Edmonton Oilers, Hartford Whalers, Quebec Nordiques and Winnipeg Jets. These four teams had joined the NHL after a merger agreement was reached with the World Hockey Association (WHA).
As many WHA players also had their rights held by NHL teams, those NHL teams were allowed to reclaim their players. In order to keep the NHL teams from plundering all the talent from the WHA-turned-NHL teams, each incoming franchise was allowed to protect up to two goaltenders and two skaters. These were designated as "priority selections" in the Expansion Draft.
Rules
Reclaiming of players: The 17 existing NHL teams were allowed to reclaim any rights to former WHA players they held. The four incoming franchises, however, were allowed to protect up to two goaltenders and two skaters, voiding their NHL rights. These players were considered "priority selections" in the expansion draft. Numerous deals were cut by the incoming teams to retain some of their players. For instance, Quebec retained star forward Real Cloutier by trading a first-round draft choice to the Chicago Black Hawks, which held Cloutier's rights; that pick was used to select perennial superstar Denis Savard.
Wayne Gretzky was the first special case - although no team held his NHL rights, under existing rules he would have been removed from the Oilers and placed into the NHL entry draft. However, Gretzky had been signed by Oilers owner Peter Pocklington to a personal services contract instead of a standard player contract. Confronted with the probability of being drafted first overall by the last place Colorado Rockies, Gretzky refused to void his contract with Pocklington. After deliberation, the Oilers were allowed to keep Gretzky as one of their priority selections, and agreed to choose last in each round of the 1979 NHL entry draft as further compensation.
Gordie Howe was the second special case - as part of a gentlemen's agreement between the Hartford Whalers and the Detroit Red Wings, the latter of which held his NHL rights, the Red Wings subsequently declined to reclaim the 51-year-old Howe.
Dave Keon was the third special case - Toronto Maple Leafs owner Harold Ballard wanted to reclaim Keon as Ballard held the rights to Keon's contract after Keon left for the Hartford Whalers. NHL President John Ziegler was able to convince Ballard to let Keon stay with the Whalers, teaming up with the aforementioned Gordie Howe.
Cody Taylor was the fourth special case - When Ballard also realized that Punch Imlach needed to come back into the Leafs as GM and would probably think that Taylor wasn't anywhere near high quality, both Taylor and Penguins' forward Michel Briere were sent to the Atlanta Flames from their respective teams in exchange for later round draft picks, around two weeks before the expansion draft was to take place. As part of the agreement regarding this trade, both of them were not eligible for reclaimation by either the Leafs or Penguins, nor could they be chosen by any of the four expansion teams selecting players within this draft.
Expansion draft: Each of the 17 existing NHL teams were allowed to protect 15 skaters and two veteran goalies.
Compensation: The 17 existing NHL teams received $125,000 for each player drafted, these payments being funded by the $6 million in franchise fees each of the former WHA teams paid to join the NHL.
Protected Lists
Atlanta: Daniel Bouchard, Reggie Lemelin, Ivan Boldirev, Guy Chouinard, Bill Clement, Ken Houston, Edward Kea, Don Laurence, Bob MacMillan, Bob Murdoch, Kent Nilsson, Willi Plett, Jean Pronovost, Darcy Rota, Phil Russell, Dave Shand, and Eric Vail.
Boston: Gerry Cheevers, Gilles Gilbert, Wayne Cashman, Dwight Foster, Stan Jonathan, Don Marcotte, Peter McNab, Nifty Middleton, Mike Milbury, Bob Miller, Terry O'Reilly, Brad Park, Jean Ratelle, Dick Redmond, Bobby Schmautz, Rick Smith, and John Wensink.
Buffalo: Don Edwards, Bob Sauve, Ken Breitenbach, Rick Dudley, Danny Gare, Bill Hajt, Jerry Korab, Don Luce, Rick Martin, Gilbert Perreault, Craig Ramsay, Rene Robert, Andre Savard, Jim Schoenfeld, Dave Schultz, Ric Seiling, and Derek Smith.
Chicago: Murray Bannerman, Tony Esposito, J.P. Bordeleau, Ted Bulley, Alain Daigle, Greg Fox, Reggie Kerr, Cliff Koroll, Dave Logan, Tom Lysiak, John Marks, Grant Mulvey, Bob Murray, Harold Phillipoff, Pat Ribble, Terry Ruskowski, and Doug Wilson.
Detroit: Jim Rutherford, Rogie Vachon, Thommie Bergman, Dan Bolduc, John Hilworth, Bill Hogaboam, Gregory Joly, Dan Labraaten, Reed Larson, Nick Libett, Barry Long, George Lyle, Perry Miller, Dennis Polonich, Andre S. Laurent, Errol Thompson, and Paul Woods.
Houston: Cincinnati Plante, Bernie Parent,
Kansas City: Bill Oleschuk, Michel Plasse, Donald Ashby, Barry Beck, Mike Christie, Gary Croteau, Ron Delorme, Mike Dwyer, Trevor Johansen, Mike Kitchen, Bill Lochead, Dennis Owchar, Wilf Paiement, Randy Pierce, Don Saleski, Jack Valiquette, and John Van Boxmeer.
Los Angeles: Ron Grahame, Mario Lessard, Marcel Dionne, Glenn Goldup, Butch Goring, Rick Hampton, Randall Holt, Steve Jensen, Randy Manery, Rick Mulhern, Mike Murphy, Rob Palmer, Charlie Simmer, Dave Taylor, Vic Venasky, Bert Wilson, and Murray Wilson.
Minnesota: Gary Edwards, Gilles Meloche, Kent E. Andersson, Fred Barrett, Per-Olov Brasar, Jack Carlson, Mike Fidler, Al MacAdam, Kris Manery, Brad Maxwell, Gary Sargent, Glen Sharpley, Paul Shmyr, Greg Smith, Tim Young, Tom Younghans, and Ron Zanussi.
Montreal: Ken Dryden, Michel Larocque, Brian Engblom, Bob Gainey, Rejean Houle, Doug Jarvis, Guy Lafleur, Yvon Lambert, Guy LaPointe, Jacques Lemaire, Pierre Mondou, Mark Napier, Doug Risebrough, Larry Robinson, Serge Savard, Steve Shutt, and Mario Tremblay.
NY Islanders: Chico Resch, Billy Smith, Mike Bossy, Bob Bourne, Clark Gillies, Bill Harris, Lorne Henning, Mike Hordy, Garry Howatt, Mike Kaszycki, Dave Langevin, Dave Lewis, Bob Lorimer, Wayne Merrick, Bob Nystrom, Stefan Persson, Denis Potvin, John Tonelli, and Bryan Trottier.
NY Rangers: John Davidson, Doug Soetaert, Lucien DeBlois, Ron Duguay, Phil Esposito, Ron Greschner, Anders Hedberg, Pat Hickey, Dave Maloney, Mario Marois, Mike McEwen, Don Murdoch, Ulf Nilsson, Dean Talafous, Walt Tkaczuk, Carol Vadnais, and Steve Vickers.
Philadelphia: Rick Croix, Phillip Myre, Bill Barber, Mel Bridgman, Bobby Clarke, Bob Dailey, Andre Dupont, James Oakville, Paul Evans, Ed Van Impe, Tom Gorence, Al Hill, Paul Holmgren, Bob Kelly, Reggie Leach, Rick MacLeish, Terry Murray, Dennis Ververgaert, and Jim Watson.
Pittsburgh: Denis Herron, Gord Haxton, Russ Anderson, Tom Bladon, Randy Carlyle, Blair Chapman, George Ferguson, Michel Briere, Jim Hamilton, Rick Kehoe, Orest Kindrachuk, Peter Lee, Ross Lonsberry, Pete Mahovlich, Greg Malone, Gary McAdam, Rod Schutt, Gregg Sheppard, and Ron Stackhouse.
St. Louis: Mike Liut, Ed Staniowski, Jack Brownschilde, Mike Crombeen, Tony Currie, Blake Dunlop, Bernie Federko, Neil Labatte, Rick LaPointe, Chuck Lefley, Bryan Maxwell, Larry Patey, Tom Roulston, Bob Stewart, Brian Sutter, Garry Unger, and Mike Zuke.
Toronto: Paul Harrison, Mike Palmateer, John Anderson, Dave Burrows, Jerry Butler, Paul Gardner, Dave Hutchison, Dan Maloney, Lanny McDonald, Walt McKechnie, Rocky Saganiuk, Borje Salming, Darryl Sittler, Ian Turnbull, Dave Williams, and Ron Wilson.
Vancouver: Gary Bromley, Glen Hanlon, Jeff Bandura, Rick Blight, Drew Callander, Brad Gassoff, Jere Gillis, John Hughes, Dennis Kearns, Donald Lever, Bob Manno, Kevin McCarthy, Jack McIlhargey, Chris Oddleifson, Ron Sedibauer, Harold Snepsts, and Bob Tudor.
Washington D.C.: Jim Bedard, Gary Inness, Pierre Bouchard, Guy Charron, Steve Clippingdale, Rick Green, Dennis Hextall, Yvon Labre, Gordon Lane, Mark Lofthouse, Jack Lynch, Dennis Maruk, Robert Picard, Greg Polis, Tom Rowe, Peter Scamurra, and Bob Sirois.
Priority Selections
These following players were considered and chose as "priority selections" within the 1979 NHL expansion draft.
| No. | Player | Rights Denied | Rights Kept |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Dave Dryden (G) | Buffalo Sabres | Edmonton Oilers |
| 2. | Wayne Gretzky (C) | 1979 NHL entry draft | |
| 3. | Eddie Mio (G) | Minnesota North Stars | |
| 4. | Bengt-Ake Gustafsson (RW) | Washington Capitals | |
| 5. | Jordy Douglas (F) | Toronto Maple Leafs | Hartford Whalers |
| 6. | John Garrett (G) | St. Louis Blues | |
| 7. | Mark Howe (D) | Boston Bruins | |
| 8. | Paul Baxter (D) | Pittsburgh Penguins | Quebec Nordiques |
| 9. | Richard Brodeur (G) | New York Islanders | |
| 10. | Garry Lariviere (D) | Buffalo Sabres | |
| 11. | Scott Campbell (D) | St. Louis Blues | Winnipeg Jets |
| 12. | Morris Lukowich (LW) | Pittsburgh Penguins | |
| 13. | Markus Mattsson (G) | New York Islanders |
