Reddit reviews The Rebel League: The Short and Unruly Life of the World Hockey Association

So here's my thing with Bobby Hull. The guy was a remarkable piece of shit in his personal life, and yet, he's also one of the game's most important and best players.

His case ended the league's reserve clause, giving rise to free agency in the NHL. He ended up in court because he was lured to the WHA by professional sport's first million dollar check (paid out $100,000 over 10 years), boosting not only hockey salaries, but every professional athlete's. They dropped that load of cash on him because Jet's owner Benny Hatskin (bitchin' hockey name) thought his signing would give the league credibility. Ya see Hull was probably the most popular player in the NHL and his signing meant fans knew someone worth watching would be playing. Tack on the Swedish trio (Hedberg, Nilsson, and Sjoberg back on D) and you've a group that helped legitimize European style hockey in North America. With Hull, the WHA accomplished its goal and survived to the merger,* but I won't really go into all the implications of the league outside of Hull (of which there are many, the WHA challenged everything). Admittedly, outside of the first two, Hull was only a piece of the puzzle in these situations, a big damn piece in the case of the WHA. Even then, I'd really only put a couple of guys on the same level as him when it comes to impacting hockey as a business: Ted Lindsay and Doug Harvey (founders of the first NHL union).

As for his on ice achievements - 3x Art Ross, 2x Hart Trophy, 10x 1st team all-star, 2x 2nd team all-star. Dude's arguably the Blackhawks greatest player (...but Mikita) and one of hockey's absolute best. HF's history boards have him ranked as the #2 winger (behind Howe, in front of Richard) and #5 overall player (behind the big 4, above Harvey).*

I really don't have an opinion on what Chicago should do about this. I'm not a Chicago fan and I don't live anywhere near it. I can completely understand why the team would want a statue of player like Hull in front of the arena where the team plays. On the other hand, given the piece of shit human being he is (detailed elsewhere in this thread, makes Ike Turner look like a teddy bear), the people that find something celebrating his image offensive are completely justified. Ambivalent is as strong as an opinion as I'm going to have on this topic, I just wanted to show why the they put Hull there. I'm obviously a fan of Hull the hockey player, but seriously what the fuck dude? Who tries to throw their wife off a balcony?


No, seriously, that was the business plan masterminded by Hatskin after he got snubbed during the 67 expansion. Determined to get an NHL team no matter the fashion, he figured the NHL would simply absorb any competition, like the NFL had just done with the AFL, so he joined up. He underestimated the constant dicking they would take at the hands of Harold Ballard and the Molson brothers. The trio blocked multiple mergers, entirely out of spite for challenging the NHL. I highly recommend reading Rebel League; the WHA story is crazy. As a fun aside, a failed WHA presents some crazy what-ifs without even leaving Edmonton. What happens to the Oilers dynasty? The team no longer exists. Who ends up with Gretzky? Coffee? Messier?Does Kurri even come to North America? Do the Islanders win a fifth straight cup?

**Take these rankings as you will. I'm presenting them to give a general sense of how Hull is viewed by hockey history buffs and I like their methodology. I don't even agree with them. Hull over Harvey? Bullshit!

The Oilers had to smuggle fugitive forward Frankie “Seldom” Beaton out of their dressing room in an equipment bag, the Jersey Knights played on a rink that actually had a slope to it, the NHL owners messing with the WHA teams (the leafs owner had the toronto WHA team's arena's lights dim for their first game, got rid of the pads on the home team bench).

WHA also had their draft age at 18 while the NHL's was 20 at the time, allowing the WHA to poach young kids with more money then the NHL would offer at a younger age. (The NHL would lower their draft age to compete with the WHA there). WHA also went after European players at a time when the NHL was primarily North-American.

Book i read was The Rebel League. Highly recommend it, really entertaining.

Hockey Prospectus 2011-12 or The Rebel League: The Short and Unruly Life of the World Hockey Association

He was replace by Jacques Plante who missed practices so he could go cross-country skiing.

Plante later return to playing because the WHA's caliber was so low ho could earn some easy cash. He became the first player in history to miss a game because he got sunburned laying on the side of a pool in Phoenix.

The WHA ladies and gentlemen.

Source: Rebel league https://www.amazon.ca/Rebel-League-Unruly-Hockey-Association/dp/077108949X