Maybe not an “outrageous” opinion, but definitely a minority view …
The sponsorship and C-card system — there’s no good reason to have one without the other — was an extraordinarily effective way for NHL clubs to develop young players and was much more effective than today’s NHL entry draft system and the absurd “priority selection” drafts most of the North American junior leagues use to lay claim to kids.
I’ll pick two team near the end of the junior sponsorship era — the Niagara Falls Flyers and the Oshawa Generals, both sponsored by the (at the time) lowly Boston Bruins.
In 1962-63, 16 year-old Derek Sanderson was a rookie on Niagara Falls, playing just 2 games. That same year, 1962, 14 year-old Bobby Orr was a rookie with Oshawa.
Not a bad start, wouldn’t you agree?
Now here are some of their junior teammates, all of whom were signed to C-cards with the Bruins: Bernie Parent, Doug Favell, Dunc Wilson, Phil Myre, Wayne Cashman, Bill Goldsworthy, Gary Dornhoefer, Don Awrey, Jean Pronovost, Don Marcotte, Rosie Paiement, Jim Lorentz, Ricky Ley, Terry Crisp, Phil Roberto, Tom Webster, Don Tannahill, and Ron Schock. Out west, Estevan developed Joe Watson, Ross Lonsberry, and Jim Harrison.
The kicker? The Bruins stunk for most of the 1960s. They weren’t particularly good at signing guys to C-cards — frankly, they were probably 6th out of 6 in terms of developing NHLers. But look again at that list: 4 guys on Team Canada ‘72, a goalie only Jesus out-saved in the early-70s, and a half-dozen guys who won Broad Street Bullies Stanley Cups with Philly. Can you imagine an NHL team today drafting that well over a 5-year period? And for what it’s worth, I didn’t cherry-pick the Bruins — you want to see who the Habs, Hawks, or even the Rangers had on their sponsored junior teams in the same time frame?
The junior sponsorship and C-card system had MANY problems, but if measured purely on the basis of NHL teams developing NHL talent, it worked much better than the entry draft and junior hockey “priority selection” systems that replaced it.