Why Gretzky signed with WHA Indianapolis Racers?

[alko]

How was it in NHL at that time with first contracts?

We all know, there was age limit and draft. So, if he wanted to play in NHL, he must to wait another year. But when he did, how much could he earn with his first NHL contract? Was there some limit as it is now? Could it be better, as he signed with WHA Indianapolis Racers?

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[Albatros]

Gretzky was 17, at the time the age limit in the NHL was 20.

 

[FerrisRox]

How was it in NHL at that time with first contracts?

We all know, there was age limit and draft. So, if he wanted to play in NHL, he must to wait another year. But when he did, how much could he earn with his first NHL contract? Was there some limit as it is now? Could it be better, as he signed with WHA Indianapolis Racers?

He would have had to wait three more years to play in the NHL. Signing in the WHA was a no-brainer and enough talented teenagers took that route that it caused the NHL to lower their entry draft age to stop the bleeding of young top prospects jumping to the WHA.

 

[Albatros]

Actually the age limit was lowered coinciding with the WHA merger, as it made U20 WHA players like Gretzky NHL players. There had been pressure to do it already before for the reason you mentioned, but so when it was done the WHA had already ceased to exist and there were whole new practical reasons for it.

 

[BadgerBruce]

How was it in NHL at that time with first contracts?

We all know, there was age limit and draft. So, if he wanted to play in NHL, he must to wait another year. But when he did, how much could he earn with his first NHL contract? Was there some limit as it is now? Could it be better, as he signed with WHA Indianapolis Racers?

Gretzky signed with the Racers to monetize his hockey skills. It’s that simple.

Any doubts about his legal right to do this vanished after the landmark John Tonelli (1975)and Ken Linseman (1978) court rulings.

For the most part, Gretzky’s entire hockey playing life was fast-tracked.
Walter got him on a team for 10 year olds when Wayne was just 6 (he scored zero goals).

Later, Walter tried desperately to get 14 year old Wayne out of Brantford and rostered on a MTHL (now GTHL) Toronto area team, which would have violated residency rules, and he even used some, um, “unusual guardianship strategies” to try and make it happen.

The Ontario Minor Hockey Association refused the residential transfer and Walter took the provincial governing body, along with the CAHA, to court, challenging the legality of residency rules.

The Gretzkys lost the case in Ontario Superior Court but it didn’t really matter — Wayne was finished with minor hockey and signed with a Toronto area Jr. B team that operated outside of the auspices of the CAHA. In other words, an outlaw team in an outlaw league.

Side note: When Wayne was drafted by the Sault St. Marie franchise in the Ontario Major Junior Hockey League (now the OHL), Walter was not impressed. “12 months ago these guys argued that if Wayne played minor hockey 50 miles away from our house, it would destroy the system. Now they say that if Wayne does not play 500 miles away from our house, it would destroy the system.”

Anyway, we know the rest — quick season in the Soo and then inked the deal with Skalbania and the Racers.

Gretzky — well, probably his dad, to be honest — was always pushing to get to the next step as quickly as possible, and broadly speaking was impatient with barriers. Turning pro was an escape from the restrictive player movement and compensation rules at the amateur level and allowed him to earn a living instead of providing others (amateur team owners) with a living.

Side note 2: after Gretzky, Lindros followed a similar path (also fairly litigious) to choose his own path, as did Crosby (father Troy unsuccessfully sued Hockey Canada and the Nova Scotia governing body). More recently, we’ve seen in Austen Matthews’ journey a similar desire to do things as he and his family desire, including monetizing talent early.

 

[Hoser]

Actually the age limit was lowered coinciding with the WHA merger, as it made U20 WHA players like Gretzky NHL players. There had been pressure to do it already before for the reason you mentioned, but so when it was done the WHA had already ceased to exist and there were whole new practical reasons for it.

And, in point of fact, the limit had been lowered to 18 in 1974 for the one year only in order to get a jump on the WHA drafting and signing these 'underage' prospects. That's why the '75 and '76 drafts were notoriously terrible: the best 18-year-olds went in '74. By the end the WHA teams didn't bother having a draft and just started signing junior players as free agents in '77.

 

[The Panther]

Walter got him on a team for 10 year olds when Wayne was just 6 (he scored zero goals).

Small correction: he actually scored 1 goal that season! (Walter took a photo of it that often appears in books, but I couldn't find it on the web.)

 

[BadgerBruce]

Small correction: he actually scored 1 goal that season! (Walter took a photo of it that often appears in books, but I couldn't find it on the web.)

You’re right, Panther — The Great One did pot one that first season.

The time period we are dealing with in this thread was tumultuous, to put it mildly. Junior hockey in Canada was still struggling to find its way after the sponsorship/C-card era ended. It’s amazing to me that a tiny 5 -6 year window in the 70s (75-80) saw John Ziegler take charge of the NHL, Dave Branch take charge of the (now) OHL, Gretzky turn pro in the WHA under a personal services contract, both the Tonelli and Linseman court rulings, the demise of the WHA, Orr and Howe retire forever, and Gretzky begin his NHL career. So many transformative events — I’ve read about how 1968 is the most eventful year in American history, and I’d suggest that 75-80 might be the half- decade where hockey forever shed its O6 mentality and became something very different.

 

[The Panther]

The time period we are dealing with in this thread was tumultuous, to put it mildly. Junior hockey in Canada was still struggling to find its way after the sponsorship/C-card era ended. It’s amazing to me that a tiny 5 -6 year window in the 70s (75-80) saw John Ziegler take charge of the NHL, Dave Branch take charge of the (now) OHL, Gretzky turn pro in the WHA under a personal services contract, both the Tonelli and Linseman court rulings, the demise of the WHA, Orr and Howe retire forever, and Gretzky begin his NHL career. So many transformative events — I’ve read about how 1968 is the most eventful year in American history, and I’d suggest that 75-80 might be the decade where hockey forever shed its O6 mentality and became something very different.

Yep -- the 1970s was just kind of a wild time in general!

I think it's really the emergence of the WHA that changed everything. A rival pro-League that would usher the "O6" dinosaurs into the jet-set age was long overdue (by about 15 years!), and then suddenly it build up and the dam burst quickly.

 

[BadgerBruce]

Here’s a series of ironies for you: at various times over the last 25 or so years, Hockey Canada has promoted Gretzky, Lindros and Crosby as the “face” of Canadian hockey. Gretzky as a player and Olympic Team GM, Lindros as an Olympic Team Captain and the embodiment of the game's future, and Crosby as the golden goal boy all mothers love.

But 2 of the 3 sued Hockey Canada when they were teenagers and the other, Lindros, probably spent more money on legal fees to escape the control held by junior (and the NHL) than anyone in the game’s history.

 

[Tweed]

Here’s a series of ironies for you: at various times over the last 25 or so years, Hockey Canada has promoted Gretzky, Lindros and Crosby as the “face” of Canadian hockey. Gretzky as a player and Olympic Team GM, Lindros as an Olympic Team Captain and the embodiment of the game's future, and Crosby as the golden goal boy all mothers love.

But 2 of the 3 sued Hockey Canada when they were teenagers and the other, Lindros, probably spent more money on legal fees to escape the control held by junior (and the NHL) than anyone in the game’s history.

Lemieux had legal drama with the Q and Hockey Canada as well... when the league suspended him for declining to play at the Juniors one Xmas. Things were 'testy, but I can't remember if he poured any money into it, though.

 

[Passchendaele]

I remember reading in one of Gretzky's biographies (might have been the one released in the early 90s) and him saying that at the time he signed that deal he was willing to forego an NHL career and play in the WHA instead.

 

[tony d]

Imagine that if Gretzky would have never played in the NHL and the WHA had stuck around how things would have changed for the NHL? Without Gretzky in the NHL does hockey survive in California and go to other southern markets? Without Gretzky does Edmonton see the same success they saw in the 80's?

 

[Hoser]

Imagine that if Gretzky would have never played in the NHL and the WHA had stuck around how things would have changed for the NHL? Without Gretzky in the NHL does hockey survive in California and go to other southern markets? Without Gretzky does Edmonton see the same success they saw in the 80's?

Gretzky was traded to the Oilers while they were still in the WHA. To ask "imagine if the WHA had stuck around" is incongruent with "without Gretzky does Edmonton see the same success they saw in the '80s?" If the WHA stuck around the Oilers wouldn't have been in the NHL...