The Hot Line by Geoff Kirbyson

Author:Geoff Kirbyson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Hockey;WHA;Winnipeg Jets
Publisher: Great Plains Publications
Published: 2016-11-08T20:13:45+00:00

11

The Hot Line Hangover

When the Jets training camp opened in the fall of 1978, the excitement of winning a second AVCO Cup in three years was but a distant memory. Just a few months after parading down Portage Avenue, Anders Hedberg, Ulf Nilsson and Danny Labraaten—and their 282 points—had left for the NHL.

The Golden Jet, Bobby Hull, was in a funk, having lost his two linemates of the last four years at the same time as he was going through a nasty divorce. He would retire after a mere four games, during which he scored his last two goals in the WHA.

Loyal foot-soldiers Dave Dunn and Dave Kryskow both retired and Ken Baird, Lynn Powis and Kent Ruhnke all signed to play in West Germany.

If that wasn’t bad enough, things would immediately get worse. During the Jets first exhibition game against the St. Louis Blues, Lars-Erik Sjoberg tore his Achilles tendon, putting him on the shelf for most of the season.

Prior to the season, Labraaten was all set to sign with the Jets for another four years. “Something came up and I didn’t agree with Winnipeg and I changed my mind. At the time, Detroit wanted me, too, and I took that offer instead,” he says. “We didn’t know if (the WHA) would continue. I wanted to make sure I got the contract and make sure I’d get the money.”

Filling the glaring holes in the line-up were Terry Ruskowski, Morris Lukowich, Rich Preston, Scott Campbell, Paul Turbenche, John Gray and Steve West, all of whom had played for the much-hated Houston Aeros the previous season.

Just a few months earlier, Winnipeg was the last place the Aeros players ever expected—or wanted—to be. In the spring of 1978, a story appeared in a Houston newspaper reporting that the Aeros were soon going to be accepted into the NHL. The speculation had the team’s players understandably pumped up. So, imagine the crushing blow just a few weeks later when the NHL deal fell apart and the owners decided to fold the team.

That’s when Michael Gobuty got a call from WHA president Howard Baldwin. “He said, ‘put your ass on a plane and go buy the Houston Aeros,’” Gobuty says.

He and Barry Shenkarow did just that and flew to Texas. They told Aeros owner Kenneth Schnitzer they figured he had two choices—sell individual players or unload the entire team. “We had a list of maybe four or five players that we wanted from his team but he wouldn’t sell them because the other players had contracts and he didn’t want to get sued. He insisted we buy the whole team and we did. I think we paid $600,000 or $700,000. It was a good deal for us and they were all good hockey players,” Gobuty says. “Then we tried to get in the NHL. We thought Winnipeg was a market that could survive in the NHL. What you needed was a good team.”

Other players picked up by the Jets were Andre Lacroix, Cam Connor, Don Larway, John Hughes and Al McLeod.

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