Archive for the ‘Hockey Legends’ Category
Even with the recent advent of the salary cap, the common hockey fan still has trouble coming to grips with the figures that grace the pay stubs of today’s NHL Players. The salaries are large and the length of the contracts are longer as teams try to lock up their stars for what seems to be their entire careers.
I found myself wondering exactly what happened when Dustin Penner went from being the best deal in the league at $450,000/year, to being one of the worst deals in the league now earning nearly 10X that amount.
Who Made Hockey’s First Million?
In any event, even that pales in comparison to the offer that was made to Bobby Hull back in the 1972 season by the owners of the WHA. The owners of the WHA franchises recognized that they needed a bonafide superstar to give league some legitimate credibility. This desperation by the owners led to the offer of $1 Million to Bobby Hull if he would play in the World Hockey Association.
Hull not only received $1,000,000 to play hockey in the WHA, he reportedly got it all in one lump sum! From all reports, this made Bobby Hull the first player in any professional sport to receive a $1,000,000 contract.
Salaries Adjusted For Inflation
Of course, this may seem like a lot of money back then but it is just a drop in the bucket these days. Even when adjusted for inflation, Hull’s $1,000,000 equates to just $5,049,760.77 in today’s dollars. According to the 2007-2008 salary figures, 52 NHL players will earn more than $5,049,760 this season.
Hull’s Take On His Big Contract
“My wife made me a millionaire when she divorced me - before she divorced me, I had three million”.
This is one of the many interesting facts that I found when reading Hockey’s Book of Firsts by James Duplacey.
Regular NHL Digest readers will, no doubt, know that one of our favorite authors on the subject of hockey history is Joe Pelletier. We have highlighted Mr. Pelletier’s work on several occasions and we are most pleased to make an announcement for him.
Joe has recently launched a new site dedicated to the study and review of any and all books related to hockey. Fittingly, Joe has named the site “Hockey Book Reviews”! All of Joe’s book reviews can be found on his new site at www.hockeybookreviews.com.
Joe is a great hockey mind and painstakingly devours book after book about the subject. We highly recommend that you visit Hockey Book Reviews before going out to purchase your next book.
Some of Joe’s recent reviews include:
Rocket Richard: Reluctant Hero
Canucks Legends
A Canadian Saturday Night
These are just a sampling of Joe’s reviews. If you are interested in a book on hockey, chances are that Joe has read it!
You can also visit Joe’s primary website at the new location:
www.greatesthockeylegends.com
Keep up the great work Mr. Pelletier!
I have previously mentioned a Bobby Orr tribute video on NHL Digest that I thought was rather fitting and a great view of the awesome career of possibly the best player to play the game.
However, if you are looking for a great written biography of Bobby Orr on the web, I would suggest that you look no further than Joe Pelletier’s legends of hockey site. Joe has a great piece on the career of Bobby Orr…summed up as the perfect hockey player.
Here is just a snippet of what Joe had to say:
Orr was the sport’s most dominant player, arguably its perfect player, and he did from the blue line. By doing so Orr revolutionized the game of hockey. His slick passing and playmaking and his end to end rushes were unheard of by a defenseman. Only the very very best forwards would try a solo effort. Orr did it seemingly effortlessly, and so convincingly, therefore forever changing the hockey landscape.
I highly encourage you to read the rest of Joe’s Bobby Orr Biography.
This video clip is for those of you who think that fighting just became “dangerous” this season with Jon Sim and Todd Fedoruk getting injured.
This classic fight features Stan Jonathan fighting Pierre Bouchard of the Montreal Canadiens on May 21, 1978. Jonathan beat Bouchard so badly, fracturing his nose/face, that Bouchard was eventually forced to retire.
Feed readers can enjoy the video here.
I was hoping that the Pittsburgh Penguins wouldn’t strike a deal to stay and that I would get to see the Winnipeg Jets enter the NHL once again. However, it was not meant to be so I will have to re-live the memories.
Below is a highlight video of Winnipeg Jets from the 1980’s. You will surely recognize some classic names from the era. Dale Hawerchuk, Thomas Steen and Phil Housley were electrifying in their day!
Feed readers can enjoy the video here.
Below is an excellent tribute video to one of the greatest hockey players that Russia has ever known. Often referred to as the Russian Bobby Orr, Viacheslav (Slava) Fetisov is deserving the title ’hockey legend’ on both sides of the Atlantic.
Viacheslav Fetisov was instrumental in breaking the ‘Russian Barrier’ in the National Hockey League. Even though he was in the latter part of his career, Fetisov excelled in the NHL with both the New Jersey Devils and the Detroit Red Wings.
He won two Stanley Cups while with Detroit (1997, 1998) and later won a third Stanley Cup as an assistant coach with New Jersey in 2000.
A great biography on Fetisov can be found at Legends Of Hockey.
Source: Wikipedia