The History of the Winnipeg Jets
The history of the Winnipeg Jets is a long and interesting one. It started with a league that was started up as a rival to the National Hockey League, the World Hockey Association. NHL President Clarence Campbell downplayed the significance of the league, saying "they won't last a year". One of the men who showed interest in buying a WHA franchise was Winnipeger Ben Hatskin. He decided to name the team the Jets. The WHA needed to get some high profile NHLers to defect to their league in order to survive, and Ben Hatskin approached Chicago Blackhawks star Bobby Hull. He said, "I'll do it for a million dollars".
A million dollars may not seem like much in terms of player salaries now, but at the time, it was an unprecedented amount. With help from the WHA coffers, Hatskin signed Bobby Hull for one million dollars. A ceremony where Hull signed the contract was held at Portage and Main, the most famous intersection in Winnipeg.
The Winnipeg Jets ended up starting the trend of European players joining North American teams, by signing Ulf Nillson and Anders Hedberg. In 1974, the public took over the team from Ben Hatskin by raising money in what was to be the first of many "Save the Jets" campaigns.
Bobby Hull played phenomenally in the WHA, scoring 50 goals in 50 games and 77 goals in one season. Even though this shattered the NHL records, the NHL refuses to recognize WHA stats to this day. (An interesting side note: In Wayne Gretzky's first NHL season, he was denied the Calder trophy for rookie of the year because he'd played a year in the WHA.)
The Winnipeg Jets won their first of three AVCO Cups(the WHA championship) in 1976. In 1978, they defeated the powerful Soviet National Team in an exhibition game, and won their second AVCO Cup. In 1979, the Jets won the AVCO Cup again to become the last AVCO Cup champions in WHA history. When the WHA collapsed, the National Hockey League reluctantly, and under tremendous pressure, admitted the Edmonton Oilers, the Quebec Nordiques, the Winnipeg Jets, and the New England(became Hartford) Whalers. The Jets had been purchased by businessman Barry Shenkarow. Unfortunately, the Jets were forced to give up nearly all of their players in order to meet the NHL's requirements.
The Jets went on to a few lackluster(some would say downright horrible)seasons in the NHL. In 1981, along came Dale Hawerchuk. Hawerchuk was exactly what the Jets needed. A young prospect with tremendous star potential. He was signed in a deal at Portage and Main as well. He helped the Jets make the playoffs for the first time(they lost to St. Louis in the first round) and won the Calder trophy. After a few more mediocre seasons(Hawerchuck wasn't a miracle worker), the Jets made the second round of the playoffs in 1985. Unfortunately, they had to face the mighty Edmonton Oiler team in the second round, and lost. There was no shame in losing to the Oilers as they were the best NHL team of the eighties due to stars Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kurri, Mark Messier, Grant Fuhr, and so on. In 1987, the Jets made the second round of the playoffs again, and again lost to the Edmonton Oilers.
The Jets never really regained the spark of those mid-eighties teams, but in 1988, a young Finn named Teemu Selanne was drafted as the Winnipeg Jets first choice in the draft- 10th overall. Selanne didn't join the Jets until the 1992-93 season, but when he did, he made his presence felt. In 1990, the Jets drafted Alexei Zhamnov and Keith Tkachuk, two players who played on Selanne's line in the 1992-93 season. In 1992, defenseman Randy Carlyle played his 1000th NHL game. Hawerchuck was also traded for Phil Housley and Ed Olczyk, two players who played solidly for the Jets in 1991-92. Phil Housley even threatened Bobby Orr's record for most points in a season by a defenseman. The 1992-93 season was a good one for the Winnipeg Jets. What made it spectacular was the fact that four rookies, (Selanne, Tkachuk, Zhamnov, and Evgeny Davydov) had all had star seasons. Teemu Selanne, without a doubt, had the greatest season by a rookie of all time, scoring 76 goals, which broke Mike Bossy's record of most goals by a rookie(53)(anyone remember the signs that said "52, 53, 54! Bossy's record is no more!") and 132 points, breaking Peter Stasny's record of 109 for most points by a rookie. Unfortunately, the Jets lost to the Vancouver Canucks in the first round of the playoffs. Of course, Selanne won the Calder trophy.
The 1993-94 season wasn't a memorable one for the Jets, and by the 1994-95 season, Barry Shenkarow decided he was sick of losing money and attempted to sell the team. A group known as the MEC raised millions of dollars from all levels of government, businesses, and private citizens in an attempt to buy the Jets and keep them in Winnipeg, but were unsuccessfull. Shenkarow announced that he'd likely sell the team to businessmen in Minneapolis. A free "funeral" was held for the Jets at the Winnipeg Arena, where Thomas Steen's number was retired(Steen didn't want to play in Minneapolis), and different players made speeches about how great it was to play in Winnipeg. The most memorable quote was by Ed Olczyk, who said, "Wherever this team goes, when we win the Stanley Cup, we will bring it to Winnipeg!". Shenkarow's deal with Minneapolis fell through, and it was decided that the Jets would play one more year in Manitoba so as not to punish the city that Shenkarow would sell the Jets to.(it was only a couple of months until the new season, and any new owner would have been under a lot of pressure to start a new team in that short a time span). The MEC re-surfaced under the name "The Spirit of Manitoba" and again tried to purchase the team and keep it in Winnipeg. Again, they were unsuccessfull. Shenkarow sold the team to the same two businessmen in Minneapolis, who decided to move the team to Phoenix instead, due to problems with an agreement they had with the City of Minneapolis. The 1995-96 season was played in Winnipeg, and everyone knew that it was to be their last. They made the playoffs but lost to Detroit in the first round.
The last game at the Winnipeg Arena may have been a gigantic black eye on the fans of Winnipeg had it not been for the tremendous goaltending of Nikolai Khabibulin. It all started when some people came up with the idea of throwing frozen Winnipeg goldeyes on the ice in an attempt to mock the Detroit tradition of throwing octopi on the ice. The goldeye throwing started in Game 3, and by Game 4, mustard, cardboard, pepsi cups, ketchup, and toilet paper, among various other items, were being thrown on the ice. The Star Spangled Banner was booed at the beginning of the game. The Jets lost that game 6-1. Game 5 was held in Detroit, and there were fears that the ending of the Winnipeg hockey tradition would end with that black eye. However, Nikolai Khabibulin saved Game 5 with his tremendous goaltending, and Game 6 was held at the Winnipeg Arena. The fans redeemed themselves with one of the best "white-outs" the Arena had ever seen. Unfortunately, the Jets lost the game, but we all knew that the history of the Winnipeg Jets would end with a loss, so it was almost appropriate. The game ended with a mass of fans jumping onto the ice to celebrate the great history of the Winnipeg Jets.
The Phoenix Coyotes began operations at the start of the 1996-1997 season. They haven't made it past the second round of the playoffs yet, and hopefully never will. The two Minneapolis businessmen got sick of losing money and sold the team to a group of investors publicly led by Wayne Gretzky. I used to hate the Coyotes, but maybe I'll begin to like them if these Gretzky led teams can restore the level of spirit that the Winnipeg Jets had. We'll wait and see, as the deal was only completed at the end of the 2000-2001 season.