Stumbled across this today and never heard of it before...
References:The Penguins have requested a move from the Patrick Division to the Norris. Toronto wishes to move from the Norris to Adams, and Hartford wants to move from the Adams to Patrick.
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On another front, the Pens continued to be frustrated by their attempts to sign free agents..."All the [college] players are still jockeying for position" [Bob Berry said]. The most coveted college free agent is right wing Ray Staszak from the University of Illinois-Chicago. Johnston would like to get Staszak as a linemate for center Mario Lemieux. Staszak is supposed to be in Boston, making his decision with the help of his agent, Brian Burke.
1984-85 NHL Standings:
Patrick Division
Philadelphia 113 pts
Washington 101 pts
NY Islanders 86 pts
NY Rangers 62 pts.
New Jersey 54 pts
Pittsburgh 53 pts
Adams Division
Montreal 94 pts
Quebec 91 pts
Buffalo 90 pts
Boston 82 pts
Hartford 69 pts
Norris Division
St. Louis 86 pts
Chicago 83 pts
Detroit 66 pts
Minnesota 62 pts
Toronto 48 pts
Interesting that the Pens, a poor team, would want to travel further west more often...St. Louis, Chicago, Minnesota are all Central time zone teams...
If that went down, it really would probably have carried for a while...who knows, maybe Detroit would have been in the Eastern Conference all this time and the Penguins in the Western...with the amount of pull they had...
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Ray Staszak epilogue...the Philadelphia native would sign a five-year, $1.4 million contract (a record for a rookie at that time) with Detroit and play one pro season. He had one assist in four career games in 1986 (really, 1985 because he made the club out of camp, but was soon sent down). He played 26 AHL games as well. He would suffer a groin injury that would end up becoming career-ending. The Red Wings bought out his contract and that was it. Their less-heralded college free agent signing did fair slightly better...from RPI, Adam Oates...