June 13, 1985 - The Penguins ask to move out of the Patrick and into the Norris Division

[mikey]

https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=H ... %2C3212172

Stumbled across this today and never heard of it before...

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.
...
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.

References:

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...

---

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...

[dodint]

Interesting. I've heard of that Oates guy.

[Freddy Rumsen]

Groin injury ends a career?

What the heck did he do? Have his groin removed?

[mikey]

He had some groin injury (and a shoulder injury) and tried to play through them...ended worsening whatever condition he had and that was it...of course, medical science has progressed in 30 years, but I guess he wasn't so fortunate...

[doublewinder]

Wonder if this was done because they wanted to be in a division with smaller markets like the Buccos?

[columbia]

It's because they were absolutely horrible and viewed as an effort to be more competitive.

[mikey]

It's because they were absolutely horrible and viewed as an effort to be more competitive.

That was my guess as well. The Flyers defensive powerhouse had been rejuvenated post-Clarke, the Isles had just won 4 Stanley Cups, the Caps had a diesel defense group...the teams in the Norris were not nearly as strong and the playoffs were not hard to make in a 21-team league, the Pens needed that revenue...desperately, AIUI...

[columbia]

Speaking of Penguins history ephemera...

I didn't really bother to look very much on the web, but had Bob Grove confirm a very vague memory:

https://twitter.com/bobgrove91/status/6 ... 2956374016

[mikey]

Hmm, never heard the Pens going there. The Blues was almost a done deal. In fact, the NHL blocked it as I recall, and the Blues refused to participate in the 1983 (?) NHL Draft in protest...

[relantel]

There was one year there the Patrick Division had all 6 teams above .500 - Pens were on the outside looking in. But probably fortunate they didn't move.

[Sam's Drunk Dog]

Hmm, never heard the Pens going there. The Blues was almost a done deal. In fact, the NHL blocked it as I recall, and the Blues refused to participate in the 1983 (?) NHL Draft in protest...

I had never heard of this story before. I assumed when you meant they didn't participate that they still drafted players but didn't have anyone there to make the picks, but they actually didn't make any picks. This is a good recap of the drama in case anyone else is interested.

http://www.stlouisgametime.com/2009/4/5 ... -the-story

[relantel]

Wow on the Blues story. So the NHL let Atlanta move to Calgary the year before but wouldn't let St Louis move.

By the baseball-reference folks, then, the 1967-1983 Blues are a different franchise and stats than the 1983-present Blues. Just like they (baseball-reference) argue the 1901-1902 Baltimore Orioles aren't the same as the 1903-present Yankees even as they claim the NYY are charter members of the American League! Obviously that isn't how the NHL views their career stats now.

[mikey]

Was watching a 1986 regular season game last night where this was brought up multiple times on the ESPN broadcast...they referenced a fan poll...so I did a quick search for that...

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1986/04/03 ... 512888400/

PITTSBURGH -- The vice president of the Pittsburgh Penguins said the team has decided to give up its fight to switch from the NHL's Patrick to Norris Division.

Paul Martha made the announcement Thursday after the results of an annual fan survey were disclosed.

Pittsburgh is in fifth place in the Patrick Division and if that holds, the Penguins would miss the playoffs for the fourth straight year. With the same number of points in the Norris, the Penguins would already have clinched a playoff berth.

'Our fans are saying basically that we're a Patrick Division team, and by the initial survey they're telling us they want us to remain in the Patrick,' Martha said. 'And this is how we've always operated. What the fans tell us to do, we try to do.'

...

'It's a blatant injustice to allow a team to get into the playoffs year after year with 57 points, and another team with 70 or 75 points doesn't make it year after year,' Martha said. 'If it happens once in 10 years, that's different, but it's become a pattern.'

Martha doesn't think the NHL Board of Governors will approve a proposal to return to the old format that had the NHL's top 16 teams by record qualify for the playoffs. So the Penguins will propose that the top eight teams in each conference make the playoffs.

'The other conference is somewhat weaker, so because of that I anticipate resistance in going back to the one-through-sixteen,' Martha said. 'With our (conference) proposal, the divisions would maintain. There still would be an unbalanced schedule, there still would be divisional rivalries.'

It wouldn't be until 1994 that the NHL moved to the proposed conference (1-8) playoff format.

##

As for the game, Mario Lemieux said during the 1st intermission that he was surprised they would start Roberto Romano in such an important game. Romano would go on to give up 7 on 22 shots in a 7-2 loss where the Pens outshot the Isles by nearly double...