Nelson Skalbania—Page 2

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A Precious Commodity

Despite never having seen Gretzky play, Skalbania was convinced he had found hockey’s next superstar. Gretzky apparently proved his mettle when he beat Skalbania in a six-mile run.

"The contract was drawn up on a piece of paper on Skalbania’s lawn while he and Gretzky were still perspiring from the run," wrote Douglas Hunter in The Glory Barons. "Gretzky signed not with the Racers, but with Skalbania personally, in the form of a personal services contract. Reports on its details varied. He signed Gretzky either to a four-year deal which, with signing bonus, amounted to $1.125 million, or a seven-year deal worth $1.75 million."

Skalbania reasoned that it was better to own a young, marquee player that the National Hockey League (NHL) wanted, even if his team was a fledgling WHA franchise that was not fiscally fit.

"In truth Gretzky, not the Racers, was the franchise Skalbania owned," Douglas Hunter wrote in The Glory Barons. "All Skalbania had to do now was to keep the Racers afloat long enough to become part of the renewed merger negotiations with the NHL."

Despite securing the services of Gretzky, the Racers were suffering insurmountable debts. After eight games in which he had notched six points, Gretzky was on the market as Skalbania needed to cash in his asset.

Skalbania first approached Michael Gobuty, a real estate investor who also had a controlling share of the WHA’s Winnipeg Jets. But a deal couldn’t be reached with the Jets, so Skalbania turned to his former partner with the Oilers, Peter Pocklington.

Incidentally, Gretzky’s fourth game with the Racers was against the Oilers on October 20, 1978. The Great One had made a lasting impression on Oilers coach Glen Sather, who urged Pocklington to sign Gretzky when Skalbania came calling.

In November, Pocklington purchased Gretzky and two other Indianapolis players, goaltender Eddie Mio and forward Peter Driscoll. Pocklington paid $700,000 for the contracts of the three players, although the announced price was actually $850,000.

Gretzky would sign a 21-year personal services contract with Pocklington on January 26, 1979, his 18th birthday. The deal, said to be worth between $4 and $5 million, was the longest player agreement in hockey history.

The Calgary Crusade

Meanwhile, Skalbania returned to the hockey scene in 1980, when he bought the New Westminster Bruins, a major-junior team that had finished with just 10 wins in 72 games in 1979-80. When the Bruins only won 17 games and failed to make the playoffs the following season, Skalbania sold the team to Pocklington.

Skalbania would also buy the Canadian Football League’s Montreal Alouettes and the North American Soccer League’s Memphis Rogues, which he moved to Calgary.

He was also involved when Calgary acquired its NHL franchise from Atlanta. Skalbania offered a whopping $16 million for the team to principal owner Tom Cousins, who had also negotiated with a group of Calgary investors. In his efforts to own the Flames, Skalbania also pre-sold local television rights to Molson for $6 million over 10 years.

Skalbania and the Calgary investors could not agree on how to run the club, causing Skalbania to bring in Norman Green as an investor and intermediary.

Skalbania would get half of the Calgary Flames, the investors the other half. But after the club’s first season in 1980-81, Skalbina was bought out.

After leaving the Flames, Skalbania briefly reappeared on the hockey scene in 1988 after the Oilers had won their fourth Stanley Cup. He proposed to buy Gretzky’s contract from Pocklington for $20 million.

The scheme would see Gretzky’s playing rights sold to the Vancouver Canucks, with a separate for marketing rights. Instead, Pocklington would sell the Great One to the Los Angeles Kings for players and draft picks on August 9, 1988.

Clearly, Skalbania and Pocklington were two of the most colourful and controversial figures in the Oilers’ history. Their deals were daring and sometimes dangerous. One of their lighter schemes involved a form of bribery.

"The Oilers were battling for a playoff berth and rewards were promised for making it," wrote Terry Jones in Edmonton’s Hockey Knights. "When they did, Skalbania called the team to attention in the dressing room and actually passed around one-way tickets to Hawaii, telling the team they’d get the return tickets if they won a playoff series."

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