There are 30 major league hockey teams spread across the United States and Canada, and all but one received the following telegram yesterday:
“As of today, Bobby Orr is a free agent. If you are interested in acquiring his services for the future, please contact me at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel, Montreal, on June 7. We are setting a July 1 deadline.
Yours, Alan Eagleson.”
The one team of the 30 in the National Hockey League and World Hockey Assn, that did not receive this message? The one which has owned the rights to him for the past 15 years —the Boston Bruins.
“Bobby will definitely not return to Boston,” said Eagleson yesterday in Bermuda, where he is presiding over a meeting of the National Hockey League Players Assn. “They have insulted his ability. They have indicated to everyone that Bobby Orr is a cripple and they cannot tolerate that.”
“I would like to stay with the Bruins,” said Orr, who is also in Bermuda, “but I may not be able to.”
“I guess our final offer wasn't good enough,” said Bruins general manager Harry Sinden, “but I don't consider it an insult to offer Bobby the kind of money we've offered him. Realistically, there isn't much we can do now but wait to see what happens.”
The Bruins last offer to Orr came several months ago when the team told Eagleson it was willing to pay Orr $350,000 a year for five years, a total of $1,750,000. This offer was not fully guaranteed. The proffered contract stipulated that Orr was to get $100,000 a year for six years if he injured his ailing (left) knee in such a way that he could never play again. In another vein, though, the Bruins said they would pay the full amount of the contract if Orr were forced to retire because of injury to any part of his body other than the often-injured knee.
Orr said yesterday that his knee was responding to treatment. He also said he felt he would be able to play hockey again in another three months.
Eagleson said yesterday nine teams have already expressed interest in the defensemen.
In the NHL he named: Montreal, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, St. Louis and Pittsburgh.
In the WHA he named: The New England Whalers, Cincinnati, Edmonton, and Calgary.
The word is that Eagleson wants a fully guaranteed five-year contract worth at least $2.5 million to deliver Orr, although no figures were mentioned in his telegram.
Howard Baldwin, president of the Whalers, said that he expects his league to put together a package to make Orr jump from the NHL.
“The Houston Aeros own his rights in our league,” said Baldwin, “and we're trying to work out something with Houston to get those rights. If we do, then our next step will be to sit down and figure out what the Whalers as an organization can do financially to make the offer attractive enough for Orr.
“We certainly couldn't come up with all of the money ourselves. We would ask all of the other teams In the league to help make up the difference between what we could afford to pay as a team, and what we would need to get him.
“When we talked about bringing Orr into the league before to the Minnesota Fighting Saints each team was going to contribute part of the gate receipts when Orr played in its rink. In other words, if the presence of Orr on the ice helped fill their building, then they would be willing to give part of the money back to Orr.”
The NHL has a rule which prevents teams from banding together to pay for the contract of an individual player.
But officials of the NHL teams named by Eagleson as being most interested in Orr had this to say yesterday:
Tommy Ivan, general manager-Chicago Black Hawks —
“We definitely are interested in getting Orr, and I'm sure we are not the only ones. I've been trying to get in touch with Eagleson, but he's in Bermuda. We have nothing concrete on our offer yet, but we have talked about it financially. We are well aware of his physical problem, but we have't gone too far into that yet.” (Chicago owner William Wirtz yesterday said the Hawks would make a major effort to sign Orr) “It may cost us $500,000 a year, and it might cost $3 million over several years, but he's worth it.” Continued Ivan: “My impression of Orr from meeting him several times at all-star games and things like that is that he is a very honest young man. If he told me that he would be physically ready to play hockey for us, then I will believe him. I feel there would have to be compensation to the Bruins in something like this and we will abide by whatever NHL president Clarence Campbell says on the matter.”
Sammy Pollock, general manager, Montreal Canadiens —
“Every team in hockey would be interested in getting Orr. How interested is the question. If the figures he has turned down with the Bruins are right, we could not afford to have him play in Montreal. But I do not want to rule out the possibility, because I do not know what the figures are. I feel that each team has a situation that is a little different, and that the team that needs him most financially will go after him the hardest. We have just come off a Stanley Cup season, with players who have been with us a long time. It would not seem realistic for us to pay Orr the kind of money they are talking about, even though we respect him as a great player.”
Ed Snyder, Owner of the Philadelphia Flyers —
“We haven't given it a whole lot of thought. Frankly, I had hoped he would sign with the Bruins again. I think that would have been best for the league. But we have to stay competitive and I guess from that standpoint we'd be interested. But the real question mark for clubs like ours and Montreal is compensation. I don't think Montreal would want him if they had to give up a LaFleur. And we wouldn't want to do it if we had to lose Bobby Clarke. I know we wouldn't think of doing anything with Orr unless we worked out something with the Bruins first, and we know what the compensation was going to be. I wouldn't be too concerned about his knee. Bobby Orr could play for our team on one leg. We don't skate that fast.”
Emile “Cat” Francis, general manager of the St. Louis Blues —
“We're going to make an offer for Orr, but just what it will be, I don't know. Sure, I'd like to have him. Anyone in hockey would be crazy if they didn't want him. But we have to look at the financial end of it here and see what we can afford, both in money and players. Our owners are coming back from vacation later this week and we're going to sit down and talk over our possible offer. We've got until next week in Montreal. There won't be much doing, because there won't be a draft. But this could be one helluva draft all by itself.”
John Ziegler, vice president, Detroit Red Wings —
“We are interested in Orr, but we would have to be satisfied with his physical ability to come back and play. The first thing we would do is to get the physical reports and have our doctor tell us what they mean. You couldn't seriously talk money until you're reasonably satisfied on his ability to play. We're not thinking in the area of any set figures yet. I've heard some figures, but none of them came from us.”
John Milford, general manager of the Los Angeles Kings —
“I don't know whether we are going to make an offer for Orr or not. There has been a lot of talk about us but none of it is true as far as I'm concerned. The only time Mr. (Jack Kent, Kings' owner) Cooke mentioned Orr to me was a couple of weeks ago when he asked me if I thought Orr could put more people in our building. That was the only time we discussed Orr, and I'm sure if Mr. Cooke were really interested we'd be talking more about it. He is on his ranch out near Bakersfield and if anything has happened recently in regard to Orr he hasn't mentioned it to me. A year ago we picked up Marcel Dionne, and I knew about that deal every step of the way.”
Bill Dineen, Head Coach and General Manager of Houston, WHA—
“When Minnesota in our league folded this past season we had a draft of players left on their roster. We had 12th pick, and we picked Orr. They had the rights to him from that deal they tried to make with him last summer. We picked him feeling that if he ever came to our league, we could get better players for him than the others left on that list. I don't think our team wants him from the figures I've heard. But we do want the compensation. Edmonton has called us about working out something for his rights. That was a week ago and I haven't heard anything back from them since so I don't know how serious they are.” New England called later in the day, though.
It seems the Black Hawks have the best shot at Orr. They say they want him; they say they would be willing to give players to the Bruins for him — and they have a big building with many empty seats.
Also, the Wirtz family which owns Chicago, and the Jacobs family, which owns the Bruins, have been very close friends for years, and have done business together.
The rumor has been around for months that Chicago would be willing to pay Orr as much as $500,000 a year — just the range that Eagleson is talking about — if they could bid for him.
Harry Sinden is on record as stating that he is thinking of filing tampering charges with the league against the Hawks for making overtures. about him before the June 1 deadline.
By Will McDonough Boston Globe Staff