NEW YORK (CP) — New York Raiders of the fledgling World Hockey Association yesterday introduced at a press conference six players, all with varying amounts of National Hockey League experience, whom they described as the nucleus of the team that will take the ice this fall.
The players with major league experience are goalkeeper Gary Kurt, 25; defencemen Brent Hughes. 28, and Bill Speer, 30; right wing Norm Ferguson, 26; left wing Brian Perry, 28, and right wing Bill Flett, 28. whose signing was revealed Monday.
Also on hand was Claude Chartre. 22, a centre from Grade Riviere, Que., the fourth player the WHA team has announced signing out of the Eastern Hockey League. The others from the EHL are goalkeepers Peter Donnelly and Guy De-noncourt and forward Ted Scharf.
Worthless
“We feel we have the nucleus of a team that can be a winner in the WHA during the first season,” said Marvin Milkes, the former baseball executive who is general manager of the new Raiders team. Camille Henry' is coach.
Richard I. Wood, a lawyer and president of the Raiders, said all the players have been signed to multi-year contracts. He spent considerable time fielding reporters' questions about the possible legal aspects of the signing and gave as his personal opinion that the option clause in NHL contracts “isn't worth the paper it's written on.”
“I hope Dave Shultz will be playing for the Raiders,” said Wood of the rugged winger from Richmond Robins of the American Hockey League who said Tuesday night that as far as he knows he has a contract with the NHL Philadelphia Flyers.
He said he had sent telegrams to the Philadelphia club charging it with tampering with Shultz.
The Raiders also announced that Terry Rafter, a native of Swan River, Man., will be the director of operations, concentrating at first on season ticket promotion.
Kurt, from Kitchener, Ont., figures to be the No. 1 goalie. He divided the 1971-72 season between Baltimore Clippers of the American Hockey League and California Golden Seals of the National Hockey League.
Hughes was born in Bowmanville, Ont, and played with Philadelphia Flyers of the NHL In 63 games last season in which he scored two goals and had 20 assists.
Speer, from Lindsay, Ont., played 59 games with Providence in the AHL last season, scoring five goals and picking up 27 assists.