| Bill DeWitt
Jr. admits the Cincinnati Stingers have made some errors in personnel judgement, evidenced
by the departures of several high salaried players the past two years. But DeWitt denies
the Stingers were in drastic enough financial straits that they had to peddle center
Dennis Sobchuk for enough cash to finish the 1977-78 World Hockey Association season.
"That wasn't the major consideration," said DeWitt, the Stingers' vice president
and league trustee. "There has been more made of the money aspect of the deal than it
really deserved." DeWitt was referring to reports that
the Stingers were faced with the prospect of a money shortage at the end of the season and
needed the $300,000 or so obtained in the Sobchuk deal to finish the year. "If we
needed to dump big contracts, we would have done it before the season started, "
DeWitt pointed out, insisting that the Stingers didn't need the Edmonton money to pay
bills in March and April. "And we added some big contracts this year, like (Robbie)
Ftorek and (Pat) Stapleton." DeWitt admitted the Stinger brass had started looking
into trades and other deals early in the season, when the team stumbled to a 1-8 start
despite the addition of coach Jacques Demers and WHA most valuable player Ftorek.
"We talked to a bunch of clubs about a lot of deals since the
first part of the season," he said. "But most of the deals weren't what we
wanted. The Sobchuk deal worked out the way we wanted. It's a deal for the future. We feel
having Edmonton's first and second pick plus the rights to Debol (college center Dave
Debol) puts us in a good position."
Receiving nothing but cash and draft rights in exchange for Sobchuk,
whom the Stingers had trumpeted for three yeas as a potential superstar, was what left
Cincinnati fans angered, of course, it didn't help that Sobchuk is on the cover of the
Stingers' media guide, distributed after the season began, or that he was the subject of a
poster night promotion. Draft rights are hazy in that (a) there has to be a draft (the
WHA) didn't hold one last off season), (b) a club must sign what it drafted and (c) all
you're getting is an unproven amateur. As for money, it cannot skate and score, or even
suit up.
That is not to say the Stingers didn't want the cash. Hockey games
in Riverfront Coliseum this year have drawn something less that 7,000 average attendance,
and DeWitt agreed, "If you're selling the building out, you can live with a lot more
things than you do when the crowds are down." That includes living with a contract
which costs something like $175,000 annually for a young center named Dennis Sobchuk who,
despite his obvious talents, had been injured last season and this year. It became
apparent that one of the big names on the Stinger roster was going to go, and DeWitt said
the Edmonton-Sobchuk deal was the best. The Stingers knew the trade would be unpopular,
but that's business.
"Teams in both leagues even teams that are making money (which
the Stingers aren't), are concerned about salaries," the Stingers vice president
said. "The salaries just keep going up and there's no additional revenue to pay
them." DeWitt reiterated his earlier statement that the Stingers didn't just dump
Sobchuk. "If we had been looking to pick up cash and nothing else, we could have
gotten a much better deal from Edmonton by including another player with Sobchuk. But we
had no desire to do that." DeWitt chose not to name the other player sought by the
Oilers, but he added that the Stingers insisted on the Del Hall for Butch Deadmarsh trade
in conjunction with the Sobchuk deal. "We feel Deadmarsh can help us," said
DeWitt. "He's a big, tough winger who works hard." That means picking up Hall
along with Ftorek and Serge Beaudoin from the defunct Phoenix franchise was a mistake.
Beaudoin was sold outright on waivers to Birmingham and now Hall is gone.
"We felt at the time Hall could help us," DeWitt said. He
admitted that it didn't hurt to pick up Hall while trying to sign Ftorek, although he
insisted that was not the only reason for signing the winger who played with Ftorek at
Phoenix. DeWitt also agreed that Hall and Beaudoin weren't the only mistake the Stingers
have made in acquiring players since the team started operation three years ago.
"We've made mistakes, there's no doubt about that," de said. "When we
started we needed people to fill the gap, people who weren't that competitive. There were
a lot of teams in hockey and the number of skilled players was less."
Other costly mistakes included Mike Pelyk, Brian Campbell, Jacques
Locas and a handful of players most people never heard of who were paid off, some without
even playing for the Stingers. The Stingers certainly aren't happy with the lack of
attendance, but DeWitt said the team realizes hickey isn't going to be an over night
success in Cincinnati and the Stingers must ride the losses for a while. DeWitt is still
convinced a WHA-NHL merger is close, possibly this summer. "I think you'll see the
entire hockey picture shake out this summer," he said. "Economics and the
viability of the sport, makes a merger inevitable." |
