1985 Off-Season

1985 Entry Draft

There was a lot of discussion entering the 1985 draft about who would go number one. With no clear-cut top prospect most experts figured it would be either Jeremy Kitchen, son of former PHL star Bobby Kitchen, Randy Fernandez, a 6’10”, 266 pound defenseman originally from Texas, or Jeff Winslow, a smooth-skating offensive defenseman. The Civics, who held the first overall pick, settled on Kitchen, much to the disappointment of Toronto, who took Fernandez. Minnesota settled for Winslow to kick off their rebuild. Kitchen wasn’t the only player who’s father had played in the PHL. Long Island selected Jim Ward, son of Vince Ward, 16^th overall, while Winnipeg selected Former Civics Legend Dave Riley’s son Ben Riley two picks later. Philadelphia traded their pick to the St Louis Spirits along with enforcer Roy Jones in exchange for Roni Laukkanen. St. Louis used the pick to select big winger Adam Lawless.

1.      New York – Jeremy Kitchen, F, CAN

2.      Toronto – Randy Fernandez, D, USA

3.      Minnesota – Jeff Winslow, D, CAN

4.      LA (From Quebec) – Jarkko Turunen, F, FIN

5.      Calgary – Drew Morgan, D, CAN

6.      Washington – Jason McGinnis, D, USA

7.      LA – Kay Swafford, D, USA

8.      Vancouver – Cerdric Thibualt, F, CAN

9.      Ottawa – Brian Gaines, F, CAN

10.   Edmonton – Svell Pahlsson, D, SWE

11.   Boston – Ted MacDougall, F, CAN

12.   Montreal – Joe Ayres, D, CAN

13.   California – Erik Richardsson, F, SWE

14.   St Louis (from Philadelphia) – Adam Lawless, F, CAN

15.   Milwaukee – Elliot Andrews, D, CAN

16.   Long Island – Jim Ward, D, USA

17.   Denver – Scott Crook, F, CAN

18.   Winnipeg – Ben Riley, F, USA

19.   Detroit – Jason Vincent, F, CAN

20.   Chicago – Craig Novak, F, CAN

21.   Seattle – Olle Ragnarsson, D, SWE

22.   Pittsburgh – Simon Littlefield, D, UK

23.   Nova Scotia – Tim Craft, F, CAN

24.   St Louis – Pierre Dubois, D, CAN

Notable Retirements:

Rick Chandler, D, WPG, 1968-1985

For 15 seasons, Rick Chandler was the backbone of the Pioneers’ defense. After spending his first two seasons with the Boston Bulldogs, the Pioneers acquired Chandler in exchange for legendary defenseman Doug West. Chandler managed to assert himself as one of the more respected defensemen in the league despite playing for some terrible teams in Winnipeg.

David Johnson, F, PHI, 1965-1985

David Johnson was a reliable winger for the Redshirts for 20 years. Johnson never won the Lewis Cup but played in two finals in 1968 and 1974. Johnson retired after the 1984-85 season at third on the Redshirts all-time scoring list.

Jeff Coleman, F, BOS, 1965-1985

A steady, hard-working center for the Bulldogs, Jeff Coleman was a key piece of Boston’s Lewis Cup victory in 1971 as well as their run to the finals in 1976.

Transactions

St. Louis trades F Roni Laukkanen to Philadelphia in exchange for F Roy Jones and 1^st round pick in 1985 entry draft.

Philadelphia instantly becomes a contender with the addition of Laukkanen, who enjoyed a breakout year with the Spirits in 1984-85. St. Louis acquires a much-needed enforcer in Jones and uses the pick to select Adam Lawless, a big forward from Saskatchawan.

Pittsburgh trades D Ian Fox to Ottawa in exchange for F Casey Beckett.

Ottawa gets a solid young player in Fox who should step into the lineup right away after spending the last four years with the Stingers minor-league club in Scranton PA. Pittsburgh acquires 38-year-old tough guy Beckett to add size and protect their star players.

News

The biggest news of the 1985 off-season was of course the relocation of the Dallas Metros to Milwaukee, which was announced in June. In July, construction finally began on the team’s new arena in downtown Milwaukee. The team will play in the 11,000 seat Milwaukee arena for at least a year while the new building is completed.

It was a quiet summer for coaching changes, but one big change came when three-time coach of the year winner and Lewis Cup champion Don Shelburne decided not to renew his contract with the LA Wizards, instead signing a five-year deal with the Montreal Royale, who were about to launch a rebuild. Shelburne, who had earned a reputation over the past decade with the Wizards as the best coach in the game and possibly the greatest of all time, promised he would bring the “glory days” back to Montreal. “We have a lot of work ahead of us but I really believe this franchise can win championships again very soon.”

One of the more ominous stories coming during the summer involved possible labour unrest in the league. On July 1, Alan Garcia’s position as PHL President was officially dissolved and Garcia was named the PHL’s first-ever League Commissioner. Garcia, concerned about rising player salaries and the big-market franchises such as St. Louis and Chicago slowly becoming monopolies, began exploring a salary cap. When the idea was brought to the Professional Hockey Players Association, President Brian Hunt said the Union would “never, ever let that happen.” When Hunt and the players’ union consulted lawyer Art Lowe about the issue, Lowe convinced the players to make a bold move and go public with their salaries. Suddenly, the owners had nowhere to hide. When further investigation revealed, among other things, that players only received 38 percent of hockey-related revenues, an angry feeling developed among the players. “These issues will be addressed, I promise you that” said Hunt prior to the start of training camp.