National Hockey League General Managers are not usually know for being altruistic. They rarely voluntarily reach out to strengthen a rival team, but when they do there’s usually a hidden agenda behind their action.
But in January of 1971 when Montreal GM Sam Pollack sent veteran center Ralph Backstrom to the Los Angeles Kings, there was nothing at all hidden about his agenda. It was all about the Habs being able to make the first selection in the 1971 Amateur Draft that featured both Guy Lafleur and Marcel Dionne as top prospects.
Pollack had shrewdly planned ahead by arranging a deal with Oak;and Seals GM Frank Selke Jr. in May of 1970 in which the Canadiens sent Ernie Hicke and their first round pick in the 1970 draft to Oakland in exchange for the Seals’ first round pick in the 1971 draft, along with Francois Lacombe and cash.
However for Pollack’s master plan to work, the Seals had to finish with the worst record in the then 14-team NHL, but by mid-January 1971 the outcome of the race was still very much in doubt. The Los Angeles Kings were only three points ahead of the last-place Seals and appeared to be slipping fast.
So Pollock sent veteran center Ralph Backstrom to the Kings on January 26, in exchange for Ray Fortin, Gord Labossiere, and a 1973 second round pick (Peter Marrin), three guys who never played a game for the Canadiens.
Backstrom, 33, had been with Montreal for 15 years, scoring 215 goals and winning six Stanley Cups with the Habs. Earlier that year he had spoken with Pollack about the possibility of being traded to a warmer climate and by mid season he got his wish.
Backstrom registered 14 goals and 13 assists in 33 games with Los Angeles that season as the Kings finished in fifth place in the NHL’s Western Division, with 63 points, one point ahead of the sixth-place Pittsburgh Penguins and 18 better than Oakland.
At one point Pollack was said to be undecided about picking Lafleur or Dionne, but by June had made up his mind and selected “The Flower” with the first pick and Detroit grabbed Marcel Dionne with the second.
Much like his iconic predecessors, Maurice “Rocket” Richard and Jean Beliveau, Lafleur got off to a slow start in Montreal. But once he discarded the helmet he was forced to wear in juniors Guy went on to have a legendary career with the Canadiens, Rangers and Nordiques and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1988.
Marcel Dionne also had a long, productive career with the Red Wings, Kings and Rangers and made it into the Hall of Fame in 1992.
The irony here is that when the NHL was setting the guidelines for its first expansion in 1967, Pollock proposed a rule that would have prohibited the expansion teams from trading their first-round draft picks. But when the league’s Board of Governors rejected the rule, Sam took advantage of it – repeatedly.
Over the next two years Pollack made three separate deals with the Seals acquiring a total of four first round picks and one second rounder, plus Wally Boyer and Alain Caron, for an assortment of Canadien spare parts including Norm Ferguson, Stan Fuller, Bryan Watson, Carol Vadnais, future considerations and cash.
Pollack also took advantage of Seal’s GM Frank Selke Jr, whose father he had replaced as Canadiens’ GM in 1964. Selke, who had previously stepped down as Seal’s president to replace their original GM, Bert Olmstead, was struggling to make the team competitive as well as compelling to local fans who were staying away in droves.
Pollack’s deals with Oakland benefited Montreal immensely, but of course, they didn’t work out so well for the Seals. Had they held onto that first rounder in 1971, even if they didn’t get Lafleur or Dionne, long-time NHLer’s Rick Martin, Steve Vickers and Gene Carr were all selected later in that opening round. The Seals, eventually picked defenseman Ken Baird in the second round at number 15. Baird played 10 games for Oakland that season, notching a pair of assists. He then jumped to the Oilers of the WHA.
Selke left the Seals when Charles O. Finley, who purchased the team and changed their name to the California Golden Seals, told him he could stay on as GM but at a reduced salary. He was replaced by Bill Torrey, who resigned after a month and went on to build the New York islanders into a dynasty.
