The Minnesota North Stars got new owners, the San Francisco Bay area received an NHL franchise and the league may grow from 21 to 24 teams by 1992 in a deal approved Wednesday in Rosemont by the league`s Board of Governors.
As part of the agreement, Howard Baldwin and Morris Belzberg bought the North Stars from Gordon and George Gund for about $38 million.
In turn, the Gunds were given a Bay area franchise for 1991-92 at a cost of $50 million-the league`s first expansion since four teams from the World Hockey Association were admitted in 1979. One of those WHA teams was the Hartford Whalers, whom Baldwin helped found in 1972.
In addition to the Gunds` franchise, the league may add up to two more teams for the 1992-93 season at a cost of $50 million apiece. Applications will go out immediately to interested groups in communities such as Milwaukee, Tampa, Denver, Seattle, San Diego, Houston and the Canadian cities of Ottawa, Hamilton and Saskatoon.
It will be the first Bay area hockey team since the California Seals-owned partly by the Gunds-left Oakland for Cleveland in 1976.
The deal also includes a unique player-transaction provision that Ziegler called ”a cross-pollination.”
In June 1991, before the expansion and entry drafts, the North Stars will protect 14 players and two goalies who had played at least 50 NHL games as of April 10, 1990.
The Gunds will then select 14 players and two goalies from the unprotected list. Those can include three unsigned players, including 1989 top draft choice Doug Zmolek and other `89 draftees.
