Patrick Pickens - The Whalers: The Rise, Fall, and Enduring Mystique of New Englands (Second) Greatest NHL Franchise

When I started the process with this book, I was just a 23-year-old kid with an idea. I had never seen the Whalers play in person and had never even covered a pro hockey game.

But the hockey community is made up of spectacular people, and Im forever grateful for their help with this life-changing endeavor.

My former Sacred Heart University Spectrum newspaper colleague Brad Holland connected me with his dad, thenDetroit Red Wings GM Ken Holland. If you notice, Ken is not quoted in the book, but hes the first person I spoke with and who connected me with Mark Howe.

Im grateful for every former player who spoke for this project but also for the NHL public relations people who set up each interview. Thanks to Rich Nairn of the Arizona Coyotes, Brian Breseman of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Adam Rogowin of the Chicago Blackhawks, Mike Sundheim of the Carolina Hurricanes, Rich Jankowski of the St. Louis Blues, Todd Sharrock of the Columbus Blue Jackets, Todd Beam of the Detroit Red Wings, Scott Brown of the Winnipeg Jets, Katie Townsend of the Seattle Kraken, and Steve Keogh of the Toronto Maple Leafs. I cant forget Kyle Hanlin, formerly of the Hurricanes too.

Im grateful for Diane Murphy and Jordan Miller of Blue Sky Sports & Entertainment, who helped me coordinate with Gerry Cheevers for the exceptional foreword.

I appreciate Howard Baldwin, who gave me substantial access to his operation in 2011, and Peter Karmanos for welcoming me to Michigan for a meeting in 2019. Im thankful for John Coburn and Godfrey Wood, who founded the team with Baldwin and also made time to speak with me.

Im so ecstatic Mike Emrick agreed to assist in this, since he was both my idol and entry point to hockey, as broadcaster for the New Jersey Devils. Mike is a world-class human, who also inquired about the books progress whenever wed meet at a rink or speak via phone or email.

Im so appreciative for John Forslund, Rick Peckham, Chuck Kaiton, Jeff Jacobs, Stu Hackel, Pierre McGuire, Stan Fischler, Bruce Berlet, Helene Elliott, and the other media members who may not even remember helping me tell this story. I revered each before this process but can now call many colleagues and friends.

Id be remiss if I didnt also thank Doug Bonjour, Jim Doody, Luke Fox, Naila-Jean Meyers, Allan Kreda, Cristina Ledra, Tal Pinchevsky, Cat Silverman, and the other writers/editors who made me better. This will always be my first book, and they all helped immensely. Thanks also to Tim Parry who chipped in many of the photos featured.

My family and friends rode the roller coaster of this story, including my wife Krystle, sister Meghan, brother-in-law Dave, and my parents Tom and Geri. Im also grateful for my daughter Eleanor and son Harris, who brighten each one of my days.

Thanks to close friends Bobby Aanonsen, Tim Butler, Peter Cunha, Brian Fitzsimmons, Kelsie Heneghan, Corey Hersch, Lindsay and Jason Perry, Bart and Jocelyn Piekarski, Joe Raja, and all the other friends who helped me mentally through this process.

Id like to thank the Hartford Whalers Booster Club for essentially adopting me as one of their own. Special thanks to Joanne Cortesa, Peter DeMallie, Mark Anderson, and Matt Greene.

Lastly, Id like to thank Ken Samelson, Niels Aaboe, Rick Rinehart, and the people at both Rowman & Littlefield and Globe Pequot Press. I always knew this story was worthy of being published, but I appreciate each for taking a chance on me and helping me become a first-time book author.

Im grateful for every person who has read this far and has followed my career. This book has been a dream come true, and it couldnt have been possible without you all.

THE HARTFORD WHALERS CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE IS CONFOUNDING, particularly given their extremely limited on-ice success.

Longtime Boston Globe hockey writer Kevin Paul Dupont dubbed Hartford the forever .500 Whalers, and in truth, .500 wouldve been an upgrade. The Whalers finished with more wins than losses in only three of 18 NHL seasons, and qualified for the playoffs just eight times before leaving to become the Carolina Hurricanes in 1997.

But the Whalers live on in a mythical way. They still have fans, and their merchandise is more popular than ever. The Whalers ranked 11th in the NHL in merchandise sales in 2011 and boast the best-selling merch of any defunct hockey team by far. Tourists can even purchase Whalers hats, shirts, and other memorabilia at Bradley International Airport in Hartford.

Im a fan of the Hartford Whalers because theyre a non-existent hockey team, and they still sell the shirts at Bradley Airport, John Hodgman, a former correspondent for The Daily Show and Yale University graduate, told The Connecticut Forum in 2013. Its like a fictional hockey team.

The Whalers were never the in team during their NHL tenure but have somehow achieved cool status since they left. Adam Sandler wore a Hartford Whalers shirt in the movie Grown Ups, which came out in 2010, and paparazzi caught actress Megan Fox sporting a Whalers T-shirt also in 2010.

Travel to any NHL game, in any arena on any night, and youll likely see at least one fan clad in Whalers clothing. High schoolers and college-age kids, two notoriously important groups in determining what is cool, have bought up hats, T-shirts, and jerseysdespite the fact many werent born when the Whalers played their final NHL game at the Civic Center on April 13, 1997.

Connecticut residents can even get Whalers license plates with the original logo, with proceeds benefiting Connecticut Childrens Medical Center, one of the teams oldest charities.

[Former Whalers GM] Emile Francis said were like the Green Bay Packers of the NHL, said Howard Baldwin, a team founder and former managing general partner, in 2013. Its one of those cult logos that people love.

If it seems like Baldwin loves the logo, its because he helped develop it. He hired Peter Good, a Chester, Connecticutbased artist, UConn graduate, and Hartford native who grew up playing pond hockey at the capitals Colt Park.

Good was solely in charge of creating a brand-new logo when the Whalers joined the NHL in 1979. The New England Whalers of the World Hockey Association had a white, yellow, and green color scheme with a harpoon across a W as their main logo. But Good made a big and bold change, one that was way ahead of its time.

It looked different from any other NHL logo, Good said. That turned out to be one of the virtues of it.

Good presented a slew of designs to Baldwin, fellow founder Bill Barnes, and thengeneral manager Jack Kelley. He presented a circle logo with a whale jumping through it. He floated designs with a whale swimming under water and other designs featuring tridents and harpoons, but Baldwin liked a design with a harpoon and an H and W married.

Good liked it too and went back to his shop to tinker. He ditched the harpoon, since it didnt jive with the teams whale mascot, Pucky, and came up with the final design: a royal-blue tail with a green W and a white H in the negative space.

Its still a hit more than 40 years later.

I refer to it as a marriage of convenience with the whales tail with the H in the negative space, Good said. Thats the interesting thing. It engages the mind, but a lot of people dont get it right away. I still have people come up to me and tell me they saw the H.

Good was also responsible for the teams color scheme, and although he initially dabbled with an orange accent, the combination of Kelly green, royal blue, and white became as iconic as their logo.

The green was a connection to the New England Whalers, Good said of his color choices. Blue and green is a good combo.

Good received just $2,000 for his design and still technically holds the rights to it since he did not sign any paperwork that made it property of the Whalers. He still sells Whalers-logo merch on his website.