North Stars-Sharks Dispersal Draft

I was just looking through an old Hockey News annual from 1996 and saw some transactions of guys who were taken from the North Stars by the Sharks in a dispersal draft in October of 1990. I know this was due to an ownership change, and the really "name" guy taken was Arturs Irbe. I was just wondering if anyone had anymore insight in this. Why it happened, who were all the player taken, and why did the NHL have this type of dispersal draft

That was a while ago. The Cleveland Barons and Minn North Stars merged. There was a draft afterwards, because two team rosters were combined into one. So, the extra players were distributed around the league. I think only non-playoff teams got to participate in the draft.

Things got even more complex a few years later when the owners were allowed to sell the stars, and then get an expansion team in San Jose. I believe that were allowed to take a substantial chunk of the Stars roster with them.

I remember reading about this in Gil Stein's book.
If I recall correctly, the Gund brothers (then owners of Minnesota) wanted to move the team to San Jose. Norman Green and Howard Baldwin instead bought the North Stars and the Gunds got an expansion team in San Jose. The whole thing was tied to when there was the California Golden Seals, who were moved to Cleveland to become the Barons before merging with the North Stars. The Gunds were owners of the Barons and the North Stars (the San Jose's AHL team, Cleveland Barons now play in Gund Arena). As part of the deal between the NHL, Green & Baldwin and the Gunds, the Gunds were allowed to take a large number of North Star players and prospects with them. This was partly to relieve the financial burden on the new owners (as we now know, the North Stars only stuck around for a few more seasons before moving to Dallas).

I remember reading about this in Gil Stein's book.


"Powerplays the big business of the NHL"...that was a good read actually.

Good posts here. very informative. I was 21 at that time and don't really remember much about that era. Looks like a good read to add to my list.
thanks :teach:

Thanks alot guys, this was something I always wondered about. Does anyone have a link of where I can read more about this?