John Ziegler Jr.

John Augustus Ziegler Jr. (February 9, 1934 – October 25, 2018) was an American lawyer and ice hockey executive.

Born in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, in 1934, John Augustus Ziegler, Jr., lived with his family in the Detroit area's northern, lakefront suburb of St. Clair Shores, graduating from Lake Shore High School in 1951.

He would go on to attend the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, obtaining both an undergraduate degree and a graduate law degree, the latter in 1957.

The Canadiens won five of the seven Stanley Cups during this time, including four in a row from 1976 through 1979.

Montreal owed this success in large part to its ability to resist WHA efforts to lure away its players, and many American teams believed they were able to do this because Canadian Hockey Night in Canada television revenues were mostly distributed among the three Canadian teams instead of across the league.

Hence, adding Canadian teams would lessen the financial advantage that teams like the Canadiens had.

Also, both NHL and WHA owners realized that the Canadian markets were a vital economic base, both to the WHA and any future rival league that might take its place.

Absorbing the Canadian markets would therefore preclude the possibility of the NHL having to fight off another rival league.

Upon succeeding Clarence Campbell in 1977, he became the fourth president of the National Hockey League.

Before becoming National Hockey League President in 1977, Ziegler practiced law initially with the firm Dickinson, Wright, McKean and Cudlip, in Detroit, Michigan, and after 1970 on his own.

He was involved in the ownership of the Detroit Red Wings, and served one year as chairman of the NHL Board of Governors.

Ziegler had also been the Vice-Chairman of the England-based London Lions independent professional ice hockey franchise.

In June 1977, Ziegler announced that the NHL had created a committee to investigate the possibility of a merger, while Bill DeWitt, Jr., owner of the WHA's Cincinnati Stingers, stated that Ziegler had invited six teams to join the league for the 1977–78 season if various conditions could be met.

The proposal would have seen the six teams become full members of the NHL, but play in their own division with a separate schedule for the first year.

Led by Toronto's Harold Ballard, the owners voted down Ziegler's proposal.

The Calgary Cowboys, who had hoped to be one of the six teams to join the NHL, subsequently folded, as did the Phoenix Roadrunners, Minnesota Fighting Saints, and San Diego Mariners.

This reduced the junior league down to eight teams for the 1977–78 WHA season, and left its long-term future in doubt.

Prior to the 1978–79 season, a failed manipulation of the waiver system by the Montreal Canadiens led Pierre Bouchard's rights to move from Montreal to Washington.

The deal had the Capitals return Bouchard back to Montreal in exchange for Rod Schutt, but Ziegler rejected the deal citing league bylaws which the Board of Governors refused to change.

Bouchard believed the Canadiens never intended to get him back.

Initially unhappy with the move, Bouchard played only one game in the 1978–79 season and considered retirement.

However, he returned next season to the NHL with Washington where he finished his career playing four seasons.

His 15-year term was marked by the 1979 merger that integrated four teams from the rival World Hockey Association into the NHL, and by increasing labor unrest among the players.

Ziegler, along with Alan Eagleson, announced on August 6, 1979, that protective helmets would become mandatory in the NHL.

The new rule had a grandfather clause that granted players who had signed pro contracts prior to June 1, 1979, the option of wearing helmets or not.

Those who chose not to wear one signed liability waivers.

Ziegler was the NHL's first American chief executive, and the American teams were far less hostile to the idea of a merger with the World Hockey Association than their Canadian counterparts.

There were a number of reasons for this, but probably the most compelling was the Montreal Canadiens' dominance of the NHL during the years of the WHA's existence.

The merger was completed in the 1979–80 season, with four WHA teams, the Edmonton Oilers, Winnipeg Jets, Hartford Whalers and Quebec Nordiques, joining the NHL.

Following a 4–3 Boston Bruins victory over the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on December 23, 1979, an on-ice fray occurred between the players from both teams.

During the fray, a Rangers fan cut the face of Bruins player Stan Jonathan with a rolled-up program and grabbed his hockey stick.

Boston Bruin Terry O'Reilly climbed over the Plexiglas and went into the stands in pursuit of the offender, followed by fellow Bruin Peter McNab and other teammates.

Another Bruin, Mike Milbury, who had actually reached the visitors' locker room when his teammates started going into the stands, raced back to join his colleagues in the brawl.

He caught the unruly spectator, removed one of his shoes and, while holding the heel end, hit him hard once with the sole side.

Subsequently, Ziegler suspended O'Reilly for eight games and McNab and Milbury for six, with each being fined $500.

This incident also resulted in the installation of higher glass panels enclosing rinks in hockey arenas.

The first American to serve as chief executive of the NHL, he received the Lester Patrick Trophy in 1984 and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1987.

In December 1986, Los Angeles Kings head coach Pat Quinn signed a contract to become coach and general manager of the Vancouver Canucks with just months left on his Kings contract.

Ziegler suspended Quinn for the rest of the season and barred him from taking over Vancouver's hockey operations until June.

Ziegler served as league president through 1992.