Denis Potvin would be the prize of the 1973 Entry Draft and the New York Islanders boss Bill Torrey was set to select him at the Mount Royal Hotel in Downtown Montreal.
It was as obvious as the sun rising in the East.
Denis Potvin would be the prize of the 1973 Entry Draft and the New York Islanders boss Bill Torrey was set to select him at the Mount Royal Hotel in Downtown Montreal.
There was only one obstacle in Torrey's way and that was Bow Tie Bill's Canadiens counterpart, Sammy Pollock.
Sly Sammy already had earned a dubious recipe for deke-ing expansion executives. He did that more than once and captured one prize, future Hall of Famer Guy Lafleur by duping the Oakland Seals.
"Oh, I was well aware of that," Torrey would later tell me. "But that morning (May 15, 1973) when Pollock suggested we take a walk around the hotel, I didn't want to say 'No" outright. So, we took a walk."
It was more than a simple walk around the hotel and that was that. They circled the big hostelry at least four times. Which how many times Torrey saw the Peel Street sign on the lamp post.
"Sam offered me a few different options to get Potvin from me," Torrey recalled.
"It was different players on his varsity and there were some good ones. But I kept telling him, "No" and "No" and "No" again."
After the fourth rejection, both Bow Tie Bill and Sammy took the hotel elevator to the ballroom where the Draft was taking place. Not surprisingly, Denis Potvin and his family were following the proceedings like the defenseman's life depended on it.
Which by the way, it did.
"I'm from Ottawa and I wasn't stupid," Denis recalled, "and I knew the Habs wanted me. But I absolutely did not want to play for the Canadiens. No way!"
But Pollock had other ideas. As National Hockey League president Clarence Campbell reached the dais microphone to open proceedings, Pollock raised his hand and requested a brief timeout.
When Campbell granted it, Pollock walked over to Torrey's table and whispered a few more possible deals in the Isles g.m's ear. At the team's table, head scout Jim Devellano was worried.
"Some of our people were genuinely worried that, after all was said and done, Bill would make a deal and we'd lose the chance of drafting Denis. But I knew that it would be going against everything we were trying to accomplish.
"We all knew that going through our first miserable season -- and losing so much -- at least we'd have a shot at getting a great player. There was never the slightest doubt we'd select Denis. You don't pass on a franchise-maker."
Torrey shook offer Pollock's last offer and when called upon by Campbell, he did what he always had meant to do: Pick Potvin.
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Torrey; "I found it interesting and amusing how high the offers would get for that pick. But it was Denis all the way. I couldn't have lived with myself if I'd made a trade."
Potvin: "Like the others, I got very nervous when I saw Pollock go over to Bill's table. In a situation like that you just don't know what the outcome would be. Nobody breathed easier in the city of Montreal than I did when Bill officially picked me for the Islanders."
Arguably, it was the best pick of any NHL Entry Draft in any year of major league hockey.
"Denis not only would go on to be one of the best defenseman ever," said former Isles goalie and teammate Chico Resch, "but he also was the best captain any team ever could have."
And that's how Denis Potvin emerged as one of the foremost players in hockey annals and also an Islander through and through!
Amen!