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Bleeding Green: A History of the Hartford Whalers
The Hartford Whalers were a beloved hockey team from their founding in 1972 as the New England Whalers. Playing in the National Hockey League’s smallest market and arena after the World Hockey Association merger in 1979, they struggled in a division that included both the Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens—but their fans were among the NHL’s most loyal. In 1995 new owners demanded a new arena and, when it fell through, moved the team to North Carolina, rebranding as the Hurricanes.
Unlike fellow franchises that have folded or relocated with little fanfare, the Whalers’ fan base stayed with the team, which remains as popular as ever. Even though more than two decades have come and gone since Connecticut’s only professional sports team moved, nobody has truly forgotten the Whalers, their history, and their unique—and still highly profitable—logo. And while the NHL continues to thrive without them, their impact stretches far beyond the ice and into an entirely different cultural arena.
Christopher Price grew up in Connecticut as a diehard Whalers fan, experiencing firsthand the team’s bond with the community. Drawing from all aspects of the team’s past, he tells the uncensored history of Connecticut’s favorite professional sports franchise. Part sports history and part civic history, Bleeding Green shows vividly why the Whalers, despite an inglorious past and a future that unexpectedly vanished, remain firmly embedded in the American milieu and have had a lasting impact on not only the NHL but the sports landscape as a whole.
Unlike fellow franchises that have folded or relocated with little fanfare, the Whalers’ fan base stayed with the team, which remains as popular as ever. Even though more than two decades have come and gone since Connecticut’s only professional sports team moved, nobody has truly forgotten the Whalers, their history, and their unique—and still highly profitable—logo. And while the NHL continues to thrive without them, their impact stretches far beyond the ice and into an entirely different cultural arena.
Christopher Price grew up in Connecticut as a diehard Whalers fan, experiencing firsthand the team’s bond with the community. Drawing from all aspects of the team’s past, he tells the uncensored history of Connecticut’s favorite professional sports franchise. Part sports history and part civic history, Bleeding Green shows vividly why the Whalers, despite an inglorious past and a future that unexpectedly vanished, remain firmly embedded in the American milieu and have had a lasting impact on not only the NHL but the sports landscape as a whole.
312 pages, Paperback
Published October 1, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
September 28, 2022
Even though the team has not been in existence for 25 years, the Hartford Whalers still bring back great memories for hockey fans. This may sound puzzling since the team only won one playoff series during their 18-year history in the National Hockey League (NHL). Their unique logo – a whale tail placed strategically above a “W” in green, blue and white – makes Whalers vintage hockey merchandise the best-selling items for any seller in that market. The history of the team, including their time as the New England Whalers in the World Hockey Association (WHA) is the topic of this book by Christopher Price.
Readers who are looking for a detailed expose on why the Whalers are so fondly remembered and why their merchandise sells so well won’t find it in this book. While Price does touch on that topic in the final chapter, the bulk of the book is a detailed history of the team both on and off the ice.
This is the case for not only their NHL years, in which the Whalers became and still remain the only professional sports team base in Connecticut, but also their mostly successful years in the WHA.
No matter which era is covered, Price does a very good job of informing the reader of their on-ice success (or lack thereof), the moves made by the front office and the business side of the team’s operations as well. All three of these areas are covered in excellent detail. This is especially true of the latter because those stories were the most colorful. Part of this was due to the financial instability of the WHA – the Whalers were considered to be the most stable of the franchises in this league, but even they had issues, mainly due to needing to share the Boston Garden with the NHL’s Bruins.
There are many interesting aspects in the team’s history that seems to tug at the heart of Whalers fans. These include the trades of popular players like Ron Francis and Mike Luit, the team’s goal song “Brass Bonanza” and even how the community pulled together when the roof of the Hartford Civic Center collapsed and the team temporarily played its home games in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Those are just a few of the many aspects of the very interesting history of a hockey team that may not have enjoyed much success in the NHL (it should be noted that the Whalers won the first WHA championship in 1973 and faced the Winnipeg Jets in the finals in 1978) but certainly has won a place in the hearts of many hockey fans, especially those in Connecticut. This book is a very good source of information for the Whalers and is recommended for anyone who still has attachments, for whatever reason, to the team.
I wish to thank University of Nebraska Press for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
Readers who are looking for a detailed expose on why the Whalers are so fondly remembered and why their merchandise sells so well won’t find it in this book. While Price does touch on that topic in the final chapter, the bulk of the book is a detailed history of the team both on and off the ice.
This is the case for not only their NHL years, in which the Whalers became and still remain the only professional sports team base in Connecticut, but also their mostly successful years in the WHA.
No matter which era is covered, Price does a very good job of informing the reader of their on-ice success (or lack thereof), the moves made by the front office and the business side of the team’s operations as well. All three of these areas are covered in excellent detail. This is especially true of the latter because those stories were the most colorful. Part of this was due to the financial instability of the WHA – the Whalers were considered to be the most stable of the franchises in this league, but even they had issues, mainly due to needing to share the Boston Garden with the NHL’s Bruins.
There are many interesting aspects in the team’s history that seems to tug at the heart of Whalers fans. These include the trades of popular players like Ron Francis and Mike Luit, the team’s goal song “Brass Bonanza” and even how the community pulled together when the roof of the Hartford Civic Center collapsed and the team temporarily played its home games in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Those are just a few of the many aspects of the very interesting history of a hockey team that may not have enjoyed much success in the NHL (it should be noted that the Whalers won the first WHA championship in 1973 and faced the Winnipeg Jets in the finals in 1978) but certainly has won a place in the hearts of many hockey fans, especially those in Connecticut. This book is a very good source of information for the Whalers and is recommended for anyone who still has attachments, for whatever reason, to the team.
I wish to thank University of Nebraska Press for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
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November 16, 2023Although I've been to several AHL (Hartford [Wold Pack] and Springfield) and NHL (Boston) games in my life, I've never really followed professional hockey. The Whalers weren't even on my radar before they left Hartford. (By contrast, I still possess some remnants of my obsessive childhood knowledge of baseball from pre-1900 to October 2004.) I do, however, remember pretty vividly the excitement around UConn basketball in the 90s--the rise of which, the author notes, shares an inverse correlation with the decline of the Whalers as a financially viable franchise. And I was reminded of the whole debacle with the Patriots not coming to Hartford (which probably goes a long way towards explaining why I was a Giants fan as a kid). All that to say, I was probably not really the target audience for this book. Though I recognized the names of a few hockey greats, the middle was all kind of meaningless and boring to me--but I'm not nostalgic for The Whalers. The beginning, about the upstart WHA through its challenge to and merger with the NHL, and the end, about the various factors that culminated in the Whalers' eventual departure, were pretty interesting.
The jacket describes this book as "Part sports history and part civics history," and it was mostly that latter that led me to pick up the book. As an expat Nutmegger, I've grown increasingly fond of the state of Connecticut in general (I think a lot of folks have the wrong impression of the whole state based on the Man in the Gray Flannel Suit-type suburbs) and Hartford in particular (the city where I was born, but always neglected--not uniquely--culturally in favor of New Haven, and which has its own problematic relationship with those suburbs). In this, I was a bit disappointed, because while the author makes it clear that a lot of the guys who played in Hartford over the years were a close-knit group who grew to enjoy the area, it isn't really until the end that the role of the city and the state vis-a-vis professional sports really comes into focus. (The state offered a bunch of money to try to get the Whalers to stay, they offer a bunch of money to Robert Kraft to bring the Pats to Hartford.) What that role is, and whether it is good or bad for the city/state, is, I suppose, justifiably beyond the scope of a history of a sports team, which the author gives us just fine.
I will say, there were some passages that a copy editor seemed to miss, and it did feel like I was reading the same recycled quotes a second time at the end, though in fairness, I didn't go back to check, and it's entirely plausible that all hockey people just say the same stuff about the same thing.
If I was a bigger hockey fan or a few years older, I probably would have enjoyed it a lot more.
Me, I'm waiting on The History of the New Britain Rock Cats.
The jacket describes this book as "Part sports history and part civics history," and it was mostly that latter that led me to pick up the book. As an expat Nutmegger, I've grown increasingly fond of the state of Connecticut in general (I think a lot of folks have the wrong impression of the whole state based on the Man in the Gray Flannel Suit-type suburbs) and Hartford in particular (the city where I was born, but always neglected--not uniquely--culturally in favor of New Haven, and which has its own problematic relationship with those suburbs). In this, I was a bit disappointed, because while the author makes it clear that a lot of the guys who played in Hartford over the years were a close-knit group who grew to enjoy the area, it isn't really until the end that the role of the city and the state vis-a-vis professional sports really comes into focus. (The state offered a bunch of money to try to get the Whalers to stay, they offer a bunch of money to Robert Kraft to bring the Pats to Hartford.) What that role is, and whether it is good or bad for the city/state, is, I suppose, justifiably beyond the scope of a history of a sports team, which the author gives us just fine.
I will say, there were some passages that a copy editor seemed to miss, and it did feel like I was reading the same recycled quotes a second time at the end, though in fairness, I didn't go back to check, and it's entirely plausible that all hockey people just say the same stuff about the same thing.
If I was a bigger hockey fan or a few years older, I probably would have enjoyed it a lot more.
Me, I'm waiting on The History of the New Britain Rock Cats.
September 17, 2022
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC!
Bleeding Green recounts the story of the Hartford Whalers NHL franchise. As the NHL struggled to compete against the rise of other professional sports, like American football and basketball, the NHL expanded the teams beyond the original six to include new markets. Hartford, called the Bermuda Triangle of sports between New York and Boston, carried the Whalers for nearly twenty years through growth and struggles, as well as playoff runs. This book recounts the people, trivia, and stats that made the Whalers a storybook franchise.
Likes: Full disclosure, I’m not one to read a book about sports. However, as a passionate Carolina Hurricanes fan who loves retro-Whalers night, I wanted to give this book a read. There were some interesting pieces of trivia and quotes from former Whalers players and staff. The stories were interesting and gave a glimpse into the world of hockey in the 70s and 80s.
Comments: I like the book. Never having read a sports book before, I didn’t see much of a story throughout. Bleeding Green is more of a timeline of trivia and quotes, which was fun.
Bleeding Green recounts the story of the Hartford Whalers NHL franchise. As the NHL struggled to compete against the rise of other professional sports, like American football and basketball, the NHL expanded the teams beyond the original six to include new markets. Hartford, called the Bermuda Triangle of sports between New York and Boston, carried the Whalers for nearly twenty years through growth and struggles, as well as playoff runs. This book recounts the people, trivia, and stats that made the Whalers a storybook franchise.
Likes: Full disclosure, I’m not one to read a book about sports. However, as a passionate Carolina Hurricanes fan who loves retro-Whalers night, I wanted to give this book a read. There were some interesting pieces of trivia and quotes from former Whalers players and staff. The stories were interesting and gave a glimpse into the world of hockey in the 70s and 80s.
Comments: I like the book. Never having read a sports book before, I didn’t see much of a story throughout. Bleeding Green is more of a timeline of trivia and quotes, which was fun.
February 21, 2024
An excellent look at the history of the Hartford Whalers from beginning to end. Just the right amount of detail and written from the perspective of a true fan of the team. The takes on the influence of UConn basketball on the demise of the team is particularly interesting. Well done and a must read for hockey fans and Whaler fans.
September 23, 2023
As a life-long CT resident I can say that Price captured the situation perfectly. We live in a sports borderland. Yes, we have a bigger media market than some other places who have pro-teams but we sit right between Boston and New York. When it comes to top-league professional sports we are divided. In football, lots of Patriot fans but as you go to the southwest, plenty of Giants fans and a few odd duck Jets supporters. Baseball's ancient rivalry between the Yankees and Red Sox is felt intensely here. You can also sprinkle in a few Mets fans as well. Nothing at the top has united us with the exception of that 18 year run when the Whalers were our team. They were never all that good, but as Price points out, they were our team. Besides this, we had the Hartford Dark Blues back in the 19th Century and now the Connecticut Sun who have been in the WNBA since 2003.
My main interest is in why we lost them. One thing that did not occur to me is that the rise of UConn Basketball was a key factor. Prior to Calhoun and Auriema the Whalers were the only game in town. After UConn became a powerhouse they squeezed the Whalers for attention and fan dollars. That's a bittersweet development. UConn is the one team, besides minor league teams, that unites this state but unintentionally they helped usher big-leauge hockey out. Another less important factor was that the Hartford Courant could be quite negative in its coverage. At least that is what management felt. I do recall that. But, it has to be conceded that when the Whalers traded away Ron Francis and Luit - both fan favorites who loved to live and play in Hartford -- you can expect some push-back from the media and yes, it will impact attendance! And then there is Karmonos the owner. In the introduction to the book the big picture was that you should never let a guy who looks at a team as an investment opportunity buy a franchise in a small market - they will probably move. It must be conceded that he was losing about 11 million a year and attendance was down. But, you can't blame the politicians for this one. Governor Rowland put forward a plan to build a new facility for the Whalers and the answer was still no. The overriding problem was that the NHL was moving to much higher salaries and the ability of a small market team to keep up was limited. In addition, young players did not want to live in Hartford. Not exciting enough. The established veterans who lived in Simsbury, Avon, and Farmington with their families loved it.
Future prospects? The way Robert Kraft of the Patriots took CT's offer to build a stadium for the Patriots only to use that to leverage a deal from Massachusetts just underlines the perception that major league sports can't make it in this market. By the way that was the day I stopped supporting the Patriots and I won't return to the fold until Kraft dies or sells the team. Governor Rowland declared on that day that he became a Jets fan.
I was intrigued by the idea of having the Mohegan or Sun Casinos partner with CT to build a rink to attract a team back. The CT Sun is owned by the Mohegans and they average almost 6,000 a game, about the middle of the pack in the WNBA in terms of attendance. The tribe acquired the team when the NBA had all of their teams divest ownership in the WNBA teams. Orlando was available and CT got them. So a relocation to CT has happened before. Perhaps it could happen again.
Notes:
Had quite a bit of success in the WHA, winning the first championship and making the finals one other time and never missing the playoffs. They also challenged the NHL by getting all 3 of the Howes to come as well as Hull and other stars. Played first year in Boston, rejected Providence due to the suspicion that organized crime would be a part of a relationship there, and embraced Hartford due to the new Civic Center. Played in Springfield when roof collapsed. Brass Bonanza was in place nearly from the start.
One of only 4 WHA teams to make it to NHL, and only American one. Baldwin had been late to game in initial league creation but provided one of steadiest ownerships. They switched to "Hartford" and adopted the iconic logo when they joined NHL.
Made the playoffs their first year but then went through a rebuild 5 straight non-playoff years, going young and forming the core:
Ron Francis C - #11 Great player and awesome guy. Did the charity work and a leader, not a penalty guy. Hartford actually wanted someone else in the draft but another team traded up to get their first preference.
Kevin Dineen W- Was a scrapper. Would get goals and penalty minutes.
Ray Ferraro C - Energetic and popular
Luit in Goal - they traded for him. Became a key factor in their success.
SYlvain Turgeon - a Scorer.
Ulf Samuelson - D - From Sweeden. Excellent at instigating others.
1985-88 were the golden years.
85-86 Won only Playoff series in NHL and took Montreal to 7 games. Oddly had a parade in Hartford to celebrate.
86-87 - Won the difficult Adams Division for their one and only time.
For next five years they made playoffs losing to Canadiens 3 times and Bruins twice.
After Baldwin sold team Whalers dismantled their core under new owner Gordon, a real-estate developer. Worst trade was giving Francis to Pittsburgh in 90-91. He was in contract negotiations and the new coach felt he wasn't tough enough to be the leader he wanted. Francis then helped lead Pittsburgh to Stanley Cup. Hartford got rid of all the guys who really enjoyed living and playing here. This was a time when you had one home near where you played.
Last years in Hartford they turned to trying to be a more physical and less finesse team. It was entertaining, but did not work.
Interesting to note that many of the Whalers from the 80's became coaches. At the time, the head coach involved players in developing strategy and was not an x and o guy. This cost them when they went up against the sophisticated mid ice trap of the Montreal Canadiens but might explain why so many players became head coaches.
My main interest is in why we lost them. One thing that did not occur to me is that the rise of UConn Basketball was a key factor. Prior to Calhoun and Auriema the Whalers were the only game in town. After UConn became a powerhouse they squeezed the Whalers for attention and fan dollars. That's a bittersweet development. UConn is the one team, besides minor league teams, that unites this state but unintentionally they helped usher big-leauge hockey out. Another less important factor was that the Hartford Courant could be quite negative in its coverage. At least that is what management felt. I do recall that. But, it has to be conceded that when the Whalers traded away Ron Francis and Luit - both fan favorites who loved to live and play in Hartford -- you can expect some push-back from the media and yes, it will impact attendance! And then there is Karmonos the owner. In the introduction to the book the big picture was that you should never let a guy who looks at a team as an investment opportunity buy a franchise in a small market - they will probably move. It must be conceded that he was losing about 11 million a year and attendance was down. But, you can't blame the politicians for this one. Governor Rowland put forward a plan to build a new facility for the Whalers and the answer was still no. The overriding problem was that the NHL was moving to much higher salaries and the ability of a small market team to keep up was limited. In addition, young players did not want to live in Hartford. Not exciting enough. The established veterans who lived in Simsbury, Avon, and Farmington with their families loved it.
Future prospects? The way Robert Kraft of the Patriots took CT's offer to build a stadium for the Patriots only to use that to leverage a deal from Massachusetts just underlines the perception that major league sports can't make it in this market. By the way that was the day I stopped supporting the Patriots and I won't return to the fold until Kraft dies or sells the team. Governor Rowland declared on that day that he became a Jets fan.
I was intrigued by the idea of having the Mohegan or Sun Casinos partner with CT to build a rink to attract a team back. The CT Sun is owned by the Mohegans and they average almost 6,000 a game, about the middle of the pack in the WNBA in terms of attendance. The tribe acquired the team when the NBA had all of their teams divest ownership in the WNBA teams. Orlando was available and CT got them. So a relocation to CT has happened before. Perhaps it could happen again.
Notes:
Had quite a bit of success in the WHA, winning the first championship and making the finals one other time and never missing the playoffs. They also challenged the NHL by getting all 3 of the Howes to come as well as Hull and other stars. Played first year in Boston, rejected Providence due to the suspicion that organized crime would be a part of a relationship there, and embraced Hartford due to the new Civic Center. Played in Springfield when roof collapsed. Brass Bonanza was in place nearly from the start.
One of only 4 WHA teams to make it to NHL, and only American one. Baldwin had been late to game in initial league creation but provided one of steadiest ownerships. They switched to "Hartford" and adopted the iconic logo when they joined NHL.
Made the playoffs their first year but then went through a rebuild 5 straight non-playoff years, going young and forming the core:
Ron Francis C - #11 Great player and awesome guy. Did the charity work and a leader, not a penalty guy. Hartford actually wanted someone else in the draft but another team traded up to get their first preference.
Kevin Dineen W- Was a scrapper. Would get goals and penalty minutes.
Ray Ferraro C - Energetic and popular
Luit in Goal - they traded for him. Became a key factor in their success.
SYlvain Turgeon - a Scorer.
Ulf Samuelson - D - From Sweeden. Excellent at instigating others.
1985-88 were the golden years.
85-86 Won only Playoff series in NHL and took Montreal to 7 games. Oddly had a parade in Hartford to celebrate.
86-87 - Won the difficult Adams Division for their one and only time.
For next five years they made playoffs losing to Canadiens 3 times and Bruins twice.
After Baldwin sold team Whalers dismantled their core under new owner Gordon, a real-estate developer. Worst trade was giving Francis to Pittsburgh in 90-91. He was in contract negotiations and the new coach felt he wasn't tough enough to be the leader he wanted. Francis then helped lead Pittsburgh to Stanley Cup. Hartford got rid of all the guys who really enjoyed living and playing here. This was a time when you had one home near where you played.
Last years in Hartford they turned to trying to be a more physical and less finesse team. It was entertaining, but did not work.
Interesting to note that many of the Whalers from the 80's became coaches. At the time, the head coach involved players in developing strategy and was not an x and o guy. This cost them when they went up against the sophisticated mid ice trap of the Montreal Canadiens but might explain why so many players became head coaches.
November 21, 2025
I absolutely LOVED this. The early days in the WHA, Gordie Howe, Ronnie Franchise, Kevin Dineen, the logo, brass bonanza, everything.
Selfishly as a Bruins fan, my favorite part was the bit about the first round playoff series between the Bruins and Whalers in 1990 (especially the 4th game of that series, if you know you know).
There's kind of a tragic layer to this too. An endearing franchise that was deeply embedded in the local community was slowly stripped for parts and moved down south. A harsh reality for many of the old small market teams as pro sports became a million dollar enterprise. But also Gary Bettman and Pete Karmanos can go pound sand.
A total must read for any hockey fan!
Selfishly as a Bruins fan, my favorite part was the bit about the first round playoff series between the Bruins and Whalers in 1990 (especially the 4th game of that series, if you know you know).
There's kind of a tragic layer to this too. An endearing franchise that was deeply embedded in the local community was slowly stripped for parts and moved down south. A harsh reality for many of the old small market teams as pro sports became a million dollar enterprise. But also Gary Bettman and Pete Karmanos can go pound sand.
A total must read for any hockey fan!
December 27, 2022
If you're a big fan of hockey, this is the book for you.
I felt like the book lost some steam and got a little to bogged down in the description of the WHA era. I felt like a lot of anecdotes were a bit too long. It was a very heady time for the city of Hartford, and I appreciate how much civic pride increased with the success of the team. But a lot of the middle of the book talked repetitively about how happy everyone was to have the team. It took a little bit of effort to get through it.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who's a hockey fan or a fan of sports history in the Northeast.
I felt like the book lost some steam and got a little to bogged down in the description of the WHA era. I felt like a lot of anecdotes were a bit too long. It was a very heady time for the city of Hartford, and I appreciate how much civic pride increased with the success of the team. But a lot of the middle of the book talked repetitively about how happy everyone was to have the team. It took a little bit of effort to get through it.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who's a hockey fan or a fan of sports history in the Northeast.
January 5, 2024
It's a good quick read I would recommend to hockey fans. I imagine Whalers fans will love it. I was looking for a bit more discussion on the efforts to keep the team in Hartford and what eventually lead to their departure but this was much more of a celebratory book on the 25 years the team spent as the Whalers.
February 5, 2025
I’d give this well researched book a higher rating, but after the 30th blatant typo in the text, the lack of respect and professionalism spent in putting it together got to me.
Get a decent proofreader!!!
Get a decent proofreader!!!
February 17, 2025
An insightful and nostalgic look at the history of the Hartford Whalers. Price does a great job combining the history of the Whalers and the personal stories of those who played for them. A poignant look down memory lane for those of us who still bleed green.
February 9, 2023
Used to go to a few games a month growing up. This brought back so many fond memories of my literal first love. Thank you for writing this.
February 20, 2023
Good book, brought back alot of memories. Learned a few things too.
September 19, 2023
Meh. It had a lot of ups and downs. I generally found myself either very engaged or struggling through certain parts. I think it didn't live up to my own hype. It's probably worth a read.
January 7, 2025
Long live The Whale! Great read for Nutmeggers.
February 14, 2025
Audiobook. Greatly enjoyed this popular culture history of the Whale. Miss them & wish that the powers that be in the NHL would allow them to return.
December 28, 2025
If you are/were a Hartford Whalers fan, you will love this book. Well written. Absolutely fantastic.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews