BEST IN THE WORLD
YOU'LL NEVER GUESS
The admittedly short-lived World Hockey Association (WHA) was the NHL's rival league in the 1970s, and a number of hockey's top players left the NHL to play in the WHA.
True Philly sports fans may even recall that Philadelphia had a WHA franchise - the Blazers - who played here for only one season before heading to Vancouver, and that former Flyers Bernie Parent and Andre Lacroix (pictured above) both played for that team.
We all know Bernie Parent was great. He is still the only goalie in NHL history to have won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP in back-to-back seasons. But we are not here to talk about Bernie today.
Today's question is - who was the WHA's all-time leading scorer? Was it Bobby Hull? Gordie Howe? Wayne Gretzky? Anders Hedberg? They all played in the WHA, but the answer is... none of the above.
Believe it or not, folks, the WHA's all-time leading scorer was Andre Lacroix!
Lacroix was a capable NHL journeyman, but in the WHA he was the greatest scorer ever. No one else even came close. Standing at only 5-8 and weighing only 175 pounds, Lacroix dominated the league over its 7 years of existence. He tallied 798 points (nearly 150 more than anyone else) and had 547 assists (nearly 200 more than anyone else).
Philly Willie salutes former Flyer (and Blazer) Andre Lacroix for his outstanding but largely forgotten achievement.
