“Do you have a buyer?”

Al Savill

That’s a quote from the Penguins’ principal owner, Al Savill, in December 1977. Down at least $5 million since buying the team, he and his two partners were not happy with the paltry attendance figures so far in the 1977-78 campaign and were openly admitting that if the right offer came along to buy the floundering franchise, they’d be all ears.

This analysis piece by Pens beat reporter Bob Whitley looks at just how thin the ice was beneath the Penguins feet at this point in their history. Stated Savill bluntly: “It’s no secret we need more people in the seats.”

Savill lays down the Hammer

Our look at the Pens' 1977-78 season continues...

The two early-season embarrassments the Penguins suffered at the hands of the Philadelphia Flyers (8-2 at home October 15 followed by an 11-0 lambasting five nights later at the Spectrum) did not sit well with Penguins Chairman of the Board Al Savill. One third of the team's ownership group, a frustrated Savill impulsively decided to toughen the Pens up by engineering a trade for the poster boy of '70s goon hockey, Dave "The Hammer" Schultz.

By this point, Schultz's days as the Broad Street Bullies' head haymaker were far behind him, having been dealt by the Flyers to the L.A. Kings in September 1976 before coming to Pittsburgh. The trade that brought him to the Pens saw the popular Syl Apps Jr. along with Hartland Monahan going west in exchange for Schultz, speedy forward Gene Carr and a draft pick.

Read the report of the trade that appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, containing Savill's rationale for the trade.