the Blueshirts in exchange for the right to use LeSueur. Another of Livingstone's stars, Cy Denneny, had found full-time employment with the government in Ottawa and told the team that they could either trade him to Ottawa or he would sit out the season. Livingstone said that he would not accept anyone but Frank Nighbor in a trade, or Ottawa could buy Denneny for $1,800—more than double the NHA record for a player sale. He then suspended Denneny in November for refusing to report. Livingstone also offered to take goaltender Clint Benedict for Denneny, but that offer was also rejected by Ottawa. Late in January 1917, it seemed that Livingstone had traded Denneny to the Montreal Wanderers for goaltender Billy Hague—Denneny even signed an agreement with Montreal—but Livingstone backed out of the deal with his nemesis Sammy Lichtenhein. Livingstone ultimately capitulated and sold Denneny to Ottawa, but not before raising the ire of Tommy Gorman in Ottawa and Lichtenhein in Montreal. Expulsion from NHA On February 8, 1917, the 228th Battalion got its orders to proceed overseas and withdrew its teams from the OHA and the NHA. Three days later, NHA owners—at a meeting that did not include Livingstone—voted to suspend the Blueshirts franchise to keep the number of teams in the league even. Toronto players were put in a lottery and claimed by other teams, although they were to be returned to Toronto when the franchise was reinstated. On February 13, Livingstone issued a statement that he was through with the NHA and that the Blueshirts franchise was available to the highest bidder. Livingstone was going to work on the opening of several arenas and a new hockey league in the United States. Livingstone filed suit against the league and the other owners, and applied for a court injunction to prevent them from moving the remaining teams out of the league. In October 1917, Quebec Bulldogs manager Mike Quinn told the Quebec Telegraph that the Toronto club had been given three weeks to separate itself from Livingstone with the threat that the other owners would operate without Toronto if the club did not comply. There was no response by the deadline. At its annual meeting in November 1917, the NHA announced that it was suspending operations because of the difficulties in running a five-team league and the player shortages introduced by conscription in Canada during the off-season. About a