After the 1972-73 WHA season ended, the Philadelphia Blazers' owners sold the team to Jim Pattison who moved the team north of the border to Vancouver, British Columbia where it was named Vancouver Blazers.
Pattison knew that in order to compete with the Vancouver Canucks of the NHL, who shared the same arena, he needed to attract a major star to the team, as André Lacroix, who had led the league in scoring the previous year, left to join the New York Golden Blades.