[citation needed] The fledgling WHA had some trouble stocking their teams, with many of the players drafted by WHA teams never reporting, preferring instead to play in the long established National Hockey League.
List of first overall picks:[citation needed] Of the five first overall draft picks selected in the WHA amateur draft, Bob Neely and Blair Chapman never reported to the league.
Pat Price, drafted after a 95-point season as a defenceman in junior hockey, was considered an expensive flop, though he was drafted by the New York Islanders after only one year in Vancouver and went on to a 13-year career in the NHL.
Only Scott Campbell and Claude Larose had reasonably active and prosperous WHA careers.
[citation needed] The WHA draft was abandoned in 1978 when merger talks with the NHL broke down.