Going to bump old thread because I´m interested when this Sponshorship era ended? In other words when did the C-Form system died? There are mixed information about this. Some say in 1968 some in 1969.
Mixed info about this because you're asking about two different things. Sponsorship and C-forms were not one and the same.
NHL teams had sponsored junior clubs, and through their affiliations with AHL and WHL teams that had sponsored junior clubs of their own, had effective control over hundreds of Canadian amateur players. If you were a player playing for a sponsored junior club you were on the NHL team's "sponsorship list", the list of sponsored junior players. If you were on an NHL team's sponsorship list they held your playing rights (pro and
de facto amateur) until you finished your junior eligibility (turned 20): they could assign you to another sponsored team within their system if they wanted to, and you were barred from playing for another CAHA-affiliated amateur club without the sponsoring team's permission.
The C-form (and the A- and B-forms) was a contract option agreement. The C-form was the most onerous on player's rights: it was not a pro playing contract but bound a player to sign a pro deal at pre-determined compensation levels depending on if they were assigned to the NHL, AHL or WHL, or QHL/EPHL/CPHL. If you were a player who signed a C-form you were obligated to show up for the NHL team's training camp, you were obligated to sign a pro deal with them at the stipulated terms when you turned pro, and the team could hypothetically keep renewing this option every year in perpetuity if they paid you a yearly renewal fee. The catch was that the NHL club had to put a player signed to an A-, B- or C-form agreement on their reserve list, which included players under actual pro contracts. They couldn't just fill their reserve lists with an infinite number of players signed to option agreements. Sponsored players did not have to sign C-forms.
NHL sponsorship lists were frozen in '66. No new players could be added to sponsorship lists after this, but the sponsorship lists still existed. The '66 Amateur Draft was still limited to junior players not on sponsorship lists (and who hadn't signed C-forms), as the '63, '64 and '65 drafts were before it, but because of the trimmed and frozen sponsorship lists a group of previously sponsored players was available in '66.
To play on an NHL sponsored junior team, the player did not have to be bound to the parent NHL team in any fashion.
Example 1966 NHL Amateur Draft Jude Drouin:
http://www.hockey-reference.com/draft/NHL_1966_amateur.html
Drouin played for Verdun, part of the Canadiens junior sponsorship web. But the Canadiens had to draft him to get his rights. He was not bound to them by a C-Form.
Jude Drouin was available for selection in the '66 draft because he had been dropped from the Canadiens' sponsorship list. Several of the players selected in '66 were dropped from sponsorship lists. Barry Gibbs, taken 1st overall, was a Bruins prospect in the first place playing in Estevan. He was picked by the Bruins because they wanted to keep him. Brad Park, 2nd overall, was a Maple Leafs prospect; the Rangers picked him. It was a huge steal in retrospect but keep in mind Brad Park was only 17 years old at the time, had only played a single year of Junior A with the Marlboros as their fifth or sixth defenceman.
By the fall of 1969 all the C-Form juniors should have seen the junior eligibility expire
No new C-forms (and A- and B-forms) could be signed after May 1, 1968. C-forms could still be renewed after that, they just couldn't sign new ones.
On the other hand players like Serge Savard, Carol Vadnais, Jacques Lemaire, Yvan Cournoyer that had signed C-Forms were bound by them throughout their career, unless like J.C.Tremblay they opted to sign with a rival league when the contract expired with the arrival of the WHA.
Savard, Vadnais and Lemaire were sponsored players who turned pro in '66. Cournoyer turned pro in '64. They weren't bound to the Canadiens because of C-forms, they were bound to the Canadiens because of the reserve clause in their standard pro contracts. All of them were. Tremblay defied his contract's reserve clause when he signed with the Nordiques.
By 1969 most of the previously sponsored junior players had "come of age" (turned 20), and comparatively few C-forms were left. This is why the '69 draft was said to be the first "universal" one: it was the first time that there was a substantial number of good junior players eligible to be drafted. The last sponsored players and C-forms came off the books in '70.
Sakari Ahlberg eventually did play half of the season (68-69) in Rangers. He was send to Sudbury Wolves at some point. Did he have to commit himself to NY Rangers to play in Kitchener that season?
No, Ahlberg did not have to commit himself to the NY Rangers to play in Kitchener. Sponsorship lists were frozen in '66 as I said above, and in '68 outright direct sponsorship of the actual clubs ended. Kitchener Rangers operator Eugene George still would have had a pretty good working relationship with Emile Francis though. Getting Aro and Ahlberg to try out with Kitchener would have required hashing out some details between with the Finnish Ice Hockey Association and CAHA, which Francis may have facilitated.
Yes it turns out that I have had few misconception about the C-Form and Sponsorhip list.
