It was written in 1959 and gives interesting accounts from the era).Įventually, however, despite pushback from the older, more conservative team owners who were still in power (and threats from television networks that the NHL wouldn’t receive a new American contract if they refused to expand), expansion was eventually green-lit, with an entire new six-team division being created with the aim to start play for the 1967-68 season.īy 1966, the NHL was reviewing applications from a number of interested parties, and in the end, the six selected teams were awarded franchises: California Seals, Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota North Stars, St. Boyle’s piece in Sports Illustrated called “Black Hawks On the Wing”. Though the NHL would stabilize and eventually put themselves in a position to expand successfully, this was accomplished at the cost of player rights, monopolistic practices on the part of owners, and blackballing players who did not conform (for a better look into the practices of this time, check out Robert H. However, regardless, the “Original Six” clubs, as they would come to be referred to, assured that any change in the NHL would be minimal at best. One could argue that the league was simply being overprotective of itself after the years of uncertainty following the Second World War. Parties who submitted applications for expansion were all given different requirements that, seemingly, were designed to be rejected. While talks had been held regarding expansion prior to the league actively doing so, these discussions, which mainly were centered around applications to join the league from various interested parties, were unproductive at best and bordered on malignant at worst. In previous years, the league had expanded and narrowed as new teams joined, and subsequently folded, primarily due to financial pressures. In 1965, as it had been since 1942, there were six teams in the National Hockey League (Montreal, Toronto, Chicago, New York Rangers, Detroit, Boston). However, for those who do not know, here is a brief overview:
The league’s first expansion also brought about changes to the game of hockey itself, both tactically upon how the game is coached and played, and changes to the rules which govern the game, either born from auxiliary reasoning, or facilitated out of necessity, depending on who you ask.įor many hockey fans, this story and period of NHL history is not unfamiliar. Of course, that event would be the league’s expansion, bringing NHL hockey to new cities and markets, creating hundreds of thousands of new fans in the process. In March of 1965, then National Hockey League President Clarence Campbell announced plans for a change to the league’s structure that would forever alter the sport from therein going forward.
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