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In March 1965, a proper course of began headed by then NHL President Clarence Campbell in order that the league would develop its operation to incorporate a second division of six groups. Gone could be the days of the so-referred to as “Original Six” franchises. Joining them could be a half-dozen new groups that might see the NHL attain additional into the United States, together with each the Midwest and West Coast.
Numerous cities sought to be a touchdown spot for certainly one of these six new groups, together with locations that have been initially handed over by the NHL resembling Cleveland, Buffalo, Vancouver, Louisville and Baltimore. Some of those similar cities would ultimately home NHL franchises as the league continued to expertise development and stability.
However, it might be early in 1966 that the league decided the six new acceptable cities which might be awarded an NHL crew. These “Second Six” of the NHL have been comprised of the Minnesota North Stars, Oakland Seals, Los Angeles Kings, St. Louis Blues, Philadelphia Flyers, and Pittsburgh Penguins. They have been housed in their very own division, referred to as the West Division at the time. For the first time in league historical past, 12 groups competed for the Stanley Cup starting in the 1967-68 season.
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THW takes a have a look at every of those groups and the way every fared upon their arrival into the NHL. It shall be a enjoyable historical past lesson as we glance again upon the early trials and tribulations of every squad, and finally both their successes or failures inside their first few years.
Minnesota North Stars
In the six-crew West Division, the North Stars completed in fourth place that first yr, thus grabbing the final playoff spot. In what has come to be often known as affectionately as the “Pee-Wee Hockey Capital of the World”, Minnesota was a pure hockey marketplace for the NHL. While it took the North Stars time to have any actual successes, they have been a viable franchise all through their first few years of existence.
Having acquired him in the 1967 NHL Expansion Draft, goaltender Cesare Maniago remained Minnesota’s steadfast goaltender for 9 straight seasons. Eventually he could be joined by 40-yr-outdated Stanley Cup champion and eventual Hockey Hall of Famer, Lorne “Gump” Worsley. The two would stay a goaltending duo for the North Stars for a bit of greater than 4 seasons collectively.
Somewhat surprisingly, the North Stars had the high objective-scorer of the six enlargement groups that first yr. Wayne Connelly scored 35 objectives in 74 video games and tied with Phil Espositio and Norm Ullman for fourth most in the league. Connelly was the solely participant on an enlargement crew to place in the top-10 for that category.
The North Stars would have on and off success for the the rest of their existence. Original North Star Bill Goldsworthy scored 48 objectives for the crew throughout the 1973-74 season, which continues to be the fifth-highest whole in franchise historical past. The crew would make two Stanley Cup Final appearances (1981, 1991). Sadly although, the North Stars could be relocated to Dallas for the 1993-94 season the place they grew to become identified merely as the Stars. The transfer has left many followers nonetheless heartbroken to at the present time.
Oakland Seals
The Oakland Seals have been the most colourful franchise when it comes to their character and character. However, on the ice they struggled immensely. Of the six enlargement groups, they completed in final place throughout the 1967-68 season with a document of 15-42-17. They would make the playoffs solely twice of their transient 9-yr existence. This definitely didn’t hold them from being themselves. The Seals did everything from wearing white skates at one point, to distributing yellow and inexperienced suitcases to their gamers, ultimately altering their colours to teal and gold, and even hiring a younger woman to streak bare throughout the ice as a publicity stunt.
Any off-ice oddities that the Seals introduced forth couldn’t compensate for his or her difficulties on the ice. They developed a penchant for giving up invaluable draft picks or prospects in alternate for gamers who have been previous their primes. For instance, the Montreal Canadiens normal supervisor Sam Pollock was in a position to safe the Seals’ first-spherical draft decide in the 1971 draft with a view to snatch the legendary Guy Lafleur, whereas giving up a Habs’ first spherical choice in 1970. While the deal was definitely honest and inside the guidelines, it ended up with the Seals giving up their alternative to have taken a legendary participant.
To embody extra of a Bay Area fanbase, the Oakland Seals grew to become the California Golden Seals beginning for the 1970-71 season. Once their jerseys have been switched to being primarily teal in 1974-75 they dropped the “Golden” and have become merely the California Seals. Despite younger and proficient gamers resembling Reggie Leach, Gilles Meloche, Dennis Maruk, and Charlie Simmer, the Seals couldn’t stay viable and ultimately have been relocated to Ohio the place they grew to become the quick-lived Cleveland Barons.
Los Angeles Kings
The different California-based crew was the Los Angeles Kings. One of the extra noteworthy facets of the first-yr Kings was that their goaltender was arguably the best netminder to ever play the recreation, Terry Sawchuk. At 38 years outdated, Sawchuk manned the nets for 36 video games as an unique King and compiled a document of 10-17-5. He additionally recorded the a hundred and first and 102nd shutouts of his lengthy, masterful profession.
Aside from a lone season of Sawchuk, Los Angeles had some youthful forwards like Eddie Joyal, Real Lemieux, Ted Irvine, and “Cowboy” Bill Flett who all helped lead the crew throughout its early years. During the 1968-69 season, Joyal grew to become the membership’s first 30-objective scorer when he tallied 33 that yr. Shortly after their inaugural season, Los Angeles drafted Robert “Butch” Goring in the fifth round of the 1969 NHL Amateur Draft and he grew to become a 30-objective scorer for the crew spanning greater than a decade.
The Kings by no means actually gained a lot of a face round the league till the Nineteen Seventies. Through trades and draft picks, they ended up comprising extra of an id. The likes of Marcel Dionne, Rogatien Vachon, Dave Taylor, and Charlie Simmer all arrived afterward the scene and actually made the Kings extra recognizable.
Though the Kings would ultimately garner success after they acquired Dionne from the Detroit Red Wings in 1975, hockey by no means really took off in California till “The Great One” Wayne Gretzky arrived on the scene in 1988. Since that point hockey has remained standard in the “Golden State” and the Kings received the Stanley Cup in 2012 and 2014.
St. Louis Blues
The St. Louis Blues have been the one crew to earn rapid success. With Scotty Bowman at the helm in his first cease of what could be the most illustrious NHL teaching profession, the early Blues have been a grand assortment of hockey’s “golden oldies”. In the first season alone, the crew included the likes of Red Berenson, Al Arbour, Dickie Moore, Glenn Hall and Doug Harvey – all Stanley Cup champions, and 4 of which have been ultimately inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Additionally, dependable function gamers resembling Jim Roberts, the Plager brothers Barclay and Bob, Noel Picard, Gerry Melnyk, and quite a few others have been distinction makers.
Coming out of the West that yr, the Blues have been the first of the enlargement groups to make the Stanley Cup Final which they misplaced in 4 video games to the Montreal Canadiens. The Blues would attain the Final three years in a row, as they distinguished themselves to be the better of the six new groups. With three straight losses over the Stanley Cup to “Original Six” groups, and with the addition of the Buffalo Sabres and Vancouver Canucks into the NHL in 1970, the groups have been realigned and no enlargement crew was assured a spot in the Cup Final from that time ahead.
For the 1968-69 season, Bowman would have Hall and Jacques Plante as his goaltenders. That yr the two shared the Vezina Trophy as the two goalies permitting the fewest objectives in opposition to. Having such robust goaltending with two legends who fed off of each other elevated the power of the Blues tenfold. Were it not for such savvy goaltending, St. Louis would not have made the three straight runs at the Cup in 1968, 1969 and 1970.
In the first 50 years that the St. Louis Blues have been in existence, they’ve solely performed in the Stanley Cup Final these first three years. They have had many different nice gamers in the historical past of their franchise, together with Bernie Federko, Brett Hull, Adam Oates, Chris Pronger, Curtis Joseph, Grant Fuhr, Al MacInnis, Pavol Demitra, Vladimir Tarasenko and others, however they haven’t but recaptured these preliminary glory days of the group.
Philadelphia Flyers
The expansion Philadelphia Flyers were more of an aged guard when it got here to skaters, however backstopped by a younger and upcoming tandem in objective. Early Flyers Larry Zeidel and Allan Stanley have been of their 40s throughout the first few years of the crew, whereas many different gamers have been nicely into their 30s. Stanley performed his twenty first NHL season – his solely with Philadelphia – throughout the 1968-69 marketing campaign. During the first season of 1967-68, solely two Flyers even reached the 20-objective plateau – Bill Sutherland and Leon Rochefort, with 20 and 21 objectives respectively.
Anchoring a possible rise for the Flyers have been two 22-yr-outdated goalies, Doug Favell and Bernie Parent. In the first yr they cut up the goaltending duties proper down the center, showing in 37 and 38 video games. Favell became the main goalie for the Flyers for six straight seasons till he was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs throughout the summer season of 1973 – oddly sufficient, in alternate for Parent.
Parent, who had started his NHL profession with the Boston Bruins, was with Philadelphia from the enlargement till he was traded to the Maple Leafs early in 1971. After three seasons in Toronto the place he gained tutelage from the nice Jacques Plante as his goaltender accomplice he was again with the Flyers. He would play six seasons in Philadelphia and would backstop them to 2 straight Stanley Cups for the 1973-74 and 1974-75 seasons.
With Parent as their cornerstone, the Flyers grew to become arguably the most feared NHL crew of the Nineteen Seventies. That stemmed particularly from having coach Fred “The Fog” Shero at the helm and his orchestration of the Flyers’ “Broad Street Bullies” – Dave “The Hammer” Schultz, Bob “Hound Dog” Kelly, Andre “Moose” Dupont, Don “Big Bird” Saleski, and crew captain and face of the Flyers Bobby Clarke. Philadelphia was the first enlargement crew to win the Stanley Cup.
Pittsburgh Penguins
The enlargement Pittsburgh Penguins have been led by the bullet-capturing Andy Bathgate. An eventual Hockey Hall of Famer, Bathgate was the membership’s high-scorer throughout the 1967-68 season when he tallied 20 goals and 39 assists for 59 points in 74 games at the age of 35. Even although the Penguins would be a part of the Seals in failing to make the playoffs throughout the first yr, it helped issues that that they had a participant already thought to be a legend who was giving them firepower.
Bathgate performed in the minors for 2 seasons after the first yr, earlier than he made a return to the Penguins for the 1970-71 season. He would end third on the crew in scoring behind Bryan Hextall Jr. and Jean Pronovost that yr. With no actual names apart from Bathgate’s to convey something near stardom, Pittsburgh made the playoffs solely twice of their first seven years.
The different essential key contributor throughout the Penguins early years was goaltender Les Binkley. An affable particular person, Binkley by no means made his NHL debut till he had joined the Penguins and was nicely into his 30s. Originally taking part in maskless, he was the first beginning goaltender in Pittsburgh’s historical past. He would stay between the pipes for the crew up via the 1971-72 season, earlier than leaping over to the rival WHA.
Oddly sufficient, it was Binkley who would bridge the hole for the franchise. While the Penguins have been by no means a real contender for the Stanley Cup of their first 20 years, Binkley was a member of the crew’s first two Stanley Cup victories in 1991 and 1992. He earned Cup rings and noticed his title engraved on the silver chalice having served the crew as a scout. Of course, these successful Penguins groups have been led by the likes of Jaromir Jagr, Ron Francis, Kevin Stevens, Larry Murphy, Bryan Trottier, Paul Coffey, Tom Barrasso, and the premier face of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Mario Lemieux.
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