1967: NHL's First Expansion

[Davenport]

My favorite summer as a hockey fan was and remains the summer of 1967, when the NHL doubled in size. Six new teams joined the league, meaning dozens of new players to follow. Sure wish the Expansion Draft on June 6, 1967, had been televised, and could today be enjoyed on YouTube. There were 120 players selected during the draft. Seemingly the expansion teams benefited at least as much - if not more - from the wheeling and dealing which went on while the draft proceded, than from the draft itself.

During the sixth round of the draft, the St. Louis Blues selected defenseman Rod Seiling from the New York Rangers, who had protected blueliners Harry Howell, Larry Hillman, Jim Neilson and Arnie Brown. Rangers' GM Emile Francis then traded four players - Tim Ecclestone, Gary Sabourin, Bob Plager and Gord Kannegiesser - to the Blues for Seiling. Three of those four players would make a significant contribution to the franchise in St. Louis.

Click to read more...

 

[Davenport]

NHL President Clarence Campbell enlisted the assistance of Habs' GM Sam Pollock to draft the rules followed during the Expansion Draft. Those rules enabled the Canadiens to protect young obviously-ready-for-the-NHL players like Jacques Lemaire, Carol Vadnais, Danny Grant and Claude Larose. When Wren Blair - GM of the Minnesota North Stars - selected Dave Balon with the Stars' first choice of all the available skaters, Pollock was able to add Larose to the Habs' protected list. Before the draft was finished, Blair acquired seven Canadiens in three trades. The most important was Andre Boudrias.

 

[wetcoast]

I've never really looked at it that closely but here is the draft order and selections.

1967 NHL Expansion Draft Picks at hockeydb.com

A sortable list of players drafted in the 1967 NHL Expansion draft, including their career scoring after being drafted

www.hockeydb.com

this is a good resource as well

1967 NHL expansion draft - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Also if these boards had been around then and for the WHA it would have been really exciting to look back on the posts about it.

 

[Davenport]

I've never really looked at it that closely but here is the draft order and selections.

1967 NHL Expansion Draft Picks at hockeydb.com

A sortable list of players drafted in the 1967 NHL Expansion draft, including their career scoring after being drafted

www.hockeydb.com

this is a good resource as well

1967 NHL expansion draft - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Also if these boards had been around then and for the WHA it would have been really exciting to look back on the posts about it.

I'm hoping to use this thread to look closely at the goings-on surrounding the first expansion. The more I find out, the more fascinating it becomes for me. Love to get my hands on The Hockey News from 1967, and especially the issue(s) dealing with the draft.

 

[VaCaps Fan]

Why Oakland of all places?

 

[Davenport]

Why Oakland of all places?

The NHL wanted two teams in California as part of their pursuit of a national TV contract. Clarence Campbell wanted no part of the Cow Palace in San Francisco - and there was no serious discussion of replacing it - so Oakland (with its nice new arena) was chosen to be one of the two California sites.

 

[VaCaps Fan]

Funny how the sharks played at the cow place 25 years later.

I'm hoping to use this thread to look closely at the goings-on surrounding the first expansion. The more I find out, the more fascinating it becomes for me. Love to get my hands on The Hockey News from 1967, and especially the issue(s) dealing with the draft.

Did hockey news put it all online yet?

 

[Davenport]

Hope there is proper appreciation of James Norris Jr. by fans of the St. Louis Blues. One of the six expansion teams in 1967 was established in St. Louis at the insistance of Norris. He - majority owner of the Chicago Black Hawks - gave his fellow owners of the six then operating NHL teams a choice: (A) place a team in St. Louis, and have the owners of that expansion team purchase the St. Louis Arena (which had been the home of the first NHL team in St. Louis, and was owned by the Norris family); or (B) there would be no expansion. There had to be unanimous consensus for expansion to proceed. Plan A was chosen.

Norris was also the main obstacle to a team being placed in Buffalo - who did not consider that city to be big league, in terms of sports. His death in 1966, and the efforts by the Knox brothers - after that first expansion - to demonstrate that Buffalo was a hockey town resulted in the Sabres arriving with the second expansion in 1970.

 

[alko]

Where did the players come? How was the quality in first seasons?

And didnt want the teams focus to Europe players?

 

[Davenport]

Where did the players come? How was the quality in first seasons?

And didnt want the teams focus to Europe players?

Besides the Expansion Draft - which provided each of the six new teams with 18 skaters and 2 goaltenders - there were trades, and there were the minor league which were purchased by the management of some of the new teams. The Philadelphia Flyers purchased the Quebec Aces of the AHL. Ten of the players with the Aces in 1966-67 would play with the Flyers in 1967-68. When the Los Angeles Kings purchased the AHL's Springfield Indians, they provided themselves with the best defenseman in the West Division: Bill White.

By the time the first season of expansion was finished, the St. Louis Blues had established themselves as the best team in the West Division. Three years in a row they went to the Stanley Cup Final, and didn't win a single game. In 1970-71 - for the first time - a West Division team would win a game (in fact two) in the playoffs against an Original Six team. The Minnesota North Stars - loaded with ex-Habs - won two games against the Montreal Canadiens. In 1973-74, the Flyers were the first West Division team to win a series against an Original Six team (the New York Rangers). That was the same season the Flyers eliminated the Boston Bruins in the Final, to win the Cup for the first time.

Don't recall any of the West Division teams scouting for talent in Europe.

 

[JMCx4]

Another recent web source:

https://thehockeywriters.com/june-6-1967-the-day-that-changed-hockey/

As for "proper appreciation of James Norris Jr. by fans of the St. Louis Blues" ... Norris's sole motivation was to relieve himself of a crappy arena. Nothing noble nor generous to appreciate there. The team is still in St. Louis, all else is relegated to The History of Hockey.