Apple podcast title, the 1967 NHL expansion,
how one chaotic season rewrote hockey history.
In this deep dive, we explore the wild, transformative
1967 -68 NHL season. From the sudden doubling
of the league and the both of the original six
mythos, to massive labor strikes, the gritty
rise of the St. Louis Blues, and the tragic loss
of Bill Masterton, we unpack the year that built
modern professional hockey. Tune in for behind
the scenes drama, bizarre TV broadcasting quirks,
and the origins of the NHLPA. Keywords, 1967
NHL expansion, original six, hockey history,
St. Louis Blues, Bill Masterton, NHLPA origins,
early sports television, Broad Street bullies,
hockey trivia. Imagine waking up tomorrow and
the company you work for has completely changed.
Like completely overhauled. Yeah, exactly. I
mean, overnight they have doubled their size.
Wow. They have doubled their workforce. There
is just absolute chaos in the hallways. New rivalries
are brewing at the water cooler and there are
these instant massive growing pains everywhere
you look. It sounds like a total nightmare. It
really would be. It would be entirely overwhelming
to navigate. Well, take that feeling, take that
corporate chaos, and apply it directly to the
professional sports world. Welcome to the Deep
Dive. I am so glad you're here with us today.
It really is the perfect analogy for the scale
of what we are looking at today. Because when
a major sports league doubles in size, it doesn't
just change the travel schedule or add a few
games. No. It completely destabilizes the entire
ecosystem of the sport. And that destabilization
is exactly our mission for this Deep Dive. We
are looking at the 1967 to 1968 National Hockey
League season. It's a truly wild year. Oh, absolutely.
And we are pulling our facts today from... historical
archives, specifically Wikipedia, to uncover
how this single, wildly unpredictable season
completely rewrote the DNA of professional hockey.
It really did set the stage for everything that
followed. It did. We are going to trace how it
shifted from a very traditional, small -scale
regional league into the foundation for the modern
sports behemoth we know today. Okay, let's unpack
this. We have to start with the sheer audacity
of what the NHL attempted here. I mean, before
the fall of 1967, you had the established, deeply
entrenched franchises. The ones we now refer
to as the original six. Exactly. And these teams
had decades of history. They had deep -seated
bad blood. Right. And then suddenly, the league
just decides to add six brand new franchises
all at once. Which is... That's a massive influx
of new personnel. It's unheard of to just double
your league overnight. Now, I noticed in the
notes that they didn't mix the new teams with
the old ones, right? Like, they didn't try to
balance things out competitively. Not at all.
They created this incredibly stark dividing line.
They took the established original six powerhouses
and put them all into the newly created East
Division. Yep. And then they took all six brand
new franchises and threw them into the West Division.
And that geographical and cultural shift was
massive for the sport. You suddenly had teams
like the St. Louis Blues, the California Seals.
Wait, the Seals? Who actually changed their name
to the Oakland Seals midway through that very
season, right? That's the one. Just adding to
the total chaos. Right. Along with them, you
had the Philadelphia Flyers, the Minnesota North
Stars, the Pittsburgh Penguins, and the Los Angeles
Kings. The logistics of that alone. must have
been a nightmare for the schedule makers. Oh,
without a doubt. Because with all those new teams
came a significantly longer schedule. The league
bumped the regular season up from 70 games to
74 games. Which is a heavy toll on the players.
Definitely. And there is this amazing historical
milestone right at the start of the season that
really highlights the scale. On October 18, 1967,
for the very first time ever, all 12 teams played
on the exact same day. That is wild to think
about. Six games happening simultaneously. Up
to that point, a day like that was completely
unprecedented in hockey history. What's fascinating
here is how the league structured the postseason
to account for this massive divide between the
old guard and the rookies. Because the talent
gap was huge, right? Oh, it was a canyon. So
they introduced a new playoff format where the
top four teams in each division qualified. The
first and third place teams played each other,
and the second and fourth place teams played
each other strictly within their own division.
So they stayed in their lane. Exactly. The divisions
absolutely did not cross over until the Stanley
Cup finals. Wait, you're telling me they kept
the playoffs completely siloed until the championship
round? That was the format. Doesn't that completely
undermine the competitive integrity of the sport?
I mean, you are essentially guaranteeing that
an inferior expansion team makes the finals.
while powerhouse teams in the East are forced
to eliminate each other early on. It absolutely
created a lopsided bracket. Yeah. But you have
to look at the business logic behind it. By engineering
the postseason this way, the NHL guaranteed that
a brand new market would be represented in the
Stanley Cup Finals. Oh, I see. So it's a marketing
tactic. Precisely. It was a highly calculated
move to create an instant underdog story and
build fan bases in places like Missouri or California.
That makes sense from a boardroom perspective.
But you are entirely correct. It also put a giant
spotlight on the massive competitive imbalance
between the veteran rosters in the East and those
expansion rosters in the West. Well, looking
at the background materials, the restructuring
on the ice was really only half the battle. The
off -ice stuff is arguably more intense. Yeah,
the behind -the -scenes drama over player rights
seems incredibly fraught. It wasn't just rookies
trying to find their footing. Major established
stars were holding out and refusing to play.
Right. What was driving that sudden friction?
This is arguably the most crucial off -ice development
of the 1967 story. The expansion was a logistical
triumph for the owners, sure, but it triggered
a massive shift in labor relations. Because of
the money. Always follow the money. To join the
league, each of the six new franchises had to
pay a $2 million expansion fee. Okay, let me
do the math. Six teams, $2 million each. That
is $12 million. $12 million flowing directly
to the owners of the original six teams. And
I'm guessing the players did not see a dime of
that windfall. Not a single cent. Unbelievable.
And yet the players were the ones being uprooted,
exposed in the expansion draft, and asked to
play a longer, more grueling 74 -game schedule.
They're doing more work for the exact same pay.
Exactly. The players realized the owners were
getting rich off this massive expansion while
their own salaries remained relatively stagnant.
That perfectly explains the holdouts. I mean,
you look at the roster of guys refusing to sign
their contracts, and it's a literal who's who
of talent. The biggest names in the sport. You
had Tim Horton holding out in Toronto, Stan Mikita
and Kenny Worm holding out in Chicago. Huge stars.
Norm Ullman in Detroit. Ed Van Impey in Philadelphia.
And the teams were aggressively fighting back
against this. Oh, they did not want to give an
inch. The New York Rangers actually fined three
of their players, Rod Gilbert, Arnie Brown, and
Orlin Kurtenbeck, $500 each just for holding
out. And you have to remember, a $500 fine was
a serious financial penalty in 1967. Right, that's
a huge chunk of a salary back then. But the players
were finally realizing their collective leverage.
This friction is what led directly to Alan Eagleson
helping to get the brand new National Hockey
League Players Association officially up and
running during this season. For you listening
to this, it really requires taking a step back
from the game itself to appreciate the magnitude
of that shift. It changes everything. It does.
This wasn't a minor squabble over a few dollars.
It was a fundamental revolution in how the business
of sports operated. The players were looking
at this massive influx of new revenue and demanding
agency over their own careers. The labor force
was demanding to be treated as partners, not
just property to be traded to Oakland or Los
Angeles on a whim. It is a foundational moment
for modern sports unions, born directly out of
the chaos of this specific expansion. So we have
this boiling labor tension. An entirely new league
structure. And then the actual regular season
finally gets underway. And it does not go exactly
as planned. Not at all. The East Division delivered
some really unexpected turbulence. Look at the
Montreal Canadiens. They actually stumble hard
out of the gate. Very uncharacteristic for them.
On their first West Coast road trip, they lost
to the Seals and the Kings. By December, the
mighty Canadians were sitting in last place.
Which would have caused absolute panic in a hockey
market like Montreal. Oh, the newspapers must
have been having a field day. But they had the
veteran leadership to weather the storm. Jean
Beliveau caught fire, the team went on a 12 -game
winning streak, and their goaltender, Gump Worsley,
put up unbelievable numbers. What's all those
stats? A 1 .98 goals against average and six
shutouts. Just dominant. He anchored a defense
that allowed the fewest goals in the entire league,
pushing them right back to first place in the
East. Now, while Montreal was clawing their way
back to the top, Boston was executing what could
only be described as a franchise -altering move.
One of the biggest trades of the era. They pulled
off a blockbuster trade with Chicago, bringing
in Phil Esposito, Ken Hodge, and Fred Stanfield.
And it paid off immediately. Instantly. Esposito
went off for 84 points. Pair that with Bobby
Orr winning the Norris Trophy as the league's
top defenseman, and Boston led the league in
scoring. They ended up making the playoffs for
the first time in nearly a decade. The East was
defined by those heavyweight legacy clashes,
but looking at the West division, it really reads
like a free -for -all. A total scramble. Every
night was a battle for dominance among teams
that had absolutely no established chemistry.
It really was the Wild West. I was looking at
the preseason predictions, and writers had the
Los Angeles Kings pegged to finish dead last.
Which makes sense on paper. Right. Yet they somehow
finished second, just a single point out of first
place. How does an expansion team in Southern
California, entirely built from scratch, pull
that off? They did it through sheer financial
force. What do you mean? Their owner, Jack Kent
Cook, realized early on that they simply didn't
have the depth to compete over a grueling 74
-game season. Because the expansion draft leaves
you pretty thin. Exactly. So he bypassed the
traditional drafting route entirely and literally
bought an entire American Hockey League team,
the Springfield Indians. Wait, he bought an entire
minor league franchise just for spare parts?
He paid a million dollars just to absorb their
entire roster into the Kings system. That feels
like a massive loophole. It absolutely was, but
it perfectly captures the desperate nature of
this expansion. There was no modern salary cap
or unified minor league rulebook yet. You just
used whatever leverage you had to survive. Exactly.
And yet, despite that million dollar move, it
was... was the Philadelphia Flyers who actually
won the West Division. Which is a story in itself.
What stands out to me is that their offense was
remarkably poor. Their leading scorer, Leon Rochefort,
only had 21 goals. Not exactly an offensive powerhouse.
No. But they won the division by relying heavily
on their goaltenders, Bernie Parent and Doug
Favill. And by playing this incredibly hard -nosed,
punishing style of hockey. They set a tone early.
You had guys like Gary Dornhofer and Ed Van Impey
just throwing their weight around. We are really
seeing the very first terrifying glimmers of
what would soon become the infamous Broad Street
Bullies. Establishing an identity early on is
crucial for an expansion team trying to build
a culture from nothing. And Philadelphia decided
their identity was going to be physical intimidation.
That physical intimidating style of play was
highly effective, but it also highlights just
how brutal the era was. a very different, very
dangerous game back then. And unfortunately,
that physical reality came with devastating consequences
that season. It did. On January 13, 1968, the
Oakland Seals were playing the North Stars at
the Metropolitan Sports Center. Bill Masterton
of the North Stars led a rush into the Oakland
zone. Two SEALs defensemen, Larry Cahan and Ron
Harris, braced for a check. And by all accounts
from players and officials who were there, it
was a standard clean hockey play. Right. Masterton
fired the puck and the two defenders hit him.
But Masterton flipped backwards from the impact
and hit his unprotected head directly on the
ice. He was rushed to a hospital in Minneapolis,
but the internal injury was too severe for doctors
to even attempt surgery. Early in the morning
on January 15, Bill Masterton passed away. It
remains a deeply sobering historical milestone
for the sport. He was the first and still the
only player to die as a direct result of injuries
suffered in an NHL game. The league responded
by creating the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy,
which is awarded for perseverance, sportsmanship,
and dedication to hockey. Claude Provost of Montreal
won it that very first year. This raises an important
question, one that every major sports league
still grapples with today. How so? Well, how
do you balance the intense, inherent physical
competition of a contact sport with the fundamental
need for player safety? Masterton's tragic death
didn't result in overnight rule changes, but
the ripple effect forced long -term conversations
about mandatory helmets. Which took years to
implement. It did. But it started the conversation
about head protection, the speed of the game,
and the medical infrastructure available at arenas.
It permanently changed the lens through which
the violence of the game is viewed. It casts
a very long, profound shadow over the legacy
of that season. A tragedy that is still remembered
today. As we move into the spring of 1968, the
playoffs finally arrive, and we get to see that
highly controversial siloed division format put
to the test. Here's where it gets really interesting.
Because the contrast between the East bracket
and the West bracket couldn't have been more
pronounced. In the East, Montreal was an absolute
juggernaut. Completely unstoppable. They drew
Boston in the first round and swept them in four
games. Then they faced Chicago and dispatched
them in five games. Montreal essentially steamrolled
their way through the established franchises
to represent the East. They made it look easy,
but over in the West, it was an absolute meat
grinder. Oh, man. Every single team was playing
their first ever playoff series. The talent level
might have... been lower than the East, but the
desperation was off the charts. The St. Louis
Blues became the ultimate story of resilience
here. They had finished third in the regular
season, but in the playoffs, coached by a young
Scotty Bowman and anchored by goaltender Glenn
Hall, they just went to war. It was grueling
hockey. They beat the first place Philadelphia
Flyers in a brutal seven game series. Then they
faced the Minnesota North Stars in the semifinals,
and that series went to seven games too. The
Blues survived 14 punishing playoff games just
to make it out of the West. Which set up exactly
what the NHL executives had engineered in boardrooms
months prior. Right. The dream matchup for the
league. Exactly. The ultimate David versus Goliath
Stanley Cup finals. The mighty, rested Montreal
Canadiens against the bruised, battered expansion
St. Louis Blues. Now, if you just glance at the
historical record book, it looks like a blowout.
Montreal swept the series 4 -0 to win the Stanley
Cup. But that sweep is incredibly deceiving.
Totally deceiving. Every single game in that
final was decided by just one goal. Two of the
games went deep into overtime. The Blues pushed
Montreal to the absolute brink every single night.
In fact, they fought so hard that their goaltender,
Glenn Hall, was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy
as the most valuable player of the playoffs.
If we connect this to the bigger picture, Hall's
MVP win completely defies conventional sports
logic. How often does the losing team get the
MVP? Almost never. Traditionally, the MVP goes
to the standout star of the championship winning
team. Of course. For Hall to win it, despite
his team getting swept in the finals, is just
extraordinary. He faced an unbelievable volume
of shots, keeping an overmatched expansion team
within a single bounce of the puck against an
absolute dynasty. He practically carried them.
He did. It fundamentally challenges how we define
value and individual brilliance in a team's sport.
He was a brick wall, and the voters clearly recognized
that the Blues wouldn't have even been in the
same time zone. as the Cup without him. A well
-deserved honor. Speaking of incredible individual
performances, before we wrap up, we really have
to touch on some of the statistical milestones
from this year because the numbers are fascinating.
The expansion naturally diluted some of the defensive
talent across the league. Right, spreading the
good players thinner. Exactly, which allowed
elite offensive players to reach new heights.
Take Stan Mikita of Chicago. He was an absolute
machine that year, sweeping the major awards.
He won the Art Ross for top scorer, the Hart
Memorial Trophy for regular season MVP, and the
Lady Bing Memorial Trophy for sportsmanship.
Sweeping those three is rare enough on its own.
But it's even more impressive when you consider
Makeda used to be one of the most penalized players
in the league. He completely transformed his
game to rely on skill rather than agitation.
We also saw historic volume shooting. Rod Gilbert
of the Rangers took a record 16 shots on goal
in a single game against Montreal's Rogy Vachon.
16 shots by one guy. Yep, and he scored four
times. That is relentless. And if you're a sports
analytics fan, 1967 is a banner year for you.
Oh, a huge year. The NHL officially introduced
the plus -minus statistic this season. For those
who don't know, it measures the goal differential
when a specific player is on the ice. Dallas
Smith, the Boston Bruins, led the league in plus
minus that first year. And that simple metric
completely revolutionized how defensive forwards
and stay -at -home defensemen were evaluated.
Because it gave them a measurable impact. Exactly.
Suddenly, you didn't need to score goals to prove
your mathematical value to the team. You just
had to prevent the other team from scoring while
you were out there. It changed the way rosters
were built. But perhaps the most fascinating
quirk of the 1967 -1968 season isn't about what
happened on the ice or the stats, but how the
fans at home actually consumed the product. Oh,
the television broadcast quirks from this era
are wild to think about. They really are. Broadcasting
was highly fragmented. In Canada, CBC televised
Saturday night games and playoff games while
producing Wednesday games for CTV. And in the
United States, CBS held the rights. But here's
the historical anomaly. These games were often
not broadcast in their entirety. Right. Networks
would typically just join the games in progress.
For you listening, think about how we consume
sports today with on -demand streaming, multiple
camera angles, pre -game shows. It's a massive
production now. Imagine tuning into a modern
playoff game. And the television network just
casually drops you into the middle of the second
period because a prior program ran long. It's
jarring to even think about today. You'd miss
half the game. It really speaks to the transitional
era the sport was in. The NHL was aggressively
expanding its geographical footprint, but television
networks were still figuring out how to prioritize
and program a sport that had previously been
viewed as a niche regional attraction. They didn't
know how to handle it yet. Exactly. The infrastructure
of sports broadcasting was struggling to catch
up to the massive new product the NHL had just
created. What does this all mean? Good question.
When we look back at the 1967 to 1968 NHL season,
we aren't just looking at a trivia answer about
when the league doubled in size. It's so much
more than that. We are looking at a logistical
miracle where executives successfully integrated
six brand new teams and kept the engine running.
We are looking at the dawn of the players union,
driven by a realization of their own financial
worth. A huge turning point for labor. We are
looking at a heartbreaking tragedy that permanently
altered how the sport handles player safety.
And we are looking at a ruthlessly designed playoff
format that manufactured one of the greatest,
grittiest underdog runs in hockey history. with
the St. Louis Blues. It's the absolute hinge
point of hockey history. Hinge point, I like
that. Everything before it is the classic era,
and everything after it is the modern era. The
decisions made, the friction created, and the
boundaries pushed in this single season laid
the structural foundation for the massive 32
-team global enterprise we see today. But before
we go, I want to leave you with a final thought
to mull over on your own. We've talked extensively
about the stats, the corporate expansion, the
unions, and the executives. But I want you to
imagine the cultural and personal shock of that
1967 expansion draft, purely from a player's
perspective. Think about what it would feel like
to be suddenly uprooted from a legacy franchise
in the original six. Leaving all that history
behind. You are stripped of that deep history,
removed from that established locker room, and
sent across the continent to a brand new city
with absolutely zero hockey culture. Starting
from scratch. You are suddenly forced to build
a fan base entirely from scratch in a place where
people might not even know the rules of the game.
How would that sudden loss of prestige and the
heavy burden of being a force pioneer change
your identity as an athlete? It's an entirely
different kind of challenge, far removed from
just putting the puck in the net. It is a profound
psychological toll that will never show up on
a stat sheet. It's fascinating to think about.
Thank you so much for joining us for this deep
dive into one of the most transformative years
in sports history. It's been a great discussion.
We loved unpacking this material with you. Until
next time, keep exploring and keep diving deep.