NO! NO! NO!
Those three little words were echoed throughout the NHL more than a half-century ago when the league voted to expand from six teams to a dozen clubs, starting with the 1967-68 season.
“Expansion” was a dirty word even including some owners within the circuit’s inner sanctum.
“I’m against any expansion,” demanded Toronto’s hockey boss Conn Smythe. “We’re doing just fine with the six teams we’ve got.”
But that was just the point. Big league hockey was big in popularity and that’s why other cities wanted to join the fraternity. Rangers president Bill Jennings – considered by some to be the “Father Of Expansion” – led the drive to add six clubs to the Original Six.
“Expansion can work,” Jennings told me. “But it has to be in the right places.”
Many scoffed at the idea of placing teams in St.Louis, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Oakland, Pittsburgh and Minnesota (Bloomington.)
In retrospect, the only mistake was Oakland. All of the remaining five have been successful although there were growing pains.
Now, with 32 franchises, the NHL is healthier than ever; so healthy, in fact, that there’s strong consideration for adding still more teams.
Writing on the Devils Nation website, John Fischer indicated that Houston and Atlanta are among cities under consideration if the league balloons to 34 teams. In his lengthy and very well-researched piece, Fischer presented all sides of the issue.
Without doing any intense polling, I imagine that Rangers fans – and hockey fans in general – would welcome two more clubs much as both Vegas and Seattle became instant sensations.
Or, perhaps Phoenix with responsible ownership and a new arena; not to mention Portland, Oregon, where the Junior Winterhawks have been a lifelong hit in a major league arena.
Not surprisingly, some fans are quite happy with the status quo. “Don’t they have enough teams already?” asks Manhattan based fan Noam Kogen
But expansion equals easy money for the current owners. Time has proven that there are enough hockey-mad billionaires – see Kraken and Knights – who’ll fork over the dough for the big-league game.
What’s more, the entrance fee rises every year. P.S. Forget about Quebec City; it’s too small and with an inadequate corporate base the Nordiques’ former home simply does not meet NHL standards.
