From 1942 to 2021, the National Hockey League expanded from 6 teams to 32, with the Seattle Kraken being the most recent team to enter the league.
The Vegas Golden Knights were the 31st team, coming in before the 2017-18 season, but were the first one in over 16 years. The NHL expanded several times in the 1990s starting with the San Jose Sharks in 1991, the Tampa Bay Lightning and Ottawa Senators in 1992, the Florida Panthers and the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in 1993, the Nashville Predators in 1998, the Atlanta Thrashers in 1999, and the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Minnesota Wild in 2000.
1942 was the official start to the “Original Six” era with the Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers, and Toronto Maple Leafs kicking things off for 25 seasons.
In 1967, the NHL expanded for the first time as they welcomed the California Seals, Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota North Stars, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, and St. Louis Blues. Then in 1970 they expanded to 14 teams as Buffalo Sabres and the Vancouver Canucks joined the league, before the New York Islanders and the Atlanta Flames made it 16 in 1972.
2 years later the Washington Capitals and Kansas City Scouts entered the league, in 1978 the NHL lost the Cleveland Barons but then added 4 more in 1979 from the World Hockey Association in the Edmonton Oilers, Hartford Whalers, Quebec Nordiques, and the Winnipeg Jets, which then led into the slew of expansions in the 1990s.
On this date 56 years ago, the Philadelphia Flyers were officially named one of the first 6 expansion teams in the National Hockey League after paying the $2 million expansion fee.
The NHL had grown exponentially since the Second World War and was one of the most profitable sports leagues at the time. For the longest time they were staunchly against expansion and held that notion until the very end, however television contacts and the fear of the Western Hockey League becoming their rival made them quickly change their minds.
The NHL’s television rights expired in 1960 and they were without one until 1963. At the time, all the other sports leagues were growing exponentially because of their television rights, which enhanced the league, it’s players, and provided them with leverage for bigger contracts. The commissioner at the time, James D. Norris, did not want any part of that and he was also against the idea of changing the start times to their games to suit the TV networks.
However, in 1965, the NHL was given an ultimatum that they would no longer receive television contracts if they did not expand and if they continued to be against the idea, they would then consider televising Western Hockey League games even if they were a minor league. The WHL had expanded to larger markets and many were tired of the stagnant and static NHL teams that had run amuck for 20+ years.
What really helped move the ball was the changing of the guard in the owners of the current NHL teams because they were for the idea of expansion, including Stafford Smythe in Toronto, David Molson in Montreal, and William Jennings in New York. So in 1965, then-President Clarence Campbell officially announced that the NHL would look into making a second division of 6 teams.
San Francisco-Oakland, Vancouver, St. Louis, and Los Angeles were granted as acceptable cities in 1965. The following year, the NHL Board of Governors accepted applications from 14 different ownership groups from Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis-St.Paul, Philadelphia, San Francisco-Oakland, Baltimore, Buffalo, and Vancouver.
It was said that Ed Snider was attending a Boston Celtics game at the old Boston Garden in November of 1964, when he noticed there was a lineup of people buying tickets for the Boston Bruins. He was a little perplexed because the NBA champions could barely sell out half their stadium, while the last-place Bruins were selling out tickets on a consistent basis.
This coupled with the fact that the NHL was planning on expanding and it being common knowledge about their fears of the Western Hockey League, led to Snider joining forces with Bill Putnam, Jerome Schiff, and Jerry Wolman to bid for a team that would be placed in Philadelphia. He quickly started to make plans for an arena, knowing that his shot for a hockey team in Philadelphia was well within his fingertips.
After the announcement was made on June 5th, the NHL set out their first Expansion Draft the following day on the 6th of June. It was extremely restrictive as they kept all the best players on the Original Six teams, but the Flyers were able to draft Bernie Parent with the second pick of the draft, as well as Ed Van Impe, Joe Watson, Lou Angotti, and Gary Dornhoefer, among others.
The Flyers made their NHL debut on October the 11th in 1967 when they faced off against the California Seals but were soundly defeated by a score of 5-1. Their first win came in their third game against the St. Louis Blues by a score of 2-1. They ended the season with a 31-32-11 record in 74 games but were atop the West Division – ahead of the other 5 expansion teams. The Flyers lost in 7 games to the Blues in the first round of the playoffs.
The Flyers ended up getting swept the following season by the Blues again, they failed to qualify for the playoffs in 1969-70 and 1971-72 but then ended up qualifying for 17 straight seasons. That run included 2 Stanley Cup championships, losing in the Final 4 times, 2 Semifinals defeats, and a Conference Finals exit.
Bobby Clarke made his NHL debut during the 1969-70 season, Rick MacLeish made his Flyers debut during the 1970-71 season, Dave Schultz made his NHL debut during the 1971-72 season, Bill Barber made his NHL debut in 1972-73, Bernie Parent was reacquired ahead of the 1973-74 season, and Reggie Leach made his Flyers debut during the 1974-75 season.
After 17 consecutive playoff appearances, the Flyers entered a dark period where they finished 6th, 5th, 6th, 5th, and 6th in their division in a five-year period before making 11 straight playoff appearances – including another Final defeat in 1997 – and in 16 of 17 seasons. This run included 4 Conference Finals exits, 4 Semifinals defeats, and 2 exits in the Final.
The Flyers are currently 4th in NHL history in terms of winning percentage, behind the Vegas Golden Knights, Montreal Canadiens, and Boston Bruins. The Knights have a .587 winning percentage in 455 games, the Canadiens have a .568 winning percentage in 6,950 games, the Bruins have a .553 winning percentage in 6,790 games, and the Flyers have a .545 winning percentage in 4,335 games. The Flyers were 2nd all-time for a very long time before the addition of the Knights and their disastrous last few seasons that now have them below the Boston Bruins.
The Flyers have 16 division titles, have the most Conference Finals appearances for an expansion team at 16 (having won 8 of them), have the 2nd most playoff appearances for an expansion team with 40 – behind St. Louis – and of course the 2 Stanley Cups.
However they haven’t won a division crown since 2010-11, they have never won the President’s Trophy, haven’t advanced to the Final since 2009-10, have only one playoff series victory since 2012-13, are without a Cup since 1975, and are perhaps in the darkest days of their franchise history – which goes to show how successful they were for decades on end.
2024 Stadium Series Trip
Flyers Nation and Philly Sports Trips have teamed up to bring you on an amazing bus trip to the 2024 NHL Stadium Series between the Flyers and Devils. Place an early deposit to reserve your spot at the ultimate tailgate experience at MetLife Stadium before the game. The package includes a game ticket, round-trip charter bus, an all-inclusive tailgate party with unlimited cold beverages, “Philly Style” catered food, live entertainment, and more.
