Expansion has hit-and-miss history

Vegas joins league that has gone through four eras of adding new franchises

The Vegas Golden Knights, the NHL’s first expansion team in 17 years, played their first regular-season game Friday at Dallas. With the addition of the Golden Knights, the league now has 31 teams.

Since 1967, the NHL, which has been commemorating its 100th anniversary this year, has had four significant periods of expansion. Some went better than others.

1967: THE EXPANSION SIX

The NHL vacillated from three to 10 franchises in its fledgling years, before a stretch of 25 years in which it had six teams, the Original Six, consisting of the Rangers, the Chicago Blackhawks, the Boston Bruins, the Montreal Canadiens, the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Detroit Red Wings.

For the 1967-68 season, the NHL doubled in size with the arrival of the California Seals, the Los Angeles Kings, the Minnesota North Stars, the Philadelphia Flyers, the Pittsburgh Penguins and the St. Louis Blues. The NHL put the new teams in their own division, and the winners of each division met in the Stanley Cup Finals.

The Flyers were the first 1967-68 expansion team to claim an NHL championship, but the Penguins have since won five Stanley Cups and the Kings two. The Stars, who moved to Dallas in 1993, hoisted the Cup in 1999.

THE 1970S: AN OUTSIDE THREAT

The NHL embraced expansion after a rival league, the World Hockey Association, began in 1972. The NHL added the Buffalo Sabres and the Vancouver Canucks in 1970, the Islanders and the Atlanta Flames in 1972 and the Washington Capitals and the Kansas City Scouts in 1974.

Of the teams added in the early 1970s, the Islanders found their stride early, making the playoffs in their third season and winning four consecutive championships from 1980-83. The Scouts and the Flames lifted the Cup only after relocating. The Scouts moved to Colorado and later New Jersey to become the Devils. The Flames moved to Calgary in 1980.

1979: THE WHA MERGER

Financial losses eventually vanquished the WHA and led to the Edmonton Oilers, the Quebec Nordiques, the Hartford Whalers and the Winnipeg Jets joining the NHL in 1979.

The Oilers went on to become an NHL dynasty, winning four Stanley Cups with Gretzky from 1984 to 1989 and another after his departure. The Nordiques got a pair of titles after moving to Colorado in 1995. The Whalers became the Carolina Hurricanes in 1997 and the NHL champions in 2006. As for the Jets, well, it’s complicated.

THE 1990S: BOOM TIMES

The ’90s were a period of economic and geographic growth for the four major North American pro sports leagues, and the NHL was hardly an exception, growing to 30 franchises from 21 between 1991 and 2000.

A more successful Bay Area team, the San Jose Sharks, arrived in 1991, followed by the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Ottawa Senators the next season. The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and the Florida Panthers joined the league in 1993. The Nashville Predators came in 1998, and the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Minnesota Wild in 2000.

And those the Winnipeg Jets? They became the Phoenix Coyotes in1996. Then the Atlanta Thrashers, who joined the league in 1999, became the Winnipeg Jets in 2011.

The first six expansion teams from this period have reached the finals at least once, with Tampa winning the Cup in 2004 and Anaheim in 2007.

Most people around hockey agree that the Golden Knights, playing in a parity-filled, salary-cap era, are in the best position of any other expansion team to date.

“They got a lot of assets that the other expansion teams didn’t get,” legendary coach Scotty Bowman said. “But the St. Louis Blues paid a $2-million (U.S.) franchise fee and these guys paid $500 million, so they deserve to get something.”