From six teams to twelve
For a quarter-century before 1967, the National Hockey League had only six clubs: the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins, Chicago Black Hawks, Detroit Red Wings and New York Rangers. In the 1967-68 season the league doubled in size. NHL expansion brought in the Philadelphia Flyers, Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota North Stars, Pittsburgh Penguins, St. Louis Blues and the California Seals, who played in Oakland.
The reasons were mostly commercial. The league wanted to reach large American cities and television markets, and it was reportedly anxious that a rival league might claim them first. New clubs paid a fee that is typically given as about two million dollars each. The six old clubs kept their own roster strength, protecting many top players, so the new teams had to build from what was left.
Two divisions
The league was split into an East Division, made up of the established six, and a West Division, made up of the new six. The two divisions played each other only occasionally during the regular season. The playoff format kept the two groups apart until the Stanley Cup final, where the East winner met the West winner.
That structure had a clear result. A West club was guaranteed a place in the final, however the division fared against the old teams, and this lasted for the first several seasons.
Montreal and St. Louis
The Montreal Canadiens, coached by Toe Blake, won the Stanley Cup in 1968. The Toronto Maple Leafs had won the cup the year before, in what proved the last season before expansion. In 1968 Montreal beat Boston in the first round and then Chicago to reach the final.
In the final, Montreal met the St. Louis Blues, who had won the West Division. The Canadiens won the series four games to none, but it was closer than the sweep suggests: all four games were decided by a single goal. St. Louis goaltender Glenn Hall was named the playoff most valuable player despite playing for the losing side, an unusual honour that reflected his performance. The Blues’ coach, Scotty Bowman, would later win many titles elsewhere.
The Blues reached the final in each of the first three expansion years and lost each time, which led many to question whether the West Division was strong enough to give the league a real championship contest. Over time the gap narrowed.
Bobby Orr’s early years
Bobby Orr was only 18 when he joined Boston in 1966, and he won the Calder Trophy as the league’s best rookie that first season. In 1967-68 he won the first of his Norris Trophies as the league’s top defenceman, though a knee injury limited his games. Orr changed how the defence position was played, since he often carried the puck up the ice himself instead of passing it ahead, and he was a major draw as the Bruins slowly improved.
Boston in 1967-68 made the playoffs after years of missing them, though Montreal knocked them out in the first round. The team’s rise was a long-term project, but the arrival of Orr gave the franchise a star it had lacked for years.
The death of Bill Masterton
The season’s most serious moment came on 13 January 1968. Bill Masterton, a centre for the Minnesota North Stars, was checked in a game against the Oakland Seals, fell backward and struck his head on the ice. He was not wearing a helmet, which at that time was not required and was unusual. He was taken to hospital and died on 15 January.
He remains the only player in the NHL’s history to have died as a direct result of an injury suffered in a game. The Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy was created in his honour, awarded annually for perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey. His death also contributed to a gradual shift toward helmets, though the league did not make them compulsory for new players until 1979, and many veterans continued without them for years afterward.
Other developments
The Chicago star Stan Mikita led the league in scoring that year and won major individual awards. Hockey’s national television audience in the United States was still small, but the new franchises, and the arrival of major arenas such as the Spectrum in Philadelphia, which opened in the fall of 1967, were meant to build one. In Canada the season took place against the backdrop of the centennial celebrations and Expo 67 in Montreal, which kept national attention high.
What expansion changed
The 1967-68 season showed both the benefits and limits of the new structure. It extended the league into places with no hockey tradition and set the pattern for more expansion in the years ahead. It also separated two sets of teams of unequal quality, and the first Cup finals reflected that gap. For fans of the time, the remembered moments were as much about the sport’s expansion as about the games themselves: a fast-growing league, a young star on Boston’s blue line and a tragedy in Minnesota.