The NHL Officially Expanded To 21 Teams On This Date In 1979 And, More Importantly, Added Four Cool Logos
As a big fan of old and/or obsolete logos, this was always one of my favorite non-player trading cards...
But the card symbolized much more than some snazzy logos. It also meant the NHL was expanding from 17 teams to 21 teams by absorbing four teams from the about-to-be-defunct World Hockey Association. The odd-number was a result of the Cleveland Barons (née California Seals) merging with the Minnesota North Stars (present day Dallas Stars), reducing the number of teams by one.
Most Americans couldn't find Quebec, Winnipeg, or Edmonton on a map (and likely still can't) or pronounce Nordiques correctly ("It's not Nor-di-cues?"). But the three Canadian squads would enter the NHL with their colors, logos, and nicknames intact. Hartford, known mostly for insurance and as a place you don't visit, landed its first franchise in one of the four major North American leagues.
However, the Whalers would be the only one of the four teams that would need to make cosmetic and stationery changes. Due to the presence of the Boston Bruins and their longtime regional footprint, the team would now be known as the Hartford Whalers and would need to replace this admittedly sick logo:
B Bennett. Getty Images.Even though the four franchises were established in the WHA, they would enter the NHL as expansion teams and not as the intact teams that they were. There were expansion rules and handshake agreements and trades and you'll fall down a rabbit hole reading up on it. But only one team already had a the Wayne Gretzky on the roster. And even the Oilers keeping him was a convoluted matter.
B Bennett. Getty Images.But only the Edmonton Oilers remain today. In a three-year stretch in the '90s, the Nordiques, Jets, and Whalers would all leave for greener pastures after suffering financial difficulties (in 2011 the Atlanta Thrashers relocated to Winnipeg and took Jets as a nickname though with a whole new logo and color scheme; the Arizona Coyotes still hold the merch rights to the old Winnipeg Jets).
So we lost this…
B Bennett. Getty Images.This…
Graig Abel. Getty Images.And this…
B Bennett. Getty Images.But thanks to the addictive qualities of nostalgia, we can still bask in these glorious logos whether on hats, t-shirts, or hoodies. However, this is still the best of the obsolete NHL logos right here…
Steve Babineau. Getty Images.