I'm really glad to see that this is back! I do still wonder how the much earlier expansion (both the Amerks and Barons and shortly the WHL) will affect the growth of hockey and how the league grows.
With the 2022 NHL draft having just passed, I'm curious about this again.
If you are still thinking about expansion, the 1967 team locations aren't a bad idea but with the absorption of the WHL, the balance of the league might not be so heavily in the east ITTL.
Good update. I'm curious to see if the NHL will absorb all the teams amicably or not and with the Oil Kings folding, if the NHL would want uneven teams at this point in time.
Who says the WHA has to form this time? The NHL-WHL merger may lead to a more expansionist NHL.
As for the WHL season updates, do them just so we get a feel for the players and teams that are joining.
Whilst they don't seem to have joined the WHL ITTL, the Winnipeg Warriors were a team in the WHL from 1955 to 1961.
Winnipeg Arena was finished in 1955 and it's first event was the inaugural home opener for the Warriors.
Interesting that a lot of the WHL teams seemed to have formed, collapsed or renamed earlier ITTL then the predominantly Canadian based league that the WHL was in 1959 OTL. I'm guessing that the leadership in the WHL would also be a bit more amiable to merging with the NHL instead of seeing them...
Good to see this back!
O'Ree in OTL wasn't a star. Far from it he bounced between the NHL and the NHL's farm league at the time the EPHL (which started in 1958) before heading west to the WHL. Not saying he can't be a star ITTL just that whilst celebrated rightfully for what he did, he just...
I do wonder how similar the 67 expansion will be to OTL. You'd think that the Americans and Barons would have had some affect on hockey's popularity. For example could Cincinnati possible get a team (or maybe an AHL team?) or are there any other AHL teams who after seeing the Barons step up into...
With the Americans finally winning the cup and taking over as the main team in St.Louis, I'm curious to see what happens to the Flyers. Being the farm team, they'd want to be kept close by so would Kansas City possibly work in they are moved? And if the Flyers survive and keep the name...
You said that you have a rough outline down to help with writing the timeline so I was wondering if you have an idea for a natural stopping point?
Something I've been putting together for a potentially shorter timeline on the NHL is using 2017 as the end point simply because it lines up with...
Not sure if you've got or even read it but the book Fabric of the Game has a tonne of alternate team designs and names for when you get up to expansions/relocations/rebrands.
Glad I found this! An interesting concept that is already have reverberations throughout the NHL and it's future.
The Barons have Light Blue in their logo but what are their colours overall? The Barons from the OTL were red and black in colours and the league so far is very red, blue and white...
Loving the way you are wrapping this TL up Ry.
With Halo Infinite soon to be released IRL, I'm intrigued to see how the last Covenant game ITTL goes and how popular it is. I may have missed this earlier but have you mentioned the studio that makes the Covenant games and who owns them? Last I...