NHL WI: suppose the Cleveland Barons joined the NHL in the early '50s?

Barons

According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_Barons_(1937%E2%80%931973)), the AHL Cleveland Barons sought entry into the NHL in the early 1950s but were turned down due to "purported financing irregularities". Suppose, however, these issues were overcome/smoothed out, and the NHL added a seventh franchise approximately sixty years ago? How might the history of the league and the game have evolved differently?

It depends on how the Barons did. The NHL was strict on the Barons, and didn't accept them because they didn't have working capital. If they had met the strict requirements, though, and been accepted, further expansion would have depended on how they would have done. If they were successful and strong by the early-60's, I can see the NHL expanding again five years earlier than they did.
 
NHL Expansion

I don't want this thread to die, so I will continue with this:

With the Barons being a stable franchise, the NHL probably would decide to expand to 1-3 teams by 1966 or 67. They probably would want to take baby steps, though, because that is how this league would probably have handled it at the time. I could see them adding a team in Pittsburgh in this reality. The city was about to open a new arena in 1962. Maybe the AHL Hornets do like the Barons and jump to the NHL around that time.

Then, by 1965, the NHL would want to increase to double digits. Candidates would be from Philly, Baltimore, Vancouver, St. Louis, Buffalo, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. The last two cities would be candidates in response to the Western League wanting to be a major league. With that in mind, Los Angeles and San Fran would get the new teams by 1966-67.

This is how the NHL could have looked by the end of the 60's under that scenario:

Eastern Conference: Montreal, Boston, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Rangers
Western Conference: Chicago, Detroit, Toronto, L.A. Kings, S.F. Seals
 
I don't want this thread to die, so I will continue with this:

With the Barons being a stable franchise, the NHL probably would decide to expand to 1-3 teams by 1966 or 67. They probably would want to take baby steps, though, because that is how this league would probably have handled it at the time. I could see them adding a team in Pittsburgh in this reality. The city was about to open a new arena in 1962. Maybe the AHL Hornets do like the Barons and jump to the NHL around that time.

Then, by 1965, the NHL would want to increase to double digits. Candidates would be from Philly, Baltimore, Vancouver, St. Louis, Buffalo, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. The last two cities would be candidates in response to the Western League wanting to be a major league. With that in mind, Los Angeles and San Fran would get the new teams by 1966-67.

This is how the NHL could have looked by the end of the 60's under that scenario:

Eastern Conference: Montreal, Boston, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Rangers
Western Conference: Chicago, Detroit, Toronto, L.A. Kings, S.F. Seals
In that scenario, you could have a natural rivalry develop between Cleveland and Pittsburgh...
 

MacCaulay

Banned
In that scenario, you could have a natural rivalry develop between Cleveland and Pittsburgh...

Until that heartless douchebag Gary Bettman decides that there's not enough hockey fans in Cleveland and Pittsburg ah and the sport could do better if helped out all those rabid but underserved fans out in ARIZONA...


I FUCKING HATE GARY BETTMAN...
 
Awesome thread!

The Cleveland Barons were (as you read) one of the top teams in the '50s. Any expansion of the NHL from six to seven is likely going to necessitate an eighth team. It's also, as you point out, more likely that the NHL would introduce more teams into the league via. expansion if Cleveland is allowed in. IIRC during the Original Six period there were numerous teams trying to break into the league. I know a group of businessmen bought the rights to the dormant Montreal Maroons franchise and tried to "Balsille" their way into the league, but failed. Los Angeles and Cleveland constantly tried to gain entry but they had a pretty subjective review process that clearly stated their opposition to allowing them back in.

If the owners in Cleveland lobbied the league harder and threw them a few financial bones, it's very possible they could've been allowed into the league. Had they been allowed into the league into the '50s, the NHL would've been significantly changed. Cleveland had quite an incredible team. Johnny Bauer would likely be mentioned as a top 5 goalie all time up until the '90s (when who knows who comes around ittl) and Fred Glover would've been one of the stars of the "Original Seven" era.

In terms of expansion, going back on what I just said I think we'd likely see a brief "Original Eight" from 1954-'63/'65. An eighth team would probably be added to balance the schedule. Top contenders for that would be Philadelphia, if that group had put together some better financing, St. Louis (Wirtz owned the arena there) or Los Angeles (would make travel awful but it's not completely unthinkable). I'd wager it'd be Philadelphia -shrug-. The NHL would probably follow expansion patterns more like the MLB/NFL, adding a few teams in '63/'65 and every 2-4 years thereon adding anywhere between 1-4 more.

Another interesting scenario would've been if the NHL decided to allow Red Dutton and his New York Americans to rejoin the league in 1946. The Americans folded during WWII but according to Dutton they'd agreed once the war ended they'd reinstate the franchise. He'd supposedly got $7 mil to finance a new arena in Brooklyn but was outmaneuvered and lost his franchise. Had they allowed the Americans back in it I think they would've eventually wanted to add in an eighth, which could've been the Barons had it been done in the late '40s/early '50s. That would probably make the NHL almost unrecognizable today, it'd be pretty interesting to speculate on how it'd look with a second New York team and Cleveland for the vast majority of its post-war history.

:cool:
 
Awesome thread!

The Cleveland Barons were (as you read) one of the top teams in the '50s. Any expansion of the NHL from six to seven is likely going to necessitate an eighth team. It's also, as you point out, more likely that the NHL would introduce more teams into the league via. expansion if Cleveland is allowed in. IIRC during the Original Six period there were numerous teams trying to break into the league. I know a group of businessmen bought the rights to the dormant Montreal Maroons franchise and tried to "Balsille" their way into the league, but failed. Los Angeles and Cleveland constantly tried to gain entry but they had a pretty subjective review process that clearly stated their opposition to allowing them back in.

If the owners in Cleveland lobbied the league harder and threw them a few financial bones, it's very possible they could've been allowed into the league. Had they been allowed into the league into the '50s, the NHL would've been significantly changed. Cleveland had quite an incredible team. Johnny Bauer would likely be mentioned as a top 5 goalie all time up until the '90s (when who knows who comes around ittl) and Fred Glover would've been one of the stars of the "Original Seven" era.

In terms of expansion, going back on what I just said I think we'd likely see a brief "Original Eight" from 1954-'63/'65. An eighth team would probably be added to balance the schedule. Top contenders for that would be Philadelphia, if that group had put together some better financing, St. Louis (Wirtz owned the arena there) or Los Angeles (would make travel awful but it's not completely unthinkable). I'd wager it'd be Philadelphia -shrug-. The NHL would probably follow expansion patterns more like the MLB/NFL, adding a few teams in '63/'65 and every 2-4 years thereon adding anywhere between 1-4 more.

Another interesting scenario would've been if the NHL decided to allow Red Dutton and his New York Americans to rejoin the league in 1946. The Americans folded during WWII but according to Dutton they'd agreed once the war ended they'd reinstate the franchise. He'd supposedly got $7 mil to finance a new arena in Brooklyn but was outmaneuvered and lost his franchise. Had they allowed the Americans back in it I think they would've eventually wanted to add in an eighth, which could've been the Barons had it been done in the late '40s/early '50s. That would probably make the NHL almost unrecognizable today, it'd be pretty interesting to speculate on how it'd look with a second New York team and Cleveland for the vast majority of its post-war history.

:cool:

If the Americans and the Barons came in during the late-40's, I wonder if Buffalo would have had a team a lot earlier. I think that they tried to get a team in the 50's as well.
 
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