1967-68 marked the first NHL season for six new franchises. Previously, the league consisted of six teams but found itself to be double the size after the 1966-67 season. The ‘Next Six’ or ‘New Six’ were a rag-tag bunch of rookies, over-the-hill NHL veterans and career minor leaguers in that first year. All six of the new teams were placed in the West Division while all the Original Six were put in the newly formed East Division. To guage the strength of the expansion teams, not even the West Division first place Philadelphia Flyers would have finished any higher than sixth place in the East.
For fun, let’s take a look at the team captains of the six new teams in that first year of expansion. Since Topps only issued hockey cards of the Original Six teams in their 1967-68 set, we’ll take a look at the rookie cards of each of the six captains.
Bob Woytowich placed just one season with the Minnesota North Stars, 1967-68. Woytowich played in the NHL fro 1964-65 to 1971-72 with the Boston Bruins, Minnesota, Pittsburgh Penguins and Los Angeles Kings. He jumped ship to the World Hockey Association for the rebel league’s inaugural season, 1972-73, and played in the WHA until the end of the 1975-76 season. He appeared with the Winnipeg Jets and Indianapolis Racers.
As for the team he captained, the North Stars finished fourth in the West with 69 points. Minnesota placed two players among the top 20 in goal scoring. Wayne Connelly finished tied for fourth with 35 goals and was the only player from an expansion team to finish in the top ten. Ray Cullen scored 28 and placed tied for 12th.
In the Stanley Cup playoffs, Minnesota beat out the Los Angeles Kings in seven games in the quarter-finals. In the semi-finals, the North Stars bowed out to the St. Louis Blues in seven. In fact, all three series involving just West Division teams went the distance.
The Bob Woytowich rookie card
Bob Wall played with the Los Angeles Kings from 1967-68 to 1969-70. He played in the NHL from 1964-65 to 1971-72 with the Detroit Red Wings, Los Angeles Kings and St. Louis Blues. Like Woytowich, he jumped to the WHA for the 1972-73 season. Wall played in the WHA until the end of the 1975-76 season with the Alberta/Edmonton Oilers and San Diego Mariners. A trade sent him to the Minnesota Fighting Saints for 1976-77 but he retired instead. Bob played his junior hockey in the OHA with the Hamilton Tiger Cubs/Red Wings from 1959-60 to 1961-62.
The Kings finished second in the West with 72 points, one point out of first place. As mentioned, Los Angeles was taken out in seven games by the Minnesota North Stars in the quarter-finals. Bill Flett of the Kings finished tied for 18th in the NHL with 26 goals. Eddie Joyal finished 20th in the race for the Art Ross Trophy with 57 points.
The Bob Wall rookie card
1967-68 was the only year Lou Angotti played for the Philadelphia Flyers. He played in the NHL from 1964-65 to 1973-74 with the New York Rangers, Chicago Black Hawks, Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins and St. Louis Blues. He played one additional year in the WHA with the Chicago Cougars, 1974-75. Lou played OHA hockey with the Toronto St. Michael’s Majors for three seasons from 1955-56 to 1957-58.
The Flyers finished first in the West with 73 points, one point ahead of the Kings. Philadelphia met the St. Louis Blues in the opening round but lost in seven.
The Lou Angotti rookie card
Bobby Baun was fresh off a Stanley Cup victory with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1967 when he joined the Oakland Seals for his only season with the club. Baun played in the NHL from 1956-57 to 1972-73 with the Maple Leafs, Seals and Detroit Red Wings. He played OHA hockey with the Toronto Marlboros (the present day Guelph Storm) in 1954-55 and 1955-56.
Oakland finished the 1967-68 season with just 47 points, last overall in the NHL.
The Bobby Baun rookie card
Al Arbour played with the St. Louis Blues from 1967-68 to 1970-71. He played in the NHL from 1953-54 to 1970-71 with the Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Black Hawks, Toronto Maple Leafs and the Blues. Arbour also played OHA hockey. Al was a member of the Windsor Spitfires in 1951-52 and 1952-53. That version of the Spitfires is now the present-day Erie Otters.
The Blues finished third in the West with 70 points but stormed their way to the Stanley Cup finals. St. Louis took out Philadelphia and Minnesota before meeting the Montreal Canadiens in the finals. Montreal swept the series in four games. Glenn Hall was honoured with the Conn Smythe Trophy in the losing cause and was the only expansion player to win a major award that season. In fact, the West was shut out from the First and Second All-Star teams, as well.
The Al Arbour rookie card
Ab McDonald played just one year with the Pittsburgh Penguins. McDonald played in the NHL from 1958-59 to 1971-72 with the Montreal Canadiens, Chicago Black Hawks, Boston Bruins, Detroit Red Wings, Pittsburgh and St. Louis Blues. Ab played in the WHA with the Winnipeg Jets in 1972-73 and 1973-74. He played junior with the OHA’s St. Catherines Teepees in 1954-55 and 1955-56.
The Penguins finished fifth in the West with 67 points and out of the post season. Andy Bathgate of Pittsburgh finished 17th in the NHL with 59 points. He was one of just two expansion players to finish among the top 20.
The Ab McDonald rookie card
cool post, thanks.
You are missing the Philadelphia Flyers’ captain. Toronto had been in the league for years, right? I think you might of made an error.
Nevermind.
Ya – it was a bit of a weird way I did this article. It’s funny, can you imagine the NHL expanding by six teams for 2012-13 and their being no hockey cards of those six new teams until the following season? This would be called a ‘marketing disaster’!
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