California Golden Seals
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The California Golden Seals were a team in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1967-76. Initially named California Seals, the team was renamed Oakland Seals part-way through the 1967-68 season, and then to California Golden Seals in 1970.
HistoryFoundingIn 1966, the NHL announced that six expansion teams would be added as a new division for the 1967-68 season, officially because of a general desire to expand the league to new markets, but more importantly to squelch the Western Hockey League's threat to turn itself into a major league. The San Francisco Seals were one such team from the WHL, and after it was purchased by Barry Van Gerbig and moved across the bay to a new arena in Oakland, the Seals joined the NHL. The Bay Area was not considered a particularly good hockey market, but the terms of a new television agreement with CBS called for two of the expansion teams to be located in California. Van Gerbig was a young millionaire who had played hockey for the 1960 U.S. Olympic team, Princeton University and, briefly, in the minor leagues. He was married to the daughter of Douglas Fairbanks Jr., and Bing Crosby was his godfather. He had planned to have the team play out of a new arena in San Francisco, but the arena never came to fruition, and the Seals played out of the Oracle Arena, then called the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Arena. The franchise was named California Seals in an attempt to appeal to fans from San Francisco, and to address complaints from the other NHL teams that Oakland was not considered a major league city (notwithstanding the presence of the American Football League's Oakland Raiders and the recent arrival of Major League Baseball's Oakland Athletics) and would not be a draw for fans. The plan failed, however, and on November 6, 1967[1] , Van Gerbig announced that the team's name was being changed to Oakland Seals. Struggles at the gateImage:Oakland Seals logo 1967-1970.png
Oakland Seals logo, 1967-1970.
The Seals were never successful at the gate, and because of the poor attendance Van Gerbig threatened to move the team elsewhere on numerous occasions if fans did not show up. First-year coach and general manager Bert Olmstead publicly advocated a move to Vancouver, but an offer from Labatt's brewery to purchase and relocate the team was rejected by the league, as was a proposal to move the team to Buffalo from the eventual owners of the Buffalo Sabres, who had been shut out of the 1967 expansion. This, as well as their dismal on-ice performance, led to major changes to both the Seals' front office as well as the on-ice product - only seven out of the 20 Seals players remained after the first season. The new-look Seals were somewhat more successful, making the playoffs for two years, although with sub .500 records. Those would be the only two years that the Seals franchise made the playoffs. Failed sale to Trans National CommunicationsFor the 1969-70 season the team was sold to a group called Trans National Communications, whose investors included Pat Summerall and Whitey Ford. However, the group filed for bankruptcy and ownership reverted to Van Gerbig, who put the team up for sale. Charlie O. Finley purchases the franchiseImage:CaliforniaGoldenSealsWordmark.png
California Golden Seals logo, 1970-1976.
Before the 1970-71 NHL season, the Seals were bought by flamboyant A's owner Charlie O. Finley, who changed the team's name to the California Golden Seals (itself a last-minute change from the announced "Bay Area Seals"), and introduced marketing gimmicks intended to sell the team to the fans, among them changing the Seals' colors to green and gold and (briefly) having them wear white skates, to match the style of the A's. However, this was all for naught, as the Seals finished with the worst record in the NHL that year. Earlier in the year, the Seals had traded their pick in the first round of the 1971 draft to the Montreal Canadiens along with Francois Lacombe in return of Montreal's first round pick and a veteran Ernie Hicke. As a result of the Seals' dreadful season, the Canadiens had the top pick in the draft, and used it to select future Hall of Famer Guy Lafleur. This transaction now ranks as one of the most one-sided deals in NHL history. Under the ownership of the NHL and Mel SwigThe team rebounded in 1971-72, but the arrival of the World Hockey Association wiped out most of those gains. Finley refused to match the WHA's offers, causing many of the team's young stars from the previous season to bolt. Tired of hockey, he tried to sell the team, but there were no takers. The NHL eventually took control of the team in February 1974. The league ran the team for two years until San Francisco hotel magnate Mel Swig bought the team in 1975 with the intent of moving the team to a proposed new arena in San Francisco. The team fell just short of the playoffs, and after a mayoral election, plans for the new arena were canceled. The end of the SealsAfter nine money-losing seasons and continued low attendance, minority owners George and Gordon Gund persuaded Swig to move the team to their hometown of Cleveland in June 1976, where they were renamed the Barons. After two more years of losses, the Gunds (by this time majority owners) were permitted to merge the Barons with the financially struggling Minnesota North Stars. The merged team continued as the Minnesota North Stars under the Gunds' ownership, but assumed the Barons' place in the Adams Division. In relation to the San Jose SharksThe current NHL team in the Bay Area, the San Jose Sharks, has a historical connection to the Seals. Years after the Barons-North Stars merger, the Gunds wanted to bring hockey back to the Bay Area. They asked the NHL for permission to move the North Stars there in the late 1980s, but the league was unwilling to abandon a traditional hockey market like the Twin Cities. Meanwhile, a group led by former Hartford Whalers owner Howard Baldwin was pushing the NHL to bring a team to San Jose, where a new arena was being built. Eventually, a compromise was struck whereby the Gunds would sell their share of the North Stars to Baldwin's group, with the Gunds receiving an expansion team in the Bay Area to begin play in the 1991-92 NHL season.[2] In return, the North Stars would be allowed to participate as an equal partner in an expansion draft with the new franchise. On May 5, 1990, the Gunds officially sold their share of the North Stars to Baldwin and were awarded a new team in the Bay Area that would eventually become the Sharks. Last active playersDennis Maruk was the last Seals player active in the NHL, retiring as a member of the Minnesota North Stars in 1989. Charlie Simmer was still active with the IHL's San Diego Gulls until 1992. Season-by-season recordNote: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes
² named California Seals from October 11 to November 6, 1967 Notable players
Hall of Famers
Team captains
Head coaches
General managers
First round draft picks
See also
References
External links
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