Original Six

The Original Six is the term used by fans of ice hockey to refer to the six National Hockey League teams that existed from the 1942 season through to before the league's expansion in 1967. They are:

Related Topics:
Ice hockey - National Hockey League - 1942 - 1967

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• Montreal Canadiens (1909, joined NHL 1917)
• Toronto Maple Leafs (1917)
• Boston Bruins (1924)
• Detroit Red Wings (1926)
• Chicago Blackhawks (1926)
• New York Rangers (1926)

The term is a misnomer; as shown above, only the two Canadian teams are founding members of the NHL, and three other expansion teams -- the Montreal Maroons, the New York Americans and the Pittsburgh Pirates were all likewise added to the league after its foundation. The Boston Bruins were the first American franchise, and the other three American teams joined the league in an earlier expansion that enlarged the league to ten teams, its maximum size before 1967. But all six of them do date from the league's first decade, and from 1942 to 1967 the six teams formed the entire league, after such franchises as the Maroons, Americans, and the original Ottawa Senators were bankrupted by the Great Depression.

Related Topics:
Canadian - Montreal Maroons - New York Americans - Pittsburgh Pirates - American - 1942 - Ottawa Senators - Great Depression

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The small league that was left meant that the number of players at the NHL level was also small, and so the quality of play was high. There was none of the dilution of talent seen in the NHL in the later

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"expansion era". The same teams would play each other up to 14 times each season; rivalries would develop, and it was easy for fans to become familiar with all of the players. The league at times played to arenas filled to 95% capacity.

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Some criticize the era as having too easy of a playoff system (only two teams were eliminated after the game regular seasons), for featuring too many dominant teams (Montreal never missed the playoffs between 1949 and 1967, Toronto missed once, and Detroit missed twice, while the other 3 teams competed for one berth), and for having very autocratic and monopolistic practices by the owners (including the Norris family which at one point owned three of the four American franchises and all four U.S. arenas). Beyond that, rosters were very static -- until the burgeoning of career lengths in the Eighties, only one twenty-year player in NHL history started his career after 1964 -- and it is generally accepted that the weakest Calder Trophy winners of all time were selected in the Fifties and Sixties. In partial consequence, virtually every player in the league was Canadians who had come up through the junior and minor pro leagues, and Americans, Europeans and college players were all but unknown.

Related Topics:
Playoff - Regular season - 1949 - Arena

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By the 1960s it was becoming increasingly obvious that if the NHL did not expand, a rival league would fill the void. The American Football League was proving to be highly successful at this time, convincing many people that a rival hockey league would also succeed. In particular, the Western Hockey League had moved into a number of major Pacific Coast markets, and had accumulated strong rosters with talent barred from the static rosters of the NHL. This, plus the prospect of more lucrative U.S. television contracts finally convinced the six owners to go ahead with expansion.

Related Topics:
1960s - American Football League - Western Hockey League - Television

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The "Original Six era" is often referred to with great respect and nostalgia by hockey fans -- and especially so by fans in Montreal, Toronto and Detroit -- particularly fans of the six teams who are old enough to remember it.

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Recruiting during this period was done using the C form.

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