California Golden Seals

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California Golden Seals
California Golden Seals
Founded 1967
History California Seals
1967
Oakland Seals
1967 - 1970
California Golden Seals
1970 - 1976
Cleveland Barons
1976 - 1978
Home Arena Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Arena
City Oakland, California
Colors Royal blue, kelly green and white (1967-1970)
Kelly green, California gold and snow white (1970-1974)
Pacific teal, gold and white (1974-1976)

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.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Founding

In 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 just as 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 lucrative 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 pending relocation of Major League Baseball's Kansas City 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.

[edit] Struggles

Oakland Seals logo, 1967-1970.
Oakland Seals logo, 1967-1970.

The Seals were never successful at the gate, and because of this poor attendance Van Gerbig threatened on numerous occasions to move the team elsewhere. 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 the team's dismal on-ice performance, led to major changes to both the Seals' front office and the roster - 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.

[edit] Failed sale to Trans National Communications

For 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.

[edit] Charlie O. Finley purchases the franchise

California Golden Seals logo, 1970-1976.
California Golden Seals logo, 1970-1976.

Prior to 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.

[edit] Under the ownership of the NHL and Mel Swig

The 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.

[edit] The end of the Seals

After 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.

The collapse of the Barons/Seals would prove the most recent major professional team in North America to fold, as well as the only team in the NHL to do so since 1942.

[edit] In relation to the San Jose Sharks

The 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.

[edit] Last active players

Dennis 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.

[edit] Season-by-season record

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes

Season Team Name GP W L T Pts GF GA PIM Finish Playoffs
1967-68² Oakland Seals 74 15 42 17 47 153 219 787 6th in West Out of Playoffs
1968-69 Oakland Seals 76 29 36 11 69 219 251 811 2nd in West Lost in Quarterfinal (LA)
1969-70 Oakland Seals 76 22 40 14 58 169 243 845 4th in West Lost in Quarterfinal (PIT)
1970-71 California Golden Seals 78 20 53 5 45 199 320 937 7th in West Out of Playoffs
1971-72 California Golden Seals 78 21 39 18 60 216 288 1007 6th in West Out of Playoffs
1972-73 California Golden Seals 78 16 46 16 48 213 323 840 8th in West Out of Playoffs
1973-74 California Golden Seals 78 13 55 10 36 195 342 651 8th in West Out of Playoffs
1974-75 California Golden Seals 80 19 48 13 51 212 316 1101 4th in Adams Out of Playoffs
1975-76 California Golden Seals 80 27 42 11 65 250 278 1058 4th in Adams Out of Playoffs
Totals Nine seasons 698 182 401 115 479 1826 2580 8037

² named California Seals from October 11 to November 6, 1967

[edit] Notable players

[edit] Hall of Famers

[edit] Team captains

[edit] Head coaches

[edit] General managers

[edit] First round draft picks

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Minneapolis Tribune November 7 1967 page 24 from an AP story
  2. ^ Cameron, Steve (1994). Feeding Frenzy! The Wild New World of the San Jose Sharks. Taylor Publishing Co., 29-38. 

[edit] External links