Debate aside, playoff-bound Knights make expansion history
There has been some debate as to whether the Golden Knights became the first NHL expansion team to make the playoffs in their inaugural season.
The Knights clinched a Stanley Cup playoff berth Monday and lead the Pacific Division with 48 wins and 103 points.
However, the 1967-68 St. Louis Blues, Philadelphia Flyers, Minnesota North Stars and Los Angeles Kings — along with the 1979-80 Edmonton Oilers and Hartford Whalers — all made the postseason in their first year in the NHL.
“There’s no official record,” said Gary Meagher, the NHL’s vice president of communications. “The 1968 teams were guaranteed their spot and the expansion with the WHA teams wasn’t a true expansion. Edmonton got to keep (Wayne) Gretzky. So you almost have to put an asterisk there with those teams.”
Some historical perspective is in order.
In 1968, the Blues, Flyers, Kings and North Stars were part of the West Division and as members of the “Expansion Six,” four of the six teams were guaranteed a spot in the Stanley Cup playoffs regardless of record (Oakland and Pittsburgh did not make the playoffs).
The 1980 Oilers and Whalers were already established teams, having joined the NHL following the merger with the World Hockey Association. However, both teams were forced to rebuild their rosters, retaining just two skaters and two goaltenders while the NHL had a reclamation draft allowing the NHL teams to bring back the WHA players to the teams which held their rights.
There was an expansion draft that year for the four WHA teams (Edmonton, Hartford, Winnipeg and Quebec). But it was not like the one in 1967 or the Golden Knights’ in 2017. The Knights were bound to a far different set of rules and circumstances. Theirs would be more in line with the recent expansions from the early 1990s and the 2000 expansion to Minnesota and Columbus.
“Vegas would be the first team under a true expansion to make the playoffs,” Meagher said. “You’d have to put Vegas at the top of the pyramid.”
Contact Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow @stevecarprj on Twitter.
