California Golden Seals
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| California Seals Oakland Seals California Golden Seals |
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| Founded | 1967 |
| History | California Seals 1967 Oakland Seals 1967-1970 California Golden Seals 1970-1976 Cleveland Barons 1976-1978 |
| Arenas | Oakland Coliseum Arena |
| City | Oakland, California |
| Team 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) |
| Stanley Cups | none |
| Conference Championships | none |
| Division Championships | none |
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.
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[edit] History
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 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 had planned to have the team play out of a new arena in San Francisco, but the arena never came into fruition, and the Seals played out of the Oakland Arena in Oakland instead. 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 and would not be a draw for fans. The plan failed, however, and on November 6, 1967[1] , Van Gerbig changed the team's name to Oakland Seals.
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 the 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 only one 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.
Before the 1970-71 NHL season, the Seals were bought by flamboyant Oakland Athletics 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 to match that 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, Finley had traded the Seals' pick in the 1971 draft to the Montreal Canadiens for 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 in what proved to be one of the most one-sided transactions in NHL history.
The team rebounded in 1971-72, but the arrival of the World Hockey Association wiped out most of those gains. Finley refused to match many of 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 cancelled.
After nine money-losing seasons and continued low attendance, in 1976 the Seals were sold to Cleveland businessmen George and Gordon Gund and moved to Cleveland, where they became the Barons. After two more years of losses, the Gunds 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 current NHL team in the Bay Area, the San Jose Sharks, have a distant connection to the Seals. Years after the Barons-North Stars merger, the Gunds wanted to bring hockey back to the Bay Area and asked the NHL for permission to move the North Stars there in the late 1980's, but were refused by the league. 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.
Charlie Simmer was the last Seal active in professional hockey, retiring after playing with the minor league San Diego Gulls in 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 |
2 named California Seals from October 11 to November 6, 1967
[edit] Notable players
[edit] Hall of Famers
[edit] Team captains
- Bobby Baun, 1967-68
- Ted Hampson, 1968-71
- Carol Vadnais, 1971-72
- Bert Marshall, 1972-73
- Joey Johnston, 1973-75
- Jim Neilson & Bob Stewart, 1975-76 (co-captains)
[edit] First round draft picks
- 1967: Ken Hicks (3rd overall)
- 1968: none
- 1969: Tony Featherstone (7th overall)
- 1970: Chris Oddleifson (10th overall)
- 1971: none
- 1972: none
- 1973: none
- 1974: Rick Hampton (3rd overall)
- 1975: Ralph Klassen (3rd overall)
[edit] See also
- List of California Golden Seals players
- Head Coaches of the Oakland Seals and California Golden Seals
- San Jose Sharks
- Cleveland Barons (NHL)
- Minnesota North Stars
- Dallas Stars
- List of NHL players
- List of NHL seasons
- 1967 NHL Expansion
[edit] External links
- Welcome to the Seals Homepage
- LET'S RETURN NOW TO HOCKEY'S GOLDEN ERA -- WHEN SEALS PERFORMED IN THE N.H.L.
- Oakland Seals Directory of Sport Ice NHL
- Arenas BY MUNSEY & SUPPES
