Expansion Teams in the NHL: How Did They Start and Where Are They Now?

The 2024-2025 NHL season is around the corner, and this campaign will bring a new team into the league. The Arizona Coyotes have been moved, and the Utah Hockey Club is coming. Yes, that name is quite uncommon, but we'll get there. The organization found their new home in Delta Center, Salt Lake City. How good will they be in their inaugural season, and which players will play for Utah? What about other clubs that came into the NHL by the way of expansion? Find out all you should know about the NHL expansion waves and why the Vegas Golden Knights are an exception.  

THE ORIGINAL SIX - NHL's Founding Fathers

The National Hockey League (NHL) was founded in 1917 as a successor to the National Hockey Association (NHA). In the beginning, there were four teams: the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Arenas, Montreal Wanderers, and Ottawa Senators. The NHL has expanded and contracted numerous times throughout its history. In 1979, four teams came over from the World Hockey Association (WHA). During the 1920s and 1930s, there were teams like the Quebec Bulldogs, Toronto St. Patricks (yes, those jerseys), Hamilton Tigers, Boston Bruins, Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Americans, or Chicago Black Hawks. 

We saw Canadian and American divisions; multiple relocations took place. It wasn't very stable; the games were evolving. Stability came in the 1940s, in the 1942–43 season, where The Original Six has been established and lasted without any changes for 25 seasons. Six original NHL teams are the Boston Bruins, Detroit Red Wings, New York Rangers, Chicago Black Hawks, Montreal Canadiens, and Toronto Maple Leafs.

EXPANSION YEARS - Bigger, Better, Faster, More!

In 1967, the NHL saw the largest expansion in professional sports history. Six new teams came: the California Seals (later renamed the Oakland Seals and then the California Golden Seals), Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota North Stars, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, and St. Louis Blues. In 1970, the NHL expanded to 14 teams by adding the Buffalo Sabres and the Vancouver Canucks, owned by Tom Scallen. Vancouver was before the home of the Millionaires, the team that won the Stanley Cup in 1915. The New York Islanders and the Atlanta Flames came into the National Hockey League in 1972. 

However, the Flames had been relocated to Calgary in 1980. The pattern of adding two teams every two years continued in 1974. The Washington Capitals and Kansas City Scouts became new members. Fans in Kansas City didn't enjoy the NHL for long; the Scouts moved after two seasons to Denver and became the Colorado Rockies. The Rockies moved too, to New Jersey, where the Devils were born. The California Golden Seals moved to Cleveland in 1978 and renamed the Barons merged with the North Stars. The North Stars move to Dallas in 1993 and are renamed the Stars.

1979 was one of the most important years for the NHL expansion. The league takes four teams from the World Hockey Association: the Edmonton Oilers, Hartford Whalers, Quebec Nordiques, and Winnipeg Jets. The Jets moved to Phoenix in 1996 and became the Coyotes (later Arizona, today Utah); the Nordiques moved to Denver in 1995 and became the Colorado Avalanche. Relocations are the fluid part of the expansion. The Whalers relocated in 1997 to Raleigh and were renamed the Carolina Hurricanes. Team number 22 came in 1991, and the San Jose Sharks started the new era of the NHL expansion. 

NHL Expansion Teams Record During Their First Season (since 1990)

Team	First Year	Games Played	Wins	Play-offs
San Jose Sharks	1991	80	17	No
Ottawa Senators	1992	84	10	No
Tampa Bay Lightning	1992	84	23	No
Florida Panthers	1993	84	33	No
Nashville Predators	1998	82	28	No
Atlanta Trashers	1999	82	14	No
Columbus Blue Jackets	2000	82	28	No
Minnesota Wild	2000	82	25	No
Vegas Golden Knights	2017	82	51	Yes
Seattle Kraken	2021	82	27	No

What then? The Ottawa Senators and the Tampa Bay Lightning came in 1992, the Florida Panthers (based in Miami) and the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim came in 1993. The Nashville Predators joined the NHL in 1998 as team number 27. These organizations had similar starts to the league. Their rosters were not very strong, and they struggled to get good results. The NHL rules were strict, and new teams had not many chances to gain superstar players from other teams. 

This era ended in 1999 and 2000. In 1999, Atlanta welcomed the Trashers (relocated in 2011 to Winnipeg as the Jets). In 2000, the Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild were added. The National Hockey League had 30 teams at the start of this millennium, and expansion stopped for several years.

VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS - The New Kid on the Block

The Vegas Golden Knights entered the NHL in the 2017-18 season, bringing the NHL to 31 teams and becoming the first major professional sports team in Las Vegas. The Golden Knights bulit their roster in an expansion draft where other teams were allowed to either protect 7 forwards, 3 defensemen, and 1 goaltender or 1 goaltender, eight players regardless of position. Hockey in the desert exploded. The Golden Knights made Stanley Cup finals during their inaugural season, where they lost to the Washington Capitals. The organization built a strong team with a huge fan base. To this date, they are the best expansion team in the history of the NHL. Several playoff appearances and winning the Stanley Cup in 2023. T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas has one of the best atmospheres in American sports. Bringing the league to this area was a highly successful step. 

SEATTLE KRAKEN - The Beast from the West

The Seattle Kraken became the 32nd team in the National Hockey League and joined in the 2021–22 season. The interesting fact is that Seattle won the Stanley Cup in 1917 when the Metropolitans played in this city. Hockey in Seattle is very popular, the team made play-offs once in their first three seasons. The Kraken didn't repeat an instant success as the Vegas Golden Knights, but the organization is taking steps in the right direction, so Seattle should be competitive in the years to come. The Kraken also follow modern topics such as ecology, inclusion, and equality. 

UTAH HOCKEY CLUB - Is That Logo a Placeholder?

Utah Hockey Club was created on April 18, 2024, as a successor of the Arizona Coyotes. On this day, the Coyotes were deactivated, and its players and personnel were transferred to the Utah HC. There is an option that the Coyotes franchise would have been reactivated if a suitable arena was built in Arizona by 2029. For now, the Coyotes are just the memory, and their hockey is going to Salt Lake City. Delta Center, the arena where they also play games the NBA franchise Utah Jazz, is suitable for the NHL, and the organization tested the interest of the fans, which ended in a huge success. The Utah Hockey Club will be under the radar during the 2024–25 season. Will they repeat the quick steps of the Golden Knights, slower start of the Kraken, or problematic first years of the expansion teams from the 1990s?

POTENTIAL NHL EXPANSION - A Look into the Future

The NHL has 32 teams today. There are many options where the league can expand next. If Arizona manages the building of the new arena, the Coyotes will return. But there are other cities that wait for their chance. For example, Kansas City, Quebec City, Houston, Hartford, Portland, San Francisco, Cleveland, or more. There has to be a huge interest from the local fans and also clear and stable financial resources by the owners. Some visionaries would like to see an NHL team in Europe too, but that's for logical reasons almost impossible. Expansion of the league is, like history showed, the right thing to do, and it's good for the whole game. Probably we'll see another one in the next few years.

PHOTO SOURCES: ESPN, TownLift, Ticketmaster, GHL.com, GolfDigest, CNN, The Seattle Times, Desert News