The history of the NHL spans almost 100 years, and to make things easier, it has been broken in down into several eras. The third era is commonly referred to as the “Expansion Era”, taking place from 1967-1992, when the NHL doubled in size by adding six new franchises to the Original Six to create a more competitive league and grew to allow more teams into the playoffs, and more seven-game series. Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and St. Louis still operate where they were, the Minnesota North Stars moved to Dallas where they now play, and the California Seals ceased operations in 1978 after merging with the aforementioned North Stars.

The new teams were all put into the same division, and success was relative amongst each other. The 70s saw a more aggressive, violent style of hockey emerge. Philadelphia’s Broad Street Bullies were feared and respected throughout the league, and the Flyers became the first expansion team to win the Stanley Cup in 1974 and repeated the following season. From 1980-83, the New York Islanders became just the second team after Montreal to win four consecutive Stanley Cups.

In 1972, the NHL faced the threat of the newly-formed World Hockey Association. Up until that time, NHL players were owned by their franchises and contracts were anything but consistent. The WHA offered players massively-inflated contracts, often several times larger than what NHL owners were offering, and several players either jumped ship or leveraged their WHA offers to get better contracts in the NHL. When one of the biggest names in the NHL, Bobby Hull, signed with the WHA’s Winnipeg Jets, the NHL saw the big threat and expanded again in 1975, adding six more teams. The WHA was unable to compete, and with financial instability, merged their talent pool with the NHL’s in 1979.

The 80s were a time of growth for hockey. But perhaps nobody impacted hockey more then – or ever – than Wayne Gretzky. As a member of the Edmonton Oilers, Gretzky’s well-known career saw him set or shatter far more individual records than anybody thought possible. He helped to grow the game internationally. He opened up the game and brought scoring to new levels, and ignited a new generation of players to begin playing, setting the tone of the league for decades to come. The league expanded again to 22 teams for the 1991-92 season, which was also the 75th anniversary of the league, giving way to the Modern Era of the NHL.