Original Six facts for kids

The Original Six are the six ice hockey teams that played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for 25 seasons, from 1942 to 1967. These teams are the Boston Bruins, Chicago Black Hawks, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers, and Toronto Maple Leafs. After 1967, the league grew bigger, adding six new teams in the 1967 NHL expansion.

Even though only the Canadiens and Maple Leafs were part of the NHL from the very beginning, all six teams are called the "Original Six" because they joined the league by 1926. This makes them the oldest teams still playing in the NHL today.

The Original Six teams have won the most Stanley Cup championships combined. The Montreal Canadiens have won the most, with 24 Cups. The Toronto Maple Leafs won the last Stanley Cup during the Original Six era. They are the only one of these six teams that hasn't played in the Stanley Cup Finals again since 1967.

The Teams

Here are the Original Six teams:

How the Original Six Came to Be

In the 1920s, the NHL had ten teams. But during the Great Depression, a tough economic time, many teams faced money problems. Teams like the Pittsburgh Pirates, Ottawa Senators, and Montreal Maroons had to stop playing.

Then, World War II made things even harder. Many Canadian hockey players joined the military. The New York Americans team stopped playing in 1942. This left the NHL with only six teams, which became known as the Original Six.

For the next 25 years, the NHL stayed with these six teams. This was the longest time in the league's history without new teams joining, teams moving, or teams leaving.

Challenges of the Era

The Original Six era had some challenges. One criticism was that the playoff format was too easy. The top four teams out of six always made the playoffs. This meant that the top three teams – Montreal, Toronto, and Detroit – almost always made it.

• Montreal missed the playoffs only once between 1943 and 1967.
• Toronto missed four times.
• Detroit missed three times.

This left the other three teams (Boston, Chicago, and New York) fighting for the last playoff spot. Montreal won 10 Stanley Cups during this time, Toronto won 9, and Detroit won 5. Chicago won only one Cup (in 1961), and Boston and New York didn't win any.

Player Recruitment

It wasn't a surprise that the Canadian teams (Montreal and Toronto) and the American team closest to Canada (Detroit) were so strong. The league had a special rule: each team had the right to sign players who lived within 50 miles (80 km) of its home arena. If a player lived farther away, any team could try to sign them.

This rule gave Montreal and Toronto a big advantage because their areas had many talented young hockey players. Detroit also benefited from nearby Canadian talent. Boston, New York, and Chicago had fewer local players. Because of this, most NHL players during this era were Canadian.

Very few American or European players played regularly in the NHL during this time. One important player was Willie O'Ree, who played for the Boston Bruins from 1958 to 1961. He was the league's first black player.

Owner Control

The team owners had a lot of power. For example, James E. Norris, who owned the Detroit Red Wings, also had a lot of control over the Chicago Black Hawks and the New York Rangers. Some people even joked that NHL stood for "Norris House League."

Owners could punish players they didn't like by trading them or sending them to smaller leagues. A famous example is Ted Lindsay, a Red Wings player who wanted a players' union. He was traded to the last-place Black Hawks.

Player Conditions

Players also faced tough working conditions:

• Their medical bills were paid for only two months after an injury.
• If they were sent to a minor league team, their pay was cut, and they had to pay for their own moving costs.
• Players were not paid for promoting the league or for things like trading cards.
• They couldn't play other sports for money in the off-season, which they used to do.
• Young players could be signed as early as 16 years old and were tied to one team for their whole career.

A pension plan for players was started in 1946, but it was kept secret. It was later discovered in 1989 that the owners had kept a lot of money from this fund. These unfair conditions led to players trying to form a union. In 1967, the NHL Players Association (NHLPA) was finally created to protect players' rights.

The End of an Era

Over time, new owners joined the NHL who were more open to the idea of expanding the league. By 1963, other major sports leagues like Major League Baseball and the National Football League were adding teams.

William M. Jennings, a leader from the New York Rangers, suggested adding two new teams on the West Coast. He thought this would make the NHL a truly national league and help it get back on national television in the U.S.

In 1965, the league decided to double in size by adding six new teams. In February 1966, these new teams were announced: Los Angeles, Minnesota, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and the San Francisco-Oakland area.

These six new teams began playing in the 1967–68 season. The Original Six era officially ended when the Toronto Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup in 1967, beating the Montreal Canadiens.

After the Expansion

For the first 12 seasons after expansion (1967-1979), the Original Six teams continued to be very strong. The Bobby Orr-led Bruins and the Canadiens' dynasty dominated. Only one expansion team, the Philadelphia Flyers, won the Stanley Cup during this time (in 1974 and 1975).

By the early 1980s, after more teams joined and the NHL merged with another league (the WHA), the new teams started to become just as good as the Original Six.

Since the expansion, all Original Six teams except Toronto have played in the Stanley Cup Finals at least four times and won the Cup at least once. The Maple Leafs have not been back to the Finals since their 1967 win, which is the longest championship drought in the NHL.

The last player from the Original Six era to retire was Wayne Cashman in 1983.

Today, five of the Original Six teams are among the most valuable clubs in the NHL. In 2015, Forbes magazine listed the Rangers, Canadiens, Maple Leafs, Blackhawks, and Bruins as the top five most valuable teams. The Red Wings were ranked eighth.

See also

• History of the National Hockey League
• History of the National Hockey League (1942–1967)
• List of Stanley Cup playoffs broadcasters (Original Six era)