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We all know that the Original Six - Montreal Canadiens, the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Boston Bruins, the Chicago Blackhwaks, the Detroit Red Wings and the NY Rangers - are the oldest teams of North American professional hockey, the originators of the NHL ... or maybe are we wrong?
Friday 19 October 2018 7 minutes reading time
The urban legends spread like wildfire, filling the collective imagination with false myths.
This consideration also applies to the legendary Original Six that, contrary to what is believed, were not at all (or at least not all 6) the first founding teams, nor even the first teams to have taken part in the NHL.
Let us imagine a journey back in time of 101 years, precisely between 22 and 26 November 1917, at the meetings held at the Windsor Hotel in Montreal, which decreed the birth of the National Hockey League. On those dates, sitting at the negotiating table, in a room obscured by the smoke from the cigars, we would find the presidents of the Quebec Bulldogs, Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Wanderers, Ottawa Senators and Toronto Arenas.
We immediately notice that only two of these teams are now part of the Original Six, namely Toronto (which despite the name variations - Arenas, St. Pats and Maple Leafs - is still considered the same franchise) and Montreal Canadiens. The Ottawa Senators of the time, however, have nothing to do with the current franchise, established in 1992.
But there is nothing to surprise. In fact, in the first decades since the NHL was born, many teams took part in the championship - some of which were founded several decades before the Original Six - disappeared due to the great depression of 1929 and the Second World War.
For example, remember the Quebec Bulldogs (founded in 1887, and then became Hamilton Tigers in 1920, part of the NHL until 1925), the Ottawa Senators (born in 1883, participated in the NHL championships from 1917 until 1934, winning in those 4 years Stanley Cup), the Montreal Wanderers (founded in 1903 and disappeared after the first NHL season of 1917-18) the Montreal Maroons (born in 1924 and disappeared in 1938, with 2 Stanley Cup assets), the Pittsburgh Pirates (from 1925 to 1930, then became for a season Philadelphia Quakers before disappearing in 1931) and the NY Americans (from 1925 to 1941, in 1942 Brooklyn Americans, and then disappeared during the great war).
The first US team admitted to the NHL were the Boston Bruins in 1924, followed in 1925 by the first New York team, the Americans and the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Only the following year became part of the League, the Chicago Blackhawks, the New York Rangers and the Detroit Cougars (in 1931 renamed Falcons and finally, in 1932, become Red Wings).
That said, it remains to be asked: where does the 'ORIGINAL SIX appellation come from?
Following the great depression and the second world war, among all the teams present in the NHL, only six - Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Montreal, NY Rangers and Toronto - managed to survive, becoming, from 1942 until 1967, the only teams in the NHL for a good 25 seasons!
The Original Six appellation, therefore, was coined in 1967, at the first major expansion of the NHL. The six "historic" teams self-attributed this name to stand out from the new generation: Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota North Stars (today Dallas Stars), California Seals, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins and St. Louis Blues.
Moreover, the will of the six historic teams to distinguish themselves from the newborn franchises, found clear confirmation in the structure of the championship: in a conference the Original Six (the East) and in the other the new arrivals (the West), so that in the final Stanley Cup was guaranteed the presence of one of the historic teams.
St. Louis Blues is well aware that in 1968, 1969 and 1970 they arrive in the Stanley Cup final, defeating 4-0, against one of the Original Six (2 times against the Montreal Canadiens and, in 1970 against the Boston Bruins ).
This sharp division came less only 4 years later, in the 1970 / '71 season, with the entry into the NHL of the Buffalo Sabers and the Vancouver Canucks, followed by a geographic redistribution of the conferrence.
So, on closer inspection, the only teams that can boast of the title of "Original" are just the Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs, the only teams that, on our journey back in time, we would find sitting at the table of the Windsor Hotel of Montreal, in that room that stank of cigar, on that November 26, 1917.
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