The 1967/68 NHL season was the 51st season in the National Hockey League . 12 teams played 74 games each. The Stanley Cup won the Montréal Canadiens after a 4-0 win in the final series against the St. Louis Blues . After 25 years of " Original Six " there has now been another expansion towards the southwest. Six new teams were added in their own group. With Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and St. Louis, three cities came back to the NHL that had made a brief guest appearance in the 1930s. Minnesota was a neighbor of the old teams and with Los Angeles and Oakland they ventured to the west coast for the first time. The team from San Francisco's neighboring city of Oakland started out as California Seals , but renamed itself to Oakland Seals on December 8th . The fact that the Maple Leafs, penultimate in the East Division, had 3 points more than the Philadelphia Flyers , the winners of the West Division, showed the superiority of the old teams. Before the start of the season there was an expansion draft. The old teams each named a goalkeeper and 11 field players who were not selected. Among the players who joined the new teams were goalkeepers Terry Sawchuk (Los Angeles), Glenn Hall (St. Louis) and Charlie Hodge (California), all of whom had won the Vezina Trophy . The Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy had a tragic background. In a game against the Oakland Seals, Minnesota center Bill Masterton fell on the back of the head after a check by Larry Cahan and Ron Harris and suffered such severe head injuries that he succumbed to them 2 days later. It is the only injury to date in a direct fatal game. The incident prompted many players to wear a helmet in the future. Before the season started, the NHL Players Association was formed.
National Hockey League
Rick Pagnutti
