1967-1976 – Whatever the Oakland/California Golden Seals were doing
1967 brought six new teams in to play, including the Flyers, Penguins, Blues, Kings, North Stars, and Seals. Who are the Seals? I’ll tell you who the Seals were. Because the NHL was expanding into Los Angeles, logic dictated that a second team be put in California for the sake of travel expenses, so Oakland was given a team.
The Seals debuted with their logo consisting of a multicolored blob (the Seal) on a hockey stick in a C, on green and blue jerseys that didn’t look good together. Half the season in, the team name changed to Oakland, and the C was simply closed.
In 1970, Charles O. Finley, the crazy guy who owned the Oakland A’s, bought the Seals and renamed them the California Golden Seals, and dressed them in his favorite green and yellow (and white skates).
Green and yellow works wonderfully with the Oakland A’s. Also is perfect for the Green Bay Packers. Even expansion-mates Minnesota looked good. Here? Not as much. Now, these aren’t terrible, but they were easily the worst in the league to start the 70’s. Then 1974 came around, and we realized the worst had yet to come.
Barf. After Finley sold the team, the jerseys and colors changed. Turquoise and yellow together isn’t good, and the hoops around the arms are thankfully unique in NHL history. This look stuck around for three seasons and somehow the owners thought it was fine. It worked so well, that in 1976 the team was moved to Cleveland to become the Barons.
Meanwhile: The Penguins debuted in two shades of blue, rather than the black and yellow we know, and the Rangers made a humongous mistake. More on the latter below.