The Great One in Hollywood
The motives behind Wayne Gretzky’s shocking move to the LA Kings in August of 1988 is a topic for another time, but regardless, the arrival of “The Great One” in Los Angeles certainly brought some needed firepower to what had been a fledgling market for the NHL, long removed from the days of Charlie Simmer and Marcel Dionne’s “Triple Crown Line”.
With Gretzky’s revival of the Kings, culminating in a Stanley Cup Finals appearance in 1992-1993, the NHL sought to expand once more, this time to a long untested market, the Sun Belt. It was October 7th, 1992, and the Tampa Bay Lightning were entering their first regular-season game against the Chicago Blackhawks, in the tiny, 11,000-capacity Expo Hall.
Chris Kontos hadn’t played in the NHL since the 1989-90 season, having never earned a fair shot in spite of posting solid numbers. After a year spent playing in Italy and for the Canadian National Team, the Toronto Native found himself making Blackhawks goaltender Ed Belfour’s night a living nightmare, posting four goals in Tampa’s 7-3 win.
While it would be a while before the Lightning and Head Coach Terry Crisp found their niche and later success, the NHL’s Sun Belt presence had been established, as was ever-growing. The 1995-96 Florida Panthers became the first team from those three NHL Expansion Drafts (1991, 92, and 93) to make the Stanley Cup Final, and before long the NHL’s North American presence was becoming stronger and stronger. By 1998, the league decided it was time for yet another Expansion, one which produced well, one less than successful result.