The National Hockey League has gone through several eras in its long and storied history. The “Original Six” era is still commonly seen as one of the most important times, but the “Expansion” era from 1967-1992 played a major part in shaping the league we see today. In 1967, six teams were added to the league, doubling the amount of teams and setting the stage for new rivalries. Of those six teams, one in particular stands out. Or doesn’t.

The California Golden Seals are the only of the first six expansion teams to no longer exist in some form. The Philadelphia Flyers, Los Angeles Kings, St. Louis Blues, and Pittsburgh Penguins have all maintained operations since joining the league, while the Minnesota North Stars moved to Dallas in 1993. As the only franchise to exist prior to the expansion as a part of the Western Hockey League, the San Francisco Seals were absorbed into the NHL and became the California Seals after moving to Oakland; shortly after becoming the Oakland Seals.

Poor attendance translated to low revenue, and team owner Barry Van Gerbig threatened moving the team to a more viable market, but a sale in 1970 to Charlie O. Finley – who renamed the club as the California Golden Seals – saw the franchise become more of a gimmick in order to draw fans, but a lack of success on the ice continued to push fans away from the gates. The lack of money caused players to leave the franchise on a regular basis. In their nine-year legacy, they employed seven different captains and also had seven different general managers. The team’s lack of direction was apparent both on and off the ice.

The Seals never had a winning season record, and only managed to make the playoffs twice. In what can only be seen as their most successful failure, they were 29-36-11 in 1968-69, and lost in seven games to the Kings. Their three wins are the only playoff wins in their history. After the 1976 season, they were then moved to Cleveland and became the Barons for two seasons, where they failed to make the playoffs both times before merging with the Minnesota North Stars. To date, they remain the most recent team in a continuing major professional league to cease operations.