Today the National Hockey League celebrates the 50th anniversary of their first expansion draft, which welcomed six new teams to the League in 1967.
Since 1942, the National Hockey League consisted of six teams, dubbed the “Original Six”: the Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers, and Toronto Maple Leafs.
These teams were hardly the first teams, despite the nickname, as the League went through many iterations before that point, However the League grew steadily under the stability of these six teams, hence the reverence towards this grouping.