Talk:California Golden Seals

Untitled
Can anyone substantiate the team being renamed "California Seals" in 1974? I've never seen it mentioned anywhere else. Almost every source I've seen makes no mention of it, and several explicitly state the team was named "California Golden Seals" from 1970 'til they moved to Cleveland. --93JC 05:09, August 18, 2005 (UTC)


 * Here is a year by year of the team with their name:
 * Oakland Seals (1967 to 1970):
 * California Golden Seals (1970-1974):
 * California Seals (1974-1976):
 * Cleveland Barons (1976-1978):
 * I hope this helps! Masterhatch 18 August 2005


 * I'm pretty sure hockeydb is wrong. This site in particular: http://www.sealshockey.com/seasons.html, seems quite definitive. As you can see, the team's official '74-'75 and '75-'76 media guides both read "California Golden Seals". The official teams photos also read "California Golden Seals" (http://www.sealshockey.com/season_1974-75.html ; http://www.sealshockey.com/season_1975-76.html). As far as I know the only change the NHL made to the team in the '74 offseason was the uniforms: dropping the Kelly green and gold with white skates for Pacific blue, white and gold with traditional black skates. --93JC 02:43, August 19, 2005 (UTC)

Speculation on my part, but I think there's some evidence that the team was planning to drop the "Golden" and revert to the "California Seals" name for 1976-77. The team's newsletter ("Sparky Seal Reports") begins to use the name "California Seals Hockey Club" on its masthead about mid-season 1975-76, and the '76-'77 Topps hockey cards (printed before the move to Cleveland was announced) show the team as "Seals", rather than "Golden Seals" as they had in the past. 207.164.171.148 (talk) 16:36, 1 February 2010 (UTC)

Cleveland Barons
I am wondering why this page is under the oakland seals if the the franchise ultimently became the Cleveland Barons before merging into the starsSmith03 16:45, 6 September 2005 (UTC)
 * Currently, there seems to be a standard practice of separating teams that played in different cities if the time spent in each city is significant, for example Calgary Flames/Atlanta Flames. For teams that spend only a short time in a different city (for example Ottawa Senators/St. Louis Eagles) it is currently standard practice to group them together. For the Barons, it made more sense to group them with the Seals as they were essentially the same team, just different city. The barons didn't have a long enough or great enough history in Cleveland to warrent their own article. But this is only standard practice and not policy, but it is a standard practice that makes sense. Masterhatch 16:55, 6 September 2005 (UTC)


 * Concur. As to that, I was looking at the separate pages for the Kansas City Scouts and the Colorado Rockies last night and wondering whether they should be combined, seeing as the team was in KC for only two seasons. Ravenswing 03:10, September 7, 2005 (UTC)

How about since they were the California Golden Seals twice as long as the Oakland Seals have the page under California?Smith03 19:11, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

Last team to fold?
Yes, they were the last team to vanish from the four major leagues, but there were still at least three WHA teams that folded afterwards (Indianapolis, Cincinatti, and Birmingham). Just wanted to clarify that. Doogie2K 19:29, 26 December 2005 (UTC)
 * I don't think anyone would dispute that, but just as many wouldn't call the USFL or the XFL "major leagues," not many would call the WHA a major league on a par with the NHL. Ravenswing 05:43, 27 December 2005 (UTC)

November not December 1967
I know there is a website out there about the Seals and they state the team name was change Dec 1967 from Cal to Oak. However I have done research using Mpls Tribune newspaper on microfische(sp) from that era and found an article from Novemer 1967 about the name change with the name change occuring at that time (November not December of 1967) I have change the article to read Nov but see it gets change back. I would suggest to people who live in the Bay area or any place that had a NHL team in 1967 to check with newspapers of that time to see when the change occur. Smith03 20:07, 6 June 2006 (UTC)

From the November 7 1967 Minneapolis Tribune page 24 Oakland Seals OAKLAND, Calif (AP) The California Seals of the National Hockey League are changing their name to the Oakland Seals, club owner Barry Van Gerbig said Monday (November 6).

the newspaper from that point on listed them as Oakland not California in the standings and game results Smith03 17:13, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

I agree with everyone on this point. In the newspapers I have consulted the team is called the Oakland Seals in November 1967. However, according to the NHL, in the 2006 Official Guide and Record Book (p. 9), the team officially changed names on December 8, 1967. Every other NHL guide I have found says the same thing, so it is not a typo. Maybe the Seals had planned to change names in November, but the name change did not become registered by the league until December. Maybe the newspapers just got itchy and started calling the team by its new name a few weeks too early.

The Lafleur trade
I've heard that it was either Gordon Labossiere or Carol Vadnais, rather than Ernie Hicke, whom the Seals got for the pick who turned out to be Lafleur. Can anyone confirm or deny this?

Staszu13 15:36, 18 April 2007 (UTC)

Denied. It was Labossiere and the pick that turned into Chris Oddleifson for Lafleur's 1st rounder.  Ravenswing  15:50, 18 April 2007 (UTC)


 * Actually, Pollock sent Ernie Hicke and a first round draft choice in 1970 to the Seals in return for Francois Lacombe and a first round draft choice in 1971. http://www.legendsofhockey.net/html/spot_oneononep198802.htm

Fair use rationale for Image:Sealslogo.gif
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WHL vs NHL Franchise
Is it true to say the WHL team is the same as the NHL team? I would think they would be two distinct teams. I'm not sure so that's why I'm posting this question. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Wjb (talk • contribs) 00:42, 14 December 2011 (UTC)
 * This is news to me aswell. GoodDay (talk) 05:01, 15 December 2012 (UTC)
 * I'm satisfied; the fellow who put that edit in demonstrated that - as with the Vancouver Canucks - the NHL franchise was obtained by the same people who owned the WHL San Francisco Seals.   Ravenswing   05:26, 15 December 2012 (UTC)

After the merger
Recent changes in the "History" added Minnesota North Stars and Dallas Stars to the franchise. I can see the desire to add the North Stars name to the list after it's merger with the Barons but I do not know if this fits within Wikipedia's guidelines. However, if this is valid, according the the Wikipedia article on the Barons "Thirteen years later, in 1991, the merger would effectively be undone as the Gunds assumed ownership of the expansion San Jose Sharks..", this should be updated to one of the following: - Ending the history with the North Stars in 1991 - Removing all history with the (North) Stars

I would think removing the link with the North Stars and Stars is proper if the merger was "undone" but that statement is not cited. Also, what is meant by "undone"?

I am not making any mods at this time and am looking for input from others. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Wjb (talk • contribs) 21:57, 31 March 2012 (UTC)

I have not heard from anyone yet. I'm thinking guidelines would state to remove the (North) Stars references. If I don't hear any solid arguments on this in the next couple of weeks, I will likely do that. Wjb (talk) 19:04, 25 April 2012 (UTC)
 * The "undone merger" is an enduring but inaccurate fallacy which shouldn't be perpetuated in Wikipedia articles.   Ravenswing   19:44, 25 April 2012 (UTC)


 * In agreement with Ravenswing. GoodDay (talk) 22:43, 28 April 2012 (UTC)


 * Infomation regarding the franchise history included in this article's infobox or others should reflect the league's and the club's official history. Otherwise it opens the door for POV edits from other fans/historians to this and other franchises in the NHL and other leagues.  While there are oddities involving the histories of some pro sports franchise it's best to leave information regarding those oddities in the body of the article.   The reference to the WHL probably should be removed from the infobox as well. Straykat99 (talk) 07:22, 29 April 2012 (UTC)


 * Thank you. I assumed the (North) Stars should be removed. As for the WHL, I agree.  It is an entirely different team in an entirely different league.  The fact the team name remained the same is insignificant.  The Pittsburgh Penguins were a '67 expansion team as well.  No one tries to link them with the AHL Pittsburgh Hornets.  But if the Penguins were named the Hornets, it would be the same scenario as the Seals.  I will remove the WHL reference in the infobox but the content can remain.  Wjb (talk) 01:21, 30 April 2012 (UTC)


 * Completly disagree. The WHL Seals were the same franchise. This goes beyond them just having the same name. In 1965, Barry Van Gerbig was given an NHL expansion team for the San Francisco Bay Area. He decided that Oakland would be better than San Francisco because the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Arena, was more viable than the venerable Cow Palace. He decided to purchase the WHL Seals in 1966 and moved them from San Francisco into Oakland that year to prep them for their entry into the NHL. He rechristened them the California Seals in 1966/67. In 1967/68 he brought the team into the NHL, not only retaining some of the players such as Charlie Burns, George Swarbrick, Gerry Odrowski, Tom Thurlby, and Ron Harris, but the team even wore thier WHL jerseys in the 1967/68 pre-season (here is a shot of them playing the North Stars at the 20:20 mark of this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5jSjNtt4iY). This was before they unveiled a new design just before thier regular season home opener. The WHL Seals joining the NHL is not only mentioned in the official NHL publication from 1991 called The Official National Hockey League 75th anniversary commemorative book, but its also noted in Brad Kurtzberg's great book Shorthanded: The Untold Story of the Seals: Hockey's Most Colorful Team. The same thing happened with the Vancouver Canucks in 1970. The ownership of the WHL Canucks brought the franchise into the NHL via expansion even retaining some of the roster. The same thing happened with the 4 WHA clubs in 1979 (Oilers, Nordiques, Jets, Whalers). Giantdevilfish (talk) 13:02, 1 May 2012 (UTC)


 * I do not agree with your assessment the Seals are like the WHA expansion clubs as those entire franchises moved from the competitive WHA into the NHL (sort of a merger of leagues although not officially). But you cited enough information that I'm okay with leaving the links you re-added.  Honestly, I just wasn't sure what is proper.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Wjb (talk • contribs) 18:35, 1 May 2012 (UTC)

Infobox logo
Shouldn't the logo used in the info box be changed (the green and gold one)? The article even says that it was never officially adopted by the team. Their logo was the blue, green and yellow Seal emblem until 1970 and then it was just the stylized word Seals. One of those should be used for the main article image. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.147.174.153 (talk) 02:50, 8 November 2014 (UTC)