California Golden Seals

The California Golden Seals was a professional ice hockey club that played in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1967 to 1976. The team was based in Oakland, California and played its home games at the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena.

The Seals were one of six teams added to the NHL in 1967. At first, they were called the California Seals, then became the Oakland Seals, and later the Bay Area Seals before finally becoming the California Golden Seals in 1970.

The team never had much success, never winning more games than they lost and only making the playoffs twice in nine seasons. They also did not attract many fans to their games. In 1976, the team moved to become the Cleveland Barons, which later merged with the Minnesota North Stars. The California Golden Seals were the only team from the 1967 expansion to never reach the Stanley Cup Final.

History

Bert Olmstead, the Seals' first coach and general manager

In 1966, the National Hockey League (NHL) announced it would add six new teams for the 1967–68 season. This was partly to grow the league and partly to compete with the Western Hockey League. One of these new teams was the San Francisco Seals from the WHL. The NHL gave the team to Barry Van Gerbig for the San Francisco Bay Area. Van Gerbig planned to play in a new arena in San Francisco, but it was never built. So, he moved the team to Oakland to play in the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena and renamed them the California Seals. This was to attract fans from San Francisco and address complaints that Oakland wasn’t considered a major city.

The California Seals joined the NHL in 1967 along with five other new teams. The existing NHL teams protected most of their best players, leaving the new teams with older or less experienced players. The Seals kept some players from their WHL days. Despite hopes, the team didn’t draw many fans in Oakland, and by November 1967, Van Gerbig changed the name to the Oakland Seals.

The Seals struggled with attendance and performance. They made the playoffs only twice but didn’t have much success. In 1970, Charles O. Finley, owner of the Oakland Athletics, bought the team and renamed them the California Golden Seals. Finley made several changes to try to improve the team’s image, but the Seals still performed poorly. By 1975, Finley sold the team back to the NHL. Finally, in 1976, the team moved to Cleveland and became the Cleveland Barons. The NHL merged the Cleveland Barons with the Minnesota North Stars in 1978. Later, a new team called the San Jose Sharks started playing in the Bay Area in 1991–92 season.

Legacy

Dennis Maruk was the last player from the Seals to play in the NHL, retiring with the North Stars in 1989. George Pesut was the last former Seals player to play in any league, doing so in Germany until 1994.

Even though the Seals are no longer a team, they remain popular. In 2006, Brad Kurtzberg wrote the first book about them, titled Shorthanded: The Untold Story of the Seals: Hockey's Most Colorful Team. In January 2017, filmmaker Mark Greczmiel released a documentary called The California Golden Seals Story on iTunes. In 2016, a website was created to promote a book released in November 2017, The California Golden Seals: A Tale of White Skates, Red Ink, and One of the NHL's Most Outlandish Teams, which tells the full story of the Seals and another team called the Barons.

On October 20, 2022, the San Jose Sharks introduced a special jersey inspired by the Golden Seals' final years.

Season-by-season record

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes

Season	Team	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA	PIM	Finish	Playoffs
1967–68	1967–68	74	15	42	17	47	153	219	787	6th in West	Did not qualify
1968–69	1968–69	76	29	36	11	69	219	251	811	2nd in West	Lost in quarterfinals (Kings), 3–4
1969–70	1969–70	76	22	40	14	58	169	243	845	4th in West	Lost in quarterfinals (Penguins), 0–4
1970–71	1970–71	78	20	53	5	45	199	320	937	7th in West	Did not qualify
1971–72	1971–72	78	21	39	18	60	216	288	1,007	6th in West	Did not qualify
1972–73	1972–73	78	16	46	16	48	213	323	840	8th in West	Did not qualify
1973–74	1973–74	78	13	55	10	36	195	342	651	8th in West	Did not qualify
1974–75	1974–75	80	19	48	13	51	212	316	1,101	4th in Adams	Did not qualify
1975–76	1975–76	80	27	42	11	65	250	278	1,058	4th in Adams	Did not qualify
Relocated to Cleveland
Total		698	182	401	115	479	1,826	2,580	8,037

Players and personnel

The California Golden Seals had several important players and leaders. Some players were later honored in the Hockey Hall of Fame, like Harry Howell and Bert Olmstead. The team had many captains, starting with Bobby Baun and ending with Jim Neilson and Bob Stewart as co-captains.

Joey Johnston in 1971 photo for the team; he was one of only two three-time All-Stars for the Seals

Many players were chosen to play in the NHL All-Star Game, such as Carol Vadnais and Joey Johnston. The team also had several general managers, including Rudy Pilous and Bill McCreary Sr.. The Seals picked many players in the first round of drafts, like Ken Hicks and Bjorn Johansson.

Franchise records

Scoring leaders

These are the top-ten point-scorers in franchise history.

1971-72 photo of Bert Marshall for the Golden Seals; he played 313 games for the team, the most for the franchise

Individual records

Career records

Most games played – Bert Marshall (313)
Most goals – Joey Johnston (84)
Most assists – Ted Hampson (123)
Most points – Joey Johnston (185)
Most penalty minutes – Carol Vadnais (560)
Most wins by a goaltender – Gary Smith (61)
Most losses by a goaltender – Gilles Meloche (140)
Lowest goals against average (GAA) by a goaltender – Charlie Hodge (3.10)
Most shutouts by a goaltender – Gary Smith (9)
Most minutes – Gilles Meloche (14,578)
Most wins by a coach – Fred Glover (71)
Most losses by a coach – Fred Glover (130)

Single season records

Most goals – Norm Ferguson, 34 (1968–69)
Most assists – Ted Hampson, 49 (1973–74)
Most points – Ted Hampson, 75 (1968–69)
Most penalty minutes – Dennis Hextall, 217 (1970–71)
Most wins by a goaltender – Gary Smith, 21 (1968–69)
Most losses by a goaltender – Gary Smith, 48 (1970–71)
Lowest goals against average (GAA) by a goaltender – Charlie Hodge, 2.87 (1967–68)
Most shutouts by a goaltender – Gary Smith (1968–69) and Gilles Meloche (1971–72), 4
Most minutes – Gary Smith, 3,974 (1970–71)

Points
Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Joey Johnston	LW	288	84	101	185	308
Ted Hampson	C	246	61	123	184	37
Bill Hicke	RW	262	79	101	180	155
Gerry Ehman	RW	297	69	86	155	56
Carol Vadnais	D	246	63	83	146	560
Norm Ferguson	RW	279	73	66	139	72
Walt McKechnie	C	197	50	87	137	112
Ivan Boldirev	C	191	52	77	129	134
Gary Jarrett	LW	268	54	71	125	111
Gary Croteau	RW	270	47	76	123	47

Broadcasters

In the first season, 1967–68, the team had 12 games shown on TV by KTVU 2 with Tim Ryan describing the action. The next year, away games were heard on the radio with KEEN and Tim Ryan still giving the play-by-play. Over the years, different people took turns describing the games, including Jim Gordon, Bill Schonely, Bill McColgan, Harvey Wittenberg, and Rick Weaver. In the final years, Joe Starkey was the main voice on KEEN radio, with Jon Miller also joining in for some games. In the team's last season, a few games were also shown on TV by KBHK-TV 44.