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 oilfan94
Messages: 350
Registered: June 2006
Location: USA
No Cups
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| Babaganoosh2.0 wrote on Wed, 20 April 2022 15:25 |
| CrusaderPi wrote on Wed, 20 April 2022 12:53 |
| Mike wrote on Wed, 20 April 2022 12:49 |
| CrusaderPi wrote on Wed, 20 April 2022 14:37 |
Why do you hate the North Stars? They were fine, lovable losers even.
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1991?
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That didn't hurt. The team wasn't very good in '91. It was running on fumes and reputation alone. Without looking, I think that team was .500 in the regular season and .500 in the post season despite getting to the third round. I am sad we were denied the Gretzky - Lemieux finals, but that isn't Minnesota's fault.
The North Starts are also the spiritual successor for bother the Seals and Barons. Full points for that.
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I wouldn't say they were the spiritual successor. They merged with the North Stars. But if you actually follow the story it seems like San Jose could make that argument.
Meanwhile, the consortium that owned the Minnesota North Stars was having its own financial difficulties similar to those faced by the Barons. Fearing that two franchises were on the verge of folding, the league granted approval on June 14, 1978, for the two teams to merge. The amalgamated team retained the North Stars' name, colors, and history, while the wealthier Gunds became the principal owners of the North Stars.
With the North Stars continuing to struggle financially, the Gunds began looking to bring NHL hockey back to the Bay Area. By the late 1980s, they sought to relocate the North Stars but were blocked by the league. In 1991, the Gunds were granted an expansion franchise in San Jose, which became the San Jose Sharks, in return for selling their stake in the North Stars to a group led by Hartford Whalers' founder Howard Baldwin. As a compromise, the league arranged a special dispersal and expansion draft in which the Sharks claimed 16 North Stars players in a dispersal draft, with both teams then allowed to choose players in an expansion draft.
Although the Sharks are officially a separate franchise from the Seals/Golden Seals/Barons, the arrangement effectively reversed the original Barons-North Stars merger, with the Sharks occupying the same market as the Golden Seals prior to their move to Cleveland. The new North Stars owners ultimately moved their team to Dallas as the Dallas Stars in 1993. The Gunds also later moved an existing American Hockey League team from Lexington, Kentucky, to Cleveland, operating the Cleveland Barons from 2001 to 2006 as the Sharks' minor league affiliate.
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And fun fact, this is why the last team that owned Guy Lafleur's NHL rights was the Minnesota North Stars.
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