NHL Logo Map
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Just threw this together this morning. A little something to pass the time, I suppose, while news is light. It's a cool way to get an overall geographical look at the NHL. If you guys like it, no reason we can't do other leagues.
By the way, I recommend zooming in for a good look around the northeast. Lots of teams clumped together up there. Also, Terrain view reduces the clutter of roads and things.
Some observations:
- Never considered how remote the Stars and Avalanche are.
- Do the Devils walk to Madison Square Garden when they play the Rangers?
- Southernmost team: Florida Panthers
- Northernmost team: Edmonton Oilers
- Westernmost team: Vancouver Canucks
- Easternmost team: Boston Bruins
Share any observations of your own in the comments. Or feel free to tell me this map was a waste of time. Just remember that aside from this, not much else to report lately.
Chris
NHL Heritage Map 1967
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More maps!
That's what I keep hearing from you guys. So here's what the NHL looked like after the first expansion in 1967. It's part of our NHL Heritage Map series, which will also include maps from 1974, 1979, 1993 and 1997 — all key transformational years for the league.
And of course I'll get to all the minor leagues as well. ECHL is up next. Then maybe CHL? — and by that I mean Canadian Hockey League. All 60 teams in one map. Whatever you guys choose.
Chris
NHL Heritage Map 1974
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Here is the second in a series of five NHL Heritage maps. This is what the league looked like in 1974-75 season.
I chose '74 because it was the culminating year of a handful of expansions. After the first big expansion of 1967, Buffalo and Vancouver were added to the map in 1970 along with Long Island and Atlanta in '72. Then Kansas City and Washington joined the NHL in 1974 — bringing us to a total 18 teams.
Up next is 1979 when the WHA folded and a few teams found their way into the NHL.
Chris
NHL Heritage Map 1979
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Today we travel back to 1979 for the newest NHL Heritage Map. Take a good look at the logos of the NHL in the 1979-80 season.
I selected 1979 because it was year that saw the NHL expand by taking on teams from the failed WHA. The Quebec Nordiques, Winnipeg Jets, Edmonton Oilers and New England (now called Hartford) Whalers managed to survive the storm and increased the size of the NHL to 21 teams.
So what else changed in the five years between the '74 and '79 maps? Not much. The Kansas City Scouts moved to Denver in 1976 and became the Colorado Rockies. In 1978, the Vancouver Canucks got a new logo, something they would make a habit out of over the years, and the California Seals franchise, known as the Cleveland Barons beginning in 1976, ceased to exist.
For the next Heritage Map, we'll jump ahead 14 years to 1993.
Reader Comments (62)
@ Bob, Thanks, now that I went back and looked you're indeed correct good sir! The Quakers wore Black/Orange uni's right?
Yes, and if you check the Wikipedia page of the team, you can see a pic of one of their jerseys at the HHOF.
Do you think you can do another heritage map for 1970-80 area when the Winnipeg Jets, Quebec Nordiques, Hartford Whalers, & Edmonton Oilers joined from the WHA?
Plus the mid 70's one with the Cleveland Barons and Colorado Rockies.
@MM: Didn't you see that it is exactly what he is planning to do next? ;)
But I repeat that a map from 1930 would be a neat addition to the heritage map collection.
1st. The Islanders need to move to the new arena that the Nets are going to.
2nd. I was watching TSN yesterday and they said that Atlanta has sold more season tickets this year then they have since 2002. I'm pretty sure that has something to do with Atlanta actually trying to put a team together this offseason
What I have learned is that: If a team is doing bad and is getting poor attendance you DON'T move them. If a team is doing good and getting a poor attendance....you DO move them.
I'd love to see a 1972-79 WHA map in the near future, although I think it would likely have to be a year by year thing seeing as there was quite alot of franchise foldings and relocations during that leagues existance.
Chris how do u do this?
After looking at this map..i wonder why the NHL over expanded when it did...sure, i'm all about opening up new areas of revenue..and bringing the game to a bigger audience...but i see what the NHL did by expanding to markets who have little interest in hockey (as shown by fan support) as hurting a good thing already...You have a league who allows a team (Minnesota North Stars) to leave a hotbed of hockey and move to Texas...they have teams leaving canada to move to phoenix and colorado...hartford to carolina...explain to me how this HELPS the sport grow...it's been my experience that leagues that have relocations like this happen rarely ''grow'' in any appreciable way..take MLB for instance...sure they considered contraction--but they don't move teams..how many baseball teams...or basketball teams have moved in the past 20 years? Not as many as the NHL...and that has hurt the league...how does the nhl allow the flames to leave atlanta then 25 years later they expand again in atlanta..which is an utter joke of a franchise. thoughts...
Great work. It really puts in perspective the travel issues that some Western teams face. For example, the closest team to Colorado (driving distance) is Dallas at 799 miles.
Take Detroit for example. Here are the teams within 800 miles of Detroit. Bruins, Sabres, Canadians, Maple Leafs Senators. Flyers, Islanders, Rangers, Devils, Penguins. Thrashers, Hurricanes, Capitals. Blue Jackets, Predators, Blues, Blackhawks, Wild.
Basically Detroit has a two hour flight to it's division, one more team in it's conference, plus the entire Eastern conference except for Tampa and Florida.
So each season that's 56% of it's road games only 800 miles from Detroit. The Avalanche play .05% of it's road games within 800 miles of Denver.
Makes you wonder what extent Detroit's travel schedule contributes to its recent dominance of the West. Now it's not as important as it's players, Gm, coach etc, but I'm sure that it's a factor.
Figured i would clear up any debate about Seattle getting a team, they don't have any arenas that would be up to NHL standards and even lost their basketball team because the arena sucked.
This is true. The only real arena we have in the city is The Key and it's not even good enough for WHL hockey! The T-Birds moved to Kent because of it in 2008. But I think they're planning on renovating it at some point. I think it holds just over 15,000 for hockey. And the NHL doesn't really set arena standards, per se. There's no set number of seats. It just needs to be able to bring in enough people/money to support the franchise. (Could be wrong about that.)
Here is how the league will look in 2012-13:
Eastern Conference
Division 1
Rangers
Islanders
Bruins
Canadiens
Devils
Division 2
Red Wings
Penguins
Sabres
Maple Leafs
Senators
Divison 3
Flyers
Capitals
Hurricanes
Lightning
Panthers
Western Conference
Division 1
BlackHawks
Blue Jackets
Blues
Predators
Stars
Division 2
Jets
Oilers
Flames
Wild
Canucks
Division 3
Kings
Sharks
Ducks
Avalanche
Coyotes