The original six era of the NHL comprised of the first six teams that formed the league in its early days. These teams operated for twenty five seasons ranging from 1942-43 to the expansion period in the 1967 national hockey league season. The original six teams were the Montréal Canadiens, the Toronto maple leafs, the Detroit red wings, the Boston bruins, the New York Rangers, and the Chicago Black hawks. Among these teams, the Montréal Canadiens which was formed in the year 1907, and the Toronto maple leafs, became the charter members of the national hockey league.
Characteristics:
Only two of the teams, both of which were from Canada were present in the charter of the national hockey league. Other teams were just added after the foundation of the NHL. The Boston Bruins were the first franchise from the United States. The small nature of the league meant that the player count was also small. Because of this, the quality of the games was very high. There was a repetition of the opponents on 14 occasions in each season. This resulted in a lot of rivalries among the teams. The fans had opportunities to get familiar with the players very quickly, due to the minimal nature.
End of the Era:
By the year 1960, it was obvious that if the NHL failed to expand, some other league would fill in the emptiness. This prompted the NHL to start expanding and thus, resulted in the end of the Original Six Era.
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