As I recall the classic 6 teams were in a league that operated like a country club They nearly got caught napping but they headed off the second major league threat by expanding which of course brought in a bunch of money to the old guard from the entrance fees Also they aligned the new teams in a separate division which essentially made the Stanley Cup finals an exhibition series for the winners of the classic 6 playoff rounds Further evolution of the league evened out a lot of that stuff of course but there s some intrigue connected with their initial expansion I noticed there were many references to Norris House League in Google so it s not like this is unknown Maybe the comment could be written better and or with more detail but it s an important part of the nature of the NHL as it existed during that time period What s up Doc