California Golden Seals The California Golden Seals were a team in the National Hockey League ( NHL ) from 1967 – 76 . Initially named California Seals , the team was renamed Oakland Seals part - way through the 1967 – 68 season , and then to California Golden Seals in 1970 . History . Founding . In 1966 , the NHL announced that six expansion teams would be added as a new division for the 1967 – 68 season , officially because of a general desire to expand the league to new markets , but just as importantly to squelch the Western Hockey League ' s threat to turn itself into a major league . The San Francisco Seals were one such team from the WHL , and after it was purchased by Barry Van Gerbig and moved across the Bay to a new arena in Oakland , the Seals joined the NHL . The San Francisco Bay Area was not considered a particularly lucrative hockey market , but the terms of a new television agreement with CBS called for two of the expansion teams to be located in California . Van Gerbig had planned to have the team play out of a new arena in San Francisco , but the arena never came to fruition , and the Seals played out of the Oakland - Alameda County Coliseum Arena ( now known as Oracle Arena ) . The franchise was named California Seals in an attempt to appeal to fans from San Francisco , and to address complaints from the other NHL teams that Oakland was not considered a major league city ( notwithstanding the presence of the American Football League ' s Oakland Raiders and the pending relocation of Major League Baseball ' s Kansas City Athletics ) and would not be a draw for fans . The plan failed , however , and on November 6 , 1967 , Van Gerbig announced that the team ' s name was being changed to Oakland Seals , although the league did not register the change until December . Struggles . The Seals were never successful at the gate , and because of this poor attendance Van Gerbig threatened on numerous occasions to move the team elsewhere . First - year coach and general manager Bert Olmstead publicly advocated a move to Vancouver , but an offer from Labatt ' s brewery to purchase and relocate the team was rejected by the league , as was a proposal to move the team to Buffalo from the eventual owners of the Buffalo Sabres , who had been shut out of the 1967 expansion . This , as well as the team ' s dismal on - ice performance , led to major changes to both the Seals ' front office and the roster – only seven out of the 20 Seals players remained after the first season . The new - look Seals were somewhat more successful , making the playoffs for two years , although with sub . 500 records . Those would be the only two years that the Seals franchise made the playoffs . The league ' s rejection of the proposed move to Vancouver prompted a lawsuit that was not settled until 1974 " ( San Francisco Seals Ltd . v . National Hockey League ) " . The Seals organization filed suit against the NHL claiming that the prohibition violated the Sherman Act . The Seals asserted that the league ' s constitution was in violation by prohibiting clubs from relocating their operations , and that the relocation request was denied in an attempt to keep the San Francisco market in the NHL and thereby discourage the formation of a rival team or league in that location . The court ruled that the NHL was a single entity , and that the teams were not competitors in an economic sense , so the league restrictions on relocation were not a restrain of trade . Failed sale to Trans National Communications . For the 1969 – 70 season the team was sold to a group called Trans National Communications , whose investors included Pat Summerall and Whitey Ford . However , the group filed for bankruptcy and ownership reverted to Van Gerbig , who put the team up for sale again . Charlie O . Finley purchases the franchise . Prior to the 1970 – 71 NHL season , Charlie O . Finley , the flamboyant owner of baseball ' s Oakland Athletics , purchased the Seals . Finley and Roller Derby boss Jerry Seltzer had both put in a bid on the team . Although Seltzer ' s offer was slightly better and included a more detailed plan for revival , a majority of NHL owners from the " old establishment " voted in favor of Finley . Bill Torrey , general manager at the time , would eventually leave the team due to clashes with Finley . He would go on to manage the New York Islanders ' dynasty of the 1980s . On October 15 , 1970 , with the new season already two games old , Finley announced that the team ' s name was being changed to California Golden Seals ( " Bay Area Seals " had been reported the previous week , and appears on some of that year ' s promotional material ) , following a number of other marketing gimmicks intended to sell the team to the fans , among them changing the Seals ' colors to green and gold to match the popular A ' s . The Seals are remembered for wearing white skates , but initially Torrey convinced Finley to use green and gold painted skates instead , team colored skates being a period trend . However , this was all for naught , as the Seals finished with the worst record in the NHL that year . At the end of the 1970 season , the Seals had traded their pick in the first round of the 1971 draft to the Montreal Canadiens along with Francois Lacombe in return for Montreal ' s first round pick in 1970 ( selected Chris Oddleifson ) , Ernie Hicke and cash . As a result of the Seals ' dreadful season , the Canadiens had the top pick in the draft , and used it to select future Hall of Famer Guy Lafleur . This transaction now ranks as one of the most one - sided deals in NHL history . Under the ownership of the NHL and Mel Swig . The team rebounded in 1971 – 72 , but the arrival of the World Hockey Association ( WHA ) wiped out most of those gains . Finley refused to match the WHA ' s contract offers , causing five of the team ' s top ten scorers from the previous season to bolt . Devoid of any defensive talent save for goaltender Gilles Meloche , the team sank into last place again in 1973 , where it would remain for the rest of its history . Although divisional restructuring in 1974 – 75 included a revamped format in which three teams in each division made the playoffs , the Seals efforts ' were frustrated by their placement in the Adams Division , with the strong Buffalo , Boston , and Toronto teams of the day . Tired of the struggling hockey team , especially in comparison to his World Series champion Athletics , Finley tried to sell the Seals , but there were no takers . The NHL eventually took control of the team in February 1974 . In early 1975 , newspapers reported that the Seals and Pittsburgh Penguins were to be relocated to Denver and Seattle respectively , in an arrangement that would have seen the two teams sold to groups in those cities that had already been awarded " conditional " franchises for the 1976 - 77 season . At the same time , the league announced that if the sale to the Denver group was not completed or new ownership found locally , the franchise would be liquidated at the end of the season . The Denver arrangement fell through , and the league ran the Seals for more than a year until San Francisco hotel magnate Melvin Swig bought the team in 1975 with the intent of moving the team to a proposed new arena in San Francisco . The team fell just short of the playoffs , and after a mayoral election , plans for the new arena were cancelled . With a new arena out of the picture , the league dropped its objection to a relocation of the franchise . The end of the Seals . Although attendance was finally showing some improvement and the team playing better , minority owners George and Gordon Gund persuaded Swig to seek approval to move the team to their hometown of Cleveland . League approval for the move was granted on July 14 , 1976 , and the team was renamed Cleveland Barons after the city ' s old AHL squad . After two more years of losses and with attendance worse than it had been in Oakland , the Gunds ( by this time majority owners ) were permitted to merge the Barons with another failing team , the Minnesota North Stars . The merged team continued as the Minnesota North Stars under the Gunds ' ownership , but assumed the Barons ' place in the Adams Division . The North Stars ultimately relocated to Texas following the 1992 – 93 season to become the Dallas Stars . The Cleveland Barons remain the most recent team in an established North American major professional league to fold , as well as the only team in the NHL to do so since 1942 . As a result , the NHL consisted of 17 teams for the 1978 – 79 season . Legacy . The current NHL team in the Bay Area , the San Jose Sharks , has a historical connection to the Seals . Years after the Barons - North Stars merger , the Gunds wanted to bring hockey back to the Bay Area . They asked the NHL for permission to move the North Stars there in the late 1980s , but the league was unwilling to abandon a traditional hockey market like Minneapolis - Saint Paul . Meanwhile , a group led by former Hartford Whalers owner Howard Baldwin was pushing the NHL to bring a team to San Jose , where an arena was being built . Eventually , a compromise was struck whereby the Gunds would sell their share of the North Stars to Baldwin ' s group , with the Gunds receiving an expansion team in the Bay Area to begin play in the 1991 - 92 season . In return , the North Stars would be allowed to participate as an equal partner in an expansion draft with the new franchise . On May 5 , 1990 , the Gunds officially sold their share of the North Stars to Baldwin and were awarded a new team in the Bay Area that would eventually become the Sharks . Dennis Maruk was the last Seals player active in the NHL , retiring as a member of the Minnesota North Stars in 1989 . Charlie Simmer was still active with the IHL ' s San Diego Gulls until 1992 . " Note : GP = Games played , W = Wins , L = Losses , T = Ties , Pts = Points , GF = Goals for , GA = Goals against , PIM = Penalties in minutes " ² Franchise records . " Includes Cleveland Barons ( 1976 - 78 ) " Career : Single season :