Original Six The Original Six are the six teams that made up the National Hockey League ( NHL ) for the 25 seasons between the 1942 - 43 NHL season and the 1967 NHL Expansion . The Original Six teams are : Criticisms . Some criticize the era as having a playoff system which was too easy ( only two teams were eliminated after the regular season ) and featuring too many dominant teams ( Montreal never missed the playoffs between 1949 and 1967 and Detroit and Toronto only missed three times each , leaving the other three teams to compete for the one remaining berth ) . Beyond that , rosters were very static — until the burgeoning of career lengths in the 1980s , only one twenty - year player in NHL history , Larry Robinson , started his career after 1964 , and it is generally accepted that the weakest Calder Trophy winners of all time were selected in the 1950s and 1960s . In partial consequence , the league was almost entirely composed of Canadians who had come up through the junior and minor pro leagues . American , European , and college players were all but unknown . After World War II , all six NHL owners consistently rejected any bids for expansion , and in the eyes of many observers changed the criteria for entry every time with a bent to defeating any such bid . They also reneged on promises to allow the still - extant Maroons and Americans to rejoin the league . Corruption . While many books on the period focus on the high level of play , giving it glowing terms such as ' golden era ' , it was also a period of corruption , where teams were found to be ' scalping ' their own tickets and hiding ticket sales for the purposes of avoiding taxes on the proceeds . The league tolerated monopolistic practices by the owners . At one point , for instance , Red Wings owner James E . Norris effectively owned the Black Hawks as well , and was also the largest stockholder in the Rangers . He also had significant influence over the Bruins by way of mortgages extended to the team to help keep it afloat during the Depression . Players who got on the wrong side of their team owner were often harshly punished for their actions . A chief example of this can be seen in the case of bruising Red Wings forward Ted Lindsay who , after agitating for a players ' union , was sent to the last - place Black Hawks . Mr . Norris ' conglomerate did not invest in Boston , Chicago and New York ; these teams mostly just filled dates for the Norris arenas . A measure of the dominance of Detroit , Montreal and Toronto in the era can be seen in that between the Bruins ' Stanley Cup wins in 1941 and 1970 , every single Cup ( save for Chicago in 1961 ) was won by the Red Wings , the Canadiens or the Maple Leafs , and those three teams failed to make the playoffs only eight times combined in the era . Labour conditions for the players were also poor . Players ' medical bills were paid only until two months after an injury . Players were routinely demoted to the minor leagues as a form of punishment . This hurt the players by reducing their salaries , and players ' relocation costs were not covered . The players were not paid for off - season promotions , or shared in the funds of promotions such as trading cards , such as was done in baseball . In the earlier era , players were allowed to play other sports , such as lacrosse , for money in the off - season . This was disallowed in the standard contract . The pension plan , formed in 1946 , while ostensibly for the players ' benefit , was kept secret , hiding large amounts of money under the control of the owners . The pension plan was only exposed in 1989 where it was found that a $ 25 million dollar surplus existed . The labour conditions lead to several players ' disputes including a 1957 anti - trust action and attempted union formation , and subsequent actions in the early 1960s by Bob Baun and Carl Brewer , leading to the 1967 formation of the NHL Players Association . The end of the Original Six era . By the 1960s it was becoming increasingly obvious that if the NHL did not expand , a rival league would fill the void . The American Football League was proving to be highly successful at this time , convincing many people that a rival hockey league would also succeed . In particular , the Western Hockey League had moved into a number of major Pacific Coast markets , and had accumulated strong rosters with talent barred from the static rosters of the NHL . This , plus the prospect of more lucrative U . S . television contracts finally convinced the six owners to go ahead with expansion . All six of the Original Six franchises are still in existence , with no major identity changes ( though the Black Hawks resumed their original name " Blackhawks " in 1986 ) , and no relocations to other cities . Though 1942 is the widely accepted year for the beginning of the Original Six era , it was not until the 1959 - 60 NHL season that every active player had played for Original Six teams only . The last player who did not fall into this category , former Brooklyn Americans player Ken Mosdell , retired after the 1959 Stanley Cup Playoffs . The last active player from the Original Six era was Boston Bruin Wayne Cashman , who last played during the 1983 Stanley Cup Playoffs . The last active goalie from the Original Six era was Rogatien Vachon , who retired in 1982 with Boston .