1967–68 Oakland Seals season



The 1967–68 Oakland Seals season was their 1st season in the NHL. The Seals finished last in the West Division and did not qualify for the playoffs.

Off-season
It began auspiciously, with the firing General Manager Rudy Pilous before the expansion draft. The Seals started their inaugural season with Hall of Famer Bert Olmstead as both coach and general manager, assisted by Gord Fashoway.

Amateur Draft
None of the Seals picks played in the NHL.

Pre-season
The Seals held their training camp in Port Huron, Michigan.

September 17, 1967: Minnesota North Stars 3, Oakland Seals 1 @ Port Huron, Michigan September 23, 1967: Minnesota 4, Oakland 3 @ Kingston, Ontario September 26, 1967: Minnesota 3, Oakland 3 @ Oshawa, Ontario October 1, 1967: Oakland 3, Minnesota 2 @ Port Huron, Michigan

For the pre-season only, the Seals wore the jerseys of the San Francisco Seals of the Western Hockey League.

Regular Season
The Seals started the season as the "California Seals" but changed their name to the "Oakland Seals" on December 8, 1967. The Seals inaugural jersey colours were green, white, and blue with a primarily green home jersey and a primarily white away jersey. The jerseys had two outlined stripes on the arms and body of the green jersey and three stripes on the white jersey. There were no names on the back, the jersey numbers were outlined and the sleeve numbers were on the shoulders.

The back number was blue for the "California Seals" period but changed to white when the team was renamed to the "Oakland Seals." The logo was a yellow, green and white cartoon seal with a black head against an "O". When the team was the "California Seals" the background was a "C". These jerseys would remain in use for one more season.

Despite moving the team away from their fan base in San Francisco, expectations were high with several sport writers predicting the Seals would finish first in the West Division mainly due to the drafting of high quality goalies and defense.

The team started the season well, winning their first game 5-1 on October 11, 1967 over the Philadelphia Flyers with Kent Douglas scoring the first goal in franchise history. The Seals then beat the Minnesota North Stars 6-0 in their second game with Charlie Hodge earning the shutout.

However, the team then went on a 14 game winless streak. Workers were still installing seats in the Met Center on October 21, 1967, for the first game in the arena as the Seals were set to play against the Minnesota North Stars. The Seals lost 3-1 with Danny Grant scoring the winner. The streak finally ended with a 4-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings on November 15, 1967 but the Seals never recovered.

The Kings were the only team the Seals had some success against. In January 1968, Oakland won all three games versus Los Angeles, including shutting them out twice. Gerry Ehman had the Seals only Hat trick of the season in one of these games, on January 7, 1968 in a 6-0 win. The season series ended 4-4-2 between the teams.

On January 13, 1968, four minutes into a game against the Seals at the Met Center, North Stars center Bill Masterton was checked by Oakland's Larry Cahan and Ron Harris and fell backwards onto the ice head-first. The force of the back of his head hitting the ice damaged the pons and caused severe hemorrhaging, as blood gushed from his mouth and nose. Masterton was taken to hospital where he died two days later, becoming the only player ever to die as a result of an on-ice injury.

The Seals suffered from lack of goal scoring (finishing last in the league with a two goal a game average) and the worst attendance in the NHL. Coach Bert Olmstead clashed with the players due to his draconian style, often punishing the team with torturous practices after losses. With 21 games left in the season, assistant coach Gord Fashoway took over the reins but the Seals went 5-10-6 under him, including an 11 game winless streak to finish the season. The Seals finished last in the West Division and Olmstead and Fashoway were both fired after the season.

Playoffs

 * The Seals did not qualify for the post season.

Skaters
Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalties in minutes †Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Seals. Stats reflect time with the Seals only. ‡Traded mid-season

Goaltenders
Note: GP = Games played; TOI = Time on ice (minutes); W = Wins; L= Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; GAA = Goals against average

Awards and Records

 * The Seals did not win any awards this season.

Transactions
The Seals were involved in the following transactions during the 1967–68 season:

Trivia

 * Seals who recorded a hat trick this season include:
 * Gerry Ehman during the 6-0 win over the Los Angeles Kings on January 7, 1968.