NHL – History of Los Angeles Kings
When Jack Kent Cooke was awarded an NHL expansion franchise for Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Kings were founded on February 9, 1966.
Canadian entrepreneur Jack Kent Cooke paid the NHL $2 million dollars to place one of the six expansion teams in LA, when the NHL decided to expand for the 1967-68 season. The colors of purple and gold were adopted by the LA Lakers later, which Cooke team had also owned.
In the Western Division right, the Kings finished in second place, in their first season. The Kings finished fourth place in the West Division in their second season and were eliminated by the St Louis Blues in the second round.
From being worst defensive team, the Kings became the best in 1972 by acquiring Ken Dryden and Rogatien Vachon. The team had the most successful in franchise history including the 105-point season in 1974-1975 and the team had three successful seasons. This is still a franchise record.
In Game 3 of this playoff bout between Kings and Oilers, goes down into NHL history and many refer to it as the “Miracle on Manchester”. The Kings had overtime victory, which is still counted as one of the greatest comebacks in NHL history.
In 1988, the Kings was joined by Wayne Gretzky and he won the MVP award and helped the Kings rank fourth in the NHL overall. The team was led by Gretzky to its only regular season division title in franchise history in the 1990-1991 season. By Canadiens the team was defeated and couldn’t make it to the Stanley Cup. The team has had its highs and lows but still has never won a Stanley Cup Finals.
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