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