Throwback Thursday: This week in 1926, National Hockey League expands to Detroit

This week in 1926 (Sept. 25), the National Hockey League expanded into Detroit with the introduction of the Detroit Cougars.

Following the completion of the 1926 Stanley Cup playoffs, the Western Hockey League had been on the verge of folding. Thus, the NHL held a meeting considering applications for expansion franchises and five teams had sought to bring a team to Detroit.

In May of that year, the league approved a franchise to the Townsend-Seyburn group of Detroit bringing in Charles A. Hughes as governor. WHL owners Frank and Lester Patrick made a deal to sell players to the NHL and fold their league.

Detroit stepped up purchasing the players from the WHL’s Victoria Cougars, the 1925 cup champions and adopted the organizations moniker.

Believe it or not, no arena was ready for the Cougars so the club played their games out of the Border Cities Arena in Windsor, Ontario while the Olympia Stadium was under construction.

Detroit struggled in its first few years and didn’t have their first playoff appearance until 1929 with Carson Cooper leading the team in scoring. In 1980, the club was renamed the Falcons but still continued to struggles. The organization was sold in 1932 to grain merchant James E. Norris with his first order of business renaming the organization the Red Wings. Norris had been one of the people who bid for the team in 1926.

Along with the Red Wings entering the NHL were the Chicago Blackhawks and the New York Rangers.

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