After some controversy, Montreal was awarded a second team in the National Hockey League (NHL) in 1924. The eventually beca,e known as the Montreal Maroons. In 1938, the team suspended operations. After attempts to move the team to St. Louis and later Philadelphia failed, the NHL cancelled the franchise in 1947.
This was a good 1970’s NHL expansion team! No, really. The Atlanta Flames had a winning record in five of their eight seasons as the NHL’s only Deep South outpost. They made the playoffs six out of those eight years. They had a core of outstanding young players and a future Hall-of-Fame executive in the GM chair. But the collective memory of the Atlanta Flames is that they weren’t very good because they were God-awful in the playoffs (objectively true) and Southerners hate ice hockey (possibly true, definitely a well-worn trope).
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