from Eric Duhatschek of the Globe and Mail,

It was in the mid-1950s, in the midst of his college career at St. Lawrence University, when Bill Torrey first heard the term – NHL expansion – that would ultimately change his life.

St. Lawrence was playing a holiday hockey tournament in Boston, and Torrey, who injured his knee in the opening game, had to sit out the next night. The event was being played over Christmas, and the organizer, Walter Brown, the owner of the NHL Bruins and the NBA Celtics, held a reception for the teams.

Unable to play, Torrey stuck around and watched the game with Brown who, after asking Torrey about his career aspirations, gave him a memorable bit of advice: “If you like hockey, then stick with it – because it’s not going to be too much longer before we’re going to have to increase the size of this league; we’re going to have to expand it.”

“That’s the first time I ever heard the term expansion mentioned,” Torrey remembered....

NHL expansion opened up a whole new world of opportunities for eager young newcomers, many of whom likely would have taken far different career paths if the league had remained a closed six-team entity. Torrey, the architect of the New York Islanders’ dynasty teams, got his start in Oakland with the Seals. Scotty Bowman, who would go on to become the most successful NHL coach in history, began in St. Louis with the Blues.

So many new jobs were created. So many Hall of Fame careers were forged. Without expansion, who knows what alternate road they might have followed? “I probably would have ended up selling soap in Toronto,” Torrey said.

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