NHL Franchise Boys

It sounds completely absurd, but 80 years ago the Montreal Canadiens were nearly relocated to Ohio. Whenever a team struggles with attendance, finances, or on-ice success, the discussion of their relocation can become an issue. Then there are those franchises like the Montreal Canadiens, viewed almost as untouchable. A move to Cleveland, or any other destination, may be unfathomable for the modern day Canadiens organization, but for a brief period in 1935 it was a possibility.

With the economy in shambles, it should come as no surprise that any professional sports teams were experiencing such difficulties, Montreal being no exception. It’s unclear when exactly the ownership was officially for sale, but Leo Dandurand and Joe Cattarinich did turn down a $600,000 offer from an unidentified American syndicate in 1930. As the Great Depression dragged on, that price tag would drop at a fast rate. Forget $600,000, they would be offered a $200,000 bid from a Cleveland group, as was reported in the New York Herald Tribune article pictured above.

Dandurand and Cattarinich would ultimately refuse the Cleveland offer. Financially, this likely wasn’t the right decision, as that price would continue to drop. They eventually got to the point where they needed out quickly. The co-owners would eventually drop their price all the way to $165,000, as local businessmen Maurice Forget, Ernest Savard, and Louis Gelinas bought the Canadiens for that amount in September of 1935. It would be discovered that these three businessmen were really a front for the Canadian Arena Company, owners of the Montreal Forum and the rival Montreal Maroons. The Canadiens came very close to moving, but were instead brought under the same banner as their city rivals.

The CAC was feeling the economic pinch as much as any other organization, with the Forum and the Maroons both losing money as well. Simple logic dictated that they would only be able to continue the operation of two teams for so long, and one would have to go. Around the 1937-38 season they began looking to cut one of the teams out, and given that the Maroons won the 1935 Stanley Cup, they appeared to be the candidate for survival. Enter none other than Toronto Maple Leafs owner, Conn Smythe, who led a movement within the NHL to veto the Canadian Arena Company’s attempt to fold the Canadiens. He won over the league’s government in his defense of what he felt was one of the most distinct franchises in the league, and the Maroons would eventually be the team to fold in 1938. That’s how close it came to becoming the Cleveland Canadiens.