Hi everyone! Not much going on in the hockey world these days, so let’s get right to this week’s update, shall we.

In this week’s update, we go back to 1973. At that time, Charlie Finley had been in charge of the California Golden Seals for almost three years, but he had finally had enough of his money-bleeding hockey team. His first season at the top was an absolute disaster, a 20-53-5 dumpster-fire season that started off with a nine-game winless streak and ended with the first-overall draft pick becoming Guy Lafleur and going to Montreal. Year two was much better, attendance was up, and the Seals flirted with a playoff spot, but finished the year on an eight-game winless skein. Then came 1972-73, which started with half the team bolting to the WHA, and cratered with a pathetic 16-46-16 record. I have to give Finley credit for putting up with that much misery and failure for that long. That said, the franchise had become a miserable wreck mostly due to his own managerial incompetence and staggering thriftiness, so maybe he deserved whatever fate he was subjected to.

In this week’s Seals article, we go back to the March 2, 1973 issue of the Hockey News where Geoffrey Fisher recaps what had been arguably the Seals’ worst-ever season (and that would have been an inarguable fact had the Seals not ended the year on a four-game winning streak, which happened after the article had been written). You can download the piece here.

There won’t be an update next week as I will be on holiday with the family and lucky to have the slightest Internet connection. Might be able to check the occasional email or catch up on the daily Wordle, but not much more.

Hope you all have a great final two weeks of summer. Until next time, stay gold!