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As I recall, the ""classic 6"" teams were in a league that operated like a country club. They nearly got caught napping, but they headed off the second-major-league threat by expanding... which of course brought in a bunch of money to the old guard from the entrance fees. Also, they aligned the new teams in a separate division, which essentially made the Stanley Cup finals an exhibition series for the winners of the ""classic 6"" playoff rounds. Further evolution of the league evened out a lot of that stuff, of course, but there's some intrigue connected with their initial expansion. I noticed there were many references to ""Norris House League"" in Google, so it's not like this is unknown. Maybe the comment could be written better and/or with more detail, but it's an important part of the nature of the NHL as it existed during that time period.  What's up, Doc? "