With the addition of two new teams, the Washington Capitals and Kansas City Scouts, the NHL bumped up the number of games from 78 to 80 and split the previously two-division league into four divisions and two conferences.
Decades after the failed relocation out of Pittsburgh and the initial abandonment of the San Francisco Bay Area, the Penguins would play the spiritual successor to the Seals, the San Jose Sharks, in the 2016 Stanley Cup Finals.