In the months of March and April I was embedded as a television producer with the Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League. Through 24 regular season games and a first round sweep, it was crystal clear to me that the Canes are a favourite not only to win the Eastern Conference Finals but to win the Stanley Cup itself.
After a second series sweep, and an 8-0 start to the postseason, the Hurricanes indeed are in the East finals. What I find interesting is that they seem to be on a collision course to face the Colorado Avalanche in the Cup Finals. (The Avs are a similar 8-1 in the postseason and will play in the Western Conference finals). This would be only the second Stanley Cup matchup of clubs that originated in the defunct World Hockey Association (WHA). In 2006, Carolina defeated the Edmonton Oilers in 7 games, the only previous all WHA Cup matchup.
In a year where both Carolina and Colorado featured their throwback team uniforms as the Hartford Whalers and the Quebec Nordiques, respectively, I thought it would be an interesting task to detail the fortunes of the four teams that survived the WHA era and crossed over into the NHL.
CAROLINA HURRICANES
As the 1979-80 NHL season began, the Hurricanes were the Hartford Whalers, previously the New England Whalers in the WHA. Their jersey and team uniform remain iconic among a certain vintage of hockey fan, and they became the third former WHA team to win the Stanley Cup 20 years ago.
Originally, the Whalers were based in Boston but faced considerable competition from the NHL’s Bruins and the National Basketball Association’s Celtics. Scheduling in the Boston Garden was complicated, and the Whalers were not a priority, necessitating the move to Connecticut.
In Hartford the team acquired NHL legend Gordie Howe and his sons Mark and Marty, creating ticket demand and ultimately, ensuring their inclusion in the NHL merger. The team was sold to a local ownership group for USD $31 million in 1988.
Business waned, largely due to poor TV revenue and decreasing ticket sales. A November, 1991 archive story from the Hartford Courant stated that “the Whalers have budgeted an operating loss of $4.706 million in 1991-92.” The club was sold to Peter Karmanos for $47.5 million in 1994. Karmanos moved the team to Greensboro, North Carolina in 1997, while its arena was built in Raleigh, where it moved in 1999.
In 2018, Tom Dundon purchased 52% of the team for $420 million, solidifying his ownership in 2021. The team has seen a rapid rise in revenue and value since then. Dundon sold 12.5% of the team in March of this year at a value of USD $2.66 billion. Ticket sales and corporate sponsorship have increased dramatically as the team became a perennial contender. According to Forbes, the Hurricanes generated $218 million in revenue in 2025. Upgrades to the Lenovo Center and development plans for a sports and entertainment district in the area assure continued rising revenue and value. A Stanley Cup win this year would guarantee an entire generation gets caught up in the storm surge.
COLORADO AVALANCHE
They came into the NHL as the Quebec Nordiques and remained in the city until moving to Denver in 1995. Incredibly, the Avs won the Stanley Cup in their first year in town, a painful moment for fans of the Nords, especially with Quebec City native Patrick Roy spearheading the victory as the goaltender.
Canadian beer brewer Carling O’Keefe assumed ownership of the WHA Nordiques for CDN $2 million in 1977. A competitive team in the league, the Nordiques sank to the bottom of the NHL as they were forced to release all but four players to an NHL expansion draft. But with the emergence of Michel Goulet and Peter Stastny, Quebec quickly became competitive in the NHL in the ‘80s, playing in the Prince of Wales Conference finals in 1982 and 1985.
Molson bought out Carling O’Keefe, and an ownership group led by Marcel Aubut bought the team in 1987. With a weak Canadian dollar in the 1990s, many Canadian teams struggled financially. Aubut went to the provincial government for financial assistance but was turned down and sold the team to a group in Denver for USD $103 million.
The team was bought by Stan Kroenke for $202 million in 2000 and remains under his family’s ownership. The Avs won the Stanley Cup again in 2001 and most recently in 2022. According to Sportico in October of 2025, the team was valued at $1.8B with over $200 million annual revenue.
EDMONTON OILERS
Despite a first round exit from this year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Oilers are by any measure the most successful of the four WHA teams that merged into the NHL. They have played in nine Stanley Cup Finals since 1980, winning five times, and boast some of the most iconic former players in hockey history, including Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier.
Additionally, they have the 6th highest valuation among NHL teams – USD $2.76 billion according to Sportico in October, 2025, and likely now above $3B well into 2026. With one of hockey’s best players – Connor McDavid – the Oilers are believed by Forbes to have the highest operating income in hockey at $244M.
But it wasn’t always financial bliss for the one-time Alberta Oilers. Although they have remained the only merger team to stay in their original city, the Oil languished financially under owner Peter Pocklington in the 1980s, leading to the “fire sale” which included the Gretzky trade to Los Angeles in 1988. The team was nearly sold and relocated to Houston in 1998 but remained in Edmonton thanks to an investment group’s CDN $107 million purchase.
The financial good times began in 2008 when Edmonton billionaire Daryl Katz bought the team for close to $200M and eventually financed a $100M downtown arena which opened in 2016 (Wikipedia).
The team is now a financial powerhouse and despite an early postseason departure this year, the Oilers made it to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup in 2024 and 2025, losing both times to the Florida Panthers.
WINNIPEG JETS
While the Jets’ history upon joining the NHL in 1979 is littered with poor financial health and movement, the team was perhaps the most successful of its counterparts in the WHA era of the 1970s, winning three titles in 1976, 1978 and the last one in 1979. It lured NHL legend Bobby Hull with a massive contract in 1972 and was among the first pro teams to bring in players from Europe.
But the move to the NHL brought hardships. Most of the roster’s great players were lost to the expansion draft, and the team was forced to pay a $6 million entry fee. They were not competitive for years and struggled with the weak Canadian dollar and rising salaries. A year after the Nordiques moved to Denver, the Jets moved to Phoenix and became the Coyotes.
The financial standing of the Arizona Coyotes was in poor health for years. The NHL team never found its footing in the desert, losing a reported USD $54.8 million in 2008. Arena issues, management fees, poor broadcast deals and a disinterested fan base ultimately led the team to be sold and rebranded in 2024 as the Utah Mammoth. Sportico valued the team at USD $1.44 billion in its last report.
A second Winnipeg Jets franchise was re-born in 2011 when the 1999 expansion Atlanta Thrashers moved to Manitoba. The Jets 2.0 still rank low on the Sportico valuation list – 29th at $1.33 billion – and a team from Winnipeg has never made it to the Stanley Cup Finals, but ask anyone in Winnipeg and they are happy to have an NHL team in town.
Follow Dan Gladman on Instagram and Blue Sky: @dgontheroad
