Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/History of the National Hockey League (1917–1942)

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The following is an archived discussion of a featured article nomination. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the article's talk page or in Wikipedia talk:Featured article candidates. No further edits should be made to this page.

The article was promoted by User:SandyGeorgia 03:13, 22 July 2008 [1].

History of the National Hockey League (1917–1942)[edit]

Nominator(s): Resolute


The first of a multipart series on the history of the National Hockey League. Currently a good article, and recently completed a peer review, I believe this article is ready for featured status. All comments welcome, and will be addressed. Thanks! Resolute 14:46, 3 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Comments

  • I think " Preface" should be renamed to "Background"
  • The currencies used should be clarified; both Canadian and American people and teams, are mentioned, for instance, so do the dollar signs represent American or Canadian dollars?

Gary King (talk) 19:30, 3 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Renamed to background. The currency situation is tricky though. Prior to 1924, it seems obvious that figures would be in Canadian Dollars. After 1924, it becomes messy. I will have to check my sources on them. The $15,000 that Charles Adams paid for the Bruins, for example, could be either currency, and I don't think my sources specified. Likewise, Smythe's purchase of the Maple Leafs I would presume to be Canadian Dollars, but can't say for certain. Resolute 19:46, 3 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Yep; the confusion for readers is all the more reason for them to be specified. Gary King (talk) 19:47, 3 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I'm not completely sure, but I think the American and Canadian dollar were equal until WWII.-Wafulz (talk) 19:49, 3 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Not according to Canadian dollar. Also, Canada has been associated with the British since its founding, and the United States had that whole Declaration of Independence thing going on. I don't think the two played that nicely together. Gary King (talk) 20:04, 3 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
The article says "[In 1858] the dollar was pegged at par with the U.S. dollar, on a gold standard of 1 dollar = 23.22 grains gold." It doesn't mention a change in the exchange rate until the start of World War II. Then again, that's not really proof of anything.-Wafulz (talk) 20:11, 3 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Anyways, just by looking at Canadian dollar#Independent Canadian dollar, the value seems to have gone up and down quite a lot, and since dates are already given in this article, then specifying the currency would be all the more helpful. Gary King (talk) 20:13, 3 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I've linked the first usage of $ to the Canadian Dollar, as the majority of the dollar figures in the article would definitely be using that currency. The only two figures I am uncertain of are the $15,000 price paid to buy the Bruins, and the $75,000 for the Americans. I can assume they are still referring to the Canadian Dollar, but none of the references I have suggest one way or another which currency was actually used. Resolute 01:32, 4 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
According to this, the Canadian and American dollars were nearly equal during those time periods, so I don't think it's that big of an issue.-Wafulz (talk) 02:41, 4 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Support Comments by delldot talk This FAC was brought to my attention over IRC. It's a really a beautiful article. Just a few superficial comments, some don't even require action, they're just questions about minor points I'm not totally clear on. So for a lot of those feel free to explain or correct me if I'm wrong.

  • I would state the obvious and establish context in the first sentence by stating what nation we're talking about.
  • I couldn't figure out how to add it to the first sentence, but I did specify that the NHL was originally all Canadian in the lead paragraph.
  • I suppose you've considered starting the article with The history of the National Hockey League of Canada and rejected the idea? Really it's fine the way you have it, just a suggestion. delldot talk 00:50, 4 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • I did, but "of Canada" wouldn't belong as part of the bolded lead, and the league was only a Canadian-only entity for seven years. In fact, it very quickly had more American teams than Canadian. In this case "National" is really just a word.
  • Does 1880s need to be linked?
  • Looks like it has alrady been done.
  • Sorry, I wasn't clear. I thought it shouldn't be. Tuberculosis, a FA selected at random, doesn't link decades, and other decades in this article aren't linked. delldot talk 00:50, 4 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Ahh. I wasn't thinking it should be linked either, actually. Changed back.
  • Per WP:DASH, m dashes aren't spaced.
  • It appears that was changed by a subsequent user. I have changed it back.
  • organization's honour: choose British or American spelling for consistency (also, defence is British, looks like most of the rest is American).
  • The article is in Canadian English, which by history and geography incorporates aspects of both British and American spelling.
  • Why is June 1 wikilinked but November 25 is not?
  • Looks as though that has already been changed for consistency.
  • perished sounds kind of weird to me, I'd go for died in order to avoid a fancy word where a plain one will do. But maybe ask another person who's good at prose.
  • Personally, I just liked the word. I'll change to died for now, however.
  • I don't know if led by Billy Burch and Shorty Green is a strong enough departure from the rest of the sentence to require m dashes, I'd think commas would work.
  • changed.
  • Aren't you supposed to wikilink the first occurrence of $ to the type of currency? I vaguely remember having read that somewhere. Why is it linked much farther down, in Great Depression?
  • Yeah, we're working on finding sources that specify which currency is being used. I could just link the Canadian Dollar on the first instance, but I am not certain that remains true later on.
  • I'm not familiar with the term American-based. Would it be better to say American team or team based in the US or something?
  • Removed "-based".
  • This seems kind of repetitive: Rangers goaltender Lorne Chabot was injured early in the game, leaving the Rangers without a goaltender. But I can't figure out how to rephrase it maybe the Rangers were left without a goaltender when Lorne Chabot was injured early in the game, leaving the reader to figure out what role he must have played from the context?
  • I simply removed the first instance of "Rangers" in your quoted section. The entire paragraph is about the Rangers, so it should still be obvious which team is being discussed.
  • Still two goaltenders, so not perfect, but I'm not overly worked up about it. delldot talk 00:50, 4 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oops. Removed the first usage of goaltender as well. It's implied that Chabot was the goaltender by the rest of the sentence.
  • With the Maroons unwilling to allow the Rangers to -- with seems kind of clumsy here. Maybe since or as?
  • Agreed, changed to "As the Maroons...".
  • There's a problem with switching tense here, but I'm not sure how to fix it without a lot of brackets: In his words, he wanted "a place where people can go in evening clothes, if they want to come there for a party or dinner ... a place that people can be proud to bring their wives or girlfriends to."
  • Removed the "In his words..." but other than that, I am not sure how to rephrase this. It is a past tense statement about a future tense quote. I'll think more on it.
  • Yeah, I've never heard of a way to fix this. Maybe something like Smythe also wanted to build a new shrine for his team, envisioning "a place where people can go...", but all this does is introduce more tenses. delldot talk 00:50, 4 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Is it intentional that sometimes punctuation is inside quotation marks and sometimes outside?
  • Probably not. I'll double check and fix where needed.
  • reworded to avoid the easter egg.
  • While other owners feared that broadcasting their games would cut into gate reciepts, Smythe supported the broadcast of Leafs games. -- kind of repetitive. Also, would it be Leafs', or is Leafs not possessive? Same question about the Canadiens organization, under Great Depression.
  • Reworded. On the possessiveness, it really could go either way. I can see it being taken as a possessive, but I have typically seen such phrases written without the apostrophe.
  • I actually think having the "Smythe supported" part as the second half of the sentence is better for flow, but no big deal either way. You could start it with Unlike if you wanted to keep the original construction. delldot talk 00:50, 4 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • I'm not sure though is the most logical connector here: Shore would ultimately serve a 16-game suspension for the hit, though it was known that had Bailey died, Boston police would have charged him with manslaughter.
  • Reworded.
  • Under Howie Morenz, this sentence is kind of confusing, with a lot of temporal terms: Morenz's return to Montreal would be short-lived, as on January 28, 1937, he broke his leg in four places after catching his skate on the ice while being checked by Chicago's Earl Seibert.
  • Removed the entirety before the first comma. It's unnecessary.
  • It was the after catching ... while being thing that I didn't like. How about On January 28, 1937, he broke his leg in four places: he caught his skate on the ice while being checked by Chicago's Earl Seibert? Still not perfect, I know. Or maybe On January 28, 1937, Morenz was checked by Chicago's Earl Seibert, caught his skate on the ice, and broke his leg in four places. Whatever you decide is fine. delldot talk 00:50, 4 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Broke it into two sentences. Hopefully this simplifies
  • No need to utilize utilize when you could use use (under Rules and innovations).
  • Fixed.
  • Sorry, I'm sports oblivious: what does iced the puck mean? If this is shooting the puck the length of the ice, you could put icing the puck in parentheses.
  • Done.
  • the league abandoned the rule forbidding goaltenders from leaving their feet to make a save - coincidentally, Benedict himself was the chief practitioner of this. m dash, not a hyphen. And was the chief practitioner of this sounds a little odd.
  • reworded.
  • I don't really like best either; it's so vague, it doesn't really provide any information. And who says he was one of the best? Maybe just an expansion of the concept is needed here. One of the most enthusiastic? Defended the goal most effectively? delldot talk 00:50, 4 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • I've gone and removed the caveat about Bennedict altogether. I'm not certain what RGTraynor was intending to state, and it doesn't really fit well, especially since it is an anacronism given how the paragraph is presented. Hopefully RG sees this and re-adds it as he sees fit.
  • Great, I sort of thought this sentence should be removed, but was too shy to suggest it. delldot talk 03:06, 4 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Overall, really beautifully done. Zero content problems, this is all minor MOS stuff. delldot talk 20:54, 3 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for the good words and review. I hope I've addressed your concerns. Resolute 23:55, 3 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Yep, you have. Whatever you end up doing with the very minor points that remain above, I happily support. delldot talk 00:50, 4 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
thanks! Resolute 01:11, 4 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Comments

  • Yes, it's got reliable fact-checking and is a standard across hockey biographies.-Wafulz (talk) 02:43, 4 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • That's written by Jamie Fitzpatrick, who has worked as a sports journalist for the CBC.-Wafulz (talk) 02:43, 4 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Otherwise sources look good, links all checked out with the link checker tool. Ealdgyth - Talk 02:35, 4 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
lol, I forgot about the citation vs cite x rule. I went with citation on general refs because the harvard reference template has been depricated. I'll correct the other citations tomorrow. Hockeydb has a page citing its sources. Sportsecyclopedia looks amateurish, but comparitavely speaking, I've found the information highly reliable. I think they had a references page as well, but I'll have to look for that tomorrow as well. Resolute 03:26, 4 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I've changed the cite x's to citations, though I have to say I don't like the look, given that {{Citation}} doesn't account for websites. Resolute 16:27, 4 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
You can use {{cite web}} or {{cite book}} instead of {{citation}} if you'd like. You just shouldn't mix the two types, either family works fine as long as they are consistent. Ealdgyth - Talk 21:39, 4 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

oppose - Image:Ottawa Citizen April 1 1934.jpg does not have, and cannot have a valid FU, easily expressed with the same text WP:NFC#1 Fasach Nua (talk) 11:59, 4 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Comments - Well-done, comprehensive article on the history of a major North American sports league. What's not to like? Well...

  • Background: "and league attendance and excitement dropped." Is there a better word than excitement? I think interest is more of a match.
  • Changed to interest.
  • Founding: The Canadiens, of all teams, don't need another link here after the previous section has one.
  • Fixed.
  • Early years: 1919-20 season linked twice in section.
  • Fixed.
  • "second-half champion Toronto team" Replace team with Arenas? It should be okay since their nickname hasn't been mentioned yet.
  • The team wasn't formally called the Arenas until 1918-19. In 1917-18, they were simply "Toronto". Arenas would be anacronsitic in this case.
  • One-sentence paragraph at end of section. I never like these, but it doesn't seem to go well anywhere else.
  • Broke into two sentences.
  • Competition with the WCHL: I recommend a change in the last paragraph to "were purchased for $75,000 by New York mobster Bill Dwyer". The order of this sentence looks off as it is now.
  • Changed.
  • 1920s expansion: "The New York Rangers were granted" Either find a replacement for granted or say "granted to him".
  • Done.
  • New York Americans goalie Joe Hall links to the Canadiens' Joe Hall.
  • Oops. That is supposed to be Joe Miller, not Hall. Fixed.
  • Conn Smythe and the Toronto Maple Leafs, Livingston's court battles: "making her the first female owner in hockey history, and only the second in all of sports." Is this referring to major North American sports? If so the article should indicate that.
  • The source I have doesn't specify. I'll eliminate the statement of her being the 2nd in all of sports to eliminate ambiguity
  • Ace Bailey benefit game: Plenty of hockey players have survived vicious checks. It would be better to describe the damage this hit did to Bailey. Right now it just says he landed on his head, but the life-threatening injury, brain hemorrhaging, isn't even mentioned.
  • I'll improve this when I have access to my sources.
  • Clarified further, detailing the graveness of Bailey's injuries. Resolute 01:41, 6 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • "an all-star team" Capitalize all-star?
  • "all-star" is not a proper name in this context. I personally don't think it should be capitalized, but if others disagree, can make the change.
  • External links: The NHL link is copied over what should be the CBC link.
  • Oops, bad copy-paste fixed.

Giants2008 (talk) 16:32, 4 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks! Resolute 17:57, 4 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Another round from me.
  • Great Depression: "The Eagles played only one year in St. Louis before asking permission to suspend operations." I believe this should be "asking for permission...".
  • Fixed.
  • "The league refused, bought out and dispersed the Eagles' players." Missing a connecter after the comma.
  • Reworded.
  • Howie Morenz: "as teams attempted to fit in the cap." Awkward. I prefer something like "under the cap."
  • Fixed.
  • "Morenz's his skate" Also, I recommend this change: "while he was being checked...".
  • Typo fixed, change made.
  • Chicago's "All-American" Team: "to compile a team only of American players." Reverse only and of.
  • Done.
  • "regularly in the league" to "who appeared" or similar.
  • Reworded, slightly different.
  • Rules and innovations: "After the Senators third championship in 1924," Should be Senators'.
  • Fixed.
  • Formatting issue in third paragraph (icing).
  • Fixed.
  • Odd to have Frank Calder linked with full name in third paragraph of section when he isn't in first paragraph.
  • moved.
  • Hyphen for two piece?
  • Toyed with an em-dash, just to mess with ya, but fixed. ;o)
That's it from my vantage point. Giants2008 (talk) 02:15, 6 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
And addressed. Resolute 02:53, 6 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Support - This has me looking forward to future installments of this series. Another fine hockey article. Giants2008 (talk) 00:23, 8 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Hold on a second. I just noticed the introduction of some new material, which has created a number of new problems.
  • "the heavily-favoured Maple Leafs" No hyphen after ly.
  • "fifth-place Red Wings" Should be Red Wings'.
  • "declare the Red Wings as "unbeatable"." Not sure as is needed, although this is a judgement call.
  • This is the primary reason I dropped my support: The Leafs are not the only team in NHL history to come back from a 3–0 deficit (check spelling of deficit). As a Rangers fan this kills me, but the 1975 Islanders deserve credit where it's due. Featured articles can't contain mistakes like this.
  • I would start a new subsection with the new paragraph and the birth of the Original Six. This would be a better fit than shoving the information under the Chicago subsection.
Sorry for the switch, but our best work must be as flawless as possible. I'll be perfectly willing to support again once these are resolved. Giants2008 (talk) 00:44, 8 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Whoops... silly mistake. The Leafs are the only team to win a championship series. I forgot a word (doh!) Other issues corrected. Resolute 01:03, 8 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Further to Gary's query about currency, can you announce at the top that "National" means "Canadian"? Many readers won't instantly know whether it's US or Canadian, since ... the north of the US can be pretty cold, can't it? Just add "Canadian" before "National"? TONY (talk) 16:47, 9 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
    • Hmm, if I correctly understand what you're saying, I think I'm gonna disagree here. "National Hockey Association" is the proper name of a league, as is the "National Hockey League". We don't call the "National Hockey League" the "United States National Hockey League", so why should we call it the "Canatdain National Hockey Association"? If someone wants to know more about the NHA they can click on the link. Blackngold29 17:22, 9 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
    • It is stated in the lead that the NHL was formed as a new "Canadian professional league..." Beyond the league's founding, to specify it as being part of a single country would be inaccurate, as since 1924, the NHL has teams in two countries. So in truth, "National" does not mean either Canada or the US. Resolute 19:51, 9 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
      • If Tony is referring to the WHA, I would prefer "the Canada-based National Hockey Association (WHA)". That way the league name is unchanged and adequate context is provided. I don't see a problem with the NHL in this regard. Giants2008 (17-14) 00:28, 13 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
        • Honestly, I don't really see such a change as being necessary. The lead states where the four teams are from, and they are all Canadian cities. It's fairly obviously implied, imo. Resolute 15:37, 13 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • None of these would be government works, so they would not be subject to crown copyright.
  • Image:Lpatrick.jpg Is stated to be in the public domain by Library and Archives Canada. I have tried to update, so if that isn't what you are looking for, let me know.
  • Image:1925 26 NYAmericans NHL.jpg I replaced outright with one from another year that has better source information
  • Image:Silver7.jpg includes a link to the Library and Archives Canada link where it is stated that the image is in the public domain
  • Image:Joe Malone.jpg is certainly PD, but I will ask the original uploader if he can provide the source.
  • Image:MLG 1931w.jpg I've replaced. Based on the description, there really is no way at all to determine it's copyright status
Resolute 16:24, 14 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I'll take a closer look at them later, but, yes, Image:Lpatrick.jpg does look good now. The date of 1971 really didn't jive with the tag. --NE2 17:40, 14 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
All but Malone look good. --NE2 09:11, 15 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I've commented Malone out until I can properly source it or find a replacement. Resolute 16:11, 15 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Comments—The prose is not bad, but could do with a polish throughout by someone unfamiliar with it. Here are examples I picked up at the top.

  • I've been through a PR and had other members of the hockey project look it over. Any suggestions you have are most appreciated.
  • Always uncomfortable with an historical statement in the present tense: "The history of the National Hockey League begins with the demise of". Then we're shunted into past tense.
  • reworded
  • "The NHL suffered during the latter half of the 1930s, as the Great Depression and World War II led the league to contract to six teams by 1942." Rather than leave us hanging for a line with the word "suffered" (how did they suffer?), why not: "During the latter half of the 1930s, the Great Depression and World War II reduced the NHL to just six teams by 1942." Avoid "contract" in this sense (confusion with players' contracts).
  • reworded
  • "This commercialization conflicted strongly with the prevalent amateur spirit."—unidiomatic. "This commercialization was strongly against the spirit of the prevailing amateur ethic", or something like that?
  • reworded
  • "from inside and outside of the AHAC"—spot the redundant word.
  • reworded
  • "and rink owners wanted to have senior hockey as their marquee attraction, senior AHAC clubs became increasingly leery about"—Remove "to have"; can you find a more familiar word than "leery"?
  • changed to "reluctant"
  • "where seven clubs existed"—ouch; please avoid "existed" in this sense (I see a lot on WP): "where there were seven clubs".
  • reworded

TONY (talk) 04:37, 15 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the feedback. Resolute 16:11, 15 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

PS MOSNUM says all or none for date autoformatting: you had half-way house. I've cleansed it all to allow your high-value links to breathe. TONY (talk) 04:38, 15 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Rejoinder: But what about the rest of the text? Someone fresh is needed to go through it; these were merely random examples. We do want to be proud of the article. Can you locate a word-nerd or two from the edit-history pages of similar articles? Try FACs first. WNs are obvious from their edit summaries: view diffs to see whether they're up to it. TONY (talk) 05:00, 17 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I've asked Maxim to take a look, if he is up to it. And, of course, any further examples you might identify would be appreciated. Thanks, Resolute 16:56, 17 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Maxim was up to it. So he completed it. Maxim(talk) 19:26, 20 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support, concerns addressed. --Laser brain (talk) 15:36, 21 July 2008 (UTC) Oppose but open to convincing. It's within reach and Maxim made excellent progress; however, there is still work to be done. Several oddities spotted just in the lead. I was discouraged after reading the lead, which is one of the weak points of the article as it stands. However, reading further rewarded me with better prose. Let's allow our readers to judge this book by its cover, shall we?[reply]
    • The layout is weird in my browser—the "History of the NHL" box appears below and to the left of the lead image (under the text).
    • I'm definitely not a fan of "easter egg" piped links like the one in the lead for the Toronto Arenas. Please see Wikipedia:MOSLINK#Intuitiveness.
    • "... by 1926 consisted of ten teams in Ontario, Quebec and the Northeastern United States." Chicago and Detroit are not considered part of Northeastern United States.
    • "At the same time, the NHL emerged as the only surviving major league and the sole competitor for the Stanley Cup." Would eliminating "surviving" change the meaning?
    • "... and was among the first leagues to allow goaltenders to leave their feet to make saves." Do you mean jump or leap? Dive? What?
    • The lead is actually rather short considering the content. Little context given to Bailey and Morenz—why make us read on just to understand the basic? Why were they raising money for them? Is that fact actually important enough for the lead? Some seemingly-important facts missing from the lead include dominant teams and players of the era.
    • "Regulate" seems a more apt term that "regularize" doesn't it?
    • "Several of the league's team owners were growing increasingly frustrated with Toronto Blueshirts owner Eddie Livingstone ..." Remove "growing" or "increasingly".
    • "During the second game of the series, Lorne Chabot was injured early in the game ..." Suggest "Lorne Chabot was injured early in the second game of the series ..." --Laser brain (talk) 07:02, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • I thought the lead was already copyedited by Resolute with Tony1's advice and I skipped it. I'll work on that as well... Maxim(talk) 12:47, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
    • Fixed those problems now. Thanks for the review, Laser brain. Maxim(talk) 13:46, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
      • Thanks for the changes, Maxim. And my apologies on the "Northeast US" bit. Being in Western Canada, "NE US" is much larger to me than it is to people who actually live there.  ;) Resolute 15:38, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Note, the article needs attention thoughout to puncuation on image captions, see WP:MOS#Captions. Sentence fragments don't end in a period. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 02:51, 22 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this page.
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