The remaining owners

In the 1916–17 season, the NHA was facing numerous problems. The Quebec Bulldogs were in financial difficulty,[10] while the league's most popular team, the Toronto 228th Battalion, was called away to fight in World War I.[11] Several of the league's team owners were growing frustrated with Toronto Blueshirts owner Eddie Livingstone, with whom they had been having problems since 1915.[12] Prior to the start of the season, the owners of the Montreal teams, Sam Lichtenhein of the Wanderers and George Kennedy of the Canadiens, threatened to drop the Blueshirts from the league over a player dispute Livingstone was having with the 228th Battalion.[13] Livingstone was also in a dispute with the Ottawa Senators over the rights to Cy Denneny,[14] while Kennedy and Livingstone had a mutual dislike that occasionally threatened to come to blows at league meetings.[15]

The remaining owners used the loss of the 228th Battalion as a reason to eliminate the Blueshirts on February 11, 1917. The Montreal teams led a motion to reduce the NHA to four teams by removing the Blueshirts,[16] ignoring Livingstone's attempts to create a revamped five-team schedule.[12] Livingstone was promised that his players would be returned to him after the season.[11] The dispersal of the Blueshirts' players, organized by league secretary Frank Calder, was described by the Toronto Mail and Empire as a "raid of the Toronto players".[16] At the same meeting, the league adopted a motion commanding Livingstone sell the Blueshirts by June 1.


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