Red Dutton
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In 1943 Red Dutton agreed to serve as president of the NHL after the sudden death of Frank Calder. Dutton was promised by the league's Board of Governors that after the war he would be given an NHL franchise to re-establish hockey in Brooklyn. As president he stated that he could see the day when the six-team league expanded to a fifteen-team circuit with three divisions. The NHL Board of Governors were not amused with such futuristic, far-fetched comments.
Once the war ended, Dutton made inquires about his franchise but the NHL Governors reneged on their offer. Dutton resigned the presidency, but only after he persuaded them to accept Clarence Campbell as his successor, in 1946. He returned to the hockey world briefly as a judge and dispute settler for the Western Canada Junior Hockey League but business interests outside of hockey kept him busy in the last half of his life.
