The relocation from Quebec to Hamilton was another of those shady deals that were quickly becoming the NHL’s trademark.
The owner of the Quebec team was Mike Quinn, a smooth, dapper fellow, and the only one of the NHL brass who got along with Eddie Livingstone. This kind of treason could not go unpunished. He did not, in fact, sell his franchise. Frank Calder, the league president, stripped the franchise from him (ostensibly because it was financially unstable), and sold it to the Abso-Pure Ice Company of Hamilton. Those were the days before electric refrigerators, when every well-equipped kitchen had an ice box and the iceman called regularly with fresh blocks of factory-made ice. Abso-Pure actually provided the icemaking equipment for the Tigers' new arena – a brilliant marketing idea.
Abso-Pure made their cheque out, not to Mike Quinn or even to the NHL, but to Francis Calder personally. It is not recorded what he did with the money, but there is no record that Mike Quinn ever got a penny for the forced sale of his franchise.
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