National Hockey League
The National Hockey League (NHL; French: Ligue nationale de hockey [liɡ nɑsjɔnal də ɔkɛ], LNH) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 33 teams (32 of which are active)[nb 2]—26 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The Stanley Cup, the oldest professional sports trophy in North America,[7] is awarded annually to the league playoff champion at the end of each season. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada and is considered to be the top ranked professional ice hockey league in the world,[8] with players from 17 countries as of the 2023–24 season.[9] The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) also views the Stanley Cup as one of the "most important championships available to the sport".[10] The NHL is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan.
"NHL" redirects here. For other uses, see NHL (disambiguation).Sport
November 26, 1917,
Montreal, Quebec, Canada[1]
33 (one inactive)
Canada (7 teams)
United States (26 teams)
North America
Vegas Golden Knights
(1st title)
(2022-23)
Montreal Canadiens
(25 titles)[nb 1]
The National Hockey League was organized at the Windsor Hotel in Montreal on November 26, 1917, after the suspension of operations of its predecessor organization, the National Hockey Association (NHA), which had been founded in 1909 at Renfrew, Ontario.[11] The NHL immediately took the NHA's place as one of the leagues that contested for the Stanley Cup in an annual interleague competition before a series of league mergers and foldings left the NHL as the only league left competing for the Stanley Cup in 1926.
At its inception, the NHL had four teams, all in Canada, thus the adjective "National" in the league's name. The league expanded to the United States in 1924, when the Boston Bruins joined, and has since consisted of both American and Canadian teams. From 1942 to 1967, the league had only six teams, collectively (if not contemporaneously) nicknamed the "Original Six". The NHL added six new teams to double its size at the 1967 NHL expansion. The league then increased to 18 teams by 1974 and 21 teams in 1979. Between 1991 and 2000, the NHL further expanded to 30 teams. It added its 31st and 32nd teams in 2017 and 2021, respectively, followed by a 33rd in 2024.[nb 2]
The NHL is the fifth-highest grossing professional sport league in the world by revenue, after the National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Basketball Association (NBA), and the English Premier League (EPL).[12] The league's headquarters have been in Manhattan since 1989, when the head office moved from Montreal.[13] There have been four league-wide work stoppages in NHL history, all occurring after 1992.[14]
The NHL's regular season is typically held from October to April, with each team playing 82 games. Following the conclusion of the regular season, 16 teams advance to the Stanley Cup playoffs, a four-round tournament that runs into June to determine the league champion. Since the league's founding in 1917, the Montreal Canadiens have won the most combined NHL titles with 25, winning three NHL championship series before the league took full exclusivity of the Stanley Cup in 1926, and 22 Stanley Cups afterwards.[nb 1] The reigning league champions are the Vegas Golden Knights, who defeated the Florida Panthers in the 2023 Stanley Cup Finals.
