List of NHL seasons
Early years
Table:
No.

Season

Playoffs

Stanley Cup
Finals [4c]

No. of
teams

Reg. season
games

Start
(reg. season)

Finish
(incl. NHL playoffs)

Top record

Champion

1
1917–18
1918 [1]
1918
4/3[5]
22
December 19
March 13
Montreal Canadiens (10–4–0) (1st half)
Toronto Hockey Club (5–3–0) (2nd half)
Toronto Hockey Club

2
1918–19
1919
1919
3
18
December 19
March 6
Montreal Canadiens (7–3–0) (1st half)
Ottawa Senators (7–1–0) (2nd half)
Montreal Canadiens [1]

3
1919–20
1920
1920
4[6]
24
December 23
March 10 [7]
Ottawa Senators (9–3–0) (1st half)
Ottawa Senators (10–2–0) (2nd half)
Ottawa Senators

4
1920–21
1921
1921
4
24
December 22
March 15
Ottawa Senators (8–2–0) (1st half)
Toronto St. Pats (10–4–0) (2nd half)
Ottawa Senators

5
1921–22
1922
1922
4
24
December 17
March 13
Ottawa Senators (14–8–2)
Toronto St. Pats

6
1922–23
1923
1923
4
24
December 16
March 9
Ottawa Senators (14–9–1)
Ottawa Senators

7
1923–24
1924
1924
4
24
December 15
March 11
Ottawa Senators (16–8–0)
Montreal Canadiens

8
1924–25
1925
1925
6[8]
30
November 29
March 13
Hamilton Tigers (19–10–1)
Montreal Canadiens [1]

9
1925–26
1926
1926
7[9]
36
November 28
March 27
Ottawa Senators (24–8–4)
Montreal Maroons

10
1926–27
1927
1927
10[10]
44
November 18
April 13
Ottawa Senators (30–10–4)
Ottawa Senators

11
1927–28
1928
1928
10
44
November 15
April 14
Montreal Canadiens (26–11–7)
New York Rangers

12
1928–29
1929
1929
10
44
November 15
March 29
Montreal Canadiens (22–7–15)
Boston Bruins

13
1929–30
1930
1930
10
44
November 14
April 3
Boston Bruins (38–5–1)
Montreal Canadiens

14
1930–31
1931
1931
10
44
November 11
April 14
Boston Bruins (28–10–6)
Montreal Canadiens

15
1931–32
1932
1932
8[11]
48
November 12
April 9
Montreal Canadiens (25–16–7)
Toronto Maple Leafs

16
1932–33
1933
1933
9[12]
48
November 10
April 13
Boston Bruins (25–15–8)
New York Rangers

17
1933–34
1934
1934
9
48
November 9
April 10
Toronto Maple Leafs (26–13–9)
Chicago Black Hawks

18
1934–35
1935
1935
9
48
November 8
April 9
Toronto Maple Leafs (30–14–4)
Montreal Maroons

19
1935–36
1936
1936
8[13]
48
November 7
April 11
Detroit Red Wings (24–16–8)
Detroit Red Wings

20
1936–37
1937
1937
8
48
November 5
April 15
Detroit Red Wings (25–14–9)
Detroit Red Wings

21
1937–38
1938
1938
8
48
November 4
April 12
Boston Bruins (30–11–7)
Chicago Black Hawks

22
1938–39
1939
1939
7[14]
48
November 3
April 16
Boston Bruins (36–10–2)
Boston Bruins

23
1939–40
1940
1940
7
48
November 2
April 13
Boston Bruins (31–12–5)
New York Rangers

24
1940–41
1941
1941
7
48
November 3
April 12
Boston Bruins (27–8–13)
Boston Bruins

25
1941–42
1942
1942
7
48
November 1
April 18
New York Rangers (29–17–2)
Toronto Maple Leafs

Consulting the data table for the 'Early years' part of 'List of NHL seasons', write a one-sentence description of the highlighted cells and return it as JSON: {"answer": "YOUR ANSWER"}.