National Hockey League

**The National Hockey League** or NHL, is the highest-level ice hockey league in the world. It has 32 teams - 7 from Canada and 25 from the United States. The championship trophy is the Stanley Cup.

The NHL were founded in 1917. There were five original teams in 1917:

- Montreal Canadiens
- Montreal Wanderers
- Ottawa Senators (later St. Louis Eagles; not related to the current Ottawa Senators)
- Quebec Bulldogs (later Hamilton Tigers)
- Toronto Arenas (later St. Patricks, then Maple Leafs)

They played 22 games a year. The Wanderers had to stop playing in the first year because their arena burned down. Over the years some teams died out, and others were created: the Boston Bruins, New York Americans, Montreal Maroons, Pittsburgh Pirates (later Philadelphia Quakers), New York Rangers, Chicago Black Hawks and Detroit Cougars (later Falcons, then Red Wings).

Some teams folded during the Great Depression, so by 1942 there were only six teams:

- Boston Bruins
- Chicago Blackhawks
- Detroit Red Wings
- Montreal Canadiens
- New York Rangers
- Toronto Maple Leafs

There were only these six teams for 25 years, so they became known as the "Original Six".

By the 1940s, they were playing 50 games a year, but this increased slowly to 80 games by the 1970s. In 1967, the league increased to 12 teams. By 1979 it had 21 teams, and today it has 32. Some of the teams that no longer exist are the Oakland Seals, Minnesota North Stars (now the Dallas Stars), Winnipeg Jets (now the dormant Arizona Coyotes), Kansas City Scouts (which became the Colorado Rockies and are now the New Jersey Devils), Hartford Whalers (now the Carolina Hurricanes), Quebec Nordiques (now the Colorado Avalanche) and Atlanta Thrashers (now the current Winnipeg Jets).

Today they play 82 games a year, plus four rounds of playoffs. The players make a lot of money (many make over a million dollars a year). Because they could make so much money, many Europeans came over to North America to play in the NHL. Today almost all the world's best hockey players are in the NHL.

## List of teams

|style="background:white; align=center"|Division|style="background:white; align=center"|Team|style="background:white; align=center"|City|style="background:white; align=center"|Arena|style="background:white; align=center"|Capacity|style="background:white; align=center"|Founded|style="background:white; align=center"|Joined|style="background:white; align=center"|General manager|style="background:white; align=center"|Head coach|style="background:white; align=center"|Captain|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|**Boston Bruins**|Boston, Massachusetts|TD Garden|align=center|17,850|colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|1924|Don Sweeney|Jim Montgomery|Brad Marchand|||||||||||
|**Buffalo Sabres**|Buffalo, New York|KeyBank Center|align=center|19,070|colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|1970|Kevyn Adams|Lindy Ruff|Rasmus Dahlin|||||||||||
|**Detroit Red Wings**|Detroit, Michigan|Little Caesars Arena|align=center|19,515|colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|1926|Steve Yzerman|Derek Lalonde|Dylan Larkin|||||||||||
|**Florida Panthers**|Sunrise, Florida|Amerant Bank Arena|align=center|19,250|colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|1993|Bill Zito|Paul Maurice|Aleksander Barkov|||||||||||
|**Montreal Canadiens**|Montreal, Quebec|Bell Centre|align=center|21,302|align=center|1909|align=center|1917|Kent Hughes|Martin St. Louis|Nick Suzuki|||||||||
|**Ottawa Senators**|Ottawa, Ontario|Canadian Tire Centre|align=center|18,652|colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|1992|Steve Staios|Travis Green|Brady Tkachuk|||||||||||
|**Tampa Bay Lightning**|Tampa, Florida|Benchmark International Arena|align=center|19,092|colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|1992|Julien BriseBois|Jon Cooper|Victor Hedman|||||||||||
|**Toronto Maple Leafs**|Toronto, Ontario|Scotiabank Arena|align=center|18,819|colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|1917|Brad Treliving|Craig Berube|Auston Matthews|||||||||||
|**Carolina Hurricanes**|Raleigh, North Carolina|Lenovo Center|align=center|18,680|align=center|1972|align=center|1979*|Eric Tulsky|Rod Brind'Amour|Jordan Staal|||||||||
|**Columbus Blue Jackets**|Columbus, Ohio|Nationwide Arena|align=center|18,144|colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|2000|Don Waddell|Dean Evason|Boone Jenner|||||||||||
|**New Jersey Devils**|Newark, New Jersey|Prudential Center|align=center|16,514|colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|1974*|Tom Fitzgerald|Sheldon Keefe|Nico Hischier|||||||||||
|**New York Islanders**|Elmont, New York|UBS Arena|align=center|17,113|colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|1972|Lou Lamoriello|Patrick Roy|Anders Lee|||||||||||
|**New York Rangers**|New York City, New York|Madison Square Garden|align=center|18,006|colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|1926|Chris Drury|Peter Laviolette|Jacob Trouba|||||||||||
|**Philadelphia Flyers**|Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|Xfinity Mobile Arena|align=center|19,500|colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|1967|Daniel Briere|John Tortorella|Sean Couturier|||||||||||
|**Pittsburgh Penguins**|Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania|PPG Paints Arena|align=center|18,387|colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|1967|Kyle Dubas|Mike Sullivan|Sidney Crosby|||||||||||
|**Washington Capitals**|Washington, D.C.|Capital One Arena|align=center|18,506|colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|1974|Chris Patrick|Spencer Carbery|Alexander Ovechkin|||||||||||
|**Chicago Blackhawks**|Chicago, Illinois|United Center|align=center|19,717|colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|1926|Kyle Davidson|Luke Richardson|Nick Foligno|||||||||||
|**Colorado Avalanche**|Denver, Colorado|Ball Arena|align=center|18,007|align=center|1972|align=center|1979*|Chris MacFarland|Jared Bednar|Gabriel Landeskog|||||||||
|**Dallas Stars**|Dallas, Texas|American Airlines Center|align=center|18,532|colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|1967*|Jim Nill|Peter DeBoer|Jamie Benn|||||||||||
|**Minnesota Wild**|Saint Paul, Minnesota|Grand Casino Arena|align=center|17,954|colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|2000|Bill Guerin|John Hynes|Jared Spurgeon|||||||||||
|**Nashville Predators**|Nashville, Tennessee|Bridgestone Arena|align=center|17,113|colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|1998|Barry Trotz|Andrew Brunette|Roman Josi|||||||||||
|**St. Louis Blues**|St. Louis, Missouri|Enterprise Center|align=center|18,724|colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|1967|Doug Armstrong|Drew Bannister|Brayden Schenn|||||||||||
|**Utah Mammoth**|Salt Lake City, Utah|Delta Center|align=center|12,000|colspan = "2" style="text-align:center;"|2024|Bill Armstrong|André Tourigny|Clayton Keller|||||||||||
|**Winnipeg Jets**|Winnipeg, Manitoba|Canada Life Centre|align=center|15,321|colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|1999*|Kevin Cheveldayoff|Scott Arniel|Adam Lowry|||||||||||
|**Anaheim Ducks**|Anaheim, California|Honda Center|align=center|17,174|colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|1993|Pat Verbeek|Greg Cronin|Radko Gudas|||||||||||
|**Calgary Flames**|Calgary, Alberta|Scotiabank Saddledome|align=center|19,289|colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|1972*|Craig Conroy|Ryan Huska|Mikael Backlund|||||||||||
|**Edmonton Oilers**|Edmonton, Alberta|Rogers Place|align=center|18,347|align=center|1972|align=center|1979|Stan Bowman|Kris Knoblauch|Connor McDavid|||||||||
|**Los Angeles Kings**|Los Angeles, California|Crypto.com Arena|align=center|18,230|colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|1967|Rob Blake|Jim Hiller|Anze Kopitar|||||||||||
|**San Jose Sharks**|San Jose, California|SAP Center|align=center|17,562|colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|1991|Mike Grier|Ryan Warsofsky|Logan Couture|||||||||||
|**Seattle Kraken**|Seattle, Washington|Climate Pledge Arena|align=center|17,151|colspan = "2" style="text-align:center;"|2021|Ron Francis|Dan Bylsma|Jordan Eberle|||||||||||
|**Vancouver Canucks**|Vancouver, British Columbia|Rogers Arena|align=center|18,910|align=center|1945|align=center|1970|Patrik Allvin|Rick Tocchet|Quinn Hughes|||||||||
|**Vegas Golden Knights**|Paradise, Nevada|T-Mobile Arena|align=center|17,356|colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|2017|Kelly McCrimmon|Bruce Cassidy|Mark Stone|||||||||||
|style="background:#00205B;" colspan="10"||||||||||||||||||||
|scope="row"|**Arizona Coyotes**|Phoenix, Arizona|TBD|–|align=center|1972|align=center|1979*|–|–|–|||||||||

1. _An asterisk (*) denotes a franchise move. See the respective team articles for more information._
1. _The Edmonton Oilers, Hartford Whalers (now Carolina Hurricanes), Quebec Nordiques (now Colorado Avalanche), and original Winnipeg Jets (now Arizona Coyotes) all joined the NHL in 1979 as part of the NHL–WHA merger._

## Related pages

- History of the National Hockey League

## Other websites

- Official NHL website

## Infobox (sports league)

- **title**: National Hockey League

- **current season**: 2025–26 NHL season
- **champion**: Florida Panthers
(2nd title)
- **most champs**: Montreal Canadiens
(25 titles)
- **logo**: National Hockey League shield.svg
- **pixels**: 190px
- **sport**: Ice hockey
- **founded**: ,
Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- **inaugural**: 1917–18 NHL season, 1917–18
- **commissioner**: Gary Bettman
- **headquarters**: Sixth Avenue, 1185 6th Ave
New York City, New York, New York (state), NY 10036.
- **teams**: 32
- **countries**: Canada (7 teams)
United States (25 teams)
- **website**: [https://www.nhl.com/ NHL.com]