Toronto Arenas The Toronto Arenas , Toronto Blueshirts or Torontos was a professional team that played in the first two seasons of the National Hockey League ( NHL ) . It was operated by the owner of the Arena Gardens , the Toronto Arena Company . ( Arena Co . ) As the ownership of the National Hockey Association ( NHA ) Toronto Blueshirts franchise was in dispute , the new NHL league was started , and a temporary Toronto franchise was operated . The NHL itself was intended to only be a one - year entity until the NHA could be reactivated , although it never was . For the first season , the team operated without a formal organization separate from the Arena Co . and without an official club nickname , although the press would dub the team the " Blue Shirts " or " Torontos " . The Torontos , the NHL ' s first Stanley Cup champions 1917 - 1918 . The dispute dragged into the 1918 – 1919 season , so for the 1918 – 1919 season the Toronto Arena Hockey Club was formed to operate the temporary franchise . After the 1918 – 19 season , the dispute was still unresolved , so a new permanent franchise would be sold for Toronto . This new franchise was named the Toronto St . Patricks , and would later become the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1927 . Franchise history . 1917 – 18 season . Prior to the 1917 season , the NHA , through a majority vote of its board of directors , suspended operations . At the same time , those same teams ( Montreal Canadiens , Montreal Wanderers , Ottawa Senators and Quebec Bulldogs ) , minus the Toronto Blueshirts , formed the NHL . Since Quebec would not operate , a solution with a Toronto club was needed to make it a four - team ' even numbered ' league . So , by order of NHA / NHL President Frank Calder all players of the NHA Blueshirts were assigned to a ' temporary ' Toronto franchise to be operated by Arena Co . , who also owned Montreal Arena . Mr . Calder had given Eddie Livingstone , the owner of the Blueshirts , an order to sell the team , although the owner did not want to sell and did not agree to various offers made . Toronto Arena Co . was to ' solve ' the situation with Mr . Livingstone or lose the franchise . The Arena Co . did agree to compensate Livingstone for the use of the players for the season , although no suitable figure was ever reached , and the league itself disputed any claims that Livingstone had on the players . As the Arena was the only suitable place to play at the time , the players had little choice but to play , if they wanted to play in the NHL . The NHL had also publicly announced that there was an agreement to buy out Livingstone , though this never took place . Many of the players signed contracts with both Livingstone and the Arena , and often were paid in cash or personal cheques on a week - by - week basis . Despite this uncertainty , the team was successful from the start . The team won the second half of the 1917 – 18 NHL season , leading to a playoff against the Montreal Canadiens . The Torontos won the playoff and would then face off against the Vancouver Millionaires for the Stanley Cup . Toronto then won the best - of - five series 3 - 2 . After the Cup win , the team did not engrave its name on the Stanley Cup . The NHL would later engrave " Toronto Arenas 1918 " in 1947 . In many books , the name Toronto Arena is listed as the Stanley Cup champion for 1918 , but this is technically incorrect because the Toronto Arena Hockey Club was formed after the season . 1918 – 1919 season . On October 19 , 1918 , Hubert Vearncombe , treasurer of the Arena Co . formed the Toronto Arena Hockey Club Company and applied for a ' permanent ' NHL franchise . This was done so that the Hockey Club could operate separately , without the legal action which was brought against Arena Co . , threatening to stop NHL play in Toronto . The Stanley Cup run had been lucrative for the Arena Co . , and they had refused to pay any of the revenues to Livingstone , whose players they had used . The owners paid nothing for this new temporary franchise ; there was an agreement to split profits with the league until $ 5000 was received by the league . The players now knew that the club was in trouble , and several signed contracts with both Livingstone and Vearncombe , not knowing who would win out . Those players eventually would be sued by Livingstone as well . This year , the club was not successful , falling to 5 wins and 13 losses , finishing last in both halves of the season . Attendance was especially poor , recorded as only hundreds for a February 4 , 1919 game against the Canadiens . Several players left the team , including Harry Holmes , Harry Meeking and Dave Ritchie . This was partly due to the operations of the team , as most players were without legal contracts , as they were really still ' property ' of the Blueshirts , and were being paid in cash . The team wrote to Calder to end the season early , and the season ended after each team had played 18 games . The Toronto Arenas then officially withdrew from the league on February 20 , 1919 . This left the two remaining teams , Montreal and Ottawa , to play a playoff for the league championship . 1919 – 1920 season . On December 13 , 1919 , the NHL , under the direction of Frank Calder transferred the Toronto franchise , this time to the Toronto St . Pats group , for the fee of $ 5 , 000 . While the money was to go to Eddie Livingstone to settle his NHA club , it never was received by Mr . Livingstone and appears to have been appropriated by Mr . Calder . The incorporation date of the club was December 22 , 1919 , and listed Fred Hambly , Percy Hambly , Paul Ciceri and Charlie Querrie with 99 shares each , and Richard Greer with 4 shares .