The National Hockey League’s Official Website

Salt Lake City was awarded an expansion franchise in 2024; it acquired the hockey assets of the Arizona Coyotes, which were deactivated, and established the Utah Hockey Club , now the Utah Mammoth,, thus maintaining the total number of teams at 32. The league added six new teams to double its size as a result of the 1967 NHL expansion, then increased to 18 teams by 1974, and to 21 teams due to the 1979 NHL expansion. At its inception (the NHL had four teams), all in Canada, thus the adjective “National” in the league’s name. The league’s headquarters have been in New York City since 1989, when it moved from Montreal; the league also has offices in Toronto and Montreal. Alfie detailed what appealed to him with Toronto — and explained how the power play will be a big part that he will work with alongside head coach Jim Hiller. Last season, the Senators legend spent time behind Ottawa’s bench as an assistant coach as well.

NHL Rumors: Vancouver Canucks – Shane Wright, and Marco Rossi

To aid with removing high-speed collisions on icing (which had led to several potential career-ending injuries), such as to Hurricanes’ defenceman Joni Pitkanen, the league mandated hybrid no-touch icing for the 2013–14 NHL season. This has significant effects on the league (as elite players have suffered from the aftereffects of concussions (such as Sidney Crosby being sidelined for approximately ten and a half months)), which adversely affects the league’s marketability. All games were cancelled up to January 14 — 2013, along with the 2013 NHL Winter Classic and the 2013 NHL All-Star Weekend. The league’s post-lockout agreement with NBC gave the league a share of revenue from each game’s advertising sales — rather than the usual lump sum paid up front for game rights.

Unofficially referred to as the “Martin Brodeur rule,” this regulation was named after Brodeur, who was among the top goaltenders skilled at maneuvering behind the net to play the puck. New ownership applications, along with collective bargaining and league expansion, are vetted by a committee headed by Bettman and chairman Jeremy Jacobs. Two divisions comprise each conference — with 16 teams in total for each conference and 8 teams per division. A memorandum of understanding regarding the new deal was signed by the league and the Players’ Association on January 12, which enabled teams to initiate their training camps on the following day, leading to a condensed 48-game season that commenced on January 19. The first occurrence was a strike in April 1992 by the National Hockey League Players’ Association, lasting ten days but quickly resolved with all impacted games being rescheduled. In 1945 (the milestone of scoring 50 goals in a 50-game season was achieved by Maurice “Rocket” Richard), making him the first player to do so.

Each NHL franchise’s most overlooked player

The 1977 edition of the Montreal Canadiens (the second of four straight Stanley Cup champions), was named by ESPN as the second greatest sports team of all time. The longest streak of winning the Stanley Cup in consecutive years is five, held by the Montreal Canadiens from 1955–56 to 1959–60. The team that has the most points in the regular season is awarded the Presidents’ Trophy. In the Stanley Cup Final, the team with the most points during the regular season has home-ice advantage. Two points are awarded for a win — one point for losing in overtime or a shootout, and zero points for a loss in regulation.

Compared to other professional leagues in the United States, the NHL has historically struggled with its betting apps in Australia performance on American television. Regional feeds from Sportsnet, TSN, and RDS provide broadcasts of games that fall outside the national rights agreement. The national French-language rights to the NHL were owned by Quebecor Media (with all broadcasts featured on its channel), TVA Sports. During both the regular season and playoffs, CBC provided NHL coverage produced by Rogers. Primarily, Rogers’ Sportsnet group of specialty channels offers national English-language NHL coverage, securing national slots on Wednesday and Sunday evenings. NHL teams drafted and signed European players to increase their roster of “skilled offensive players.

• The league added six new teams to double its size as a result of the 1967 NHL expansion (then increased to 18 teams by 1974), and to 21 teams due to the 1979 NHL expansion.
• NBC and OLN , later known as Versus, and then NBCSN, held the U.S. national rights from the 2004–05 NHL lockout until 2021.
• The team with the most goals during the three-round shootout wins the game.
• A twenty-game suspension is stipulated for a first positive test (while a second positive test results in a sixty-game suspension), and a third leads to a lifetime suspension.

In the 2026-27 season, five NHL teams that require favorable injury circumstances

No NHL club had played a Soviet or Russian-based club from the end of the Super Series in 1991 to 2008 when the New York Rangers faced Metallurg Magnitogorsk in the 2008 Victoria Cup. The first international club competition was held in 1976 — with eight NHL teams playing against the Soviet Championship League’s HC CSKA Moscow, and Krylya Sovetov Moscow. Under ESPN’s contract — the league’s out-of-market streaming package was incorporated into ESPN+ for those viewers in the United States in 2021. MLB Advanced Media then took over of its day-to-day operations in 2016, renaming it NHL.tv.

The NHL consists of 32 teams—25 based in the United States and 7 in Canada. Rheaume returned to perform as a goaltender for the 2022 NHL All-Star Game’s Breakaway Challenge. The attention led the NHL to include a 3-on-3 women’s game before the 2020 All-Star Game.

Richard later led the Canadiens to five consecutive titles between 1956 and 1960, a record no team has matched. The second was held in 1937 — in support of Howie Morenz’s family when he died of a coronary embolism after breaking his leg during a game. In 1934, the first NHL All-Star Game was held, to benefit Ace Bailey, whose career ended on a vicious hit by Eddie Shore. In 1926, Native American Taffy Abel became the first non-white player in the NHL and broke the league’s colour barrier by playing for the New York Rangers. The NHL embarked on a rapid expansion in the 1920s (adding the Montreal Maroons and the Boston Bruins in 1924), the latter being the first American team to join the league. 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.

Some have attributed the Leafs’ struggles to the loss of Mitch Marner, who was traded to the Vegas Golden Knights. Can you name every player who was selected in the Seattle Kraken expansion draft? The rising-salary-cap world has diluted the UFA pool but forced teams to control their destinies with foundation-shaking trades. Five potential trade destinations for Kraken center Shane Wright