1998: The Nashville Predators join the NHL, bringing the number of teams to 27. The NHL is considered to be the premier professional ice hockey league in the world,[3] and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada. Teams usually hold a summer showcase for prospects in July and participate in prospect tournaments, full games that do not feature any veterans, in September. Stevens get a high placement on the list not only … [9] Canadians have historically constituted the majority of the players in the league, with an increasing percentage of American and European players in recent seasons. The debut of the Winter Classic, an outdoor regular season NHL game held on New Year's Day 2008, was a major success for the league. Find out here with ESPN.com's NHL All-Time Leaderboards! [57] 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. All-Star Event", "Parros to head Department of Player Safety, focus on slashing", "The NHL Leads the Way in Bringing Pro Sports to Las Vegas", "After years of trying and a cast of characters in between, the NHL will finally put a team in Seattle", "NHL's Most Valuable Teams 2019: Though Buried In Standings, New York Rangers Remain On Top", "Forbes Releases 21st Annual NHL Team Valuations", "Falling dollar boosts salaries for P.K. [127] Discover Card is the league's official credit card in the US, while competitor Visa is an official sponsor in Canada. First, the league removed the "offside pass" or "two-line pass" rule, which required a stoppage in play if a pass originating from inside a team's defending zone was completed on the offensive side of the centre line, unless the puck crossed the line before the player. The Seals changed to teal after Finley sold the team in 1974. 1967: The NHL adds six teams, the largest expansion in professional sports history. December 12, 2016. Since the league's beginnings in 1917, the NHL has welcomed 38 teams. [7] The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) considers the Stanley Cup to be one of the "most important championships available to the sport". The selection order is determined by a combination of the standings at the end of the regular season, playoff results, and a draft lottery. Hockey Night in Canada was maintained and expanded under the deal, airing up to seven games nationally on Saturday nights throughout the regular season. The NHL is one of five major sports leagues in North America and is statistically the fourth most popular sport to watch behind the NFL, MLB and the NBA. Of the four major professional sports leagues in North America, the Montreal Canadiens are surpassed in the number of championships only by the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball, who have three more. There was no further expansion to the league until the '90s. [55], On October 5, 2005, the first post-lockout season took to the ice with all 30 teams. [67], To aid with removing high speed collisions on icing, which had led to several potential career-ending injuries such as Hurricanes' defenceman Joni Pitkanen, the league mandated hybrid no-touch icing for the 2013–14 NHL season. The Pirates became the Philadelphia Quakers in 1930, then folded one year later. History and season records of the National Hockey League. [70][71] In 2016, Dawn Braid was hired as the Arizona Coyotes' skating coach, making her the first female full-time coach in the NHL. The 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs saw the largest audience in the history of the sport "after a regular season that saw record-breaking business success, propelled in large part by the NHL's strategy of engaging fans through big events and robust digital offerings. Coverage of the playoffs and the Finals is split between the two networks, with other games shown on CNBC, USA Network, NHL Network. [55], With no new agreement in hand when the contract expired on September 15, 2004, league commissioner Gary Bettman announced a lockout of the players union and closed the league's head office. During the regular season, clubs play each other in a predefined schedule. [34] Richard later led the Canadiens to five consecutive titles between 1956 and 1960, a record no team has matched. The years of operation only reflect the time in which that team was in the NHL; it does not take into account any time in which the franchise operated in another league (such as the World Hockey Association). 1979: The NHL takes four teams from the World Hockey Association. [72] The first female referees in the NHL were hired in a test-run during the league's preseason prospect tournaments in September 2019. [139][140], Games that are not broadcast as part of the national rights deal are broadcast by Sportsnet's regional feeds, TSN's regional feeds, and RDS. [81][82] At least seven NHL clubs operate at a loss. The agreement had a term of six years with an option of extending the collective bargaining agreement for an additional year at the end of the term, allowing the league to resume as of the 2005–06 season. The Wild, who play in St. Paul, Minn., bring the NHL back to Minnesota seven years after the North Stars depart for Dallas. If a game is tied after regulation time, overtime ensues. [113] If a player was deemed significant enough, the three-year wait would be waived; only ten individuals have been honoured in this manner. The next … NHL Stats and History The complete source for current and historical NHL players, teams, scores and leaders. Historically, the NHL has never fared well on American television in comparison to the other American professional leagues. In all rounds, the higher-ranked team is awarded home-ice advantage, with four of the seven games played at this team's home venue. Frank Calder was chosen as its first president, serving until his death in 1943. Toronto won the first NHL title, and then defeated the Vancouver Millionaires of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) for the 1918 Stanley Cup. Although there has been much shifting of teams over the years, the NHL has arranged itself as two conferences containing multiple divisions since 1974. The Zamboni word mark and configuration of the Zamboni ice resurfacing machine are registered trademarks of Frank J. Zamboni & Co., Inc.© Frank J. Zamboni & Co., Inc. 2019. Predators, 1/27/21 NHL Betting Predictions Blackhawks vs. Some of the principal decision makers who serve under the authority of the commissioner include: The NHL consists of 31 teams, 24 of which are based in the United States and seven in Canada. In 1992, Manon Rheaume became the first woman to play a game in any of the major professional North American sports leagues, as a goaltender for the Tampa Bay Lightning in an NHL pre-season game against the St. Louis Blues, stopping seven of nine shots. The current chairman of the Board is Boston Bruins owner, Jeremy Jacobs. No NHL club had played a 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. [22], The National Hockey League embarked on rapid expansion in the 1920s, adding the Montreal Maroons and Boston Bruins in 1924. Historical Stanley Cup Playoff data for 7-game series "Closeout Games" are ones where that team had a chance to end the series with a win. The primary consideration acknowledged by the league was that the ongoing restrictions and quarantine requirements affecting the ability of its teams to cross the Canada-U.S. border on a regular basis would have made the league's traditional alignment and season structure unfeasible for at least 2020–21. This is a plain text list of NHL Teams in Alphabetical Order. The team that has the most points in the regular season is awarded the Presidents' Trophy. 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