National Hockey League - History, Game, Teams, Season structure, Notable players, Hockey rink, Rules, Television

The pre-eminent association of professional ice hockey teams in Canada and the USA. Established in 1917 at Montreal, it was originally composed of four teams from Ontario and Quebec, and later expanded to include larger numbers of teams from American cities. A championship series is played annually for the Stanley Cup.

For current news on this topic see: 2006-07 NHL season

National Hockey League
Sport	Ice hockey
Founded	1917
No. of teams	30
Country	Canada  United States
Current champions	Carolina Hurricanes

The National Hockey League (NHL) is a professional sports organization composed of ice hockey teams in North America.

The league was founded in 1917 in Montreal, Quebec with five teams, and through a series of expansions, reductions and relocations is now composed of 30 teams, 24 of which are based in the United States and six in Canada.

Historically, due to its origins in Canada, a large majority of players in the National Hockey League are Canadians. Over the past 25 years, due to the NHL's continued expansion into the United States, its high standard of play compared to other leagues, and the availability of highly skilled European players from Eastern Europe after the fall of communism, there has been an increasing presence of American and European players.

History

After a series of disputes in the Canadian National Hockey Association (NHA) between the owner of the Toronto Blueshirts and the owners of other teams, all the owners met at the Windsor Hotel in Montreal to talk about the NHA's future.

Even though the league struggled to stay in business during its first decade, the NHL's teams were very successful on the ice; during the NHL's first nine years, NHL teams won the Stanley Cup seven times. These six teams (Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Blackhawks, Boston Bruins, and New York Rangers) are collectively known as the Original Six, and for the next quarter-century were the only teams in the National Hockey League.

The rise of the Western Hockey League, which many pundits thought would transform into a major league and challenge for the Stanley Cup, spurred the NHL in 1967 to undertake its first expansion since the 1920s. Approaching the new millennium, the NHL added another four teams: the Nashville Predators (1998), the Atlanta Thrashers (1999), the Minnesota Wild and the Columbus Blue Jackets (both added in 2000), bringing the total to 30 teams.

Game

Each National Hockey League regulation game is an ice hockey game played between two teams and is 60 minutes long.

Teams

The National Hockey League originated in 1917 with 5 teams, and through a sequence of team expansions, reductions and relocations currently consists of 30 teams, 24 of which are based in the United States and 6 in Canada. the current team alignment began with the 2000–2001 season when the Minnesota Wild and the Columbus Blue Jackets joined the league as expansion teams.

Eastern Conference

Division	Team	City	Arena	Capacity
Atlantic	New Jersey Devils	East Rutherford, New Jersey	Continental Airlines Arena	19,040
	New York Islanders	Uniondale, New York	Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum	16,297
	New York Rangers	New York, New York	Madison Square Garden	18,200
	Philadelphia Flyers	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Wachovia Center	19,500
	Pittsburgh Penguins	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	Mellon Arena	17,181
Northeast	Boston Bruins	Boston, Massachusetts	TD Banknorth Garden	17,565
	Buffalo Sabres	Buffalo, New York	HSBC Arena	18,690
	Montreal Canadiens	Montreal, Quebec	Bell Centre	21,273
	Ottawa Senators	Ottawa, Ontario	Scotiabank Place	20,004
	Toronto Maple Leafs	Toronto, Ontario	Air Canada Centre	18,800
Southeast	Atlanta Thrashers	Atlanta, Georgia	Philips Arena	18,750
	Carolina Hurricanes	Raleigh, North Carolina	RBC Center	18,730
	Florida Panthers	Sunrise, Florida	BankAtlantic Center	19,452
	Tampa Bay Lightning	Tampa, Florida	St. Pete Times Forum	19,500
	Washington Capitals	Washington, D.C.	Verizon Center	19,700

Western Conference

Division	Team	City	Arena	Capacity
Central	Chicago Blackhawks	Chicago, Illinois	United Center	20,500
	Columbus Blue Jackets	Columbus, Ohio	Nationwide Arena	18,500
	Detroit Red Wings	Detroit, Michigan	Joe Louis Arena	19,383
	Nashville Predators	Nashville, Tennessee	Gaylord Entertainment Center	17,113
	St. Louis Blues	St. Louis, Missouri	Scottrade Center	19,260
Northwest	Calgary Flames	Calgary, Alberta	Pengrowth Saddledome	20,140
	Colorado Avalanche	Denver, Colorado	Pepsi Center	18,007
	Edmonton Oilers	Edmonton, Alberta	Rexall Place	16,839
	Minnesota Wild	St. Paul, Minnesota	Xcel Energy Center	18,600
	Vancouver Canucks	Vancouver, British Columbia	General Motors Place	18,630
Pacific	Anaheim Ducks	Anaheim, California	Honda Center	17,147
	Dallas Stars	Dallas, Texas	American Airlines Center	18,500
	Los Angeles Kings	Los Angeles, California	Staples Center	18,500
	Phoenix Coyotes	Glendale, Arizona	Jobing.com Arena	18,000
	San Jose Sharks	San Jose, California	HP Pavilion	17,483

Season structure

The National Hockey League season is divided into a regular season, where teams play each other in a predefined schedule, and a playoffs, which is an elimination tournament where two teams play against each other to win a best-of-seven series in order to advance to the next round.

In the regular season, each team plays 82 games; Beginning in 2005-06 regular season, of the 82 games, teams play 32 games within their division, 40 games against non-divisional intra-conference opponents and 10 inter-conference games (1 game against each team in two of the three divisions in the opposite conference). The two divisions from the opposite conference which each team plays against are rotated every year, much like interleague play in baseball.

At the end of the regular season, the team that finishes with the most points in each division is crowned the division champion with the league overall leader awarded the Presidents' Trophy. The three division champions along with the five other teams in each conference with the next highest number of points, for a total of 8 teams in each conference, qualify for the playoffs. The first round of the playoffs, or conference quarterfinals, consists of the first seed playing the eighth seed, the second playing the seventh, third playing the sixth, and the fourth playing the fifth. In the second round, or conference semifinals, the NHL re-seeds the teams, with the top remaining conference seed playing against the lowest remaining seed, and the other two remaining conference teams pairing off. In the third round, the conference finals, the two remaining teams in each conference play each other, with the conference champions proceeding to the Stanley Cup Finals.

In each round the higher-ranked team is said to be the team with the home-ice advantage. Four of the seven games are played at this team's home venue – the first and second, and, when necessary, the fifth and seventh games – with the other games played at the lower-ranked team's home venue.

See also: List of NHL seasons

Notable players

The best known NHL players have historically included Gordie Howe, Bobby Orr, Maurice Richard, Howie Morenz, Newsy Lalonde, Jacques Plante, Eddie Shore and Bobby Hull.

In addition to Canadian and American players, which have historically composed a large majority of NHL players, the NHL draws players from all over the world. European players were drafted and signed by NHL teams in an effort to bring in more skilled offensive players. The league also voluntarily stops its season so that its players can play in the Winter Olympics to have the players represent their own country.

Hockey rink

National Hockey League games are played on a hockey rink which is rectangular ice rink with rounded corners and surrounded by a wall.

Rules

While the National Hockey League follows the general rules of ice hockey, it differs slightly from those used in international games organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) such as the Olympics. 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 center line, unless the puck crossed the line before the player; In the NHL, a linesman stops play due to icing if a defending player (other than the goaltender) touches the puck before an attacking player is able to, in contrast to the IIHF rules where play is stopped the moment the puck crosses the goal line. Usually a penalized team cannot replace a player that is penalized on the ice and is thus shorthanded for the duration of the penalty, but if the penalties are coincidental, such as with fighting, both teams remain at full strength. The most prestigious team award is the Stanley Cup, which is awarded to the league champion at the end of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The other player trophies are voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers Association or the team general managers.

In addition to the regular season awards, the Conn Smythe Trophy is awarded annually to the most valuable player during the NHL's Stanley Cup playoffs.

Players, coaches, officials, and team builders who have had notable careers are eligible to be voted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. A lockout at the start of the 1994–95 forced the league to reduce the schedule from 84 games to just 48, with the teams playing only intra-conference games during the reduced season.

With no new agreement in hand when the existing contract expired on September 15, 2004, league commissioner Gary Bettman announced a lockout of the players union and cessation of operations by the NHL head office. The league vowed to install what it dubbed "cost certainty" for its teams, but the National Hockey League Players Association countered that the move was little more than a euphemism for a salary cap, which the union initially said it would not accept. all six Canadian teams played to 98% capacity or better at every home game.

Television

In Canada, National Hockey League games are aired nationally by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and The Sports Network (TSN). In the United States ratings fared worse due to the inclusion of two small-market teams, including one Canadian team;