The History of the NHL

The National Hockey League was officially formed in 1917 although the leagues that came before it and led to it were created in 1909. This league was called the National Hockey Association and consisted entirely of Canadian teams.

The NHA was basically disbanded to due to conflict within the teams and amongst the owners. Essentially, all of the teams hated Eddie Livingston and the Toronto Blueshirts so much that they all withdrew themselves from the league, leaving Livingston and his team without any league to play in.

The NHL was then born and was still an entirely Canadian league. It is also important to note that while the Stanley Cup was being played for by NHL teams, the Stanley Cup was not solely for the NHL.

The Stanley Cup for outdates the creation of the NHL or the NHA, and was originally awarded to the best hockey team of any league in Canada starting in 1892. This led to the Stanley Cup being awarded to the winner of a championship game between the NHA and another league, the Pacific Coast Hockey Association.

Then in 1922 another league was added in the Western Canada Hockey League. The WCHL and the PCHA then merged into the Western Hockey League and the WHL and the NHL teams battled for the Stanley Cup.

The NHL teams were dominating the annual ceremony but it was made official when in 1926 the WHL ceased to exist, leaving the NHL as the last league standing in the competition for the Stanley Cup. As such, the Stanley Cup is now the championship trophy for the winner of the NHL playoffs.

The NHL then expanded into America, with franchises in New York, Chicago Pittsburgh, Boston and Detroit. However with the onset of the Great Depression, the league had to then contract itself once again, falling back to 6 teams. These 6 teams are all still franchises today, and are the cornerstones of popularity for the league.

Although they are called the “Original Six” teams, this is clearly not the case. Nevertheless, they are the six teams that the NHL were left with and began expanding from. These teams were the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadians, Boston Bruins, New York Rangers, Chicago Black Hawks and Detroit Red Wings.

The league remained with just these six franchises until the 1960s when a rapid expansion took place. This expansion was in large part fueled by the potential of other leagues such as the World Hockey Asssociation to battle the NHL for supremacy, and even legitimize their right to play for the Stanley Cup. Six more teams were added in 1967, doubling the size of the league.

Another six more teams were then added over the following decade and finally in 1979 the WHA folded and four of those teams were placed into the NHL.  In the 1990s the league would then add another 9 teams, topping out at 30 and being primarily in the United States, including many nontraditional, warm weather locales.

Currently the NHL is recovering from a season long lockout. Although still considered one of the four major American sports leagues, the NHL has clearly lost its status (even before the lockout) and is struggling to regain popularity and fan interest.