NHL-National Hockey League 2022-23 season
The National Hockey League (NHL; French: Ligue nationale de hockey — LNH, French elocution: [liÉ¡ nasjÉ”nal dÉ™ É”kÉ›]) is an expert ice hockey association in North America containing 32 groups — 25 in the US and 7 in Canada. It is viewed as the highest-level proficient ice hockey association in the world,[5] and is one of the significant pro athletics associations in the US and Canada. The Stanley Cup, the most established elite athletics prize in North America,[6] is granted every year to the association season finisher champion toward the finish of each season. The NHL is the fifth-most affluent pro game association on the planet by income, after the Public Football Association (NFL), Significant Association Baseball (MLB), the Public B-ball Affiliation (NBA), and the English Head Association (EPL).[7]
The Public Hockey Association was coordinated at the Windsor Lodging in Montreal on November 26, 1917, after the suspension of tasks of its ancestor association, the Public Hockey Affiliation (NHA), which had been established in 1909 in Renfrew, Ontario.[8] The NHL quickly assumed the NHA's position as one of the associations that challenged for the Stanley Cup in a yearly interleague contest before a progression of association consolidations and foldings left the NHL as the main association left seeking the Stanley Cup in 1926.
At its beginning, the NHL had four groups, all in Canada, hence the descriptor "Public" in the association's name. The association extended to the US in 1924, when the Boston Bruins joined, and has since comprised of both American and Canadian groups. From 1942 to 1967, the association had just six groups, by and large (while perhaps not contemporaneously) nicknamed the "First Six". The NHL added six new groups to twofold its size at the 1967 NHL extension. The association then expanded to 18 groups by 1974 and 21 groups in 1979. Somewhere in the range of 1991 and 2000 the NHL further extended to 30 groups. It added its 31st and 32nd groups in 2017 and 2021, separately.
The association's base camp have been in Midtown Manhattan starting around 1989, when the administrative center moved from Montreal.[9] There have been four association wide work stoppages in NHL history, all happening after 1992.[10] The Global Ice Hockey Organization (IIHF) considers the Stanley Cup to be one of the "main titles accessible to the sport".[11] The NHL draws numerous exceptionally talented players from everywhere the world and right now has players from roughly 20 countries.[12] Canadians have generally comprised most of the players in the association, with a rising level of American and European players in late seasons.
The Montreal Canadiens have the most NHL titles with 25 (counting 23 Stanley Cup titles since entering the association). The Colorado Torrential slide are the prevailing Stanley Cup champions, as they crushed the Tampa Sound Lightning 4-2 in the 2022 Stanley Cup Finals.