History of the NHL

The National Hockey League (NHL) is the world's foremost ice hockey league. Having been established in 1917 in Montreal, Canada, with just four Canadian teams, the NHL has grown to include 30 franchises today. Of the current teams, 23 are based in the US and the other seven in Canada; the first US team, the Boston Bruins, was welcomed into the league in 1924.

The NHL is divided geographically into Eastern and Western Conferences, with these conferences then split equally into two divisions. The Western Conference has 14 teams and the Eastern Conference has 16. Each team plays every other team from their division four or five times, plays three games against each team from the other division of their conference, and also plays each team from the other conference twice. 

In total, each team will play 82 games during the regular season, which runs from October until April.

Throughout the regular season teams are awarded two points for a win and one point for an overtime or shootout loss. The number of points that teams have, not their win percentage, decides league standings. At the end of the regular season, the top ranked eight teams from each conference play off against each other in a knockout tournament. Each tie is the best of seven games and, after three rounds, each conference has a champion. In the fourth round, the winning team from each conference meets to compete for the Stanley Cup. The final round is also best of seven games.

Of the current NHL teams, the Montreal Canadians are by far the most successful, having won 23 Stanley Cups since the formation of the NHL. Their closest challengers are the Toronto Maple Leafs, who have won 13. Of the current 30 teams, 12 have never won the Stanley Cup and six have won it only once. The last team to retain the Stanley Cup were the Detroit Red Wings, who defeated Washington Capitals in the 1998 final.

Geordie Howe, who played in the NHL for the Detroit Red Wings between 1946 and 1971 and then later returned to the NHL with the Hartford Whalers in 1979-1980, played a record 1,767 regular season games during his incredible career. In terms of goals, the record all-time scorer in the NHL is Wayne Gretzky, who played in the NHL between 1979 and 1999, scoring 1,016 goals in regular season and play-off hockey.

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