100-451: The Mark Messier Leadership Award is a National Hockey League (NHL) award that recognizes an individual as a superior leader within their sport, and as a contributing member of society. The award is given to a player selected by Hockey Hall of Fame center Mark Messier to honor an individual who leads by positive example through on-ice performance, motivation of team members and a dedication to community activities and charitable causes. It
200-678: A merger with the WHA , and changes in conference/division alignment and playoff structure, expansion teams began reaching clear parity with the Original Six. Indeed, the 1979 Stanley Cup Finals between the Canadiens and Rangers would be the last Finals featuring any Original Six team until 1986 , when the Canadiens claimed the Cup, as well as the last all-Original Six Finals until Chicago's win over Boston in 2013 (that playoff season featured all of
300-837: A merger agreement in 1979 that saw the WHA cease operations while the NHL absorbed the Winnipeg Jets, the Edmonton Oilers , the Hartford Whalers , and the Quebec Nordiques . The owners initially rejected this merger agreement by one vote, but a massive boycott of Molson Brewery products by Canadian fans resulted in the Montreal Canadiens, which was owned by Molson, reversing its position, along with
400-631: A new team in Salt Lake City , Utah . Two months after Utah's foundation, the Coyotes ceased their efforts to re-activate within the five-year window granted to do so, bringing the NHL back to 32 franchises. There have been four league-wide work stoppages in NHL history, all occurring after 1992 . The first was an April 1992 strike by the National Hockey League Players' Association , which lasted for ten days but
500-466: A pulled goaltender ). Since 2013, the league has used hybrid icing , where a linesman stops play due to icing if a defending player (other than the goaltender) crosses the imaginary line that connects the two face-off dots in their defensive zone before an attacking player is able to. This was done to counter a trend of player injury in races to the puck. Fighting in the NHL leads to major penalties while IIHF rules, and most amateur rules, call for
600-638: A 1957 antitrust action and attempted union formation; the owners control was further visible when four-time Stanley Cup champion and Red Wings forward Ted Lindsay , a main force agitating for a players' union in 1957, was sent to the last-place Black Hawks. Subsequent actions in the early 1960s by the Toronto players Bob Baun and Carl Brewer finally led to the 1967 formation of the NHL Players Association (NHLPA), though inaugural NHLPA Executive Director Alan Eagleson continued to obfuscate
700-509: A bid for the American Hockey League's Cleveland Barons team in 1952. In the eyes of many observers, the criteria for entry were changed every time with a desire to defeat any such bid. The owners also reneged on promises to allow the extant but dormant Maroons and Americans franchises to reactivate. Those phenomena had the impact of limiting player movement, and as a result, the Original Six rosters were very static. Until
800-463: A bruised ankle, Team USA's Kendall Coyne Schofield competed in the Fastest Skater competition in his place, becoming the first woman to officially compete in the NHL's All-Star festivities. The attention led the NHL to include a 3-on-3 women's game before the 2020 All-Star Game . Rheaume returned to perform as a goaltender for the 2022 NHL All-Star Game 's Breakaway Challenge. From
900-426: A major issue in the NHL, with concussions resulting from a hard hit to the head being the primary concern. Recent studies have shown how the consequences of concussions can last beyond player retirement. This has significant effects on the league, as elite players have suffered from the aftereffects of concussions (such as Sidney Crosby being sidelined for approximately ten and a half months), which adversely affects
1000-615: A player safety lawsuit. From 1952 to 1955, Marguerite Norris served as president of the Detroit Red Wings , being the first female NHL executive and the first woman to have her name engraved on the Stanley Cup. In 1992, Manon Rhéaume 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 a preseason game against
1100-537: A preseason consisting of six to eight exhibition games . Split squad games, in which parts of a team's regular season roster play separate games on the same day, are occasionally played during the preseason. During the regular season, clubs play each other in a predefined schedule. Since 2021, in the regular season, all teams play 82 games: 41 games each of home and road, playing 26 games in their own geographic division—four against five of their seven other divisional opponents, plus three against two others; 24 games against
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#17327878490501200-408: A second positive test, and a lifetime suspension for a third positive test. At the end of regulation time, the team with the most goals wins the game. If a game is tied after regulation time, overtime ensues. During the regular season, overtime is a five-minute, three-on-three sudden-death period, in which whoever scores a goal first wins the game. If the game is still tied at the end of overtime,
1300-399: Is awarded one point. Shootout goals and saves are not tracked in hockey statistics; shootout statistics are tracked separately. There are no shootouts during the playoffs . Instead, multiple sudden-death, 20-minute five-on-five periods are played until one team scores. Two games have reached six overtime periods, but none have gone beyond six. During playoff overtime periods, the only break
1400-621: Is chosen as the Leader of the Year. The first winner of the annual award was Chris Chelios of the Detroit Red Wings . The league has not announced monthly winners since 2007–08 . The award's namesake, Mark Messier , played in the NHL for twenty-five seasons with the Edmonton Oilers , New York Rangers , and Vancouver Canucks ; his 1,887 regular-season points are third all-time behind Jaromir Jagr and Wayne Gretzky , and his 1,756 regular-season games third to Patrick Marleau and Gordie Howe (he
1500-717: Is first in games played, including playoffs). Messier is, to date, the only person to lead two separate franchises to the Stanley Cup as captain , accomplishing this with the Oilers in 1990 and with the Rangers in 1994 . National Hockey League The National Hockey League ( NHL ); French : Ligue nationale de hockey [liɡ nɑsjɔnal də ɔkɛ] ( LNH ), is a professional ice hockey league in North America consisting of 32 teams – 25 in
1600-624: Is to clean the loose ice at the first stoppage after the period is halfway finished. The National Hockey League season is divided into a preseason (September and early October), a regular season (from early October through early to mid-April) and a postseason (the Stanley Cup playoffs ). 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. Full training camps begin in mid-to-late September, including
1700-824: The 1942–43 season , the NHL was reduced to six teams: the Boston Bruins, the Chicago Black Hawks, the Detroit Red Wings, the Montreal Canadiens, the New York Rangers, and the Toronto Maple Leafs, a line-up, often referred to as the " Original Six ", that would remain constant for the next 25 years. In 1947, the league reached an agreement with the Stanley Cup trustees to take full control of the trophy, allowing it to reject challenges from other leagues that wished to play for
1800-1097: The 1967–68 season , adding the Los Angeles Kings , the Minnesota North Stars , the Philadelphia Flyers , the Pittsburgh Penguins , the California Seals , and the St. Louis Blues . However, Canadian fans were outraged that all six teams were placed in the United States, so the league responded by adding the Vancouver Canucks in 1970 , along with the Buffalo Sabres , both located on the Canada–United States border . Two years later,
1900-664: The 2000–01 season , when the Minnesota Wild and the Columbus Blue Jackets joined the league as expansion teams, until 2017. That expansion capped a period in the 1990s of rapid expansion and relocation, when the NHL added nine teams to grow from 21 to 30 teams, and relocated four teams mostly from smaller, northern cities to larger, more southern metropolitan areas ( Minneapolis to Dallas , Quebec City to Denver , Winnipeg to Phoenix , and Hartford to Raleigh ). The league has not contracted any teams since
2000-456: The 2013 NHL Winter Classic and the 2013 NHL All-Star Weekend . On January 6, a tentative agreement was reached on a 10-year deal. On January 12, the league and the Players' Association signed a memorandum of understanding on the new deal, allowing teams to begin their training camps the next day, with a shortened 48-game season schedule that began on January 19. Player safety has become
2100-799: The 2017–18 season to the 2019–20 season , the NHL consisted of 31 teams—24 based in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL divided the 31 teams into two conferences: the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference . Each conference was split into two divisions : the Eastern Conference contained 16 teams (eight per division), while the Western Conference had 15 teams (seven in the Central and eight in
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#17327878490502200-778: The 2023–24 season . The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) also views the Stanley Cup as one of the "most important championships available to the sport". The NHL is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan . The National Hockey League was organized at the Windsor Hotel in Montreal on November 26, 1917, after the suspension of operations of its predecessor organization, the National Hockey Association (NHA), which had been founded in 1909 at Renfrew, Ontario . The NHL immediately took
2300-598: The 2024 Stanley Cup Finals, the other five Original Six teams have won 21 of the 56 Stanley Cups awarded since the 1967 expansion. The NHL consisted of ten teams during the 1920s, but the league experienced a period of retrenchment during the Great Depression , losing the Pittsburgh Pirates / Philadelphia Quakers , Ottawa Senators / St. Louis Eagles , and Montreal Maroons in succession to financial pressures. The New York/Brooklyn Americans , one of
2400-671: The American Football League was becoming an attractive alternative to the NFL. Jennings proposed the NHL add two new teams on the American West Coast for the 1964–65 season, and based his argument on concerns that the Western Hockey League intended to operate as a major league in the near future and possibly compete against the NHL for talent. He also hoped that a West Coast presence would make
2500-829: The Boston Pride of the National Women's Hockey League and the Les Canadiennes of the Canadian Women's Hockey League , as part of the 2016 NHL Winter Classic weekend festivities. In 2019, the NHL invited four women from the US and Canadian Olympic teams to demonstrate the events in All-Star skills competition before the All-Star Game . Due to Nathan MacKinnon choosing not to participate following
2600-731: The Cleveland Barons were merged into the Minnesota North Stars in 1978. The league expanded for the first time in 17 years to 31 teams with the addition of the Vegas Golden Knights in 2017, then to 32 with the addition of the Seattle Kraken in 2021. In April 2024, a new expansion team in Utah was created, after Alex Meruelo sold the hockey assets of the Arizona Coyotes to Ryan Smith , owner of
2700-749: The Columbus Blue Jackets . Also, in the mid to late 1990s, the Quebec Nordiques, original Winnipeg Jets, and Hartford Whalers relocated to Denver, Phoenix, and Raleigh. In 2011, the Atlanta Thrashers relocated to Winnipeg, and the Winnipeg Jets were revived. On July 21, 2015, the NHL confirmed that it had received applications from prospective ownership groups in Quebec City and Las Vegas for possible expansion teams, and on June 22, 2016, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman announced
2800-615: The Quebec Bulldogs to hold a meeting to discuss the league's future. Realizing the NHA constitution left them unable to force Livingstone out, the four teams voted instead to suspend the NHA, and, on November 26, 1917, formed the National Hockey League. Frank Calder was chosen as the NHL's first president, serving until his death in 1943. The Bulldogs were unable to play in the NHL, and the remaining owners founded
2900-592: The San Francisco-Oakland area. The six new clubs would begin play in the 1967–68 season . Thus, with Toronto's six-game victory over Montreal in the 1967 Stanley Cup Finals , the Original Six era came to a close. The first dozen seasons ( 1967–68 to 1978–79 ) of the Expansion Era saw the continued dominance by Original Six teams, including the Bobby Orr -led Bruins in the early 1970s and
3000-558: The Slovakian -born Hall of Famer Stan Mikita ), who immigrated to Canada as children, the only European-born and trained player of the era was Sweden 's Ulf Sterner , who briefly played for the Rangers in 1965 . The league's first black player, Willie O'Ree , came up during that era; he played for the Boston Bruins between 1958 and 1961 but turned out to be the only black player until the 1970s. After World War II, all six NHL owners consistently rejected any bids for expansion, namely
3100-406: The St. Louis Blues , stopping seven of nine shots. In 2016, Dawn Braid was hired as the Arizona Coyotes ' skating coach, making her the first female full-time coach in the NHL. The first female referees in the NHL were hired in a test-run during the league's preseason prospect tournaments in September 2019. In 2016, the NHL hosted the 2016 Outdoor Women's Classic , an exhibition game between
Mark Messier Leadership Award - Misplaced Pages Continue
3200-652: The Toronto Arenas to compete with the Canadiens, Wanderers and Senators. The first games were played on December 19, 1917. The Montreal Arena burned down in January 1918, causing the Wanderers to cease operations, and the NHL continued on as a three-team league until the Bulldogs returned in 1919. The NHL replaced the NHA as one of the leagues that competed for the Stanley Cup, an interleague competition at
3300-625: The Utah Jazz . Meruelo was granted until 2029 to secure an arena in Arizona in order to re-activate the team, bringing the total number of franchises in the NHL up to 33; however, these efforts were abandoned two months later, leaving the NHL at 32 franchises once again. According to Forbes , in 2023, the top five most valuable teams were four of the " Original Six " teams and the Los Angeles Kings: The remaining members of
3400-567: The 2000 expansion to Saint Paul, Minnesota , and Columbus, Ohio , to the 2011 move of the Atlanta Thrashers to Winnipeg , is not even half as long; only two other periods (1982–1991 and 2011–2017) lasted longer than 5 seasons. The 25 seasons is also the second-longest period without expansion, team moves or contraction in North American sports history, behind only Major League Baseball , which saw only stadium changes between
3500-462: The All-Star goalkeepers Frank Brimsek and Mike Karakas , defenceman John Mariucci , and forward Cully Dahlstrom . At the beginning of the Original Six era, the Chicago Black Hawks were owned by Major Frederic McLaughlin , a fiercely patriotic man who tried to stock his roster with as many American players as possible. However, he died in 1944, and his estate sold the team to a group controlled by
3600-591: The Black Hawks as well and was also the largest stockholder in the Rangers. He also had significant influence over the Bruins by way of mortgages extended to the team to help keep it afloat during the Depression, which led some critics to joke that NHL stood for "Norris House League." The control of owners over their teams was absolute, with poor labour conditions for the players. Whenever players were sent to
3700-461: The Canadian teams, but it was better positioned than the other American ones. In practice, all six teams recruited players from Canada by sponsoring minor league, junior, and amateur teams. As a result, the league was almost entirely composed of Canadians, who had come up through the junior and minor pro leagues. The league boasted a small amount of good American players during the 1940s including
3800-420: The Canadiens' dynasty at the end of that decade. The expansion teams, by comparison, were not as dominant during that same time period. During those dozen seasons, only one expansion team hoisted the Cup (the Philadelphia Flyers , in 1974 and 1975 ), and only one Stanley Cup Finals series featured two expansion teams (the Flyers' 1975 win over the Buffalo Sabres ). By the early 1980s, after further expansion,
3900-469: The Chicago Black Hawks' Bobby Hull , who signed a 10-year, $ 2.5 million contract with the Winnipeg Jets , then the largest in hockey history. The league attempted to block the defections in court, but a counter-suit by the WHA led to a Philadelphia judge ruling the NHL's reserve clause to be illegal, thus eliminating the elder league's monopoly over the players. Seven years of battling for players and markets financially damaged both leagues, leading to
4000-415: The Cup. In 1945, Maurice "Rocket" Richard became the first player to score 50 goals , doing so in a 50-game season . Richard later led the Canadiens to five consecutive titles between 1956 and 1960, a record no team has matched. In 1948, Asian Canadian Larry Kwong became the first Asian player in the NHL by playing for the New York Rangers. In 1958, Willie O'Ree became the first black player in
4100-501: The NHA's place as one of the leagues that contested for the Stanley Cup in an annual interleague competition before a series of league mergers and foldings left the NHL as the only league competing for the Stanley Cup in 1926. At its inception, the NHL had four teams, all in Canada, thus the adjective "National" in the league's name. The league expanded to the United States in 1924, when the Boston Bruins joined, and has since consisted of both American and Canadian teams. From 1942 to 1967,
Mark Messier Leadership Award - Misplaced Pages Continue
4200-417: The NHL adopted the existing NHA set of rules. The NHL's rules are the basis for rules governing most professional and major junior ice hockey leagues in North America. The NHL hockey rink is 200 by 85 feet (60.96 m × 25.91 m), approximately the same length but much narrower than IIHF standards. A trapezoidal area appears behind each goal net. The goaltender can play the puck only within
4300-421: The NHL club could assign him to its sponsored junior squad, its "sponsorship list." Since the Toronto and the Montreal metropolitan areas contained abundant hockey prospects, that put them at a major recruiting advantage over Boston, New York, and Chicago, which had very few such prospects in their territories. Detroit had Southwestern Ontario as part of its territory and so it did not have the major advantage of
4400-451: The NHL had only six teams, collectively nicknamed the " Original Six ". The league added six new teams to double its size as a result of the 1967 NHL expansion , then increased to 18 teams by 1974, and to 21 teams due to the 1979 NHL expansion . Between 1991 and 2000, the NHL further expanded to 30 teams. It added its 31st and 32nd teams in 2017 and 2021, respectively. Salt Lake City was awarded an expansion franchise in 2024 as it acquired
4500-499: The NHL truly national and improve the league's chances of returning to national television in the United States (its broadcast deal with CBS had expired in 1960). While the governors did not agree to Jennings' proposal, the topic of expansion arose every time that the owners met from then on. In 1965, the league decided to double in size by adding six teams, and in February 1966, expansion franchises were awarded to Los Angeles , Minnesota , Philadelphia , Pittsburgh , St. Louis , and
4600-451: The NHL with just six teams. Despite various outside efforts to initiate expansion after the war, including attempted revivals of the Maroons and Americans franchises, the league's membership remained at six teams for the next 25 seasons. This was the longest static period without expansion, team moves or contraction in the history of the league, and also featured the longest period without any team changing arenas. The next longest streak, from
4700-420: The NHL's oldest active franchises by a margin of at least 41 seasons versus any other team. The Original Six have the most combined Stanley Cup titles among NHL franchises; the Canadiens hold the most wins at 24. The Maple Leafs, who won the last Stanley Cup of the Original Six era , are the only Original Six franchise to have not returned to the Stanley Cup Finals since the 1967 expansion. As of completion of
4800-428: The NHL. The Hamilton Tigers won the regular season title in 1924–25 , but refused to play in the championship series unless they were given a C$ 200 bonus. The league refused and declared the Canadiens the league champion after they defeated the Toronto St. Patricks (formerly the Arenas) in the semi-final. Montreal was then defeated by the Victoria Cougars of the Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL) in 1925 . It
4900-474: The National Hockey League. In this context, each team is a member of the league, and each member appoints a Governor (usually the owner of the club), and two alternates to the Board. The current chairman of the Board is Boston Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs . The Board of Governors exists to establish the policies of the league and to uphold its constitution. Some of the responsibilities of the Board of Governors include: The Board of Governors meets twice per year, in
5000-400: The New York Rangers. The Canadiens' only American-born skater was Norm Dussault , a forward who was born in Springfield, Massachusetts , but grew up in Sherbrooke, Quebec . An American goalie, John Aiken , also played exactly half a game for the Habs on March 13, 1958; he was a Boston Bruins team employee who filled in for his team's opponent as an emergency replacement when Jacques Plante
5100-424: The Norris family, which also owned the Red Wings. After that time, the Black Hawks had only a few American-born players, just like the other American-based teams. The Canadian teams had very few. The only American-born Maple Leaf during the entire era was Gerry Foley , who was born in Ware, Massachusetts , but grew up in Garson, Ontario , and played just four games for Toronto, although he played two full seasons for
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#17327878490505200-452: The Original Six teams for the first time since 1996 ). With the exception of Toronto, since the dawn of the Expansion Era every Original Six team has played in the Stanley Cup Finals at least 4 times and won the Cup at least once (the Maple Leafs have not competed in a Finals since winning in 1967, the longest active NHL championship drought ). The Montreal Canadiens have twice won the Cup by defeating other Original Six clubs in every series
5300-420: The Original Six, the Chicago Blackhawks and the Detroit Red Wings , respectively ranked sixth at US$ 1.87 billion and hypothetically 12th at US$ 1.3 billion. Compared with 2022, the Maple Leafs surpassed the Rangers as the most valuable NHL team, and Los Angeles overtook both Chicago and Boston, making its way into the top five. Notes: The Board of Governors is the ruling and governing body of
5400-406: The Pacific). The league temporarily realigned for the 2020–21 season but returned to the previous alignment the following year. With the addition of the Seattle Kraken in 2021–22 to the Pacific Division and the Arizona Coyotes' move from the Pacific to the Central, all four divisions now have eight teams each and both conferences have 16 teams. The number of NHL teams held constant at 30 teams from
5500-412: The Stanley Cup Finals: the Carolina Hurricanes in 2002 (beat Montreal and Toronto, lost to Detroit) and the Philadelphia Flyers in 2010 (beat Boston and Montreal, lost to Chicago). In 2013, the League moved the Red Wings to the Eastern Conference, leaving Chicago as the only Original Six team in the West. In 2015 , the Tampa Bay Lightning became the first team to face only Original Six franchises in
5600-402: The United States and 7 in Canada. The Stanley Cup , the oldest professional sports trophy in North America, is awarded annually to the league playoff champion at the end of each season. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada and is considered to be the top-ranked professional ice hockey league in the world, with players from 17 countries as of
5700-570: The Vancouver Canucks. In a second vote, the plan was approved. Wayne Gretzky played one season in the WHA for the Indianapolis Racers (eight games) and the Edmonton Oilers (72 games) before the Oilers joined the NHL for the 1979–80 season . Gretzky went on to lead the Oilers to win four Stanley Cup championships in 1984 , 1985 , 1987 and 1988 , and set single-season records for goals (92 in 1981–82 ), assists (163 in 1985–86 ) and points (215 in 1985–86), as well as career records for goals (894), assists (1,963) and points (2,857). In 1988, he
5800-414: The addition of a 31st franchise, based in Las Vegas and later named the Vegas Golden Knights , into the NHL for the 2017–18 season . On December 4, 2018, the league announced a 32nd franchise in Seattle , later named the Seattle Kraken , which joined in the 2021–22 season . On April 18, 2024, the Arizona Coyotes suspended operations and sold their hockey assets, including players and other personnel, to
5900-427: The assets of the Hamilton Tigers, and they were joined by the Pittsburgh Pirates . The New York Rangers were added in 1926, and the Chicago Black Hawks and Detroit Cougars (later the Red Wings) were added after the league purchased the assets of the defunct WCHL. A group purchased the Toronto St. Patricks in 1927 and immediately renamed them the Toronto Maple Leafs. In 1926, Native American Taffy Abel became
6000-417: The contract expired, league commissioner Gary Bettman announced a lockout of the players union and closed the league's head office for the 2004–05 season . The league vowed to install what it dubbed "cost certainty" for its teams, but the 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. The lockout shut down
6100-401: The eight remaining non-divisional intra-conference opponents—three games against every team in the other division of its conference; and 32 against every team in the other conference twice—home and road. The league's regular season standings are based on a point system. Two points are awarded for a win, one point for losing in overtime or a shootout, and zero points for a loss in regulation. At
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#17327878490506200-417: The ejection of fighting players. Usually, a penalized team cannot replace a player that is penalized on the ice and is thus short-handed for the duration of the penalty, but if the penalties are coincidental, for example when two players fight, both teams remain at full strength. Also, unlike minor penalties, major penalties must be served to their full completion, regardless of number of goals scored during
6300-411: The emergence of the newly founded World Hockey Association (WHA) led the league to add the New York Islanders and the Atlanta Flames to keep the rival league out of those markets. In 1974, the Washington Capitals and the Kansas City Scouts were added, bringing the league up to 18 teams. The NHL fought the WHA for players, losing 67 to the new league in its first season of 1972–73 , including
6400-536: The end of the regular season, the team that finishes with the most points in each division is crowned the division champion, and the league's overall leader is awarded the Presidents' Trophy . Original Six The Original Six ( French : six équipes originales ) are the teams that composed the National Hockey League (NHL) between 1942 and 1967 . The six teams are the Boston Bruins , Chicago Black Hawks , Detroit Red Wings , Montreal Canadiens , New York Rangers , and Toronto Maple Leafs . After serving as
6500-415: The first non-white player in the NHL and broke the league's colour barrier by playing for the New York Rangers. In 1934, the first NHL All-Star Game was held, to benefit Ace Bailey , whose career ended on a vicious hit by Eddie Shore . The second was held in 1937, in support of Howie Morenz 's family when he died of a coronary embolism after breaking his leg during a game. The Great Depression and
6600-458: The four-round playoff era, beating Detroit, Montreal, and New York in the Eastern playoffs before falling in the Stanley Cup Finals to Chicago. The last active player from the Original Six era was Wayne Cashman , who retired with the Boston Bruins in 1983. The final active player and official in any on-ice capacity for the league was linesman John D'Amico , who retired at the end of the 1986–87 season . According to Forbes in 2015, five of
6700-438: The game enters a shootout . Three players for each team in turn take a penalty shot . The team with the most goals during the three-round shootout wins the game. If the game is still tied after the three shootout rounds, the shootout continues but becomes sudden-death. Whichever team ultimately wins the shootout is awarded a goal in the game score and thus awarded two points in the standings. The losing team in overtime or shootout
6800-431: The goal frames by 4 inches (10 cm) on each side and reduced the size of the goalies' leg pads. The league has regularly modified its rules to counter perceived imperfections in the game. The penalty shot was adopted from the Pacific Coast Hockey Association to ensure players were not being blocked from opportunities to score. For the 2005–06 season, the league changed some of the rules regarding being offside. First,
6900-409: The head office moved from Montreal. There have been four league-wide work stoppages in NHL history, all occurring after 1992. The NHL's regular season is typically held from October to April, with each team playing 82 games. Following the conclusion of the regular season, 16 teams advance to the Stanley Cup playoffs , a four-round tournament that runs into June to determine the league champion. Since
7000-432: The hockey assets of the Arizona Coyotes , which were deactivated, thus maintaining the total number of teams at 32. The NHL is the fifth-highest grossing professional sport league in the world by revenue , after the National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Basketball Association (NBA), and the Premier League (PL). The league's headquarters have been in Manhattan since 1989, when
7100-460: The league a share of revenue from each game's advertising sales, rather than the usual lump sum paid up front for game rights. The league's annual revenues were estimated at $ 2.27 billion. On September 16, 2012, the labour pact expired, and the league again locked out the players . The owners proposed reducing the players' share of hockey-related revenues from 57 percent to 47 percent. All games were cancelled up to January 14, 2013, along with
7200-405: The league for 310 days, making it the longest in sports history, as the NHL became the first professional sports league to lose an entire season. A new collective bargaining agreement was eventually ratified in July 2005, including a salary cap. 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
7300-527: The league mandated hybrid no-touch icing for the 2013–14 NHL season . On November 25, 2013, ten former NHL players (Gary Leeman, Rick Vaive, Brad Aitken, Darren Banks, Curt Bennett, Richie Dunn, Warren Holmes, Bob Manno, Blair Stewart, and Morris Titanic) sued the league for negligence in protecting players from concussions. The suit came three months after the National Football League agreed to pay former players US$ 765 million due to
7400-432: 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. Furthermore, the league reinstated the "tag-up offside" which allows an attacking player a chance to get back onside by returning to the neutral zone. The changes to
7500-417: The league to resume as of the 2005–06 season . On October 5, 2005, the first post-lockout season took to the ice with all 30 teams. The NHL received record attendance in the 2005–06 season, with an average of 16,955 per game. However, its television audience was slower to rebound due to American cable broadcaster ESPN 's decision to drop its NHL coverage. The league's post-lockout agreement with NBC gave
7600-558: The league's founding in 1917, the Montreal Canadiens have won the most combined NHL titles with 25, winning three NHL championship series before the league took full exclusivity of the Stanley Cup in 1926, and 22 Stanley Cups afterwards. The reigning league champions are the Florida Panthers , who defeated the Edmonton Oilers in the 2024 Stanley Cup Finals . The National Hockey League was established in 1917 as
7700-402: The league's history when he made his debut with the Boston Bruins. By the mid-1960s, the desire for a network television contract in the United States, coupled with concerns that the Western Hockey League was planning to declare itself a major league and challenge for the Stanley Cup, spurred the NHL to undertake its first expansion since the 1920s . The league doubled in size to 12 teams for
7800-563: The league's marketability. In December 2009, Brendan Shanahan was hired to replace Colin Campbell, and was given the role of senior vice-president of player safety. Shanahan began to hand out suspensions on high-profile perpetrators responsible for dangerous hits, such as Raffi Torres receiving 25 games for his hit on Marian Hossa . To aid with removing high-speed collisions on icing, which had led to several potential career-ending injuries, such as to Hurricanes' defenceman Joni Pitkanen ,
7900-431: The league's only teams for 25 seasons, they were joined by six new franchises in the 1967 NHL expansion . The Six are not the original teams of the NHL. The Canadiens and Maple Leafs are the two members of this group that are charter members ( 1917–18 season ) of the NHL. However, in addition to the 25 seasons as the only teams, the Original Six are considered a set for having joined the league by 1926, and thus being
8000-399: The league's original expansion franchises, along with the Bruins and Maroons, lasted longer but played as wards of the league from 1936 onward. World War II and its own economic strains severely depleted the league's Canadian player base since Canada entered the war in September 1939, and many players left for military service. The Americans suspended operations in the fall of 1942, which left
8100-419: The lengthening of careers in the 1980s, only one 20-year player in NHL history, Larry Robinson , started his career after 1964, and it is generally accepted that the weakest Calder Trophy winners (rookies of the year) of all time were selected in the 1950s and the 1960s. The league tolerated monopolistic practices by the owners. At one point, for instance, Red Wings owner James E. Norris effectively owned
8200-490: The minors, they had their salaries cut, and their relocation costs were not covered. Players were signed by a team as early as 16, and they were then owned by that team for their entire careers , which then directed their development. A player pension plan had been formed in 1946, but the financials were kept a secret from the players, who had to accept whatever pension payments the owners unilaterally decided. The stark labor conditions led to several players' disputes, including
8300-786: The months of June and December, with the exact date and place to be fixed by the Commissioner. The chief executive of the league is commissioner Gary Bettman . Some other senior executives include chief legal officer Bill Daly , director of hockey operations Colin Campbell , and senior vice president of player safety George Parros . A committee led by Bettman and chairman Jeremy Jacobs is responsible for vetting new ownership applications, collective bargaining, and league expansion. Other members include Mark Chipman , N. Murray Edwards , Craig Leipold , Ted Leonsis , Geoff Molson , Henry Samueli , Larry Tanenbaum , Jeff Vinik , and David Blitzer . The National Hockey League's rules are one of
8400-537: The move of the original Baltimore Orioles to New York in 1903 and the Boston Braves moving to Milwaukee in 1953, a span of fifty seasons. The Original Six era has been criticized for having a playoff format that was too easy, since the top four teams in the regular season advanced to the playoffs. At least, the playoff system was too easy for the top three teams in the league: Montreal, Toronto, and Detroit. The standings were very static. Montreal missed
8500-431: The offside rule were among several rule changes intended to increase overall scoring, which had been in decline since the expansion years of the mid-nineties and the increased prevalence of the neutral zone trap . Since 2005, when a team is guilty of icing the puck they are not allowed to make a line change or skater substitution of any sort before the following face-off (except to replace an injured player or re-install
8600-475: The onset of World War II took a toll on the league. The Pirates became the Philadelphia Quakers in 1930, then folded a year later. The Senators likewise became the St. Louis Eagles in 1934, also lasting only a year. The Maroons did not survive, as they suspended operations in 1938. The Americans were suspended in 1942 due to a lack of available players, and they were never reactivated. For
8700-413: The pension's financials while he skimmed money from the plan, exposed only in 1989. As the more conservative owners left the NHL, a younger guard that was more receptive to expansion entered the league. By 1963, when Rangers governor William M. Jennings first introduced to his peers the idea of expanding the NHL, Major League Baseball (MLB) and the National Football League (NFL) were adding teams, and
8800-431: The playoffs only once between 1943 and 1967 (in 1948), and Toronto missed the post-season four times and Detroit missed three times, which left the three remaining teams to compete for the final playoff berth. Montreal won ten of the 25 Stanley Cups awarded during the Original Six era, Toronto won nine, and Detroit won five. Chicago won only one Stanley Cup during that era ( in 1961 ), and Boston and New York won no Cups. It
8900-480: The playoffs: in 1978 (beating Detroit, Toronto, and Boston) and 1979 (beating Toronto, Boston, and New York). Also, the 1992 Pittsburgh Penguins are the only team to also win the Cup after beating three of the Original Six (New York and Boston in the Wales Conference playoffs, and Chicago in the finals). Twice, the Eastern Conference champion beat two Original Six teams before being defeated by another in
9000-403: The power play. The league also imposes a conduct policy on its players. Players are banned from gambling and criminal activities have led to the suspension of players. The league and the Players' Association agreed to a stringent anti-doping policy in the 2005 collective bargaining agreement. The policy provides for a twenty-game suspension for a first positive test, a sixty-game suspension for
9100-604: The successor to the National Hockey Association (NHA). Founded in 1909, the NHA began play in 1910 with seven teams in Ontario and Quebec , and was one of the first major leagues in professional ice hockey. However, by its eighth season , a series of disputes with Toronto Blueshirts owner Eddie Livingstone led team owners of the Montreal Canadiens , the Montreal Wanderers , the Ottawa Senators , and
9200-746: The time. Toronto won the first NHL title, and then defeated the Vancouver Millionaires of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) for the 1918 Stanley Cup . The Canadiens won the league title in 1919, but the series in the Stanley Cup Finals against the PCHA's Seattle Metropolitans was abandoned due to the Spanish Flu epidemic. In 1924, Montreal won their first Stanley Cup as a member of
9300-458: The trapezoid or in front of the goal line; if the goaltender plays the puck behind the goal line and outside the trapezoidal area, a two-minute minor penalty for delay of game is assessed. The rule is unofficially nicknamed the " Martin Brodeur rule"; Brodeur at the time was one of the best goaltenders at getting behind the net to handle the puck. Since the 2013–14 season, the league trimmed
9400-649: The two standard sets of professional ice hockey rules in the world, the other being the rules of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), as used in tournaments such as the Olympics . The IIHF rules are derived from the Canadian amateur ice hockey rules of the early 20th century, while the NHL rules evolved directly from the first organized indoor ice hockey game in Montreal in 1875, updated by subsequent leagues up to 1917, when
9500-512: Was first awarded during 2006–07 NHL season and sponsored by Cold-fX . In its first season, the Mark Messier Leadership Award was awarded quite differently from most other trophies in the NHL. In 2006–07 , five players were honored with monthly awards as selected by the NHL based on the qualification of potential recipients, while the final decision was made by Mark Messier. At the end of the regular season, one player
9600-703: Was injured during the second period of a game at the Boston Garden . The family of the Detroit -born Charlie Burns moved to Toronto when he was a child; he was a four-year regular with Detroit and Boston from 1958 to 1963. Very few all American-developed NHL players emerged in the 1950s and 1960s. Tommy Williams was the only US citizen to play regularly. Both Williams and Mariucci complained about anti-American bias, and U.S. Olympic team stars John Mayasich and Bill Cleary turned down offers from NHL teams. Although there were several European-born players (such as
9700-442: Was not a coincidence that two of the dominant teams were based in Canada, and the third was based in an American city that borders Canada. The league had a rule that gave each team exclusive rights to negotiate contracts with promising local players within 50 miles (80 km) of its home ice. A player who was not within the 50-mile limit was free to field offers from any team. Once a player agreed to an NHL sponsorship-level contract,
9800-412: Was settled quickly with all affected games rescheduled. A lockout at the start of the 1994–95 season forced the league to reduce the schedule from 84 games to 48, with the teams playing only intra-conference games during the reduced season. The resulting collective bargaining agreement (CBA) was set for renegotiation in 1998, and extended to September 15, 2004. With no new agreement in hand when
9900-588: Was the last time a non-NHL team won the trophy, as the Stanley Cup became the de facto NHL championship in 1926, after the WCHL ceased operation. The National Hockey League embarked on a rapid expansion in the 1920s, adding the Montreal Maroons and the Boston Bruins in 1924, the latter being the first American team to join the league. The New York Americans began play in 1925 after purchasing
10000-715: Was traded to the Los Angeles Kings in a deal that dramatically improved the league's popularity in the United States. By the turn of the century, nine more teams were added to the NHL: the San Jose Sharks , the Tampa Bay Lightning , the Ottawa Senators , the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim , the Florida Panthers , the Nashville Predators , the Atlanta Thrashers , and, in 2000, the Minnesota Wild and
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