National Hockey League (English)

French hockey league

Sports ice hockey (ice hockey)

Established in 19 17.

The number of participating teams is 30.

Countries USA, Canada

This season's defending champion Chicago Blackhawks.

The National Ice Hockey League (NHL, French: Ligue Nationale de Hockey, LNH) is a professional sports league composed of North American ice hockey teams. NHL is the highest level professional ice hockey game in the world and one of the four major professional sports in North America. The team is divided into east and west areas, and each area is divided into three sub-areas.

The alliance was founded in Montreal, Quebec 19 17. Initially, it had five teams. After a series of expansion, there are now 30 teams, 23 in the United States and 7 in Canada. After the cancellation of the whole 2004-2005 season due to the strike of players, the league was successful in the 2005-2006 season and the 2006 Stanley Cup playoffs.

Traditionally, most players are Canadian because of the Canadian origin of the league. With the NHL actively expanding to the United States, the number of European and American players has increased significantly compared with the high level of other leagues and the output of ready-made high-level players after the collapse of the Iron Curtain in Eastern Europe. Even so, half of the players in the 2005-2006 season were born in Canada.