Overview
Thirty-two clubs, an 82-game season, and four best-of-seven rounds for the oldest trophy in North American sport.
The National Hockey League is the top professional ice hockey league in the world. Thirty-two clubs — 25 in the United States and seven in Canada — are split between the Eastern and Western Conferences, each divided into two divisions.
The regular season runs 82 games from October to mid-April. Sixteen teams reach the playoffs, eight per conference, seeded mostly within divisions, and contest four best-of-seven rounds for the Stanley Cup, first awarded in 1893 and the oldest trophy competed for by professional athletes in North America.
2026-27 Standings
Opening week of the regular season. Ordered by points, then fewer games played, then goal differential. OTL = overtime and shootout losses. 32 teams. Captured 6 October 2026 from the ESPN public standings feed.
Atlantic Division
| # | Team | GP | W | L | OTL | PTS | GF | GA | DIFF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ottawa Senators | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 3 | +4 |
| 2 | Tampa Bay Lightning | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 7 | +1 |
| 3 | Florida Panthers | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 7 | -1 |
| 4 | Boston Bruins | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 11 | -2 |
| 5 | Montreal Canadiens | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 8 | 0 |
| 6 | Buffalo Sabres | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 9 | -2 |
| 7 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 7 | -1 |
| 8 | Detroit Red Wings | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | -3 |
Metropolitan Division
| # | Team | GP | W | L | OTL | PTS | GF | GA | DIFF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New York Rangers | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 11 | 6 | +5 |
| 2 | Pittsburgh Penguins | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 15 | 8 | +7 |
| 3 | Carolina Hurricanes | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 8 | -3 |
| 4 | New York Islanders | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 2 | +5 |
| 5 | Washington Capitals | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 5 | +1 |
| 6 | Columbus Blue Jackets | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 0 |
| 7 | New Jersey Devils | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 8 | -5 |
| 8 | Philadelphia Flyers | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 17 | -12 |
Central Division
| # | Team | GP | W | L | OTL | PTS | GF | GA | DIFF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Winnipeg Jets | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 9 | 8 | +1 |
| 2 | Colorado Avalanche | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 14 | 5 | +9 |
| 3 | Minnesota Wild | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 2 | +5 |
| 4 | Utah Mammoth | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 12 | 5 | +7 |
| 5 | Nashville Predators | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 4 | -1 |
| 6 | St. Louis Blues | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 6 | -1 |
| 7 | Dallas Stars | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 0 |
| 8 | Chicago Blackhawks | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 15 | -10 |
Pacific Division
| # | Team | GP | W | L | OTL | PTS | GF | GA | DIFF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Edmonton Oilers | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 17 | 14 | +3 |
| 2 | Anaheim Ducks | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 5 | +2 |
| 3 | Seattle Kraken | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 13 | 5 | +8 |
| 4 | Vegas Golden Knights | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 11 | 8 | +3 |
| 5 | San Jose Sharks | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 12 | -3 |
| 6 | Vancouver Canucks | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 19 | 18 | +1 |
| 7 | Los Angeles Kings | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 13 | -5 |
| 8 | Calgary Flames | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 16 | -13 |
Clubs
Every club in the league. Tap a name for its page.
Eastern Conference
Atlantic
Season Format
Recent Champions
Most recent first. Seasons still in progress are marked.
History
The NHL was formed in Montreal in 1917 out of the collapse of the National Hockey Association. It absorbed its western rivals through the 1920s and by 1942 had contracted to the six clubs — Montreal, Toronto, Boston, New York, Detroit and Chicago — that played every season until 1967 and are still known as the Original Six.
Expansion doubled the league to twelve in 1967 and continued for the rest of the century, pushing the game into markets with no hockey tradition. A rival World Hockey Association operated from 1972 to 1979 and, when it folded, four of its clubs joined the NHL, Edmonton among them with a teenaged Wayne Gretzky.
Three lockouts since 1994 have cost parts of three seasons, including all of 2004–05, and produced the hard salary cap that still governs the league. Vegas joined in 2017 and Seattle in 2021, taking the league to 32 clubs; the Arizona franchise's assets moved to Salt Lake City in 2024.
Governance
The league is run from New York by Commissioner Gary Bettman, in post since 1993, with a board of governors drawn from the club owners. Players are represented by the NHL Players' Association; the collective bargaining agreement sets a hard cap with revenue-linked escrow.
The international governing body is the IIHF, which runs the annual World Championship and the Olympic tournament. NHL players returned to the Olympics for the 2026 Milano-Cortina Games after a twelve-year absence.