When Did the NHL Regular Season Start?
Contents
The NHL regular season started on October 2nd, 2019.
NHL History
The National Hockey League (NHL) was established in 1917 with four Canadian teams. By 1926, it had grown to ten teams, including the first American franchise in Boston. After a financial crisis in the 1930s, the league stabilized at six teams until 1942.
Original Six teams
The NHL’s first expansion took place in 1967 when six new teams were added to double the league’s size. The “Original Six” era of the NHL thus came to an end. The expansion doubled the number of professional hockey players and exposure to the sport increased exponentially. Revenues increased and the quality of play improved. The additional teams also meant that more cities across North America could support a professional franchise.
Expansion teams
The National Hockey League (NHL) is a professional ice hockey league composed of 30 member clubs: 23 in the United States and 7 in Canada. Founded in 1917 as the successor to the National Hockey Association (NHA), the NHL is considered to be the premier professional ice hockey league in the world, and one of the North American major professional sports leagues.
The Stanley Cup, the oldest professional sports trophy in North America, is awarded annually to the playoff champion at the end of each season. At its inception, the NHL had four teams—all in Canada, thus it was originally known as the NHL Canadian Division; however, by 1926, it expanded to twelve teams, overall.
NHL Regular Season
The NHL regular season started on October 2, 2019. All 31 teams played on opening night. The regular season will end on April 4, 2020.
Early years
The National Hockey League’s regular season schedule has evolved greatly since the league’s founding in 1917. In the league’s earliest years, teams played as few as four games and as many as 16 against other teams in their own division or conference. By the mid-1920s, most teams were playing between 30 and 40 games. In 1946, the NHL instituted a 60-game schedule for what was then a six-team league; that schedule remained in place until 1967, when it was bumped up to 70 games per team.
The current 82-game schedule was introduced in the 1974-75 season, when the NHL doubled in size to 18 teams with the addition of the WHA’s Minnesota Fighting Saints, New England Whalers (now the Carolina Hurricanes), and Quebec Nordiques (now the Colorado Avalanche). That same year, the league realigned its divisions from two to four.
The NHL expanded again in 1979-80 with the addition of four more WHA clubs – the Edmonton Oilers, Hartford Whalers, Winnipeg Jets, and Quebec Nordiques – bringing the total number of teams to 22. The additions prompted another realignment of divisions; this time there were two conferences each containing two divisions. The 82-game schedule also remained unchanged.
In 1993-94, with the arrival of two more expansion franchises -the Tampa Bay Lightning and Ottawa Senators- and with Original Six team Detroit moving from the Norris Division to a new Central Division, NHL conferences and divisions once again underwent a metamorphosis. For this season only, there were three conferences: Campbell Conference (Western), Wales Conference (Eastern), and Clarence Campbell Conference (Central).
And finally, beginning in 1998-99 with Nashville Predators’ arrival as an expansion club and Atlanta Thrashers’ relocation from Quebec City following that franchise’s sale by COMSAT Video Enterprises), there have been 30 teams evenly divided into Eastern and Western Conferences each containing three divisions.
Modern era
The regular season began on October 5, 1917, just two weeks after the formation of the National Hockey League. The first game was between the Montreal Canadiens and the Ottawa Senators, with the Canadiens winning 7–4. The schedule originally consisted of each team playing 20 games over 30 days in a round-robin format, with three days off between each game. In 1918, the schedule was reduced to 22 games over 28 days.
NHL Playoffs
The NHL regular season started on October 2nd, 2019. NHL teams will be fighting for a playoff spot over the next few months. Lets take a look at how the NHL playoffs work. The Stanley Cup Playoffs are an elimination tournament in the National Hockey League (NHL) consisting of four rounds of best-of-seven series.
Format
The National Hockey League (NHL) is a professional ice hockey league consisting of 31 teams, 24 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The Stanley Cup, the oldest professional sports trophy in North America, is awarded to the playoff champion at the end of each season.
The regular season begins in October and ends in early April. Each team plays 82 games during the regular season, 41 each at home and on the road. These games are used to determine which teams will make the playoffs.
The playoff field is typically composed of 16 teams, 8 from each conference (the Eastern and Western). The playoffs are a single-elimination tournament, meaning that once a team loses a game, they are out of the playoffs. The tournament starts with 4 rounds of best-of-seven series until a conference champion is crowned. The conference champions then face off in the Stanley Cup Finals, a best-of-seven series to decide who will hoist Lord Stanley’s Cup at the end of the season.
Stanley Cup Finals
The Stanley Cup Finals is the culmination of the National Hockey League’s (NHL) annual playoffs. The Eastern and Western conference champions play a best-of-seven series to determine the league champion and the winner of the Stanley Cup.
NHL All-Star Game
The National Hockey League (NHL) All-Star Game is an annual exhibition game hosted by the NHL. It is traditionally held during the NHL’s regular season, but starting in 2020, it will be held during the Stanley Cup playoffs. The All-Star Game features a team of all-stars from the Eastern Conference against a team of all-stars from the Western Conference. The game is typically played in late January or early February.
NHL Awards
The National Hockey League (NHL) regular season starts in October and usually ends in early April. Prior to the NHL Awards Show, which is held in late June, teams compete for the Stanley Cup.
NHL Awards are given out annually to recognize individual and team achievements during the NHL regular season.
The following is a list of NHL Awards:
-Hart Memorial Trophy: Given to the player judged to be the most valuable to his team during the regular season.
-Ted Lindsay Award: Given to the player voted by his peers as the Most Outstanding Player during the regular season.
– Calder Memorial Trophy: Given to the rookie who displayed the best all-around ability during the regular season.
– James Norris Memorial Trophy: Given to the defenseman who displayed superior all-around ability during the regular season.
– Vezina Trophy: Given to the goaltender who was adjudged to be the best at this position during the regular season.
