The National Hockey League (NHL) (French: Ligue nationale de
hockey (LNH)) is a professional
ice hockey league composed of 30 teams in
North America. It is
the premier professional ice hockey league in
the world,[1] and
one of the North
American major professional
sports leagues. The NHL is divided into two fifteen-team conferences, each of which consists of three five-team divisions.
The league was founded in 1917 in
Montreal,
Quebec,
Canada with
four teams, and through a series of expansions, contractions and relocations, the league is now composed of 30 teams, 24 of which are based in the
United States and
six in Canada. After a labour dispute that led to the cancellation of the complete 2004–05 season, the league has staged a successful comeback, including revenue and profit growth.
Because the sport originated in
Canada, Canadians have historically constituted a large majority of
the players in the NHL. Over the past 25 years, the percentages of
American and European
players have increased because of the NHL's continued expansion into the
United States, its high
standard of
play compared to other leagues, and the availability of highly skilled European players. Nevertheless, more than half of the league's players on the 2005–06 roster were
born in Canada.
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