7 teams are canadian in the nhl.
how many teams in the nhl are canadian?
7 teams
the nhl is by far the best attended and most popular ice hockey league in the world, and is among the major professional sports leagues in the united states and canada. the league's history began after canada's national hockey association decided to disband in 1917; the result was the creation of the national hockey league with four teams. the league expanded to the united states beginning in 1924 and had as many as 10 teams before contracting to six teams by 1942–43. in 1967, the nhl doubled in size to 12 teams, undertaking one of the greatest expansions in professional sports history. a few years later, in 1972, a new 12-team league, the world hockey association (wha) was formed and due to its ensuing rivalry with the nhl, it caused an escalation in players salaries. as of 1979, the nhl had grown to 17 teams and merged with the wha creating a 21-team league. by 2017, the nhl had expanded to 31 teams, and after a realignment in 2013, these teams were divided into two conferences and four divisions. the league is expected to expand to 32 teams by 2021.
ice hockey
the nhl was initially based entirely in eastern canada, with teams in toronto, montreal, ottawa, hamilton and quebec city; by 1925, hamilton and quebec city no longer had nhl teams, while ottawa would leave in 1934, by which point american teams were slowly being added. the first canadian expansion team would come in 1970 with a team in vancouver; the nhl later added teams in edmonton, winnipeg and quebec city (through absorption of wha franchises), calgary (via relocation from atlanta) and ottawa (via expansion) to go with the still-extant toronto and montreal teams. the distinctive place hockey holds in canadian culture allowed these franchises to compete with teams in larger cities for some time. however, the teams in winnipeg and quebec city were eventually moved to larger media markets in the u.s., respectively phoenix and denver. the nhl's canadian teams benefited greatly from the rise of the canadian dollar to parity with its u.s. counterpart in the early 2010s, mainly because they collect most of their revenues in canadian dollars but pay their player salaries in u.s. dollars. as a result, the nhl returned to winnipeg for the 2011–12 season, with the atlanta thrashers relocating to become the newest version of the winnipeg jets. since then, however, the canadian dollar has weakened considerably against the u.s. dollar. there has been discussion of potential relocation to quebec and, at least on a part-time basis, to saskatoon in the future; while there have been efforts to bring an nhl team to hamilton or suburban toronto, the league currently opposes those efforts and has actively blocked efforts to relocate teams to hamilton. in addition to full-time teams, the nhl, through its kraft hockeyville promotion, hosts a preseason game in a select small town each year.
expansion of major sports leagues in the united states and canada