List of Defunct and Relocated National Hockey League Teams

List Of Defunct And Relocated National Hockey League Teams

The National Hockey League (NHL) is a professional men's ice hockey league, consisting of 30 teams in North America: 23 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It was founded in 1917 following the demise of its predecessor league, the National Hockey Association (NHA). The league is considered to be one of the four major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada. The Stanley Cup, the oldest professional sports trophy in North America, is awarded annually to the league champion. The NHL Board of Governors review and approve the relocation of any member club (franchise). Each team appoints an individual to become their Governor to represent their franchise on the Board of Governors. A majority vote (more than half) is needed for a relocation of a franchise. Teams considered permanently relocated moved out of their respective home territories, which includes the city that they were located in, plus 50 miles of the city's corporate limits. The term franchise refers to a team plus its former and future teams. For example, the Kansas City Scouts, Colorado Rockies, and the New Jersey Devils are one franchise.

There are 19 defunct and relocated NHL teams. The Montreal Wanderers, original Ottawa Senators, and the Quebec Athletic Club had played in the NHA before joining the NHL; Quebec joined the NHL two years later as the Bulldogs. The Pittsburgh Pirates played in the US Amateur Hockey Association as the Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets before joining the NHL in 1925. The first NHL team to disband was the Wanderers, citing the lack of available players due to World War I. The first team to relocate was the Bulldogs, who relocated to Hamilton, Ontario to become the Hamilton Tigers. The NHL president at the time, Frank Calder, stripped the franchise from owner Mike Quinn and sold it to a Hamilton-based company. Three franchises became defunct due to the Great Depression: the Philadelphia Quakers, the St. Louis Eagles, and the Montreal Maroons. During their time in the NHL, the Senators and Maroons both won the Stanley Cup championship multiple times, with four and two respectively. The Brooklyn Americans was the last team to become defunct in the NHL, thus began what became known as the Original Six era of the NHL. The franchise was struggling financially, and due to the lack of players via World War II, was suspended prior to the 1942–43 season. The franchise formally ceased in 1946.

The Original Six era ended when the NHL expanded twofold in 1967. Two teams from the expansion—the California Golden Seals and the Minnesota North Stars—relocated to other cities. The Golden Seals moved to Cleveland after nine years in the San Francisco Bay Area to become the Cleveland Barons; this was the first time in four decades the NHL approved a franchise relocation. Two years later, after failed overtures towards merging with the Washington Capitals and the Vancouver Canucks, the Barons merged with the North Stars. The Barons are the only NHL franchise to merge operations with another franchise. The North Stars relocated to Dallas in 1993 to become the Dallas Stars.

After six additional expansion teams, the merger of the Cleveland Barons with the Minnesota North Stars, and the NHL–WHA merger, the league expanded to 21 teams in 1979. Three of the four teams from the NHL–WHA merger relocated to other cities: the Quebec Nordiques, the original Winnipeg Jets, and the Hartford Whalers. The Nordiques became the Colorado Avalanche in 1995, while the Jets became the Phoenix Coyotes in 1996, with the Whalers becoming the Carolina Hurricanes a year later. The Winnipeg Jets identity was revived in 2011, when a Winnipeg-based company received approval from the league to purchase the struggling Atlanta Thrashers and relocate them to Winnipeg for the 2011-2012 season.

Most of the metropolitan areas that have hosted relocated or defunct teams have been given another NHL team. Montreal, Quebec City and Atlanta all have two defunct or relocated teams with the Wanderers and Maroons, the Athletics and Nordiques, and the Flames and Thrashers, respectively. Philadelphia (Philadelphia Flyers), Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh Penguins), and St. Louis (St. Louis Blues) gained teams during the 1967 expansion. After losing the Americans, two more teams have been added into the New York metropolitan area: the New York Islanders in 1972 and the New Jersey Devils in 1982. Other former host-metropolitan areas of NHL teams that have been given another team include: San Francisco Bay Area (San Jose Sharks in 1991), Ottawa (current Ottawa Senators in 1992), Denver (Colorado Avalanche in 1995), Minneapolis – Saint Paul (Minnesota Wild in 2000), and Winnipeg (current Jets in 2011).