The National Hockey League is a professional ice hockey league in North America, currently comprising 31 teams: 24 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is considered to be the premier professional ice hockey league in the world, and is one of the 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 playoff champion at the end of each season.
Roberto Luongo is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender. He played 19 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the New York Islanders, Florida Panthers and the Vancouver Canucks. Luongo is a two-time NHL Second Team All-Star and a winner of the William M. Jennings Trophy for backstopping his team to the lowest goals against average in the league. He was a finalist for several awards, including the Vezina Trophy as the league's best goaltender, the Lester B. Pearson Award as the top player voted by his peers, and the Hart Memorial Trophy as the league's most valuable player (2007). Luongo is second all time in games played as an NHL goaltender (1,044) and third all time in wins (489). He employed the butterfly style of goaltending.
Joseph Henry "Bad Joe" Hall was a Canadian professional ice hockey player. Hall played senior and professional hockey from 1902 to 1919, when he died as a result of the Spanish flu pandemic. He won the Stanley Cup twice with the Quebec Bulldogs and once with the Kenora Thistles.
Johnny Canuck is a Canadian cartoon hero and superhero who was created as a political cartoon in 1869 and was later re-invented, most notably as a Second World War action hero in 1942. The Vancouver Canucks, a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL), currently use a lumberjack rendition of Johnny Canuck as one of their team logos.
Ryan James Kesler is a former American professional ice hockey center and alternate captain for the Anaheim Ducks of the National Hockey League (NHL). Selected in the first round, 23rd overall, by the Vancouver Canucks in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft, Kesler spent the first ten years of his NHL career with the Canucks. He was traded to Anaheim on June 27, 2014. He is best known for being a two-way forward, winning the Selke Trophy in 2011, as well as for his agitating style of play.
Édouard Cyrille "Newsy" Lalonde was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward in the National Hockey League (NHL) and a professional lacrosse player. Lalonde is regarded as one of hockey's and lacrosse's greatest players of the first half of the 20th century and one of Canadian sport's most colourful characters. He played for the Montreal Canadiens – considered to be the original "Flying Frenchman" – in the National Hockey Association and the NHL. He also played for the WCHL's Saskatoon Sheiks.
Samuel Russell Crawford was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward who played for the Quebec Bulldogs of the National Hockey Association (NHA), Ottawa Senators and Toronto Arenas of the National Hockey League (NHL) and Saskatoon Crescents, Calgary Tigers and Vancouver Maroons of the Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL). He was a two-time Stanley Cup champion, winning the trophy with the Bulldogs in 1913 and the Arenas in 1918. Crawford was one of the sport's early stars and appeared in 258 games in the three major leagues, scoring 110 goals. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1963.
Harold Macarius Hyland was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward who played for the Montreal Wanderers, New Westminster Royals and Ottawa Senators. He was one of the great stars in the early years of professional hockey.
John Phillip "Jack" Walker was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward who played for the Toronto Blueshirts, Seattle Metropolitans, Victoria Cougars, and Detroit Cougars. He played in all the big professional leagues at the time: the NHA, PCHA, WCHL, and NHL.
Alain Vigneault is a Canadian professional ice hockey coach for the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League (NHL). Vigneault has previously coached the Montreal Canadiens, Vancouver Canucks, and the New York Rangers in the NHL, as well as in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). During his career with the Canucks, he won the Jack Adams Award as the NHL's top coach of the year in 2006–07 and became the team's record holder for wins as a coach. Under Vigneault, Vancouver won back-to-back Presidents' Trophies and made one Stanley Cup Finals appearance (2011). In his first season with New York, he led the Rangers to their first Stanley Cup Finals appearance (2014) in 20 years.
Emmanuel Noveen Malhotra is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre who is currently an assistant coach for the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League (NHL). He is a former assistant coach of the Vancouver Canucks. He last played with the Lake Erie Monsters in the American Hockey League (AHL) on a try-out basis. During his 18-year career, he played as a centre for the Montreal Canadiens, Carolina Hurricanes, Vancouver Canucks, San Jose Sharks, Columbus Blue Jackets, Dallas Stars and the New York Rangers. Malhotra was known as a two-way forward and for his faceoff proficiency, in which he won over 56% of faceoffs he took in the NHL.
Alfred "Dutch" Skinner was a Canadian ice hockey right winger. During his career, which lasted from 1913 to 1930 he played for several teams in the National Hockey Association, National Hockey League, and Pacific Coast Hockey Association, his longest tenure was with the Vancouver Millionaires of the PCHA. With the Toronto Arenas he won the Stanley Cup in 1918, and played for the Cup a further three times with Vancouver.
William Reid Mitchell is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman. He is known primarily as a physical defensive defenceman. Mitchell played Junior A in the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL) and Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) before joining the college ranks with the Clarkson Knights of ECAC Hockey in 1997. He won an ECAC championship with Clarkson in 1999, while also earning playoff MVP and ECAC First Team All-Star honours.
Charles Corbett "Corb" Denneny was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward who played professionally from 1912 to 1931, including nine seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Toronto Arenas, Toronto St. Pats, Hamilton Tigers and Chicago Black Hawks. Corbett also played for the Vancouver Maroons of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) and the Saskatoon Sheiks of Western Canada Hockey League. He twice won the Stanley Cup with the original versions of the NHL's Toronto franchise.
Patrick John "Jack" McDonald was a Canadian professional ice hockey player who played from 1905 until 1922, including eleven seasons in the National Hockey Association/National Hockey League for the Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Wanderers, Quebec Bulldogs, Toronto Ontarios and Toronto St. Patricks. He was a member of the 1912 Quebec Bulldogs Stanley Cup championship team, playing eleven seasons for the Bulldogs in the period from 1905–06 until 1919–20.
Thomas Wilfred "Smokey, Fred" Harris was a Canadian professional ice hockey player. Harris played in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA), the National Hockey League (NHL) and the Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL). Harris was born in Port Arthur, Ontario. His brother Henry was also a professional ice hockey player. Harris scored the first goal in Boston Bruins' franchise history.
Bradley Kevin Marchand is a Canadian professional ice hockey left winger and alternate captain for the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League (NHL). Marchand was selected by the Bruins in the third round, 71st overall, at the 2006 NHL Entry Draft. During his time with the Bruins, he won the Stanley Cup in 2011 and was named to the 2017 and 2018 NHL All-Star Game.
Madison Bowey is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman for the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League (NHL). He has formerly played for the Washington Capitals, Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks. Bowey was selected 53rd overall by the Capitals in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft. Bowey won the Stanley Cup as a member of the Capitals in 2018.
Ben Hutton is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman currently playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League (NHL). Hutton was drafted 147th overall by the Vancouver Canucks in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft.
The National Hockey League's North Division is one of the four divisions being used by the NHL for the 2020–21 NHL season. This division was organized in 2020 as the result of the travel restrictions that have been in place since March 2020 between the Canada–United States border due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The entirety of the 2020–21 regular season and first two rounds of the playoffs will be played between these seven teams.
