The following is a list of current National Hockey League franchise owners.
All of the NHL's teams use some form of holding company for the team's assets, sometimes through multiple layers of corporations, which are all listed in the "Operating Entities" column. The "Principal Owner(s)" column lists the majority or plurality owner(s) of the team or, in the case of teams held by publicly held corporations, the corporation's chairman.
Each team has a representative on the NHL Board of Governors, the league's ruling and governing body, listed in the "NHL Governor" column; for most teams, this is the majority or plurality owner of the club.
Franchise | Principal owner(s) | NHL Governor [1] | Operating entities | Purchase price (US$ millions) | Adjusted price | Year purchased |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Anaheim Ducks | Henry Samueli | Anaheim Ducks Hockey Club LLC | 70 | $109 million | 2005 [2] | |
Boston Bruins | Jeremy Jacobs | Boston Professional Hockey Association, Inc | 10 | $56.6 million | 1975 [3] | |
Buffalo Sabres | Terry and Kim Pegula | Terry Pegula† | Pegula Sports and Entertainment; Hockey Western New York, LLC | 165 | $223 million | 2011 [4] |
Calgary Flames | N. Murray Edwards | Calgary Sports and Entertainment | 16 | $59.2 million | 1980 [5] | |
Carolina Hurricanes | Tom Dundon | Gale Force Sports And Entertainment, LLC; Carolina Hurricanes Hockey Club | 420 | $510 million | 2018 [6] | |
Chicago Blackhawks | Danny Wirtz | Chicago Blackhawk Hockey Team, Inc. | 1 | $11.3 million | 1954 [7] | |
Colorado Avalanche | Ann Walton Kroenke | Josh Kroenke‡ | Kroenke Sports & Entertainment; Colorado Avalanche, LLC | 202 | $357 million | 2000 [8] |
Columbus Blue Jackets | John P. McConnell | Colhoc Limited Partnership; The Columbus Blue Jackets Hockey Club | 80 & 173 | $152 million & $230 million | 1997 & 2012 [9] | |
Dallas Stars | Tom Gaglardi | Dallas Stars LP | 240 | $325 million | 2011 [10] | |
Detroit Red Wings | Marian Illitch | Christopher Ilitch | Ilitch Holdings Inc.; Olympia Entertainment; Detroit Red Wings, Inc. | 8.5 | $26.8 million | 1982 [11] |
Edmonton Oilers | Daryl Katz | Rexall Sports Corporation; Oilers Entertainment Group | 170 | $241 million | 2008 [12] [13] | |
Florida Panthers | Vincent Viola | Sunrise Sports and Entertainment; Florida Panthers Hockey Club, Ltd. | 160 | $209 million | 2013 [14] [15] | |
Los Angeles Kings | Philip Anschutz and Edward P. Roski | Philip Anschutz† | Anschutz Entertainment Group, The Los Angeles Kings Hockey Club LP | 113.3 | $227 million | 1995 [16] |
Minnesota Wild | Craig Leipold | Minnesota Sports and Entertainment; Minnesota Wild Hockey Club, LP | 225 | $318 million | 2008 [17] [18] [19] | |
Montreal Canadiens | Molson Family | Geoff Molson‡ | Club de hockey Canadien, Inc. | 575 | $817 million | 2009 [20] [21] [22] |
Nashville Predators | Herb Fritch | Predators Holdings LLC | 174 | $256 million | 2007 [23] | |
New Jersey Devils | David Blitzer and Josh Harris | Tad Brown | Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment | 320 | $419 million | 2013 [24] |
New York Islanders | Jon Ledecky and Scott D. Malkin | Scott D. Malkin† | New York Islanders Hockey Club, LP | 485 | $616 million | 2016 [25] [26] |
New York Rangers | James L. Dolan | The Madison Square Garden Company, New York Rangers Hockey Club | 195 | $370 million | 1997 [27] | |
Ottawa Senators | Michael Andlauer | Senators Sports & Entertainment; Ottawa Senators Hockey Club Limited Partnership | 950 | $950 million | 2023 [28] | |
Philadelphia Flyers | Brian L. Roberts | Dan Hilferty | Comcast Spectacor; Philadelphia Flyers, LP | 150 | $291 million | 1996 [29] |
Pittsburgh Penguins | Ronald Burkle and Mario Lemieux | David Morehouse 2 | Fenway Sports Group; Lemieux Group LP | 107 | $196 million | 1999 [30] |
San Jose Sharks | Hasso Plattner | Sharks Sports and Entertainment; San Jose Sports & Entertainment Enterprises; San Jose Sharks, LLC | 147 | $249 million | 2002 [31] | |
Seattle Kraken | David Bonderman, Jerry Bruckheimer and Tod Leiweke | David Bonderman† | Seattle Hockey Partners | 650 | $789 million | 2018 [32] |
St. Louis Blues | Tom Stillman | SLB Acquisition Holdings LLC; St. Louis Blues Hockey Club, L.P. | 180 | $239 million | 2012 [33] | |
Tampa Bay Lightning | Jeffrey Vinik | Lightning Hockey LP | 93 | $130 million | 2010 [34] | |
Toronto Maple Leafs | Larry Tanenbaum | Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, Ltd.; Kilmer Sports, Inc. | 263 & 1,000 | $511 million & $1.33 billion | 1996 & 2012 [35] | |
Utah NHL team | Ryan Smith | Smith Entertainment Group | 1,200 | $1.2 billion | 2024 [36] | |
Vancouver Canucks | Francesco Aquilini | Canucks Sports & Entertainment | 207 | $323 million | 2005 [37] | |
Vegas Golden Knights | Bill Foley | Black Knight Sports & Entertainment, Hockey Vision Las Vegas | 500 | $635 million | 2016 [38] | |
Washington Capitals | Ted Leonsis | Monumental Sports & Entertainment | 85 | $155 million | 1999 [39] | |
Winnipeg Jets | Mark Chipman and David Thomson | Mark Chipman† | True North Sports & Entertainment, Ltd. | 170 | $230 million | 2011 [40] |
Observer Status | ||||||
Arizona Coyotes (Suspended) | Alex Meruelo | IceArizona Acquisition Co., LLC | 300 | $358 million | 2019 [41] [42] |
† Only one of the owners can be that team's NHL Governor.
‡ Child/family member of the team's owner.
2 President and CEO of the Pittsburgh Penguins, David Morehouse, represents the team instead of one of its owners.
The National Hockey League is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 33 teams – 26 in the United States and 7 in 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. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada and is considered to be the top ranked professional ice hockey league in the world, with players from 17 countries as of the 2023–24 season. The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) also views the Stanley Cup as one of the "most important championships available to the sport". The NHL is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan.
The World Hockey Association was a professional ice hockey major league that operated in North America from 1972 to 1979. It was the first major league to compete with the National Hockey League (NHL) since the collapse of the Western Hockey League in 1926. Although the WHA was not the first league since that time to attempt to challenge the NHL's supremacy, it was by far the most successful in the modern era.
The Molson Brewery is a Canadian-based brewery based in Montreal and was established in 1786 by the Molson family. In 2005, Molson merged with the Adolph Coors Company to become Molson Coors.
George Nield Gillett Jr. is an American businessman. Originally from Wisconsin, he lives in Vail, Colorado.
The Edmonton Investors Group Limited Partnership (EIGLP) was the limited partnership that owned the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League and the Edmonton Oil Kings of the Western Hockey League. With more than thirty individual shareholders, EIGLP was the largest ownership group in the NHL. Among the four North American major sports leagues, only the Green Bay Packers have a larger ownership group.
The Katz Group of Companies is a Canadian privately-owned enterprise, with operations in sports and entertainment and real estate development. Oilers Entertainment Group (OEG), a subsidiary of the Katz Group, owns the National Hockey League five-time Stanley Cup Champion Edmonton Oilers, as well as professional hockey franchises in the American Hockey League, Western Hockey League, and ECHL, and Aquila Productions, an entertainment and event company. OEG operates Rogers Place in downtown Edmonton. Katz Group is also involved in land assembly, site, and building development in Canada and the United States, including the design and development of Ice District, an area encompasses more than 25 acres anchored by Rogers Place. Katz Group is based in Edmonton, Alberta. Its founder and chairman is Daryl Katz.
Daryl Allan Katz is a Canadian billionaire businessman. Katz is founder and chairman of the Katz Group of Companies, one of Canada's largest privately owned enterprises, with pharmacy, sports & entertainment, and real estate development businesses. Katz Group owns the Edmonton Oilers, and led the development of Rogers Place and the Ice District. Katz is a former lawyer, and resides in Edmonton.
The 2003–04 NHL season was the 95th season of play for the Montreal Canadiens and their 87th in the National Hockey League (NHL). The Canadiens would return to the playoffs reaching the Eastern Conference before being eliminated by the eventual Stanley Cup champions, the Tampa Bay Lightning, 4–0.
NHL on CTV is the name of a former television program that broadcast National Hockey League games on the CTV Television Network.
Cal Nichols is a Canadian businessman who spearheaded the group which would later become the Edmonton Investors Group (EIG) which owned the National Hockey League's Edmonton Oilers.
The 2009–10 NHL season was the 93rd season of operation of the National Hockey League (NHL). It ran from October 1, 2009—including four games in Europe on October 2 and 3—until April 11, 2010, with the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs running to June 9, 2010. A mid-season break from February 15 to February 28 occurred to allow participation of NHL players in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Because of the Winter Olympics break, there was no NHL All-Star Game for 2010. The Stanley Cup Finals saw the Chicago Blackhawks defeat the Philadelphia Flyers in six games, for their first championship since the 1960–61 season.
The 1979 NHL expansion was the culmination of several years of negotiations between the National Hockey League (NHL) and the World Hockey Association (WHA). The result of the negotiations was that the WHA and its six surviving franchises folded, and owners of four WHL teams—the Edmonton Oilers, New England Whalers, Quebec Nordiques, and Winnipeg Jets—were granted expansion franchises, which commenced play in the NHL in the 1979–80 season. The agreement officially took effect on June 22, 1979. The agreement ended the seven-year existence of the WHA and re-established the NHL as the lone major league in North American professional ice hockey.
The National Hockey League (NHL) has undergone several rounds of expansion and other organizational changes during its history to reach its current thirty-two active teams: twenty-five in the United States, and seven in Canada. The newest additions to the league are the Seattle Kraken in 2021 and the unnamed Utah team in 2024. The league has also relocated several franchises, most recently in 2011 when the former Atlanta Thrashers became the second and current incarnation of the Winnipeg Jets.
Patrick LaForge is the former president and CEO of the Edmonton Oilers. He was born in Lac La Biche and raised in Edmonton.
The 2010–11 NHL season was the 94th season of operation of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Boston Bruins defeated the Vancouver Canucks in the Stanley Cup Finals four games to three, being the sixth Cup win in Bruins' franchise history. For the fourth consecutive season, the season started with games in Europe. The 58th All-Star Game was held at RBC Center in Raleigh, North Carolina, home arena of the Carolina Hurricanes, on January 30, 2011.
The Phoenix Coyotes, a professional ice hockey team now known as the Arizona Coyotes of the National Hockey League (NHL), filed for bankruptcy in 2009 after incurring several hundred million dollars of losses since their move to Phoenix, Arizona from Winnipeg, Manitoba, where they were known as the Winnipeg Jets. A bankruptcy court rejected a plan to sell the team and move it to Canada, and the team was purchased by the NHL. The NHL operated the team in Phoenix for four seasons while seeking a new owner. After several prospective purchases fell through, the team was finally sold in the summer of 2013.
The following is a complete history of organizational changes in the National Hockey League (NHL). The NHL was founded in 1917 as a successor to the National Hockey Association (NHA), starting out with four teams from the predecessor league, and eventually grew to thirty-two in its current state. The NHL has expanded and contracted numerous times throughout its history, including in 1979 when four teams came over from the World Hockey Association (WHA).
True North Sports and Entertainment Limited is a Canadian company based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, that owns and operates Canada Life Centre in downtown Winnipeg and the Winnipeg Jets of the National Hockey League. The company also owns the Jets' minor league affiliate, the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League. Aside from hockey, TNSE is also involved in real estate with True North Square, and are active in bringing concerts and other acts to Winnipeg.
Alex Meruelo is a Cuban-American billionaire who holds business interests in banking, real estate, media, restaurants, food, casinos, and professional sports. He is the owner of Meruelo Group, as well as Meruelo Media, which owns five radio stations and two television stations in Los Angeles. In addition, he is the owner of Fuji Food, two casinos, the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, Nevada and the Sahara Las Vegas in Las Vegas and was the majority owner of the Arizona Coyotes of the National Hockey League until he sold the team to the National Hockey League, which then sold the team to Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith, under an agreement with the NHL wherein the Coyotes would be temporarily deactivated, with Smith using the Coyotes' non-business properties, including players and staff, to form the Utah NHL team, while Meruelo works on his efforts to build an NHL-compliant arena in the Phoenix area; should his efforts succeed by the end of 2029, he would continue as owner of a reactivated expansion Arizona Coyotes team, but should he fail by the end of the window, he will return the remaining Coyotes assets to the league at that time.
Michael Andlauer is a Canadian businessman and ice hockey club owner. He is the founder of businesses ATS Healthcare, Accuristix, Bulldog Capital Partners and Andlauer Healthcare Group. He is the CEO of Andlauer Healthcare Group. He is the owner of the Ottawa Senators National Hockey League (NHL) team, which includes its minor league American Hockey League team the Belleville Senators (AHL), and the Brantford Bulldogs Ontario Hockey League (OHL) team. He was formerly a minority owner of the Montreal Canadiens NHL team.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)