List of defunct and relocated National Hockey League teams facts for kids
The National Hockey League (NHL) is a professional ice hockey league for men. It started way back in 1917. Sometimes, an NHL team might move to a new city. This is called a "relocation." The people in charge of the NHL, called the Board of Governors, must agree to any team move. Each team has someone who represents them on this board. Most of them must vote "yes" for a team to move. A team is officially "relocated" if it moves more than 50 miles away from its original city.
Each team in the NHL has a special agreement called a "franchise." This agreement lets them run a hockey club in a specific city. A franchise can actually last longer than a team's time in one city. For example, the Kansas City Scouts, Colorado Rockies, and New Jersey Devils are all part of the same franchise history. This means their wins and losses from different cities are all counted together. Team names, logos, and designs are officially registered with the league.
Two current teams use names from older teams: the Ottawa Senators and Winnipeg Jets. However, these new teams do not carry the history of the original teams with the same names. The current Ottawa Senators team does not include the history of the first Senators team. The current Jets team's history includes the Atlanta Thrashers' history, not the first Winnipeg Jets (which later became the Arizona Coyotes).
There have been 19 NHL teams that either stopped playing (became "defunct") or moved to a new city. Some teams, like the Montreal Wanderers, original Ottawa Senators, and Quebec Bulldogs, played in another league before joining the NHL. The Pittsburgh Pirates also played in a different league before joining the NHL in 1925.
The first NHL team to stop playing was the Montreal Wanderers. They had trouble finding enough players because of World War I. The first team to move was the Quebec Athletics (formerly the Quebec Bulldogs). They moved to Hamilton, Ontario, and became the Hamilton Tigers. The NHL president at the time took the team from its owner and sold it to a company in Hamilton.
Three teams went out of business because of money problems during the Great Depression. These were the Philadelphia Quakers, the St. Louis Eagles, and the Montreal Maroons. The original Senators won the Stanley Cup championship four times, and the Maroons won it twice. The Brooklyn Americans was the last team to stop playing for a while. They had money problems and not enough players because of World War II. They stopped playing in 1942 and officially closed in 1946. When the Americans left, only six teams were left in the NHL. This time was known as the Original Six era.
The Original Six era ended in 1967 when the NHL added six new teams. Two of these new teams, the California Golden Seals and the Minnesota North Stars, later moved. The Golden Seals moved from Oakland after nine seasons to become the Cleveland Barons. This was the first time in 40 years that the NHL allowed a team to move. Two years later, the Barons joined with the North Stars because both teams had money problems. The Barons are the only NHL team ever to combine with another team. The North Stars then moved to Dallas in 1993 and became the Stars.
By 1979, the league had grown to 21 teams. This was after more new teams joined and some teams from another league (the WHA) merged with the NHL. Three of the teams that joined from the WHA later moved: the Quebec Nordiques, the original Winnipeg Jets, and the Hartford Whalers. The Nordiques became the Colorado Avalanche in 1995. The original Winnipeg Jets became the Phoenix Coyotes in 1996, then the Arizona Coyotes in 2014, and stopped playing in 2024. The Hartford Whalers moved to North Carolina and became the Carolina Hurricanes in 1997.
The name Winnipeg Jets was brought back in 2011. A company from Winnipeg bought the Atlanta Thrashers team, which was having money problems, and moved them to Winnipeg. Out of the seven teams that moved and are still playing today, two have never won the Stanley Cup: the Coyotes and the Jets. They have also never played in the Stanley Cup Finals.
Many cities that used to have NHL teams that moved or stopped playing have since gotten a new NHL team. Montreal, Quebec City, and Atlanta each had two teams that either moved or stopped playing. Cities like Philadelphia (Philadelphia Flyers), Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh Penguins), and St. Louis (St. Louis Blues) got new teams in 1967. After the Americans left, the New York metropolitan area got two more teams: the New York Islanders in 1972 and the New Jersey Devils in 1982. Other cities that got new teams include the San Francisco Bay Area (San Jose Sharks in 1991), Ottawa (current Ottawa Senators in 1992), Denver (Colorado Avalanche in 1995), Minneapolis – St. Paul (Minnesota Wild in 2000), and Winnipeg (current Jets in 2011).
Contents
Defunct and Relocated NHL Teams
This table shows teams that either stopped playing or moved to a new city.
| First | First year the team played in the NHL |
| Last | Last year the team played in the NHL |
| Record | The team's wins, losses, and ties (and overtime losses) |
| Win% | Winning percentage (how often they won) |
| PA | How many times the team played in the playoffs |
| SC | How many Stanley Cup championships the team won |
| * | Means the team is still playing today |
| ^ | Means the city later got a new NHL team |
| Team | First | Last | Relocated to | Seasons | Record | Win% | PA | SC | Reason for moving or stopping | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Montreal Wanderers^ | 1917 | 1918 | Defunct | 1 | 1–5–0 | .167 | 0 | 0 | Not enough players because of World War I and their arena burned down | |
| Quebec Bulldogs^ | 1919 | 1920 | Hamilton Tigers | 1 | 4–20–0 | .167 | 0 | 0 | Sold to a company in Hamilton | |
| Hamilton Tigers | 1920 | 1925 | Defunct | 5 | 47–78–1 | .377 | 0 | 0 | Stopped playing because players went on strike; their players were bought by the New York Americans. | |
| Pittsburgh Pirates^ | 1925 | 1930 | Philadelphia Quakers | 5 | 67–122–23 | .370 | 2 | 0 | Money problems during the Great Depression | |
| Philadelphia Quakers^ | 1930 | 1931 | Defunct | 1 | 4–36–4 | .136 | 0 | 0 | Money problems during the Great Depression | |
| Ottawa Senators^ | 1917 | 1934 | St. Louis Eagles | 16 | 258–221–63 | .534 | 9 | 4 | Money problems during the Great Depression | |
| St. Louis Eagles^ | 1934 | 1935 | Defunct | 1 | 11–31–6 | .292 | 0 | 0 | Money problems during the Great Depression | |
| Montreal Maroons | 1924 | 1938 | Defunct | 14 | 271–260–91 | .509 | 11 | 2 | Money problems during the Great Depression | |
| Brooklyn Americans^ | 1925 | 1942 | Defunct | 17 | 255–402–127 | .406 | 5 | 0 | Money problems and not enough players because of World War II; officially stopped in 1946. | |
| California Golden Seals^ | 1967 | 1976 | Cleveland Barons | 9 | 182–401–115 | .343 | 2 | 0 | Wanted better money situations; Cleveland was the hometown of one of the owners. | |
| Kansas City Scouts | 1974 | 1976 | Colorado Rockies | 2 | 27–110–23 | .241 | 0 | 0 | Money problems; sold to a group that wanted to move the team. | |
| Cleveland Barons | 1976 | 1978 | Defunct Joined with Minnesota North Stars |
2 | 47–87–26 | .375 | 0 | 0 | Both teams had money problems. The Barons are the last NHL team to completely stop playing. | |
| Atlanta Flames^ | 1972 | 1980 | Calgary Flames* | 8 | 268–260–108 | .506 | 6 | 0 | Money problems; sold to someone who wanted to move them to Calgary. | |
| Colorado Rockies^ | 1976 | 1982 | New Jersey Devils* | 6 | 113–281–86 | .325 | 0 | 0 | Sold to someone who wanted better money situations; New Jersey was his home state. | |
| Minnesota North Stars^ | 1967 | 1993 | Dallas Stars* | 26 | 758–970–334 | .449 | 17 | 0 | Wanted better money situations. | |
| Quebec Nordiques | 1979 | 1995 | Colorado Avalanche* | 16 | 497–599–160 | .459 | 9 | 0 | Money problems; sold to a group in Denver. | |
| Winnipeg Jets^ | 1979 | 1996 | Phoenix Coyotes | 17 | 506–660–172 | .442 | 11 | 0 | Sold to a group that wanted to move the team for better money situations. | |
| Hartford Whalers | 1979 | 1997 | Carolina Hurricanes* | 18 | 534–709–177 | .438 | 8 | 0 | Wanted better money situations. | |
| Atlanta Thrashers | 1999 | 2011 | Winnipeg Jets* | 11 | 342–437–45–78 | .447 | 1 | 0 | Money problems; sold to a company in Winnipeg. | |
| Arizona Coyotes | 1996 | 2024 | Franchise inactive Hockey assets relocated to become Utah NHL team |
27 | 918–934–94–191 | .495 | 9 | 0 | Team could not build a new arena after playing two seasons in a smaller one. The team's players and other hockey parts were sold to the owner of the Utah Jazz. |
Map of Defunct and Relocated Teams
Timeline of NHL Teams
See Also
