American sports

National Hockey League

The National Hockey League (NHL) is a professional sports organization composed of hockey teams in the United States and Canada, where it is also known by its French name, Ligue Nationale de Hockey (LNH). It is generally regarded as the premier professional ice hockey league in the world. The NHL is often listed as one of the major professional sports leagues of North America.

1. Current organization

1.1 Eastern Conference

Northeast Division	Atlantic Division	Southeast Division
Boston Bruins	New Jersey Devils	Atlanta Thrashers
Buffalo Sabres	New York Islanders	Carolina Hurricanes
Montreal Canadiens	New York Rangers	Florida Panthers
Ottawa Senators	Philadelphia Flyers	Tampa Bay Lightning
Toronto Maple Leafs	Pittsburgh Penguins	Washington Capitals

1.2 Western Conference

Northeast Division	Atlantic Division	Southeast Division
Calgary Flames	Chicago Blackhawks	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
Colorado Avalanche	Columbus Blue Jackets	Dallas Stars
Edmonton Oilers	Detroit Red Wings	Los Angeles Kings
Minnesota Wild	Nashville Predators	Phoenix Coyotes
Vancouver Canucks	St. Louis Blues	San Jose Sharks

2. Structure

Each team in the NHL plays 82 regular season games, 41 games at home and 41 on the road. Teams used to play all other teams in the league at least once, but this will no longer be the case following implementation of post-lockout changes.

Teams will now play 10 interconference (that is, not in their own conference) games throughout the entire season, 1 game against each team in two of the three divisions in the opposite conference. On an observational basis, it seems as if these interconference games are being block-scheduled in two different blocks (much like baseball does with interleague play.

Teams will also play 40 games against non-divisional, conference opponents (4 games against each), and 32 games within their division (8 games against each). Two points are awarded for wins, one point for losing in overtime or a shootout, and zero points for a loss in regulation time.

At the end of the regular season, the team that finishes with the most points in each division is crowned the division champion. Each Conference consists of three divisions, so these three division champions and five more teams fill out each Conference's playoff field. In total, 16 teams (3 division champions and 5 additional teams, for a total of 8 from each Conference) qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.