Looking for the complete list of NHL teams in alphabetical order in plain copy-paste format? You’re in the right place. This page has every list you might actually need — by city, by team name, by conference, by division, and updated for the 2025-26 season. The biggest change since 2024: the Arizona Coyotes are gone, and the Utah Mammoth (formerly the Utah Hockey Club) now occupy that 32nd roster slot in the Central Division.
Whether you’re running a fantasy draft, building a hockey-themed quiz, organizing a Stanley Cup playoff pool, or just settling a debate at the bar, the NHL teams in alphabetical order are surprisingly hard to find online in a format that copies cleanly. Most lists you’ll find are either out of date, locked inside a graphic, or buried under ten paragraphs of filler. So we built this one to be useful: clean text, current rosters, every common sort order, and just enough context to make it more than a list.
By the way, if you’d rather have a single team picked at random — for a draft order, a coaching gimmick, or a writing prompt — try our Random NHL Team Generator instead. It pulls from the same updated 2026 list.
NHL Teams in Alphabetical Order: The 2026 Master List
There are 32 teams in the NHL today. Below is the full list of NHL teams in alphabetical order by city — the format most fantasy platforms, draft tools, and brackets use. Copy, paste, and you’re done.
Anaheim Ducks
Boston Bruins
Buffalo Sabres
Calgary Flames
Carolina Hurricanes
Chicago Blackhawks
Colorado Avalanche
Columbus Blue Jackets
Dallas Stars
Detroit Red Wings
Edmonton Oilers
Florida Panthers
Los Angeles Kings
Minnesota Wild
Montreal Canadiens
Nashville Predators
New Jersey Devils
New York Islanders
New York Rangers
Ottawa Senators
Philadelphia Flyers
Pittsburgh Penguins
San Jose Sharks
Seattle Kraken
St. Louis Blues
Tampa Bay Lightning
Toronto Maple Leafs
Utah Mammoth
Vancouver Canucks
Vegas Golden Knights
Washington Capitals
Winnipeg Jets
One quick note on alphabetization: “St. Louis” sorts under S, not L, when you treat “St.” as the start of the city name — which is how the NHL itself lists them. Similarly, “New Jersey” and “New York” come together under N rather than being broken out by state. If you’re feeding this into a script that sorts strictly character-by-character, the period in “St.” and the space in “New York” can occasionally cause weird ordering, so the list above uses the human-readable convention.
NHL Teams in Alphabetical Order by Team Name (Not City)
Sometimes you want the list sorted by mascot — Bruins, Ducks, Sharks — instead of by city. This is common for trivia formats, hockey card collections, and merch organization. Below is the full list of NHL teams in alphabetical order by team name only, with all 32 franchises included for the 2025-26 season.
Avalanche
Blackhawks
Blue Jackets
Blues
Bruins
Canadiens
Canucks
Capitals
Devils
Ducks
Flames
Flyers
Golden Knights
Hurricanes
Islanders
Jets
Kings
Kraken
Lightning
Mammoth
Maple Leafs
Oilers
Panthers
Penguins
Predators
Rangers
Red Wings
Sabres
Senators
Sharks
Stars
Wild
Notice that “Blue Jackets” sorts after “Blackhawks” but before “Blues” — a fun edge case that trips up automatic sorters. The Mammoth also slot in between Lightning and Maple Leafs, which is brand-new for this season. If you’ve used an older list from before 2024, you’ll need to swap “Coyotes” out and add “Mammoth” between L and M.
NHL Teams in Alphabetical Order by Conference
The NHL splits its 32 franchises into two conferences of 16 teams each. The Eastern Conference is built around traditional hockey markets in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic, plus Florida, while the Western Conference stretches from Winnipeg down to Dallas and out to the Pacific. Below are the NHL teams in alphabetical order by conference, with each list copy-paste ready.
Eastern Conference NHL Teams in Alphabetical Order
Boston Bruins
Buffalo Sabres
Carolina Hurricanes
Columbus Blue Jackets
Detroit Red Wings
Florida Panthers
Montreal Canadiens
New Jersey Devils
New York Islanders
New York Rangers
Ottawa Senators
Philadelphia Flyers
Pittsburgh Penguins
Tampa Bay Lightning
Toronto Maple Leafs
Washington Capitals
The Eastern Conference includes some of the league’s most decorated franchises — the Canadiens (24 Stanley Cups, the most in NHL history), the Maple Leafs, the Bruins, and the Red Wings. It’s also home to the league’s two New York teams, which gives the Rangers/Islanders rivalry its bite. Geographically, the East is dense: most of these markets are within a few hundred miles of each other, which keeps travel manageable and feeds the sport’s natural rivalries.
Western Conference NHL Teams in Alphabetical Order
Anaheim Ducks
Calgary Flames
Chicago Blackhawks
Colorado Avalanche
Dallas Stars
Edmonton Oilers
Los Angeles Kings
Minnesota Wild
Nashville Predators
San Jose Sharks
Seattle Kraken
St. Louis Blues
Utah Mammoth
Vancouver Canucks
Vegas Golden Knights
Winnipeg Jets
The Western Conference covers a much wider geographic footprint, which is why fans here are used to late-night puck drops on the East Coast. Vegas, Seattle, and Utah are the three newest franchises in the West — all added or relocated within the last decade. The Kraken (2021) and the Mammoth (2024-25) are the two most recent additions to the league overall, and both landed in the West.
NHL Teams in Alphabetical Order by Division
Each conference is split into two divisions of eight teams. Divisions matter because they shape the regular-season schedule (you play your division rivals more often), the playoff bracket (the top three from each division automatically qualify), and the wild-card format. Below are the NHL teams in alphabetical order by division, all four divisions, current for the 2025-26 season.
Atlantic Division (Eastern Conference)
Boston Bruins
Buffalo Sabres
Detroit Red Wings
Florida Panthers
Montreal Canadiens
Ottawa Senators
Tampa Bay Lightning
Toronto Maple Leafs
The Atlantic is the most history-heavy division in hockey. Five Original Six members are clustered here, alongside Florida and Tampa Bay — two of the league’s most successful modern franchises. Tampa won back-to-back Cups in 2020 and 2021; Florida followed with consecutive Cups in 2024 and 2025, making the Atlantic the dominant division of the decade so far.
Metropolitan Division (Eastern Conference)
Carolina Hurricanes
Columbus Blue Jackets
New Jersey Devils
New York Islanders
New York Rangers
Philadelphia Flyers
Pittsburgh Penguins
Washington Capitals
The Metropolitan Division is the densest cluster in the league — every team is within a roughly 600-mile radius. That tight geography is the reason this division has the most lopsided fan crossover in hockey, with rivalries like Rangers-Islanders, Penguins-Capitals, and Flyers-Devils carrying decades of history. Carolina is the only team here that doesn’t sit in the Northeast/mid-Atlantic corridor, but they’ve made the playoffs in seven of the last eight seasons, so the geography hasn’t slowed them down.
Central Division (Western Conference)
Chicago Blackhawks
Colorado Avalanche
Dallas Stars
Minnesota Wild
Nashville Predators
St. Louis Blues
Utah Mammoth
Winnipeg Jets
The Central Division is the most-changed division in the league since 2020. Arizona moved out, Utah moved in, Winnipeg relocated up from the old Southeast Division years ago, and the geographic footprint stretches from Manitoba to north Texas. The Mammoth officially adopted their name in May 2025 after spending one season as the placeholder Utah Hockey Club, which makes them the newest brand in the Central — and in the league.
Pacific Division (Western Conference)
Anaheim Ducks
Calgary Flames
Edmonton Oilers
Los Angeles Kings
San Jose Sharks
Seattle Kraken
Vancouver Canucks
Vegas Golden Knights
The Pacific is the league’s most geographically stretched division — Calgary to Las Vegas is nearly 1,500 miles by road, and the West Coast trio of Anaheim, Los Angeles, and San Jose creates a built-in California rivalry pocket. Vegas has been the division’s biggest disruptor since their 2017 expansion debut, reaching the Cup Final as a first-year team and winning it all in 2023. Seattle joined four years later, in 2021, and remains the league’s second-newest expansion club after Utah.
How to Use This NHL Teams List for Drafts and Fantasy Hockey
If you came here to feed a fantasy league, a Stanley Cup pool, or a draft tool, the format above should drop straight into most setups. However, there are a few specific use cases where you’ll want to handle the list differently.
For draft pools and Stanley Cup brackets: Use the master alphabetical list (by city). Most pool sites and printable bracket templates expect that exact order, and the consistent “City Mascot” format prevents typos in player-to-team matching.
For trivia and quiz formats: The team-name-only list is more useful, because trivia questions often ask “Which NHL team is the…” and the mascot is the answer. Additionally, sorting by mascot reveals fun patterns — there are five teams whose names start with “B” (Blackhawks, Blue Jackets, Blues, Bruins) plus the now-departed Coyotes pushing forward into the C’s.
For fantasy league commissioners: Use the by-division list. Fantasy hockey scoring is often weighted by division-based scheduling (more games against division opponents), and structuring your draft board by division makes it easier to spot positional runs. Furthermore, if your league uses keeper rules, division-based organization helps you track which teams are about to lose key UFAs.
For school projects and presentations: The conference-based list works best, because it pairs naturally with maps. Specifically, you can show the Eastern/Western split visually and then drill into divisions from there. For sports management or business case studies, this is also the format most commonly used in NHL financial reports.
NHL Teams Quick Reference: Founding Year and Stanley Cups
Here’s a quick at-a-glance reference for every team — when they joined the NHL (counting their current franchise lineage, not earlier league predecessors), and how many Stanley Cups they’ve won as of the 2024-25 season. This is useful for trivia, draft research, or settling arguments about which expansion team has been most successful.
| Team | Joined NHL | Stanley Cups |
|---|---|---|
| Anaheim Ducks | 1993 | 1 |
| Boston Bruins | 1924 | 6 |
| Buffalo Sabres | 1970 | 0 |
| Calgary Flames | 1980 (relocated) | 1 |
| Carolina Hurricanes | 1997 (relocated) | 1 |
| Chicago Blackhawks | 1926 | 6 |
| Colorado Avalanche | 1995 (relocated) | 3 |
| Columbus Blue Jackets | 2000 | 0 |
| Dallas Stars | 1993 (relocated) | 1 |
| Detroit Red Wings | 1926 | 11 |
| Edmonton Oilers | 1979 | 5 |
| Florida Panthers | 1993 | 2 |
| Los Angeles Kings | 1967 | 2 |
| Minnesota Wild | 2000 | 0 |
| Montreal Canadiens | 1917 (founding) | 24 |
| Nashville Predators | 1998 | 0 |
| New Jersey Devils | 1982 (relocated) | 3 |
| New York Islanders | 1972 | 4 |
| New York Rangers | 1926 | 4 |
| Ottawa Senators | 1992 | 0 |
| Philadelphia Flyers | 1967 | 2 |
| Pittsburgh Penguins | 1967 | 5 |
| San Jose Sharks | 1991 | 0 |
| Seattle Kraken | 2021 | 0 |
| St. Louis Blues | 1967 | 1 |
| Tampa Bay Lightning | 1992 | 3 |
| Toronto Maple Leafs | 1917 (founding) | 13 |
| Utah Mammoth | 2024 (relocated) | 0 |
| Vancouver Canucks | 1970 | 0 |
| Vegas Golden Knights | 2017 | 1 |
| Washington Capitals | 1974 | 1 |
| Winnipeg Jets | 1999 (relocated) | 0 |
A few patterns jump out. First, the Original Six teams (Bruins, Blackhawks, Red Wings, Canadiens, Rangers, Maple Leafs) account for 64 of the league’s Stanley Cups — more than half of every championship in NHL history. Second, of the eleven teams that have never won a Cup, four are former WHA franchises that joined in 1979 or earlier (Sabres, Canucks) or expansion teams from the 1990-2000 wave (Sharks, Predators, Blue Jackets, Wild). Vegas is the rare exception: a 2017 expansion team that already has a championship on the wall.
From Coyotes to Mammoth: How the NHL Teams List Changed in 2024
If you’re updating an old NHL teams list, this is the section you actually need. The Arizona Coyotes were officially deactivated by the NHL in April 2024 after the franchise failed to secure a permanent arena solution in the Phoenix metro area. Their hockey operations — players, contracts, draft picks, and front-office staff — were transferred to a new ownership group in Salt Lake City led by Smith Entertainment Group. Specifically, the Coyotes’ assets were placed into a deactivation status, while a brand-new expansion-style franchise was activated in Utah.
The team played the 2024-25 season as the Utah Hockey Club — a deliberately temporary placeholder while the organization ran a public naming process. In May 2025, ownership announced the permanent name: the Utah Mammoth. The brand draws on Utah’s prehistoric fossil heritage (the Columbian mammoth roamed the region until roughly 11,000 years ago) and the rugged, mountainous identity that already defines the state’s pro sports brands.
For purposes of any NHL teams list — alphabetical or otherwise — the Coyotes are out, the Mammoth are in, and the league total stays at 32. The Mammoth occupy the same Central Division slot the Coyotes did, which means the divisional alignment didn’t change. If you’re using a list from before April 2024, you need to swap “Arizona Coyotes” for “Utah Mammoth” and re-sort the alphabetical position (M comes after L and before N, so Mammoth slots between Maple Leafs and Oilers in the team-name-only list, and between Toronto Maple Leafs and Vancouver Canucks in the by-city list).
Frequently Asked Questions About NHL Teams
How many NHL teams are there in 2026?
There are 32 NHL teams in 2026 — 16 in the Eastern Conference and 16 in the Western Conference. The number has been 32 since the Seattle Kraken’s debut in October 2021. While Arizona’s deactivation in 2024 might have suggested the count would drop to 31, the simultaneous activation of the Utah franchise kept the total at 32.
What was the last NHL team added to the league?
The Utah Mammoth are the most recent NHL franchise, activated for the 2024-25 season. Before Utah, the Seattle Kraken were the most recent expansion team, joining for the 2021-22 season. However, Utah’s situation is technically a relocation-style activation rather than a true expansion — the franchise inherited the hockey operations of the deactivated Arizona Coyotes.
Which NHL team has won the most Stanley Cups?
The Montreal Canadiens have won 24 Stanley Cups — by far the most in NHL history. Toronto is second with 13, and Detroit is third with 11. Notably, no team has won the Cup more than once since 2021, when Tampa Bay finished a back-to-back run. Florida won in both 2024 and 2025, making them the most recent back-to-back champion.
Are the Arizona Coyotes still an NHL team?
No. The Arizona Coyotes were deactivated by the NHL in April 2024 after years of arena and ownership instability. Their hockey assets were transferred to a new Salt Lake City-based franchise, which played the 2024-25 season as the Utah Hockey Club and was renamed the Utah Mammoth in May 2025. The Coyotes brand and intellectual property remain with the league, which has indicated openness to reactivating an Arizona franchise if a viable ownership and arena plan materializes.
How are NHL teams sorted in alphabetical order — by city or team name?
Both formats are common, and the right one depends on your use case. The NHL itself usually lists teams alphabetically by city (Anaheim, Boston, Buffalo…) in official documents, broadcasts, and standings. Fantasy platforms and pool sites generally do the same. However, trivia, merchandise, and casual conversation more often use the team name (Avalanche, Blackhawks, Blues…). Both lists are above so you can copy whichever fits.
Which conference has more Stanley Cups, East or West?
The Eastern Conference has won the majority of Stanley Cups in NHL history, largely because most of the Original Six era was concentrated in what’s now the Eastern Conference. However, the gap has tightened in the modern era — Western Conference teams won the Cup in nine of the 15 seasons from 2007 to 2022 (Anaheim, Detroit, Pittsburgh from the East flipping that math), with Chicago, Los Angeles, and Vegas combining for several titles. In the most recent decade, the East has reasserted dominance with Tampa, Florida, and Vegas (West) trading championships.
Related NHL Tools and Lists
If you found this list useful, here are a few other CalculatorWise resources that pair well with it. Each one is built for a slightly different use case but draws from the same updated 2026 team data.
- Random NHL Team Generator — pull one random team at a time for drafts, writing prompts, or coaching gimmicks.
- Random MLB Team Generator — same format, baseball edition.
- Random NFL Team Generator — for football fantasy drafts and pools.
- Random NBA Team Generator — basketball version, all 30 franchises.
Updated May 2026 — reflects the Utah Mammoth name change and current 2025-26 division alignment.
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