Guide: NHL season 2022-2023

Then the NHL 2022/2023 starts:

October 7.

First NHL games of the season:

October 7:

Nashville Predators – San Jose Sharks.

October 8:

San Jose - Nashville.

October 11:

New York Rangers – Tampa Bay Lightning, Los Angeles Kings – Vegas Golden Knights.

NHL league format:

- The NHL currently contains 32 teams, 25 from the USA and 7 from Canada.

- The league is divided into two so-called conferences, Eastern and Western conference, with 16 teams in each half of North America with a total of four divisions.

Central Division (Western), Pacific (Western), Metropolitan (Eastern), and Atlantic (Eastern).

- The NHL's regular season is played in 82 rounds from October to April.

- The top 16 teams (eight from each conference) play in the playoffs for the Stanley Cup trophy, between April and May.

The top three teams in each division always qualify for the playoffs first.

The remaining four spots are taken by the second-best teams from each conference, regardless of division.

So-called wild card teams.

Therefore, there can be five teams from one division and three from the other for the playoffs.

Five of the Swedish players who changed NHL clubs before the season:

John Klingberg – Anaheim (Dallas)

Andre Burakovsky – Seattle (Colorado)

Calle Järnkrok – Toronto (Seattle/Calgary)

Mattias Janmark – Edmonton (Vegas)

Oskar Lindblom – San Jose (Philadelphia)

Reigning Stanley Cup Champions:

The Colorado Avalanche

, with Swedish team captain Gabriel Landeskog, defeated Tampa Bay 4-2 in games to win their third Stanley Cup title.

Colorado has also won in 1996 and 2001.

All NHL teams and divisions:

Central division (Western conference):

Arizona Coyotes, Chicago Blackhawks, Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars,

Minnesota Wild, Nashville Predators, St.

Louis Blues, Winnipeg Jets.

Pacific Division (Western conference):

Anaheim Ducks, Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, Los Angeles Kings,

San Jose Sharks, Seattle Kraken, Vancouver Canucks, Vegas Golden Knights.

Metropolitan Division (Eastern conference):

Carolina Hurricanes, Columbus Blue Jackets, New Jersey Devils,

New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins,

Washington Capitals.

Atlantic Division (Western conference):

Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres, Detroit Red Wings, Florida Panthers,

Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators, Tampa Bay Lightning,

Toronto Maple Leafs.

Historical facts about the NHL:

- The NHL (National Hockey League) was founded in 1917.

- The Original Six is ​​a classic group concept for the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Rangers, Boston Bruins, Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks.

These six clubs made up the league between 1942 and 1967. That is not the same as being the first clubs in the NHL, which is a common misconception.

- The league has been expanded in stages.

In 1967, the league expanded to 12 teams.

Between 1979 and 1991, 21 teams played in the NHL before the San José Sharks became team number 22 that year.

Today, the league is another ten clubs bigger with the Seattle Kraken as the latest addition in 2021.

- The league's most champions with the most Stanley Cup titles are the Montreal Canadiens with 24 titles, most recently in 1993.

Wayne Gretzky:

Wayne Gretzky, born on January 26, 1961 in Brantford, Canada, also called "The Great One" is still considered the best player ever in the NHL, and in the hockey world.

Between 1979-1999, Gretzky played 1487 games in the NHL (excluding playoffs) and produced 2857 points (894 goals+1963 assists) which is still the NHL scoring record.

Gretzky won four Stanley Cups with the Edmonton Oilers.

He also played for the Los Angeles Kings, St.

Louis Blues and New York Rangers during his NHL career.

Sweden and the NHL:

- The first Swedish-born player ever in the league is Gustaf "Gus" Forslund from Umeå, who played 48 games for the Ottawa Senators in 1932/33.

- Some of the biggest Swedish stars in the league of all time are Peter Forsberg, Mats Sundin, Börje Salming, Niklas Lidström, Kent Nilsson and Henrik Lundqvist.

- The first Swedes to win the Stanley Cup were Anders Kallur and Stefan Persson in the New York Islanders season 1979/80.

NHL Glossaries:

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Here the NHL clubs select and acquire the rights to the most promising 18-year-old hockey players in the world.

The worst placed teams choose first.

Two Swedes have been number one so far.

Mats Sundin (1989) and Rasmus Dahlin (2018), in the draft's current form since 1979.

-

The NHL's salary cap that cannot exceed $82,500,000 per club/season, nor fall below the salary floor of $61,000,000. 

–

The date to make the last transfers in the league each season.

During this year's season, that date falls on March 3.

–

The farm law system.

Each NHL club's organization also includes clubs from lower North American leagues (minor leagues) such as the AHL and ECHL, where players can freely move between clubs during the season.

This is how you follow the NHL on SVT:

– TV: Reporting with features in the morning broadcasts from 06.00 onwards.

- Web: On svtsport.se with text and match facts from the most recent matches.

– Teletext: Match facts (page 303 onwards), table and results (363), points scored (365), goal service (376 onwards).