A Visual History of the NHL (Updated for 2021!)

By JVDW
In Featured
Jul 20th, 2021
9 Comments

On December 19, 1917, the Montreal Wanderers faced off against the Toronto HC (Arenas) at Montreal Arena in front of a crowd of 700 people in the very first game played in the National Hockey League. And now, almost 100 years later, millions (billions?) of fans have seen the league grow from as little as 3, to now 31 teams, soon to be 32.

And we at HbyD love the complex and ups-and-downs the league has endured to become the best league for the most beautiful sport in the world. So, we’ve created an infographic celebrating the 100+ year history of the NHL, showcasing the history of every single franchise, packing in as much information we could fit, so that you have a complete visual representation of the entire history of the League.

It’s massive, it’s awe-inspiring, it took hours upon hours of research and design, and it’s all yours for free.

2021 Update

We’ve just updated it for the 2021 season, which just recently ended of course. If you already submitted your email before, you should have an email waiting for you with a link to download the new version. If not, you can submit your email again below.

Updates include:

• All the 2021 regular season and playoff data
• All the Covid-induced realignments and new formats
• The Cup victory charts updated (Tampa/Florida gets Cup #3!)
• The Kraken’s logo joins the chart
• Various small errors corrected

If you’re having any issues with the download, please don’t hesitate to contact us. Or, you can visit the HbyD Market and download it there.

Here’s the entire (updated) timeline in a lo-resolution form, to give you a sense of it’s awesome vastness (click to view)…

It includes franchise logo history, franchise playoff successes and droughts, franchise jersey colours, league standings for every year, league re-alignments, franchise movements, playoff formats, Cup championships by team, by country and by state/province…and more. The cleverest among you can figure out who played who in each round of the playoffs every single year. Everything you need to know about the history of the League is in this infographic. And it’s free.

Well, almost free. The only thing it will cost you is your email. Why? Because (and this is important) we’re going to keep updating this bad boy every single year and send you a new one. Every. Single. Year. We just updated it for the playoffs that finished yesterday, and you’ll get another one next June, after the 2021-22 Stanley Cup champion is crowned. And then another one in June 2023, June 2024, etc, etc. That’s why we need your email.

Yes, you’ll be on our mailing list, and we’ll send some other emails about Hockey By Design content and specials, but we won’t spam you and we won’t share your email with anyone (we’re not jerks). You’ll receive, at most, 2 or 3 emails a month. A small price for this awesomeness.

And, we have to give massive stick taps to Chris Creamer’s Sportslogos.net, whose has been a constant invaluable resource for this site, and especially for this project (you’ll see a credit to them on the infographic as well).

Here’s some more screenshots of sections of the infographic (click to enlarge)…

So, you want it? Just enter your email below and you’ll get it.

If you’re having any issues with the download, please don’t hesitate to contact us. Or, you can visit the HbyD Market and download it there.

9 Responses to “A Visual History of the NHL (Updated for 2021!)”

  1. Rondell McKay says:

    This is awesome. Hope there isnt a catch other than you guys having my email address.

  2. Rob sabella says:

    This is gonna be a great read.

  3. Frank says:

    Interesting

  4. […] • Very neat infographic highlighting the century-plus history of the NHL. [Hockey by Design] […]

  5. […] • Very neat infographic highlighting the century-plus history of the NHL. [Hockey by Design] […]

  6. […] • رسم بياني منسق للغاية يسلط الضوء على تاريخ NHL لأكثر من 100 عام. [Hockey by Design] […]

  7. Chad says:

    Can’t download it keeps telling me I have no wifi or internet connection!!!!!

  8. I have a hard time describing my thoughts on content, but I really felt I should here. Your article is really great. I like the way you wrote this information Landlord

  9. oni says:

    Thank you so much for sharing this great blog. Very inspiring and helpful too. Hope you continue to share more of your ideas.I will definitely love to read.

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