List of defunct and relocated National Hockey League teams

The National Hockey League (NHL) is a professional men's ice hockey league, consisting of 31 member clubs in North America: 24 in the United States and seven in Canada. It was founded in 1917 following the suspension of its predecessor league, the National Hockey Association (NHA). The league is considered to be one of the four major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada. The Stanley Cup, the oldest professional sports trophy in North America, is awarded annually to the league champion. The NHL Board of Governors review and approve the relocation of any member club. Each team appoints an individual or individuals to represent their team on the Board of Governors. A majority vote (more than half) is needed for relocation of a club. Clubs considered permanently relocated moved out of their respective home territories, which includes the city that they were located in, plus 50 miles of the city's corporate limits.

Under the constitution of the NHL, membership in the NHL is on a partnership basis, each partner holding a "franchise" from the League for the operation of a hockey club in its designated city. The franchise can out-live teams located in different cities. For example, the Kansas City Scouts, Colorado Rockies, and the New Jersey Devils are one franchise. A franchise's history includes the records of competition won in different cities, as differently-named teams. Naming and team logos and designs are registered with the league. The current Ottawa Senators and Winnipeg Jets had to get the formal permission of the league members to use the name of the previous franchise that had used the team nickname. The league considers the history of the current Senators to not include the original Senators; the Jets' franchise history includes the Atlanta Thrashers' history, not the first Winnipeg Jets.

There are 19 defunct and relocated NHL teams. The Montreal Wanderers, original Ottawa Senators, and the Quebec Bulldogs had played in the NHA before joining the NHL; Quebec joined the NHL two years later as the Athletics. The Pittsburgh Pirates played in the US Amateur Hockey Association as the Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets before joining the NHL in 1925. The first NHL team to disband was the Wanderers, citing the lack of available players due to World War I. The first team to relocate was the Athletics, who relocated to Hamilton, Ontario to become the Hamilton Tigers. The NHL president at the time, Frank Calder, stripped the franchise from owner Mike Quinn and sold it to a Hamilton-based company. Three franchises became defunct due to the Great Depression: the Philadelphia Quakers, the St. Louis Eagles, and the Montreal Maroons. During their time in the NHL, the Senators and Maroons both won the Stanley Cup championship multiple times, with four and two respectively. The Brooklyn Americans was the last team to become defunct in the NHL. The franchise was struggling financially, and due to the lack of players via World War II, was suspended prior to the 1942–43 season. The franchise formally ceased in 1946. The Americans departure reduced the number of teams to six. This began what became known as the Original Six era of the NHL.

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