Original Six

The Original Six (French: six équipes originales) are the teams that composed the National Hockey League (NHL) between 1942 and 1967. The six teams are the Boston Bruins, Chicago Black Hawks, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers, and Toronto Maple Leafs. After serving as the league's only teams for 25 seasons, they were joined by six new franchises in the 1967 NHL expansion. Despite the moniker, the Six are not the original teams of the NHL. The Canadiens and Maple Leafs are the two members of this group that are charter members (1917–18 season) of the NHL. However, in addition to the 25 seasons as the only teams, the Original Six all date back to the league's first decade. They are thus the NHL's oldest active franchises by a margin of at least 41 seasons versus any other team. The Original Six have the most combined Stanley Cup titles among NHL franchises; the Canadiens hold the most wins at 24. The Maple Leafs, who won the last Stanley Cup of the Original Six era, are the only Original Six franchise to have not returned to the Stanley Cup Final, let alone win the Cup, since the 1967 expansion. As of completion of the 2026 Stanley Cup Final, the other five Original Six teams have won 21 of the 58 Stanley Cup championships since the 1967 expansion.