Original Six

The Original Six is a term for the group of six teams that made up the National Hockey League (NHL) for the 25 seasons between the 1942–43 season and the 1967 NHL Expansion.

These six teams are the Boston Bruins, Chicago Black Hawks, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers and the Toronto Maple Leafs, all of which are still active franchises in the league.

Of the Original Six, only the Toronto Maple Leafs have not advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals since the expansion.

All of the other original six teams have appeared in at least three Finals since 1967 and have each won the cup at least once during the most recent 25 seasons (Toronto last won the Stanley Cup during the 1966–67 season when a team only had to win two rounds to claim the cup).

The term, not contemporaneous to the era, originated no earlier than 1967.

While only Montreal and Toronto were charter members of the NHL in 1917, all six existing teams going into the 1967–68 expansion to twelve teams date to the league's first decade, and were commonly considered as a traditional set.