Early years (1917-27)
The National Hockey League was formed in Montreal, Quebec in 1917, and initially consisted of five teams formerly belonging to the National Hockey Association. Its formation was a reaction against Eddie Livingstone, owner of the NHA's Toronto Blue Shirts, by his fellow NHA owners.
The owners of the other four NHA clubs--the Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Wanderers, Ottawa Senators and Quebec Bulldogs--had already forced the Blue Shirts to suspend operations midway through the 1916-17 NHA season, and had enough votes to throw Livingstone out for good. However, rather than risk protracted legal action, they simply created a new league—the NHL-and didn't invite Livingstone to join them. On paper, they also remained members of the NHA and were able to vote down Livingstone's attempts to keep that league operating.
However, the Senators and the two Montreal clubs felt it would be unthinkable not to have a team from Toronto in the new league. Accordingly, the......
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