How NHL Teams Got Their Names (Eastern Edition)

Ever wondered how your favourite team got their name? Read on!

Boston Bruins

After getting a team in 1924, owner Charles Adams charged general manager Art Ross to come up with a team named for a cunning animal. Ross named Boston’s team the Bruins after an archaic term for a brown bear.

Buffalo Sabres

Buffalo has had a lot of teams named the Bisons, and new team owners Seymour H. Knox III and Northrup Knox wanted to avoid this common trend. They did a “name the team” contest and got a bunch of non-bison-related fun entries, such as the “Mugwumps,” “Buzzing Bees,” and “Flying Zeppelins.” The owners ended up liking the Sabres the best, since a sabre is a weapon carried by a leader. But there’s still a bison on the team logo.

Detroit Red Wings

So this one is a little odd. New owner James E. Norris, who bought the team in 1932, used to be a member of the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association, a club with multiple sports teams. They had a team called the Montreal AAA Winged Wheelers, who used a logo of a wheel with a wing on it. The wheel was actually a cycling wheel. Norris liked the logo and brought it over to his new team, turned it red, and told everyone a wheel was the perfect logo for Motor City.

Florida Panthers

The Florida Panthers are named for the big cat also called the Florida panther. The Florida panther is, of course, a cougar, but they are a population separate from the rest of the panthers, who are only confirmed to exist on the western side of the continent.

Montreal Canadiens

Founded by J. Ambrose O’Brien in 1909, “Les Canadiens” was a term identified with francophones at the time. Officially le Club de hockey Canadien, this literally means the Canadian Hockey Club. And why should the Montreal Canadiens be known as the Canadian Hockey Club? Well, they’re the oldest continuously professionally operated hockey club worldwide, they’re the only existing hockey club in the NHL to predate the NHL, and they have the most Stanley Cups.

Ottawa Senators

The Senators are named for a different Ottawa Senators team who played from 1883 to 1934. That team won the Stanley Cup 11 times. Maybe one day the current Sens will live up to their namesake.

Tampa Bay Lightning

Tampa Bay is apparently the lightning capital of North America, so their team is called the Lightning.

Toronto Maple Leafs

When the Leafs were founded in 1917, they didn’t have an official team name. Instead, they were nicknamed the Blueshirts by fans. After stints as the Arenas and the St. Patricks, the Leafs were named the Leafs in 1927 by new owner Conn Smythe. Smythe had served in the First World War and wanted to name his team after Canada’s maple leaf, which he considered to be a symbol of courage. He perhaps got the idea from a minor league baseball team from Toronto.

Carolina Hurricanes

When new team owner Peter Karmanos broke his promise to keep the Hartford Whalers in Hartford and moved them to Carolina, he did so quickly enough that a “name the team” contest wasn’t possible and just chose the team name himself. He also borrowed the colours from the local North Carolina State University Wolfpack.

Columbus Blue Jackets

The Blue Jackets were named with the help of a “name the team” contest. The winning entry was chosen by ownership and the NHL as it references Columbus’ contributions to the Union cause during the US Civil War.

New Jersey Devils

When the Colorado Rockies were moved to New Jersey in 1982, they were named after the legendary Jersey Devil, a folkloric creature said to inhabit the Pine Barrens.

New York Islanders

In the early ’70s, the NHL agreed to place another team in New York, in large part to block the rival WHA’s plan for their own New York team, the Raiders. Interestingly, many journalists expected the team to be named the Ducks, after a previous team called the Long Island Ducks. Which, of course, would have sounded silly. The team is named for Long Island.

New York Rangers

New York was awarded another franchise in 1926 to compete with the New York Americans. As the new team was owned by George Lewis “Tex” Rickard, sports writers started calling them Tex’s Rangers, a play on Texas Rangers. The name stuck.

Philadelphia Flyers

The Flyers were named as part of a “name the team” contest. The winner would receive a 21-inch colour television (remember, this was 1966) and runners-up got tickets. The owner’s sister actually suggested the name Flyers, but the contest winner was a nine-year-old boy who spelled it Fliers. Hopefully, he enjoyed his colour TV.

Pittsburgh Penguins

In Pittsburgh’s “name the team” contest, 700 of the 26,000 entries were Penguins. Perhaps this is because nearby Youngstown State University’s athletic department used the name Penguins for its teams.

Washington Capitals

Founded in 1971 as an expansion team, the Capitals were named in a “name the team” contest. The winning choice references the fact that DC is the capital of the US. Exciting stuff, Caps.