There are currently 7 NHL teams based in Canada.
They are the Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators, Toronto Maple Leafs, Vancouver Canucks, and Winnipeg Jets. These clubs are distributed across Alberta, Quebec, Ontario, British Columbia, and Manitoba.
Canada has fewer NHL teams than the United States, despite hockey’s deep Canadian roots. The league currently has 32 franchises overall, with 25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. This imbalance often surprises fans because the NHL was founded in Montreal in 1917 and several of its oldest, most successful clubs are Canadian.
A common mix-up is counting former Canadian franchises, such as the Quebec Nordiques and original Winnipeg Jets. The Nordiques relocated to Colorado in 1995, while the original Jets moved to Arizona in 1996; the current Jets franchise began play in Winnipeg in 2011. Canada’s seven active teams are the league’s present-day total, not a historical count.