WHL Competitors

The National Hockey League, founded in 1917, is the second-oldest of the four major professional team sports leagues in North America. Today, the NHL consists of 32 Member Clubs, each reflecting the League’s international makeup, with players from more than 20 countries represented on team rosters. Visit https://www.nhl.com/info/careers to explore career opportunities at the League Office and NHL Clubs.

The IIHF, founded on 15 May 1908 in Paris, France, is the governing body of international ice hockey. The IIHF features 83 member associations, each of which is the national governing body of the sport in its nation. Besides controlling the international rulebook, processing international player transfers, and dictating officiating guidelines, the IIHF runs numerous development programmes designed to bring hockey to a broader population. The IIHF also presides over ice hockey in the Olympic Games, and over the IIHF World Championships at all levels, men, women, juniors under-20, juniors under-18 and women under-18. Each season, the IIHF in collaboration with its local organising committees, runs around 25 different World Championships in the five different categories. Besides the world championships, the IIHF also runs a set of European club competitions. In 2008, the IIHF was celebrating its 100 year anniversary, honouring it with a host of ambitious new projects, including naming the Century All Star Team, the 100 Top Stories of the Century, charity events, children's development programmes, and the launch of the Victoria Cup.

The American Hockey League was officially born in 1936 when the Canadian-American Hockey League and the International Hockey League merged to form the International-American Hockey League (the “International” would be dropped from the league’s name in 1940). The AHL continues to serve as the top development league for all 32 National Hockey League teams; nearly 90 percent of today’s NHL players are American Hockey League graduates, and more than 100 honored members of the Hockey Hall of Fame spent time in the AHL in their careers.