After the Black Hawks finished the 1926-27 season in third place, owner Frederic McLaughlin, who felt they were good enough to finish first, fired head coach Pete Muldoon. According to sportswriter Jim Coleman, Muldoon responded by yelling, "Fire me, Major, and you'll never finish first. I'll put a curse on this team that will hoodoo it until the end of time." While the team would go on to win three Stanley Cups in its first 39 years of existence, it did so without ever having finished in first place, either in a single- or multi-division format. In 1967, the last season of the six-team NHL, the Hawks finally finished first, breaking the supposed Curse of Muldoon, 23 years after the death of McLaughlin.

Toe Blake coached the Canadiens for thirteen years, winning eight Stanley Cups, including five consecutive championships in his first five seasons. The only other coach to achieve a similar feat as a coach or manager of a North American professional sports team is Casey Stengel of the New York Yankees.

The Stanley Cup is named after Canadian Governor General Lord Stanley of Preston, who donated the trophy. The original bowl was only seven inches high and 11 inches wide.

The Tampa Bay Lightning turned heads in the 1992 pre-season when Olympic silver medalist Manon Rheaume became the first woman to play in an NHL game, which also made her the first woman to play in any of the major professional North American sports leagues. She played for the Lightning against the St. Louis Blues, and stopped seven of nine shots.

In 1977, the NHL began to mandate nameplates on the back of jerseys for the sake of player recognition to both the fans and broadcasters. Harold Ballard wasn't a fan of the idea, so he made the letters the same color as the uniform.

"The Trade", as it came to be known, upset Canadians to the extent that New Democratic Party House Leader Nelson Riis demanded the government block it, and team owner Peter Pocklington was burned in effigy outside Northlands Coliseum.

The Flyers earned their "Broad Street Bullies" nickname for their rough play and record-breaking accumulation of penalty minutes. Pete Cafone of the Philadelphia Bulletin wrote the original headline on January 3, 1973, after a 3-1 brawling victory over the Atlanta Flames: "Broad Street Bullies Muscle Atlanta."

The Winnipeg Whiteout is a hockey tradition that dates back to 1987 when fans of the original Jets franchise were asked to wear white clothing to home playoff games. It was created as a response to the "C of Red" created by fans of the Calgary Flames, whom the Jets were facing in the first round of the 1987 Stanley Cup playoffs. The Jets eliminated the Flames in six games, and fans have worn white for every home playoff game thereafter.

A four-time NHL All-Star, Pekka Rinne was a Vezina Trophy finalist as the NHL's top regular season goaltender in 2011, 2012 and 2015 before winning the award in 2018. He was drafted by the Predators 258th overall in the eighth round of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft.

Artemi Panarin was affectionately nicknamed the "Bread Man", a reference to the Panera Bread restaurant chain, by his teammates and coaches. He has also been called "Yeast Mode" because he elevates his team (like yeast) with his outstanding play.