The National Hockey League (NHL) (French: Ligue nationale de hockey - LNH) is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league as a joint venture for its self perpetuating membership of 30 franchised member clubs of which 24 are located in the United States and the other six in Canada.Headquartered in New York City, the NHL is widely considered to be the premier professional ice hockey league in the world, and one of the North American major professional sports leagues. The Stanley Cup, the oldest professional sports trophy in North America,is awarded annually to the league playoff champion at the end of each season.