The Toronto Arenas

On November 26, 1917, representatives of several hockey clubs met at Montreal's Windsor Hotel and voted to suspend the National Hockey Association, forming the National Hockey League in its place — a maneuver widely understood as a way to freeze out Toronto Blueshirts owner Eddie Livingstone, with whom the other owners had an ongoing dispute.

An improvised club wins the Cup

A new, "temporary" Toronto club was organized by the Arena Company under order of the NHL's first president, Frank Calder, using the roster of the old Blueshirts. This club, retroactively known as the Toronto Arenas, played its inaugural NHL season, 1917–18, out of the Arena Gardens on Mutual Street — and won the Stanley Cup that same season, defeating the Vancouver Millionaires three games to two. It was the first major professional sports championship won by a Toronto team.

From Arenas to St. Patricks to Maple Leafs

Financial struggles plagued the Arena Company, and the club was renamed the Toronto St. Patricks after the 1918–19 season. The St. Pats played under that name until 1927, when a syndicate led by Conn Smythe purchased the team and renamed it the Toronto Maple Leafs — the identity that persists today, tracing an unbroken franchise line back to that improvised 1917 club.

Sources

• NHL.com — This Date in NHL History: NHL Founded in 1917
• NHL.com — Arenas Gave Toronto 1st Stanley Cup Championship 106 Years Ago