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 of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States. 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 major professional sports leagues of the United States and Canada. 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.

The league was organized on November 26, 1917, in Montreal, Canada, after the suspension of operations of its predecessor organization, the National Hockey Association (NHA), which had been founded in 1909. It started with four teams and, through a series of expansions, contractions, and relocations, the league is now composed of 30 active franchises. The nation to which the name of the league originally referred was Canada, although the league is now binational with a preponderance of teams in the United States. After a labour dispute that led to the cancellation of the entire 2004–05 season, the league resumed play under a new collective bargaining agreement that included a salary cap. In 2009, the NHL enjoyed record highs in terms of sponsorships, crowds and television audiences.

Alexander Mikhaylovich Ovechkin (Russian: Александр Михайлович Овечкин; IPA: [ɐlʲɪˈksandr ɐˈvʲet͡ɕkʲɪn]; born September 17, 1985) is a Russian professional ice hockey left winger and captain of the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League (NHL). Prior to playing in the NHL, Ovechkin played for HC Dynamo Moscow of the Russian Superleague for four seasons from 2001 until 2005. Ovechkin was the first overall selection in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft, drafted from Dynamo after 3 seasons with the club. Since the 2004–05 NHL season was lost because of a lockout, Ovechkin remained with Dynamo for one more season before transferring to the NHL for the 2005–06 NHL season, in which he won the Calder Memorial Trophy as rookie of the year, scoring 52 goals and 54 assists to lead all rookies with 106 points.

During the 2007–08 season, he led the NHL with 65 goals and 112 points to capture the Rocket Richard and Art Ross Trophies. That season he also won the Lester B. Pearson Award as the top player voted by the NHL Players' Association and the Hart Memorial Trophy as the league's MVP. He is the only player to win all four awards since the Rocket Richard Trophy's inception in 1999. He would lead Team Russia to a gold medal at the World Championships the same year.

Patrice Bergeron (born Patrice Bergeron-Cleary; July 24, 1985) is a Canadian professional ice hockey centre and alternate captain currently playing for the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League (NHL). He played junior with the Acadie-Bathurst Titan of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) for one full season before being selected 45th overall by the Bruins in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft. He made the immediate jump from junior to the NHL after his draft and joined the Bruins in 2003–04. Internationally, Bergeron competes for Team Canada and has won gold medals at the 2004 World Championships, 2005 World Junior Championships and 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Bergeron is the most recent member of the Triple Gold Club after he won the Stanley Cup with Boston on June 15, 2011. Bergeron scored two goals including the Stanley Cup winning goal at 14:37 of the first period of Game 7 at Vancouver.

Bergeron grew up in his hometown of Ancienne-Lorette, Quebec and was mostly an A and AA player throughout his minor hockey days. He was drafted in the 5th round of the 2001 QMJHL Draft out of AAA Bantam hockey with the Saint-Foy Gouveneurs. The following year he played AAA hockey for the Séminaire St-François Blizzard before reporting to the Acadie-Bathurst Titan of the QMJHL.

Vladimir Andreyevich Tarasenko (Russian: Влади́мир Андре́евич Тарасе́нко; born December 13, 1991) is a Russian professional ice hockey forward for SKA St. Petersburg of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). Tarasenko has played for the Russian junior team three times, winning a silver medal at the 2009 IIHF World U18 Championships, sixth place at the 2010 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships and captained Russia to a gold medal at the 2011 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships. Tarasenko played in the system of HC Sibir and joined their KHL team in 2008. He spent three seasons with the team before being traded to SKA St. Petersburgh in 2012. Tarasenko was drafted 16th overall in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft by the St. Louis Blues.

Tarasenko's learned from his father, Andrei, who was a former Russian league scoring champion and Olympian. He made his professional debut with HC Sibir in 2008–09, scoring seven goals and ten points in 38 games and was the runner up in voting for rookie of the year. He was released to play with the junior team at the 2009 IIHF World U18 Championships where he scored eight goals in seven games and was named a tournament all-star as Russia won a silver medal. Tarasenko returned to Sibir in 2009–10 as the seventh youngest player in the KHL. He again represented Russia, at the 2010 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, finishing third in team scoring with five points in six games. Tarasenko is more than 18 years old but still wears a cage because doctors forbid him to play without it due to a previously suffered injury.