Professional hockey was in trouble 100 years ago. World War I was raging in Europe. Conscription into Canada’s army threatened to take away more players, while forcing others into essential war work. Teams folded as more and more fans wondered why some fit, young men were dying overseas while others were playing games at home.

The Windsor Hotel in Montreal hosted meetings throughout November 1917 about these and other issues facing pro hockey. It was those discussions that marked the end of the National Hockey Association, founded in 1909, and created the National Hockey League. The new league’s official announcement came on Nov. 26.

But before then, there was much debate over which team would join the Ottawa Senators, the Montreal Canadiens and the Montreal Wanderers in the N.H.L. Not until the Quebec Bulldogs confirmed that they would not be part of the league was the fourth franchise reluctantly awarded to Toronto.

It is hard to imagine the N.H.L. without a Toronto team, but interpersonal squabbles almost made it that way.