NHL API from JavaScript

Why your NHL fetch() fails

There are two different failures. If your code still calls statsapi.web.nhl.com/api/v1, the request never reaches a server: the host was retired and DNS no longer resolves it, so Chrome reports net::ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED. Move to https://api-web.nhle.com/v1, which has different paths and a different JSON shape.

The current API answers with no Access-Control-Allow-Origin header. The data arrives, but the browser blocks your script from reading it and logs blocked by CORS policy. Prefixing the URL with https://proxy.cors.dev/ sends the request from a server and returns it with the header your page needs. No key is involved at any step.

Today's scores in the browser

/v1/score/now lists today's games with teams, score, shots on goal, period, clock and goals. It was 9.5 KB on a day with 2 games, and 82 KB for 2026-10-15, a night with 11 games and 70 goals. Games that have not started have no score field, so the example shows the start time for those.

// Markup: <ul id="scores"></ul>
async function nhl(path) {
  const response = await fetch('https://proxy.cors.dev/https://api-web.nhle.com/v1' + path, {
    credentials: 'omit',
  });
  if (!response.ok) {
    throw new Error(`NHL request failed: ${response.headers.get('X-Cors-Error') ?? response.status}`);
  }
  return response.json();
}

function describe(game) {
  const { awayTeam: away, homeTeam: home } = game;
  if (away.score === undefined) {
    const start = new Date(game.startTimeUTC).toLocaleTimeString([], { hour: '2-digit', minute: '2-digit' });
    return `${away.abbrev} at ${home.abbrev}, ${start}`;
  }
  const status =
    ['FINAL', 'OFF'].includes(game.gameState) ? 'final' : `period ${game.periodDescriptor.number}, ${game.clock.timeRemaining} left`;
  return `${away.abbrev} ${away.score}, ${home.abbrev} ${home.score} (${status})`;
}

const list = document.querySelector('#scores');
nhl('/score/now')
  .then(({ games }) => {
    if (games.length === 0) {
      list.textContent = 'No games today';
      return;
    }
    list.replaceChildren(
      ...games.map((game) => {
        const item = document.createElement('li');
        item.textContent = describe(game);
        return item;
      }),
    );
  })
  .catch((error) => {
    list.textContent = error.message;
  });

gameState is FUT before a game and OFF once the result is official. Team names come as objects with a default key and often fr, because the API is bilingual. Logos are SVG URLs on assets.nhle.com that load in an <img> tag without the proxy.

Standings, schedules and player stats

/v1/standings/now returns all 32 teams in league order, with points, games played, wins, losses, overtime losses, goal differential, division and conference.

// Uses nhl() from the example above, in a module script or the DevTools console
const { standings } = await nhl('/standings/now');

console.table(
  standings.map((team) => ({
    team: team.teamName.default,
    division: team.divisionName,
    gp: team.gamesPlayed,
    w: team.wins,
    l: team.losses,
    otl: team.otLosses,
    pts: team.points,
  })),
);

Most endpoints accept a date in place of now, for example /v1/score/2026-10-15, /v1/standings/2026-10-15 or /v1/schedule/2026-10-15. Seasons are eight-digit ids such as 20262027, and game ids start with the season year and a game type, 02 for the regular season.

NHL API endpoints and response sizes

Paths are on https://api-web.nhle.com unless a host is given. Replace TOR with any team abbreviation and the ids with your own; player 8478402 is Connor McDavid and 2026020108 is a regular-season game from October 2026.

Limits and polling

• No official documentation: the NHL does not publish docs for api-web.nhle.com. The community reference Zmalski/NHL-API-Reference lists the known endpoints and parameters.
• Polling: live scores only change when you ask again. Polling /v1/score/now every 15 seconds is 4 requests per minute per visitor, far below the free tier limit of 600 per minute per client IP.
• Size: every endpoint in the table fits the free tier limit of 1 MiB; the largest, a full team season, is about 189 KB.
• Free tier rules: GET and HEAD only, no daily or monthly quota, 10 seconds for the NHL to answer, and only Accept, If-None-Match and If-Modified-Since are forwarded. Pro adds custom headers, other methods and 6 MiB responses for $5 per month.

Good questions.