The Washington Capitals are an American professional ice hockey team based in Washington, D.C. that competes in the National Hockey League (NHL). They are members of the league's Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference. Since their founding in 1974, the "Caps" have won one conference championship to reach the 1998 Stanley Cup Finals, and captured eight division titles. In 1997, the team moved their home hockey rink from the suburban Capital Centre before its own 1999 closure, to the new Verizon Center in Washington, D.C.