NHL MCP server

The NHL MCP Server allows you to access NHL data through the Model Context Protocol, making it easy to integrate real-time hockey statistics and information with Large Language Models (LLMs) like Claude.

Installation

To install the NHL MCP Server, you need to build the binary from source:

cd ./mcp && go build -o nhl-mcp

After building the binary, you need to configure Claude to use it by adding the path to the binary in your claude_desktop_config.json file:

"nhl": {
  "command": "/path/to/nhl-mcp"
}

Usage

Once installed, the NHL MCP Server can be accessed through Claude to retrieve NHL data. The server exposes several NHL API endpoints through the Model Context Protocol.

Available Data Types

The NHL MCP Server provides access to:

• Teams data (including rosters)
• Player information (including statistics)
• Game schedules (searchable by date or team)
• League standings

Basic Usage Examples

When using Claude with the NHL MCP Server configured, you can ask hockey-related questions and Claude will use the MCP server to fetch real-time data.

Examples of questions you can ask:

• "What's the current NHL standings?"
• "Show me the Dallas Stars roster"
• "What are Miro Heiskanen's stats this season?"
• "What games are scheduled for today?"

Debugging

If you need to debug the MCP server, you can use the MCP inspector tool:

npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector ./nhl-mcp

This tool helps verify that the MCP server is functioning correctly and responding to requests as expected.

Supported Functionality

The MCP server supports the same functionality as the underlying NHL API client:

• Teams (with complete roster information)
• Players (including detailed statistics)
• Schedule (queryable by date or by team)
• Standings (league-wide or division-specific)

The server automatically handles the API requests and formats the responses according to the Model Context Protocol, making the data easily accessible through Claude.

How to install this MCP server

For Claude Code

To add this MCP server to Claude Code, run this command in your terminal:

claude mcp add-json "nhl" '{"command":"/path/to/nhl-mcp"}'

See the official Claude Code MCP documentation for more details.

For Cursor

There are two ways to add an MCP server to Cursor. The most common way is to add the server globally in the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file so that it is available in all of your projects.

If you only need the server in a single project, you can add it to the project instead by creating or adding it to the .cursor/mcp.json file.

Adding an MCP server to Cursor globally

To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > Tools & Integrations and click "New MCP Server".

When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file will be opened and you can add your server like this:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "nhl": {
            "command": "/path/to/nhl-mcp"
        }
    }
}

Adding an MCP server to a project

To add an MCP server to a project you can create a new .cursor/mcp.json file or add it to the existing one. This will look exactly the same as the global MCP server example above.

How to use the MCP server

Once the server is installed, you might need to head back to Settings > MCP and click the refresh button.

The Cursor agent will then be able to see the available tools the added MCP server has available and will call them when it needs to.

You can also explicitly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.

For Claude Desktop

To add this MCP server to Claude Desktop:

1. Find your configuration file:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
• Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

2. Add this to your configuration file:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "nhl": {
            "command": "/path/to/nhl-mcp"
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect