For hockey fans, the start of the NHL playoffs is like Christmas Day for toddlers.
Nothing is more exciting than the first round of the postseason, where the best teams in the world and those with the shortest hockey odds at the BetMGM online sportsbook embark on a quest to win the Stanley Cup.
But how does the NHL playoff format work, how many teams make the playoffs, and how are the seeds decided?
How Are NHL Playoffs Structured?
Sixteen of 32 teams qualify for the NHL playoffs, eight each from the Western and Eastern Conferences.
The NHL is divided into four divisions: the Atlantic and Metropolitan in the Eastern Conference and the Pacific and Central in the Western Conference.
The top three teams in each division secure automatic qualification, comprising 12 of 16 playoff teams.
How Many Wild Card Teams Make Playoffs?
The remaining four playoff spots are allocated to wild card teams, two from each conference.
Wild card teams are those that don’t finish among the top three in their division but have the most points of the remaining teams.
How Do Playoff Seedings Work?
The first-place team in each division plays the lowest-ranked playoff participants, the wild card teams.
The team that finishes with the most points in each conference faces the second-place wild card team, and the other division winner battles the first-place wild card team.
Teams that finish second and third in their division battle in the opening round, with the higher seed securing home-ice advantage.
Are NHL Playoffs Best of 5 or 7?
Every round is a best-of-seven series, meaning the first team to win four games wins. After the first round, teams are ranked purely by their regular-season record. So, the highest-ranked team plays the lowest and so forth.
The higher-ranked team gets home-ice advantage.
When Were Wild-Card Teams Introduced?
Wild card teams were introduced in the 2013-14 playoffs.
While no wild card team has ever won the Stanley Cup, the 2016-17 Nashville Predators came close, losing to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Stanley Cup Final.
When Did NHL Playoff Format Change?
The NHL implemented the current playoff format in 2013-14, coinciding with the emergence of wild card teams.
Why Did NHL Playoff Format Change?
Commissioner Gary Bettman wanted to foster a rivalry culture, emphasizing first-round matchups between teams in the same division.
He believed it would promote further, more impassioned engagement from fans.
Why Do Fans Want Playoff Format to Change Again?
Many fans are calling for a return to the former playoff format, where teams were ranked from first to eighth in each conference based purely on their points total.
In that scenario, the top-ranked team would play the eighth-ranked team, the second seed would play the seventh seed, and so on.
It facilitated more favourable matchups for the regular season’s best teams, which faced the lowest-ranked playoff participants across the 82-game schedule.
The Central Division is an excellent example of why people want change.
The Central Division’s best three teams (Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, Minnesota Wild) would be the conference’s top three seeds, based on the 2025-26 standings.
In the former playoff format, they would avoid playing each other until the second round.
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