Sixteen of the NHL's 32 teams make the Stanley Cup Playoffs, eight from each conference. Per NHL.com, the top three teams in each of the four divisions qualify, and the last four spots go to two wild cards per conference, the next-best teams by regular-season record regardless of division. Every round is a best-of-seven series, so a team needs 16 wins to take the Stanley Cup. When teams finish level on points, the NHL breaks the tie first by points percentage, then by regulation wins, then by regulation plus overtime wins.
Updated for the 2026-27 season.
How does the NHL playoff format work?
NHL.com describes the format as "a set bracket that is largely division-based with wild cards." The NHL has used this structure since the 2013-14 realignment, with exceptions in 2020, when the playoffs were finished during the pandemic, and 2021, when U.S.-Canada border restrictions led to a season of divisional play, according to The Associated Press.
- 16 teams qualify, eight in the Eastern Conference and eight in the Western Conference. The league's four divisions are the Atlantic, Metropolitan, Central and Pacific.
- The top three in each division make up the first 12 teams.
- Two wild cards per conference fill the last four spots. They are the next two highest-placed teams in the conference, based on regular-season record and regardless of division.
- Because of the wild cards, one division in a conference can send five teams to the playoffs while the other sends only three, per NHL.com.
Who plays who in the first round?
Each conference is split into two brackets, one headed by each division winner. NHL.com sets the first-round matchups this way:
- The division winner with the better record in the conference plays the wild-card team with the lesser record (the second wild card).
- The other division winner plays the wild-card team with the better record (the first wild card).
- The second- and third-place teams in each division play each other, inside the bracket headed by their own division winner.
The structure below repeats in both conferences, giving eight first-round series in all.
| Bracket | First-round series | Home ice |
|---|---|---|
| Division A (winner has the conference's better division-winner record) | Division A winner vs. second wild card | Higher-placed team in the regular-season standings |
| Division A | Division A second place vs. Division A third place | Second-place team |
| Division B | Division B winner vs. first wild card | Higher-placed team in the regular-season standings |
| Division B | Division B second place vs. Division B third place | Second-place team |
A wild-card team is placed in a bracket based on its seed, not its division, so it can end up in the bracket of the other division in its conference.
The format has its critics. In April 2026 the AP noted that the Penguins and Capitals met in the second round three straight years from 2016 to 2018, and that the Oilers and Kings met in the first round four straight years from 2022 to 2025. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has defended the format, saying it produces the best first round in sports and keeps races competitive late in the season.
Does the NHL re-seed after each round?
No. The bracket is fixed. Per NHL.com, first-round winners within each bracket play each other in the second round, and those four second-round winners make up the Conference Finals. The two Conference Final winners meet in the Stanley Cup Final.
| Round | Teams | Series length |
|---|---|---|
| First Round | 16 | Best-of-seven |
| Second Round | 8 | Best-of-seven |
| Conference Finals | 4 | Best-of-seven |
| Stanley Cup Final | 2 | Best-of-seven |
How is home-ice advantage decided?
NHL.com sets two rules:
- First and second rounds: home ice goes to the team that placed higher in the regular-season standings.
- Conference Finals and Stanley Cup Final: home ice goes to the team with the better regular-season record, regardless of where either team finished in its division.
How does overtime work in the NHL playoffs?
Playoff overtime is very different from the regular season. Under Rule 84.5 of the 2026-27 NHL Official Rules, a playoff game tied after three 20-minute periods goes to a 15-minute intermission, and the teams then play full 20-minute overtime periods, changing ends for each one, until somebody scores. The first goal wins. There is no shootout in the playoffs.
Regular-season overtime and the shootout
In the regular season, Rule 84.1 awards each team one point if the game is tied after regulation. The teams then play one overtime period of up to five minutes at three skaters and one goalie a side, and the first team to score gets an extra point. If the game is still tied, Rule 84.4 sends it to a shootout: each team takes three shots, then it moves to sudden death. The shootout winner is credited with one more goal than its opponent in the final score.
| Regular season | Stanley Cup Playoffs | |
|---|---|---|
| Overtime length | One period of up to 5 minutes | Unlimited 20-minute periods |
| Skaters per side | 3 (plus goalie) | Same as in regulation |
| Intermission before OT | None; ice is shoveled, OT starts about two minutes after regulation | 15 minutes |
| If still tied | Shootout (three rounds, then sudden death) | Another 20-minute period |
| Rule | 84.1 to 84.4 | 84.5 |
How do NHL standings points work?
The NHL rulebook sets a 2-1-0 system. A win in regulation, overtime or a shootout is worth two points. A loss in overtime or a shootout is worth one point, which a team earns as soon as regulation ends tied (Rule 84.1). A regulation loss is worth nothing. Rule 84.2 adds one exception: a team that pulls its goalie for an extra attacker in regular-season overtime and loses while he is off the ice forfeits that point, unless the goalie was pulled on a delayed penalty.
| Result | Points |
|---|---|
| Win (regulation, overtime or shootout) | 2 |
| Loss in overtime or shootout | 1 |
| Loss in regulation | 0 |
What are the NHL tiebreakers?
When two or more teams are tied in points, NHL.com's tie-breaking procedure ranks them in this order. The same order decides division places and the wild-card race.
| Order | Tiebreaker | Standings column |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fewer games played (superior points percentage) | GP |
| 2 | More wins, excluding overtime and shootout wins (regulation wins) | RW |
| 3 | More wins, excluding shootout wins (regulation plus overtime wins) | ROW |
| 4 | More total wins, in any manner | W |
| 5 | More points earned in games between the tied teams (odd home game excluded; points percentage if more than two teams are tied) | None |
| 6 | Better goal differential for the whole regular season, including overtime goals and shootout-winning goals | DIFF |
| 7 | More goals scored for the whole regular season, including overtime goals and shootout-winning goals | GF |
Points percentage and games played
The first tiebreaker matters most during the season, when teams have played different numbers of games. A team that reaches the same point total in fewer games has the better points percentage and ranks higher. Every team plays the same number of games by the end of the regular season, so at that point the race usually comes down to regulation wins.
Regulation wins and ROW
Regulation wins come first among the win-based tiebreakers, so a team with more wins in 60 minutes ranks ahead of a team that piled up overtime and shootout victories. ROW, the next step, still counts overtime wins but leaves out shootout wins. Total wins come fourth.
Head-to-head and the "odd game" rule
If teams are still tied, the fifth step compares points earned in games against each other. When the tied teams have not played an even number of games against each other, NHL.com says the first game played in the city that had the extra game (the "odd game") is not counted, so neither team gets an extra home date in the comparison. When more than two teams are tied, the step uses the percentage of available points each earned in games among the group, again leaving out any odd games.
Goal differential and goals for
The last two steps use goal differential, then goals scored, over the whole regular season. NHL.com notes that in the standings, a shootout win counts as one goal for and a shootout loss as one goal against.
Did the 84-game season change the playoffs?
The 2026-27 regular season is the first with 84 games per team, up from 82. NHL.com's schedule release lists 1,344 games, starting Sept. 29, 2026, and ending with all 32 teams in action on Saturday, April 10, 2027. The longer season comes from the four-year collective bargaining agreement the NHL and NHL Players' Association agreed to in June 2025. Per NHL.com, the agreement runs from Sept. 16, 2026, through Sept. 15, 2030, extends the regular season from 82 games, the length since 1995-96, to 84, and limits the preseason to four games per team.
The bracket, the series length, home-ice rules and the tiebreaker order on NHL.com's current pages are the rules described above. None of the NHL.com coverage of the extension or the 2026-27 schedule reviewed for this page describes a change to the playoff format itself.
The playoff salary cap
The playoffs did get one new rule from the agreement: a salary cap. Before the 2026 playoffs, the cap disappeared entirely after the regular season, which let teams bring back players who had spent the stretch run on long-term injured reserve, as the AP put it. Under the new rule, which NHL.com reported in September 2025 would start that season, each team lists 20 players (18 skaters and two goalies) for every playoff game, and that group must fit under the cap. Players on the roster who do not dress do not count. Teams submit the game roster to NHL Central Registry by 3 p.m. local time or five hours before the game, whichever is earlier.
For 2025-26 that ceiling was $95.5 million, per the AP. The 2026-27 Upper Limit is $104.0 million, the NHL and NHLPA announced on May 6, 2026.
When is the 2026-27 NHL trade deadline?
The 2026-27 trade deadline is Monday, March 1, 2027, as reported by Michael Russo of The Athletic and relayed by Daily Faceoff on July 24, 2026. Daily Faceoff noted that the CBA normally places the deadline 40 days before the end of the regular season, with an exception when that day falls on a weekend.
Related reference pages
Sources
- Playoff Format — NHL.com
- Tie-Breaking Procedure — NHL.com
- National Hockey League Official Rules 2026-2027 (Rules 78 and 84) — NHL
- NHL releases 2026-27 regular-season schedule (July 16, 2026) — NHL.com
- NHL, NHLPA agree on 4-year extension to CBA (June 27, 2025) — NHL.com
- What you need to know about the new NHL CBA (July 21, 2025) — NHL.com / Buffalo Sabres
- NHL teams must be within salary cap during Stanley Cup Playoffs (Sept. 3, 2025) — NHL.com
- NHL, NHLPA announce team payroll range for 2026-27 season (May 6, 2026) — NHL.com
- Explaining rules old and new that are part of the NHL's Stanley Cup playoffs (April 14, 2026) — The Associated Press, via NBC Sports
- 2026-27 NHL trade deadline set for Monday, March 1 (July 24, 2026) — Daily Faceoff