The 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs will decide the NHL champion for the 2024–25 season. The tournament starts on April 19, 2025, and will end by June 23, 2025, with the Stanley Cup Finals.
The playoffs start in April after the regular season and run through June. Sixteen of the 32 teams qualify based on regular-season performance. Higher-seeded teams get home-ice advantage in Games 1, 2, 5, and 7. The Florida Panthers won the most recent Stanley Cup in 2023, beating the Edmonton Oilers.
NHL Playoffs First Round: Best-of-7 or Best-of-5?
The NHL Playoffs first round is a best-of-7 series, as per the official website of the NHL. The first team to win four games advances to the next round. This format applies to all four playoff rounds, including the First Round, Second Round, Conference Finals, and Stanley Cup Final. There are no best-of-5 series in the NHL playoffs.
NHL Playoffs Format
The NHL Playoffs include 16 teams: the top three teams from each division (12 total) and two wild cards per conference (4 total). The playoffs use a set bracket based mainly on divisions.
In the First Round, the division winner with the most points in each conference plays the lower-seeded wild card, while the other division winner plays the higher-seeded wild card. The second and third-place teams in each division play each other. In the Second Round, winners from the same bracket face off.
The Conference Finals feature the two remaining teams in each conference. The winners of each Conference Final meet in the Stanley Cup Final. All rounds are best-of-7. Home-ice advantage goes to the team with the better regular-season record. (via the official NHL website)
Read More: NHL Playoff Rules
The NHL Playoff Seeds
NHL playoff seeds are based on division rankings, not just overall points. The top three teams in each division automatically qualify and are ranked 1st to 3rd in that division. Each conference adds two wild card teams, which are the next two best teams by points that didn’t finish top three in their division.
The division winner with the better record is seeded 1st and plays the lower-ranked wild card (8th seed), while the other division winner is the 2nd seed and faces the higher-ranked wild card (7th seed). The 2nd- and 3rd-place teams in each division face each other. Wild cards are always seeded 7th and 8th in the conference, regardless of whether they have more points than other teams.
Read More: NHL Playoff seeds
FAQ's On NHL Playoffs
A. Sixteen teams qualify for the NHL Playoffs.
A. The Florida Panthers won their first Stanley Cup in the 2023–24 season.
A. The NHL playoffs consist of four rounds, with each round being a best-of-seven series format.
A. A team must win 16 playoff games, four in each of the four rounds, to claim the ultimate prize in the sport of ice hockey.
A. There are seven Canadian teams out of 32 teams that participate in the league.
