The 2023-24 NHL season marked the 106th season of the National Hockey League. Moreover, this also became the final season for the Arizona Coyotes before their suspension of operations, following the sale of the team to businessman Ryan Smith, who intents to to move the franchise to Salt Lake City, with a new team taking the field as an expansion team in 2024-25.
The highlight of the season was the Chicago Blackhawks selecting Connor Bedard as the top draft pick. Moreover, the New York Rangers won the Presidents’ Trophy after finishing the season with 55 wins and 114 points. Lastly, Nikita Kucherov emerged as the top score of the league with 144 points in 81 games.
Presently, the NHL playoffs are underway with 16 teams competing for the ultimate prize, the coveted Stanley Cup Championship and will look to etch their name to the history books.
NHL Playoff Tournament Bracket
In the NHL playoffs, each round is designed as a best-of-seven series, the winner of the first round advances to the next round. Moreover, it follows a 2-2-1-1-1 game format, meaning that the team with better regular season performance or higher seeding will host the first two games as well as the fifth and seventh games if necessary. The opponent team will host the third and fourth games and the sixth if required.
Furthermore, the structure of the playoffs includes eight teams from each conference including two wild card teams. The top-seeded team from each division faces a lower-seeded wild card team and the second-seeded team faces the second-lowest-seeded teams.
Notably, teams with higher seeds get the advantage of hosting more games at their home arena. However, in the Conference Finals and the Stanley Cup Finals, home-ice advantage goes to the team that had a better record in the regular season. This setup ensures that the teams with stronger regular season performances are rewarded in the crucial later stages of the playoffs.
How does the NHL Playoff Bracket work?
Qualifying teams: The NHL playoff bracket is formed to determine the league's champion. A total of 16 teams qualify for the NHL playoffs, the top three teams from each division plus two wild card teams from each conference are set to participate. The wild card teams are those that did not finish in the top three of their division.
Seeding: In the playoffs, each division's top three teams are ranked from one to three based on their total points. Any remaining teams are ranked four to eight. However, no matter how many points they have, wild-card teams are always ranked seventh and eighth.
Playoff Bracket: The top-seeded team faces the lowest-seeded team and the second top-seeded team will face the second-lowest-seeded team within their division in the first round. The team that emerges victorious advances to the second round or the Conference Finals. In the conference finals, the last two teams from each conference will battle against each other and the winner of the round will claim the Conference Championship. The Eastern and Western Conference winner teams will face each other in the Stanley Cup finals.
Stanley Cup Finals: In the finals, the conference winners will face each other in a best-of-seven series. The team with the better regular-season record will get a home-ice advantage. Moreover, the first team to win the four games in the finals are crowned as the Stanley Cup Champion.
What is the NHL Playoff Bracket Pool?
The NHL playoff bracket pool is a popular game played during the NHL playoffs where participants predict the result of each playoff game, also Stanley Cup finals. Before playoffs start, each participant will select winners for each round, predicting the number of games each series will take. This bracket pool gets completed before the first playoff game begins.
For each correct prediction, points are awarded to the participants. Some pools may even offer additional points for accurately guessing the number of games in a series. The specific rules and scoring system can also vary depending on the pool. While some focus solely on picking series winners others may require more detailed predictions like exact scores, etc. The goal of participants is to collect more and more points by the end of the playoffs. At the end, the participant with the highest score wins the pools, getting various prizes ranging from cash to simple bragging rights. The NHL playoff bracket pools increase game engagement which adds to the excitement of the NHL playoffs.
Moreover, Pools are organized by individuals among many groups like friends, family, and coworkers, as well as online platforms like ESPN or Yahoo Sports. Some workplace sites and sports betting sites also host these pools, providing a fun experience to enjoy the playoff season.
FAQ's On NHL Playoff Bracket
A. The structure is a best-of-seven series and it follows a 2-2-1-1-1 game format, meaning that the team with better regular season performance or higher seeding will host Game 1, 2, 5 and 7.
A. The New York Rangers, Carolina Hurricanes, Florida Panthers, Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Tampa Bay Lightning, New York Islanders, Washington Capitals, Dallas Stars, Vancouver Canucks, Winnipeg Jets, Colorado Avalanche, Edmonton Oilers, Nashville Predators, Vegas Golden Knights, and the Los Angeles Kings.
A. The Carolina Hurricanes are favored to win the 2024 Stanley Cup.
A. The NHL playoffs typically start in mid April and last till June.
