The 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs will begin on April 19 and end by June 23. The tournament decides the NHL champion for the 2024–25 season. Sixteen teams will qualify. The top three in each division earn automatic spots. Two wild cards from each conference fill the rest. Matchups are set in a bracket.
Each round is best-of-seven. Division winners face wild cards, while second- and third-place teams in each division face each other. Winners advance through the Second Round, Conference Finals, and then the Stanley Cup Final. Home ice is based on regular-season records.
NHL Playoff Seeding
The top three teams in each division automatically qualify. Each conference also has two wild-card spots. The division winner with the best record plays the second wild card, and the other division winner plays the first wild card. Second- and third-place teams in each division face each other in the first round. Regulation wins are the first tiebreaker. Regulation plus overtime wins (excluding shootouts) are the second tiebreaker, as per CBC.
How are NHL playoff seeds determined?
NHL playoff seeds are determined by division rankings rather than just points. The top three teams from each division automatically qualify and are seeded first through third within their division. Each conference also includes two wild-card teams, which are the next two best teams that did not finish in the top three of their division.
Among the division winners, the team with the better record becomes the top seed in the conference and plays the lower-ranked wild card team (8th seed). The other division winner is the 2nd seed and plays the higher-ranked wild card team (7th seed). The second and third-place teams in each division are matched up against each other in the first round. Wild card teams are always seeded 7th and 8th, regardless of point totals compared to other teams.
NHL playoff Rules
The NHL playoffs feature 16 teams: the top 3 teams from each division and 2 wild cards per conference. Seeding is based on regular-season points, using tiebreakers like regulation wins, ROW, total wins, head-to-head points, goal differential, and goals scored. The bracket is division-based: division winners face wild cards, while second- and third-place teams in each division play each other.
All playoff rounds are best-of-seven. Home-ice advantage goes to the team with the better regular-season record. There is no reseeding in the final. In playoff overtime, tied games go to 20-minute 5-on-5 sudden-death periods. Overtime continues with full periods until a goal is scored, as per Yahoo.
Read More: NHL Playoff Rules
FAQ's On NHL Playoff
A. The NHL playoffs will start on 19th April and last till mid-June.
A. Sixteen teams qualify for the NHL Playoffs.
A. Re-seeding in the NHL playoffs ensures that the top seed plays the lowest remaining seed. However, this practice has been discarded in recent years.
A. The NHL playoffs consist of four rounds, with each round being a best-of-seven series format.
A. The first team ever awarded the Stanley Cup was the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association in 1893.
