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The NHL playoffs are just around the corner! Here’s everything you need to know about when they start and how to catch all the action.
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Introduction
The National Hockey League (NHL) playoffs are an elimination tournament held after the conclusion of the NHL regular season. The Stanley Cup, the oldest professional sports trophy in North America, is awarded to the playoff champion at the end of each season. The playoffs consist of four rounds—the Qualifying Round, the First Round, the Second Round and the Conference Finals—with each series being played in a best-of-seven format.
What is the NHL?
The NHL, or National Hockey League, is a professional ice hockey league consisting of 30 teams in the United States and Canada. Founded in 1917, the NHL is considered to be the premier professional ice hockey league in the world. The Stanley Cup, which is awarded to the NHL playoff champion, is considered to be one of the most prestigious trophies in all of professional sports.
How the NHL playoffs work
The National Hockey League (NHL) playoffs are an elimination tournament held after the regular season to determine the league champion and the winner of the Stanley Cup.
When do the playoffs start?
The NHL playoffs begin in April, after the conclusion of the regular season. The playoffs are a single-elimination tournament, with each round featuring best-of-seven series. The Stanley Cup Finals, which pits the winner of the Eastern Conference against the winner of the Western Conference, is also a best-of-seven series.
What happens if a team can’t make the playoffs?
If a team finishes the regular season with the fewest points in the league, they are said to have “earned” the first overall pick in the NHL Entry Draft. The NHL Draft is an annual event in which every team in the league select unprotected players from junior, collegiate, European, and American professional leagues.
How long do the playoffs last?
The playoffs begin immediately following the NHL regular season, which runs from October through early April. The playoffs typically last about two months, with the Stanley Cup Finals taking place in late May or early June.
What is the Stanley Cup?
The Stanley Cup is the championship trophy of the National Hockey League (NHL), the premier professional ice hockey league in the world. It is awarded to the league playoff champion at the end of each season.
The Stanley Cup was first awarded in 1892, making it the oldest professional sports trophy in North America. The Cup is named after Lord Stanley of Preston, who wasGovernor General of Canada when the Canadian Amateur Hockey League (CAHL) was founded in 1887. The first Stanley Cup champions were the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association (AAA), who won it in 1893.
The NHL took over control of the Stanley Cup in 1926, and it has been awarded to NHL teams since then. In 1947,the NHL expanded from six to twelve teams, and a new playoff system was established to determine the Stanley Cup champion. The playoffs have been held every year since then, and they now involve sixteen teams.
The Stanley Cup Playoffs are typically held in April and May, with the Stanley Cup Finals taking place in June.
How does a team win the Stanley Cup?
In order to win the Stanley Cup, a team must first make the playoffs. The playoffs are a tournament held at the end of the NHL regular season in which the top 16 teams in the league compete for the chance to be crowned Stanley Cup Champions.
The playoff format has changed throughout the years, but the current format has been in place since 2014. In the current format, the playoffs are split into two parts: the first round, and the Stanley Cup Final.
The first round is a best-of-seven series between eight different teams. The team with the better record in each matchup is given home-ice advantage, meaning they will host Games 1, 2, 5, and 7 (if necessary). The four teams that win their first-round matchup move on to the second round, where they are reseeded according to their regular season record.
The second round is again a best-of-seven series, but this time between the four remaining teams. The team with the better regular season record is again given home-ice advantage. The two teams that win their second-round matchup advance to the Conference Finals.
The Conference Finals are also a best-of-seven series between the remaining two teams. This series works similarly to the other rounds, with home-ice advantage going to the team with the better record. The winner of this series moves on to compete for the Stanley Cup in what is known as…the Stanley Cup Final!
The Stanley Cup Final is also a best-of-seven series between whichever two teams have made it this far. Home-ice advantage once again goes to whichever team had a better regular season record. The team that wins four games in this final series is declared Stanley Cup Champions and gets their name engraved on Lord Stanley’s cup!
What are the odds of a team winning the Stanley Cup?
The Stanley Cup is the most coveted prize in professional hockey, and teams strive to be in the playoffs every year to have a shot at winning it. But what are the odds of a team actually winning the Stanley Cup?
It turns out that the odds are quite low. In fact, according to FiveThirtyEight, the odds of any given team winning the Stanley Cup are about 6 percent. That means that out of the 31 teams in the NHL, only about two will emerge victorious each year.
So if you’re a fan of a team that’s not one of the favorites to win it all, don’t get your hopes up too high. But stranger things have happened in sports, so anything is possible come playoff time.
Conclusion
The Stanley Cup playoffs are a best-of-seven elimination tournament among the 16 teams that qualified for the playoffs. The playoff brackets are set in advance, and the first two rounds match up division rivals. The conference finals feature the winners of the two previous rounds, with the conference champions proceeding to the Stanley Cup Final.
