NHL Regular Season
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The season structure of the National Hockey League (NHL) is divided into the pre-season, regular season, and the
Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup (french: La Coupe Stanley) is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, an ...
playoffs. In the pre-season, which is generally held during the last two weeks of September, each team plays several not-for-the-record
exhibition games An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...
. In the regular season, which generally runs from early October through early April, teams play 82 games which determine their standings. The three highest-placed teams in each division and two wild card teams per conference enter the playoff
elimination tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...
to determine the Stanley Cup champion.


Pre-season

The NHL pre-season is generally held during the last two weeks of September. Each team plays roughly six to eight exhibition games. These games allow coaches to evaluate their teams, new players to try out for roster and position spots, and established players to practice prior to competitive play. Teams may also have split squad games, in which parts of a team's roster play separate games. Several pre-season games may be held at neutral sites. Since 2006 in Canada and 2015 in the U.S.,
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has sponsored the ''
Kraft Hockeyville ''Kraft Hockeyville'' is an annual competition sponsored by Kraft Heinz, the National Hockey League and the NHL Players' Association in which communities compete to demonstrate their commitment to the sport of ice hockey. The winning community ...
'' contests, in which communities compete for the opportunity to host a pre-season game. Several pre-season games held at international sites have also been scheduled, including games between an NHL team and a club from another league overseas.


Regular season

Since the 1995–96 season, each team in the NHL plays 82
regular season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of Se ...
games, 41 each of home and road. In all, 1,312 games are scheduled (512 of them inter-conference). For the 2021–22 season the NHL regular season formula was adjusted to account for the addition of the
Seattle Kraken The Seattle Kraken are a professional ice hockey team based in Seattle. The Kraken compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference and began play during the league's 2021–22 season. ...
. Each team plays either three or four games against the other teams in its division (a total of 26 games) as well as playing all non-divisional teams in their own conference three times (24 games). The remaining games of the season are inter-conference play (32 games), allowing every team in the league to play every other team twice. The schedule is structured so that every NHL team plays in every arena at least once per season. Each team has a mandatory bye week near the midpoint of the season, during which no regular season games take place. The
NHL All-Star Game The National Hockey League All-Star Game (french: Match des Étoiles de la Ligue Nationale de Hockey, links=no) is an exhibition ice hockey game that is traditionally held during the regular season of the National Hockey League (NHL), with many o ...
and its accompanying festivities typically occur during the bye week. From 1998 to 2014, every four years in lieu of an All-Star break, there was a break for the
Winter Olympic Games The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were he ...
. However, the NHL prohibited players from participation in the
2018 Olympics , nations = 93 , athletes = 2,922 (1,680 men and 1,242 women) , events = 102 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = , closing = , opened_by = President Moon Jae-in , cauldron = Kim Yun-a , stadium = Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium , winte ...
and the 2022 Olympics. The league also schedules a three-day Christmas break (since 1971) when no regular season games are played on either Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Games are not played on December 26 unless it falls on a Saturday, in which case no games would be played on December 23. The NHL also has a holiday roster freeze between December 18 and 27, in which in most cases, players cannot be traded, waived, or sent to the minor leagues. On the day of the
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(second Sunday of February), the league avoids scheduling any games that night, and will either have a blank slate that day or have a few afternoon games, usually starting no later than 3:00p.m. EST. Two points are awarded for a win (including in
overtime Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways: *by custom (what is considered healthy or reasonable by society), ...
or shootout), one point for a loss in overtime or shootout, and no points for a loss in regulation time. If, however, a team pulls their goaltender for an
extra attacker An extra attacker in ice hockey and ringette is a forward or, less commonly, a defenceman who has been substituted in place of the goaltender. The purpose of this substitution is to gain an offensive advantage to score a goal. The removal of the ...
during overtime and gives up an empty net goal, the point normally awarded for losing in overtime is forfeited. Pulling a goaltender in overtime was occasionally attempted in certain situations prior to the
2004–05 NHL lockout The 2004–05 NHL lockout was a labor lockout that resulted in the cancellation of the National Hockey League (NHL) season, which would have been its 88th season of play. The main dispute was the league's desire to implement a salary cap to ...
near the end of a season if earning a single point in overtime would have been worthless for playoff qualification purposes, but with the introduction of the shootout it has not been attempted since.


Stanley Cup playoffs

At the end of the regular season, sixteen teams qualify for the
Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup (french: La Coupe Stanley) is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, an ...
playoffs, an elimination tournament consisting of three rounds of
best-of-seven series There are a number of formats used in various levels of competition in sports and games to determine an overall champion. Some of the most common are the ''single elimination'', the ''best-of-'' series, the ''total points series'' more commonly kn ...
to determine which team from each conference will advance to the final round, dubbed the Stanley Cup Final. The top three teams in each division earn automatic berths (six teams per conference) and the next two teams in the conference earn wild-card spots. The First Round pits the top ranked team in the conference against the lower ranked wild-card and the other division winner against the higher ranked wild-card. The second and third place teams in each division play each other. The top ranked team in a division, along with its wild card opponent and the second and third ranked teams of the same division comprise a group or bracket during the First Round, and the two winners will meet in the Second Round. The Western Conference (Pacific vs. Central divisional bracket winners) and Eastern Conference (Atlantic vs. Metropolitan divisional bracket winners) Finals will determine who faces off in the
Stanley Cup Finals The Stanley Cup Finals in ice hockey (also known as the Stanley Cup Final among various media, french: Finale de la Coupe Stanley) is the National Hockey League's (NHL) championship series to determine the winner of the Stanley Cup, North America ...
. Any ties in the standings are broken using the following protocols: #The fewer number of games played (only used during the season, as all teams will have played 82 games once the regular season is over). #The greater number of ''regulation wins'' only (used since the
2019–20 NHL season The 2019–20 NHL season was the 103rd season of operation (102nd season of play) of the National Hockey League. The regular season began on October 2, 2019, with playoffs originally planned for April and the Stanley Cup Finals planned for June. ...
, reflected by the RW statistic). #The greater number of ''regulation and overtime wins'', excluding shootouts (used since the
2010–11 NHL season The 2010–11 NHL season was the 94th season of operation (93rd season of play) of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Boston Bruins defeated the Vancouver Canucks in the Stanley Cup Finals four games to three, being the sixth Cup win in Bruin ...
, reflected by the ROW statistic). #The greater number of total wins, including shootouts. #The greater number of points earned in games between the tied clubs. ## If two clubs are tied, and have not played an equal number of home games against each other, the points earned and available in the first game played in the city of the club that had the greater number of home games in games between the two are not included. ## If more than two clubs are tied, the higher percentage of available points earned in games among those clubs, and not including any "odd" games, are used to determine the standing. The "odd" games are identical to those mentioned in the previous paragraph, that is, the first game in the city of the club that has had more home games in games between each club in the tie. Note that, because of this procedure, if two teams in the multi team tie (also applicable in a two team tie) have only played once against each other, the points earned in that game are not included. #The greater differential between goals for and goals against during the entire regular season. #The greater amount of goals scored (used since
2019–20 NHL season The 2019–20 NHL season was the 103rd season of operation (102nd season of play) of the National Hockey League. The regular season began on October 2, 2019, with playoffs originally planned for April and the Stanley Cup Finals planned for June. ...
, reflected by the GF statistic). #If two clubs are still tied on non-shootout wins, points earned between the tied clubs and regular season goal differential, a
one-game playoff A one-game playoff, sometimes known as a pennant playoff, tiebreaker game or knockout game, is a tiebreaker in certain sports—usually but not always professional—to determine which of two teams, tied in the final standings, will qualify for a ...
is played under Stanley Cup playoff rules. For the first two rounds, the higher-seeded team has home-ice advantage (regardless of point record). Thereafter, it goes to whoever has the better regular season record (no matter the seeding). The team with home-ice advantage hosts Games 1, 2, 5 and 7, while the opponent hosts Games 3, 4 and 6 (Games 5–7 are played "if necessary").


See also

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List of NHL playoff series This is a complete listing of National Hockey League (NHL) playoff series, grouped by franchise. Series featuring relocated teamsSeries featuring the Arizona Coyotes include series played as the Winnipeg Jets (1979–1996) and Phoenix Coyotes (199 ...
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National Hockey League rivalries Rivalries in the National Hockey League have occurred between many teams and cities. Rivalries have arisen among NHL teams for many different reasons, the primary ones including geographic proximity, familiarity with opponents, on-ice incidents, a ...
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List of NHL franchise post-season appearance streaks These are lists of active and all-time National Hockey League (NHL) franchise post-season appearance, post-season series win, Stanley Cup Finals and Stanley Cup streaks up to and including the 2021–22 NHL season and subsequent 2022 Stanley Cu ...
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List of NHL franchise post-season droughts This article is a list of the active and all-time National Hockey League (NHL) franchise post-season appearance, post-season series win, Stanley Cup Finals and Stanley Cup droughts up to and including the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs. Those teams ...


References

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Citations


External links


NHL – Stanley Cup Playoff Formats
{{NHL
Structure A structure is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized. Material structures include man-made objects such as buildings and machines and natural objects such as ...