Season structure of the NHL

The structure of the National Hockey League (NHL) season is divided into the regular season and the Stanley Cup playoffs. In the regular season, teams play 82 games which determine their standings. The eight top-seeded teams in each conference enter the playoff elimination tournament to determine the Stanley Cup champion.

Regular season

For NHL league structure, see National Hockey League.

Each team in the NHL plays 82 regular season games, 41 games at home and 41 on the road. In all, 1230 games are played.

In the 2008–09 season, the NHL regular season reverted to the format used before the 2004–05 Lockout, where each team plays six games (three at home, three away) against the other teams in its division (a total of 24 games). Teams play all ten non-divisional teams in their own conference four times (twice at home, twice away, 40 total games). The remaining 18 games of the season are inter-conference play, allowing every team in the league to play every other team at least once. Each team plays 12 teams from the other conference once and plays the other three non-conference teams both home and away.^[1] If a non-conference team is played only once, next year's schedule will include at least one game between the same two teams at the opposite venue. The schedule is structured so that every NHL team plays in every arena at least once every two years.

For the six Canadian teams, prior to 2011-2012, the extra three inter-conference games are always against the three Canadian teams in the other conference. This ensures that all Canadian teams play home and away against their Canadian non-conference opponents each season, and each of the non-conference U.S. teams once per year. With the new Winnipeg Jets, the NHL has yet to determine how this will affect the schedule.

For the 24 American teams, the extra three games are rotated each season between the twelve non-conference U.S. opponents in a way designed to ensure each U.S. team will play five regular season games against each U.S. team in the other conference over a four season cycle (two games in one of the seasons and one game in each of the other three seasons).

The season is typically divided approximately in half by the NHL All-Star Game and its accompanying festivities, during which no regular season games take place.

Two points are awarded for a win (including in overtime or shootout), one point for a loss (with one situational exception) in overtime or shootout, and no points for a loss in regulation time. If, however, a team pulls their goaltender for an extra attacker during overtime and gives up an empty net goal, the point normally awarded for losing in overtime is forfeited.^[2]

Division	Schedule	Total Games
Intra-Division	6 games × 4 opponents	24
Non-divisional, in conference	4 games × 10 opponents	40
Inter-conference	1 game × 12 opponents + 2 games × 3 opponents	18

Stanley Cup playoffs

Main article: Stanley Cup playoffs

At the end of the regular season, 16 teams, eight from each conference, qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs, an elimination tournament consisting of three rounds of best-of-seven series to determine which team from each conference will advance to the final round, dubbed the Stanley Cup Final.

The teams are seeded one through eight in each conference. The teams that finish with the most points in each division are crowned the division champions, and are seeded one through three based on their point records. The next five teams with the best records in the conference are seeded four through eight. In the event of a tie in points standings, the highest ranking team is determined using the following tiebreaking procedures:^[3]

1. The fewer number of games played (only used during the season, as all teams will have played 82 games once the season is over).
2. The greater number of games won. Starting in the 2010-11 NHL season, shootout wins are not included in the tie-breaking procedure.
3. The greater number of points earned in games between the tied clubs.
4. The greater differential between goals for and against for the entire regular season.

The first round of the playoffs, or Conference Quarterfinals, consists of four match-ups in each conference, based on the seedings (# 1 vs. # 8, # 2 vs. # 7, # 3 vs. # 6, and # 4 vs. # 5). In the second round, or Conference Semifinals, the top remaining conference seed plays against the lowest remaining seed, and the other two remaining conference teams pair off (unlike the NBA, for example, where the 1–8 winner always plays the 4–5 winner, regardless of who wins). In the third round, the Conference Finals, the two remaining teams in each conference play each other, with the conference champions proceeding to the Stanley Cup Final.

For the first three rounds, the higher-seeded team has home-ice advantage (regardless of point record). In the Stanley Cup Final, it goes to the team with the better regular season record. 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

• List of the most frequent NHL playoff series
• National Hockey League rivalries
• List of NHL franchise post-season appearance streaks
• List of NHL franchise post-season droughts

References

• McCarthy, Dave, ed (2008). The National Hockey League Official Guide & Record Book/2009. Dan Diamond Associates. ISBN 978-1-894801-14-0. 

1. ^ Associated Press (November 30, 2007). "NHL teams will play each other at least once per season". ESPN (ESPN.com). http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/print?id=3134834&type=story. 
2. ^ "NHL Official Rules: Rule 84 - Overtime". http://www.nhl.com/ice/page.htm?id=26498. 
3. ^ http://www.nhl.com/standings/

External links

• NHL – Stanley Cup Playoff Formats