Round 1 is well underway as teams take the ice for a shot at Lord Stanley's Cup, but first, they have to battle through the NHL Playoff bracket.
NHL playoff bracket
Follow along with our up-to-date bracket below as we track each series through to the end of the Stanley Cup Final, and make sure you keep up on which teams have the best odds to win the Stanley Cup. You can also track the progress of individual players with our Conn Smythe Trophy odds page.
Odds for today's NHL games
Odds displayed currently are for regular season game. Playoff game odds will appear here once they become available, most likely once the regular season wraps up Thursday night.
Check out our expert NHL picks and Stanley Cup predictions throughout the 2024 NHL Playoffs.
2024 NHL Playoffs schedule
| Date | Round |
|---|---|
| April 20 | Conference quarterfinals |
| TBD | Conference semifinals |
| TBD | Conference finals |
| June 3 | Stanley Cup Final |
NHL playoff format
- Sixteen teams qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs. The current playoff format is a set bracket, mostly division-based, with wild cards.
- The top three teams from each division make up the first 12 teams in the playoffs, while the remaining four spots are filled by the following two highest-placed finishers in each conference, regardless of their division.
- In the First Round of the playoffs, the division winner with the best record in each conference will play against the wild card team with the worse record, while the wild card team with the better record will play the other division winner.
- The teams finishing second and third in each division will play each other in the First Round within their respective division's bracket.
- The winners of the First Round within each bracket will play each other in the Second Round to determine the four participants in the Conference Finals.
NHL Playoff Bracket FAQs
The NHL playoffs bracket is structured as a bracket-style tournament, with 16 teams competing in four rounds of best-of-seven series to determine the Stanley Cup champion. The teams are seeded within their respective conferences based on their regular-season performance, with the top-seeded team facing off against the lowest-seeded team in each round. Here's how the NHL playoffs bracket works:
- Conference Quarterfinals: The first round of the playoffs, also known as the Conference Quarterfinals, features the top-seeded team in each conference facing the eighth-seeded team, the second-seeded team facing the seventh-seeded team, and so on. The teams within each conference are matched up in a 1 vs. 8, 2 vs. 7, 3 vs. 6, and 4 vs. 5 format. The winners of each series advance to the Conference Semifinals.
- Conference Semifinals: In the second round, known as the Conference Semifinals, the winners of the Conference Quarterfinals matchups within each conference face off against each other. The teams are re-seeded based on their regular-season performance, so the highest-seeded team faces the lowest-seeded team remaining in their conference, and so on. The winners of each series advance to the Conference Finals.
- Conference Finals: The Conference Finals consist of the winners of the Conference Semifinals matchups within each conference facing off against each other. Like in the Conference Semifinals, the teams are re-seeded based on their regular-season performance, and the highest-seeded team faces the lowest-seeded team remaining in their conference, and so on. The winners of each series advance to the Stanley Cup Finals.
- Stanley Cup Finals: The Stanley Cup Finals feature the Eastern Conference champion and the Western Conference champion facing off against each other in a best-of-seven series to determine the overall NHL champion and the winner of the coveted Stanley Cup. The team that wins four games first out of the possible seven is crowned as the NHL champion and hoists the Stanley Cup in celebration.
The NHL playoffs bracket follows this structure, with teams progressing through each round based on their performance and the winners advancing to the next round until a team emerges as the victor and earns the title of NHL champion.
The NHL playoffs consist of four rounds, each of which is a best-of-seven series. This means that teams must win four out of a possible seven games in each round to advance to the next round. The first team to win four games in a round moves on to the next round, while the losing team is eliminated from the playoffs.
