How Many Games Is the 2021 NHL Season?
The 2021 NHL season is set to begin on January 13th. Find out how many games each team will play this season and when the Stanley Cup Playoffs will start.
NHL Season Format
The NHL season is made up of 82 games. Sixty of those are within the regular season, and the other 22 are in the playoffs. The playoffs are single-elimination, and the best team in each conference is crowned the Stanley Cup champion.
56-game regular season
The 2021 NHL season will be a 56-game regular season. Each team will play their intra-conference rivals eight times and their inter-conference opponents four times. There will be no preseason games in 2021.
4 divisions
After much discussion and deliberation, the NHL has announced that the 2021 season will begin on January 13th. The league is planning to play a 56-game schedule with each team playing their division rivals 8 times. This means that fans will see a lot of familiar rivalries heating up early on in the season.
The league is also planning to have a 4-division realignment for this season only. The divisional realignment is necessary because of the ongoing pandemic and the need for more geographic flexibility when it comes to scheduling and travel.
Here is a look at the 4 divisions:
Division A: Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres, New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Washington Capitals
Division B: Carolina Hurricanes, Columbus Blue Jackets, Detroit Red Wings, Florida Panthers, Nashville Predators, Tampa Bay Lightning
Division C: Chicago Blackhawks, Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, Minnesota Wild, St. Louis Blues Winnipeg Jets
Division D: Anaheim Ducks, Arizona Coyotes, Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, Los Angeles Kings , San Jose Sharks , Vancouver Canucks
Top 4 teams in each division qualify for playoffs
The top four teams in each division qualify for the playoffs. The divisional winners will be seeded first and second in their respective conference playoffs, and the remaining playoff spots will be filled by the next two best teams in each conference, regardless of division. The first two rounds of the playoffs will be played within each division. Conference Finals and the Stanley Cup Final will be played between the division winners.
How Many Games in a Season?
The NHL regular season is made up of 1,271 games – 82 games for each of the 31 teams. The 2021 NHL season will start on January 13th, 2021 and will end on May 8th, 2021.
56-game regular season
The National Hockey League (NHL) is a professional ice hockey league in North America, currently comprising 31 teams: 24 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is considered to be the premier professional ice hockey league in the world, and one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada. A Stanley Cup playoff game is shown on television in more than 150 countries worldwide.
The 2021 NHL regular season will be 56 games long, which is down from 82 games originally scheduled. Each team will play their division rivals 8 times and have 4 games against non-divisional opponents within their own conference. All games will be played within your own divisional realignment for this shortened season.
4 divisions
The NHL is committed to returning to play for the 2021 season. The regular season will consist of 56 games per team and will be played entirely within divisional alignment. The format for the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs has not yet been determined, but it will include the top four teams from each division.
Top 4 teams in each division qualify for playoffs
As you may recall, the 2019-20 NHL season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The league is still working on finalizing the schedule for the 2020-21 season, but we do know that each team will play a 56-game schedule.
The top four teams in each division will qualify for the playoffs. The first two rounds of the playoffs will be intra-divisional, meaning that each division will have its own mini tournament. The winners of those tournaments will then move on to the conference finals and, finally, the Stanley Cup Final.
We’ll keep you updated as soon as we know more about the schedule for the 2020-21 season. In the meantime, start getting excited for hockey!
How Many Games in the Playoffs?
The NHL playoffs are a best-of-seven tournament among the 16 teams that qualify for the playoffs.1 The playoffs begin in April and end in June, with the Stanley Cup Finals held in late May or early June.
First round (best of 7)
In the first round of the playoffs, each series is a best-of-seven. The team that has more points in the regular season will play the team with fewer points. Usually, the team with home ice advantage (higher seed) will get to choose to start the series at home or on the road.
Conference semifinals (best of 7)
The second round of the playoffs is the conference semifinals. This round features the four remaining teams from each conference, who play each other in best-of-seven series to determine which team will advance to the conference finals.
Conference finals (best of 7)
The conference finals are a best-of-seven series played in May between the four surviving teams of the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, two from each conference.
Stanley Cup Final (best of 7)
The Stanley Cup Final is a best-of-seven game series played between the champions of the Eastern and Western Conferences. The team with the better regular season record (or, if tied, the team that earned more standings points) has home-ice advantage in the series.
