When Is the NHL Season Over?
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The NHL regular season is scheduled to end on April 11th. However, the end of the season is not necessarily the end of the NHL. The Stanley Cup Playoffs will begin on April 13th.
The NHL regular season is 82 games
The National Hockey League (NHL) regular season is 82 games, which are typically played from October through early April. The Stanley Cup playoffs follow the regular season, and usually begin in mid-April. The Stanley Cup Finals, the championship series of the NHL playoffs, is held in June.
The Stanley Cup playoffs are a best-of-seven tournament
The Stanley Cup playoffs are a best-of-seven tournament among the eight teams that qualify for the playoffs, with four teams from each conference. The first two rounds are played within the conference, with the higher seed playing the first and seventh seeds and the second and sixth seeds in the first round, and the winner of each series playing each other in the second round. The winner of each conference’s playoff tournament then advances to play in the Stanley Cup Finals.
The NHL season is over when a team wins the Stanley Cup
At the end of the regular season, the top team in each conference is awarded a berth in the Stanley Cup Finals. The other teams in each conference compete in a knockout tournament to decide which two teams will join them. The Finals are a best-of-seven series played between the conference champions, with home-ice advantage going to the team with the better regular-season record.
The current NHL format has been in place since 2013, when the league realigned its 30 teams into two conferences: the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference. There are three divisions in each conference:
The Atlantic Division comprises eight teams: Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres, Detroit Red Wings, Florida Panthers, Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators, Tampa Bay Lightning and Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Metropolitan Division comprises eight teams: Carolina Hurricanes, Columbus Blue Jackets, New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals.
The Central Division comprises seven teams: Chicago Blackhawks , Colorado Avalanche , Dallas Stars , Minnesota Wild , Nashville Predators , St. Louis Blues and Winnipeg Jets .
The NHL season is also over if a team does not make the playoffs
In addition to the Stanley Cup winners, the NHL season is also over for those teams that did not make the playoffs. These teams are said to have “missed the playoffs.” The playoffs involve the top 16 teams in the league, who compete in a single-elimination tournament to determine the Stanley Cup winner.
