Carey Price is a leading contender for the Vezina and Hart Trophies in 2014-15. (Getty)
The NHL regular season concludes less than two weeks from now on Saturday, April 11th. The 2014-15 Stanley Cup Playoffs begin shortly after the regular season ends — the league office will most likely release the schedule following day after the season ends.
Under the current NHL-pod playoff format, 16 teams still make the playoffs: the three teams with the most points in each of the league’s four divisions — Metropolitan and Atlantic in the Eastern Conference and Midwest and Pacific in the Western Conference — and the two remaining teams in each Conference with the most points are Wild Cards.
There are two division winners per conference. The Wild Card team with more points plays the division winner with the lower point total in the opening round and vice versa. The 2nd and 3rd place finishers in each division play each other.
Here is an updated look of the NHL Playoffs if the regular season ended today.
Key: M – Metropolitan Division, A – Atlantic Division, M – Midwest Division, P – Pacific Division, WC – Wild Card; X — clinched playoff berth, Y — clinched division
Eastern Conference
New York Rangers winger Rick Nash is looking to get back to the Stanley Cup Final (Getty)
| Seed: | Team: | Record: | Points: |
| A1 | X — Montréal Canadiens | 47-22-9 | 103 |
| WC1 | Pittsburgh Penguins | 42-24-11 | 95 |
| A2 | X — Tampa Bay Lightning | 47-24-8 | 102 |
| A3 | Detroit Red Wings | 40-23-13 | 93 |
| M1 | Y — New York Rangers | 49-21-7 | 105 |
| WC2 | Boston Bruins | 40-25-13 | 93 |
| M2 | New York Islanders | 45-27-6 | 96 |
| M3 | Washington Capitals | 43-25-10 | 96 |
Western Conference
Ryan Suter of the Minnesota Wild (Getty)
| Seed: | Team: | Record: | Points: |
| C1 | X — Nashville Predators | 47-22-9 | 103 |
| WC1 | Minnesota Wild | 44-26-7 | 95 |
| C2 | X — St. Louis Blues | 47-23-7 | 101 |
| C3 | X — Chicago Blackhawks | 47-24-6 | 100 |
| P1 | Y — Anaheim Ducks | 50-22-7 | 107 |
| WC2 | Los Angeles Kings | 38-25-14 | 90 |
| P2 | Vancouver Canucks | 45-28-5 | 95 |
| P3 | Calgary Flames | 42-29-7 | 91 |
Each series is grouped together and the higher-seed has home-ice advantage unless the other seed had more points during the regular season. If both teams had the same number of points then ROW (Regulation and Overtime — not Shootout — Wins) determines the tie-breaker. Here are the rest of the NHL tie-breaking procedures.
The President’s Trophy is awarded to the team with the most points at the end of the regular season, and that team is awarded home-ice advantage throughout the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Ducks currently lead the NHL with 107 points, but have played 79 games. The New York Rangers, with three fewer games played, have the inside track to the President’s Trophy.
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