NHL Playoffs 2015: Updated Standings, Seeds & Scenarios

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

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Eastern Conference

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

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Western Conference

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

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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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