The NHL standings determine which teams reach the Stanley Cup Playoffs, who wins each division and how the league ranks clubs throughout the regular season.
Teams earn two points for a victory, one point for an overtime or shootout defeat and none for a regulation defeat. At the end of the regular season, 16 of the NHL’s 32 teams qualify for the play-offs.
However, finishing among the top 16 teams overall does not guarantee qualification. The NHL divides its clubs into two conferences and four divisions, with automatic qualification places and wild cards determining the final field.
Understanding the standings also means knowing how the NHL separates teams level on points. Regulation wins, overtime results, and head-to-head records can all affect a club’s position.
This guide explains the NHL standings, points system, wild-card qualification, tiebreakers and Stanley Cup Playoff format under the rules in place for the 2026/27 season.
How does the NHL standings system work?
The National Hockey League has 32 teams split equally between the Eastern Conference and Western Conference.
Each conference contains two divisions of eight teams.
The Eastern Conference consists of the Atlantic and Metropolitan divisions. The Western Conference contains the Central and Pacific divisions.
Every team plays a regular-season schedule, earning points from its results. The NHL uses those points to rank clubs within their divisions and conferences.
For 2026/27, the league increased the regular-season schedule from 82 to 84 games per team. Each club plays 42 home games and 42 away games, including four matches against every divisional opponent.
That change increases the maximum available regular-season points from 164 to 168. The NHL confirmed the new schedule in its 2026/27 regular-season announcement.
The standings matter for three main reasons. They determine division positions, decide Stanley Cup Playoff qualification and establish home-ice advantages during the postseason.
Teams can also finish above clubs that have more victories because not every defeat produces zero points.
How are points awarded in the NHL?
The NHL uses a points system that rewards victories while also awarding a point to teams that lose after regulation time.
A standard NHL game contains three 20-minute periods. If the score remains level after regulation, the teams play overtime.
During the regular season, a game that remains tied after overtime proceeds to a shootout.
The points awarded depend on the final result.
A regulation victory therefore earns the same two points as an overtime or shootout victory.
However, regulation wins carry additional value when the NHL applies its standings tiebreakers.
Why do teams receive a point for losing in overtime?
The NHL awards one point to a team that remains level after regulation but subsequently loses in overtime or a shootout.
Fans often call this the loser point.
It recognises that the team completed regulation without losing, although the league does not award a point for a regulation defeat.
For example, consider two hypothetical teams after 10 games:
Team A have six wins and four regulation defeats. They earn 12 points.
Team B have five wins, two overtime defeats and three regulation defeats. They also earn 12 points.
Despite winning fewer games, Team B remain level on points because of their overtime defeats.
This system can create close races for play-off positions, particularly towards the end of the regular season.
Embed from Getty ImagesWhat do the NHL standings abbreviations mean?
NHL tables contain several abbreviations that describe each team’s record.
Understanding them makes it easier to compare clubs without relying entirely on their points totals.
Some standings displays also include points percentage, recent form and remaining fixtures.
How do you calculate NHL points?
The calculation is straightforward:
Points = (Wins × 2) + Overtime/Shootout Losses
For example, a team with 40 wins, 30 regulation defeats and 14 overtime or shootout defeats would finish an 84-game season with 94 points.
That total does not necessarily guarantee play-off qualification. The team must also finish in an eligible position within its conference.
What is the difference between RW and ROW?
RW means regulation wins. These victories occur within the game’s first 60 minutes.
ROW includes both regulation victories and overtime victories, but excludes shootout wins.
The distinction matters because the NHL prioritises RW before ROW when resolving tied positions.
Consequently, two clubs can finish with identical points totals and overall victories but occupy different positions because one has more regulation wins.
How do NHL teams qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs?
Sixteen teams qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, with eight coming from each conference.
The league uses divisional positions and wild-card places rather than simply selecting the 16 clubs with the highest overall points totals.
Qualification works as follows:
- The top three teams in each division qualify automatically.
- The two highest-ranked remaining teams in each conference receive wild-card places.
- Those wild-card places are available regardless of which division the teams represent.
This produces 12 automatic qualifiers and four wild-card qualifiers across the NHL.
The official Stanley Cup Playoff format confirms the divisional qualification structure and the first-round matchups.
What is an NHL wild card?
A wild card allows a team to qualify without finishing in the top three of its division.
Each conference awards two wild-card places to its strongest remaining teams.
For example, suppose the Atlantic Division has five teams with better records than the fourth-best club in the Metropolitan Division.
The Atlantic Division could supply both Eastern Conference wild-card qualifiers.
That would give the Atlantic Division five play-off representatives and the Metropolitan Division three.
The reverse is also possible.
Importantly, each conference has its own wild-card race. A Western Conference team cannot claim an Eastern Conference wild-card place, regardless of its points total.
Can a team with more points miss the play-offs?
Yes.
Because the NHL reserves places for the top three teams in every division. A club can miss the postseason despite earning more points than a qualifier from another division or conference.
Consider a simplified hypothetical example.
The third-place team in one division finishes with 90 points and qualifies automatically.
Meanwhile, the sixth-best team in another division earns 94 points but misses out because five stronger teams from its conference occupy the available divisional and wild-card positions.
The format protects divisional representation while retaining opportunities for strong fourth- and fifth-place teams.
Embed from Getty ImagesHow are the NHL play-off matchups decided?
Once the NHL determines the 16 qualifiers, it places teams into a fixed play-off bracket.
The first round follows a divisional structure.
Within each conference, the division winner with the stronger regular-season record plays the lower-ranked wild-card qualifier.
The other division winner faces the higher-ranked wild-card team.
Meanwhile, the teams finishing second and third in each division play one another.
This creates four first-round matchups per conference.
The winners advance within their brackets, rather than undergoing a complete reseeding after every round.
How many rounds are in the Stanley Cup Playoffs?
The postseason contains four rounds:
- First Round
- Second Round
- Conference Finals
- Stanley Cup Final
Every round uses a best-of-seven series.
A team must win four games to advance, while the eventual Stanley Cup champions need 16 postseason victories.
Unlike the regular season, play-off games do not use shootouts. Teams continue playing sudden-death overtime periods until someone scores.
There are also no standings points during the postseason. Only winning the series determines progression.
How do NHL tiebreakers work?
Teams frequently finish level on points during the regular season.
When that happens, the NHL applies an ordered set of criteria to determine their positions.
The first tiebreaker is the number of games played. A team with fewer games played ranks higher when clubs have identical points totals.
This is particularly relevant during the season when clubs have completed different numbers of fixtures.
If the teams have played the same number of games, regulation wins become the next deciding factor.
The complete procedure, as set out in the NHL’s official standings tiebreaking rules, follows this order:
The NHL moves down the criteria until it can separate the tied teams.
Why are regulation wins important?
Regulation wins reward teams that defeat opponents without needing overtime or a shootout.
For example, imagine two teams complete the season with 100 points.
Team A have 43 regulation wins.
Team B have 39 regulation wins.
Assuming they have played the same number of games, Team A ranks above Team B because they have more regulation victories.
The NHL does not need to consider their ROW totals, head-to-head results or goal differential.
This gives regulation wins additional importance beyond the two standings points awarded for every victory.
How does the head-to-head tiebreaker work?
If teams remain level after the preceding criteria, the NHL compares the points earned in games between them.
However, the process includes adjustments when teams have not played an equal number of head-to-head games.
In a two-team tie, the NHL excludes the first game played in the city hosting the extra meeting.
For ties involving more than two clubs, the league compares the percentage of available points earned in games among those clubs, excluding applicable extra games.
These adjustments prevent an uneven head-to-head schedule from unfairly influencing the rankings.
Does goal difference matter in NHL standings?
Yes, although the NHL calls it goal differential.
The league calculates it by subtracting goals against from goals for.
A team that scores 250 goals and concedes 220 has a goal differential of +30.
However, goal differential appears below regulation wins, ROW, total wins and head-to-head results in the tiebreaking order.
It therefore matters only when earlier criteria cannot separate the teams.
For standings purposes, a shootout victory adds one goal to the winning team’s goals-for total and one goal against the losing team. Individual shootout attempts do not count as ordinary goals.
What happens when teams have played different numbers of games?
During the regular season, teams rarely complete the same number of games on the same date.
One club might have played 50 matches while another has played 48.
This can make the standings misleading without additional context.
The NHL ranks clubs primarily by points. However, games played becomes the first formal tiebreaker when their point totals are equal.
For a broader comparison, fans can examine points percentage.
The calculation is:
Points percentage = Points earned ÷ Maximum available points
Suppose Team A have 60 points from 50 matches.
Their points percentage is .600.
Team B also have 60 points but has completed only 48 matches.
Their points percentage is .625.
Both teams have identical points, but Team B have earned a greater share of their available points and ranks higher under the fewer-games-played tiebreaker.
Points percentage can help fans assess teams at different stages of the schedule. It does not replace the league’s published points-based standings.
How does home-ice advantage work?
Regular-season standings also influence which teams receive home-ice advantage in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The team with home-ice advantage hosts Games 1, 2, 5 and 7 of a best-of-seven series, if those games are necessary.
The opposing club hosts Games 3, 4 and 6.
During the first two rounds, home-ice advantage goes to the team ranked higher under the league’s play-off standings structure.
In the Conference Finals and Stanley Cup Final, the teams’ regular-season records determine the advantage, regardless of their original divisional positions.
This makes regular-season performance valuable even after a team has secured qualification.
Embed from Getty ImagesWhat is the Presidents’ Trophy?
The Presidents’ Trophy goes to the NHL team with the best regular-season record.
It recognises performance over the full schedule, rather than success in the play-offs.
The winning team finishes above every other club in the league-wide regular-season standings.
However, earning the Presidents’ Trophy does not automatically make that team Stanley Cup champions.
The postseason requires a separate sequence of best-of-seven series.
Consequently, the best regular-season team can lose in the first round, while a lower-ranked qualifier can go on to win the championship.
The trophy rewards consistency across the league schedule. The Stanley Cup rewards postseason success.
Have the NHL standings and play-off formats changed?
The NHL has adjusted its standings and play-off systems several times.
Historically, the league used different divisional structures and qualification procedures as the competition expanded.
One significant change came in 1999, when the NHL introduced a standings point for teams losing in overtime. The league later extended the approach to shootout defeats.
The shootout itself arrived for the 2005/06 season, eliminating drawn regular-season results.
Further changes affected the postseason.
The NHL introduced its current division-based wild-card format in 2013/14, replacing the previous conference seeding arrangement.
Under the earlier structure, teams generally entered a conference-wide bracket seeded from first to eighth, with division winners receiving protected positions.
The revised approach placed greater emphasis on divisional competition.
More recently, the NHL expanded its regular-season schedule to 84 games for 2026/27, giving each club additional divisional fixtures.
These changes show why older NHL standings and historical play-off results should not always be interpreted using today’s rules.
Common misunderstandings about NHL standings
Several features of the system can confuse new followers.
One misconception is that every victory carries identical importance.
All wins earn two standings points, but regulation victories take priority in tiebreakers.
Another is that every defeat produces zero points.
Teams receive one point when they lose in overtime or a shootout, although regulation defeats produce none.
A third misunderstanding concerns wild cards.
A wild-card place does not simply go to one club from each division. Both places in a conference can go to teams from the same division.
Fans should also distinguish a conference ranking from a league-wide ranking.
A team can outperform clubs in the opposite conference yet still miss qualification because the NHL allocates eight postseason places to each conference.
Finally, finishing first in the overall standings does not guarantee winning the Stanley Cup.
The regular season and postseason reward different achievements.
Frequently asked questions
How many points do NHL teams get for winning?
Teams earn two points for every regular-season victory, whether they win in regulation, overtime or a shootout.
How many points are available in the 2026/27 NHL season?
With 84 regular-season games per club, the theoretical maximum is 168 points. A team would need to win every game to reach that total.
How many NHL teams qualify for the play-offs?
Sixteen teams qualify, comprising eight from the Eastern Conference and eight from the Western Conference.
Can both NHL wild cards come from the same division?
Yes. Both wild-card qualifiers in a conference can come from the same division if they have the strongest records among the remaining clubs.
What is the first NHL standings tiebreaker?
When teams have equal points, the club with fewer games played ranks higher. If their games-played totals are also equal, the NHL compares regulation wins.
Do NHL play-off games have shootouts?
No. Stanley Cup Playoff games continue through sudden-death overtime periods until a team scores the winning goal.
Does winning a division guarantee home-ice advantage?
A division title secures a play-off place and influences first-round seeding, but it does not guarantee home-ice advantage throughout the postseason. Later rounds can depend on the opposing team’s regular-season record.
Understanding the NHL play-off race
The NHL standings reward consistent results while placing considerable value on how teams earn their victories.
Points determine the main rankings, but regulation wins and other tiebreakers can decide crucial positions.
The divisional and wild-card systems then establish which 16 clubs progress to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
For supporters following a close postseason race, three figures offer a useful starting point: total points, games remaining, and regulation wins.
Together, they provide a clearer picture of a team’s position, its remaining opportunities and its prospects of winning a tiebreaker.
As the regular season progresses, those details become increasingly important. A single overtime defeat, regulation victory or result elsewhere in the conference can change the qualification picture.
The most reliable way to follow the race is to assess divisional positions and conference wild-card standings together, rather than viewing league-wide points totals in isolation.
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