The NHL regular season has ended and the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs open Saturday with entertaining first-round matchups and a different-looking field.
The New Jersey Devils and Minnesota Wild are back after a one-year absence and the Ottawa Senators (2017), Montreal Canadiens (2021) and St. Louis Blues (2022) ended longer droughts.
Five 2024 playoff teams missed out: the New York Rangers (a big drop from the 2024 Presidents’ Trophy), Boston Bruins (ending an eight-year run), Vancouver Canucks (last year’s Pacific Division winner), New York Islanders and Nashville Predators.
The Winnipeg Jets clinched the Presidents’ Trophy as top regular-season team for the first time. The Washington Capitals jumped from the 2024 second wild card seed to the best record in the Eastern Conference as Alex Ovechkin broke Wayne Gretzky’s goal record. The 2024 champion Florida Panthers and runner-up Edmonton Oilers will start this year on the road.
Here’s a look at the NHL playoff bracket, when the postseason series begin, plus final standings and draft lottery odds:
Key: M – Metropolitan Division. A – Atlantic Division. WC – wild card
The winner of the first series would play the winner of the second. The winner of the third series would play the winner of the fourth.
Key: C – Central Division P – Pacific Division. WC – wild card
The winner of the first series would play the winner of the second. The winner of the third series would play the winner of the fourth..
The NHL’s Stanley Cup playoffs will begin on Saturday, April 19, with two games.
Saturday: St. Louis at Winnipeg; Colorado at Dallas
Sunday: New Jersey at Carolina; Ottawa at Toronto; Minnesota at Vegas
Monday: Montreal at Washington; Edmonton at Los Angeles
Tuesday: Florida at Tampa Bay
The full schedule can be found here
Metropolitan Division
Atlantic Division
Wild cards
Out of playoffs
Central Division
Pacific Division
Wild card
Out of playoffs
The draft lottery winner can move up a maximum of 10 spots, so only the bottom 11 teams have a chance to win the No. 1 pick. The last-place team has an 18.5% chance of winning outright, plus would retain the first overall pick if a team that finishes 12th to 16th from the bottom wins the lottery. The Rangers dealt their pick to Vancouver in the J.T. Miller trade but it’s top-13 protected.
Art Ross Trophy (leading scorer): Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov, 121 points
Rocket Richard Trophy (most goals): Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl, 52 goals
William Jennings Trophy (fewest team goals allowed): Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck
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