In this entry of the Hockey Handbook we are going to run through the absolute basics of NHL Team stats/standings.
Season and Playoff Structure
The NHL regular season typically consists of 82 games – I say typically because the COVID-19 pandemic shortened the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 NHL seasons. Since then each season has had a regular 82-game schedule, and future seasons – barring any global pandemics – are expected too as well.
There are 32 teams in the NHL, split into two, 16-team conferences. These conferences are further divided into two divisions each. The top ranking three teams from each division qualify for the playoffs, along with two “wildcard” teams from each conference. Team rank is determined by points – I’ll explain more about points in a moment, but for now all that is essential to know is that teams with the most points are ranked the highest. The wild card teams in each conference are the two teams with the most points who did not rank top 3 in their division.
16 teams qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs – eight from each conference. The playoffs consist of 4 rounds of best-of-7 series. The first round of the NHL playoffs is – in my opinion – the hockey calendar’s most exciting time of the year. There are 8 series in total (four per conference), so every night for about two weeks there are multiple high stakes hockey games being played. There is nothing more intense than 7 hard-fought hockey games against the same opponent. As a data guy I’m not a huge fan of baseless narratives, but the NHL playoffs is one of the times where even I can’t resist the narratives drawing me in. It’s truly the most wonderful time of the year.
In the first round of the playoffs the first place team in the conference (and thus their division) plays the wildcard team with the least amount of points, and the first place team in the other division plays the other wildcard team. The second and third place teams in each division play each other. In the second round, the winner of each divisional second vs. third matchup plays the winner of the series between the winner of their division and the wildcard team. The final two teams standing in each conference face off in the third round, which is commonly called the conference finals, and the winners of each conference go on to play in the Stanley Cup Final.
Wins, Losses, Overtime and Points
Am I really going to explain what wins and losses are? Yes, I am. A team wins a game if they score more goals than their opponent, and a team loses if they score less goals than their opponent – I know, it’s very complex. The winning team is awarded 2 points in the standings, and the losing team is not awarded any points. There is a caveat though – a game can finish in regulation time (after the conventional 60 minutes of play) or it can finish in overtime, if both teams have scored an equal number of goals at the end of regulation time. A win is a win; whether the game finishes in regulation or overtime, the winning team is awarded 2 points. But, a loss is not a loss – a team that loses in overtime earns 1 point.
The fact that a loss is not a loss is silly, in my humble opinion. If an NHL game goes to overtime an extra point is created out of thin air. A game ending in regulation results in 2 points being awarded in the standings (winner gets 2, loser gets 0) but with overtime that number increases to 3 (winner gets 2, loser gets 1).
This system provides an incentive to “play for overtime” rather than try to win in regulation, because there is no downside of failing to win in regulation – winning in overtime will still get you the same number of points and losing in overtime gets you an extra point. This leads to risk-free, low-event, and frankly boring hockey in the latter half of third periods in which the game is tied. But you can’t blame the players or coaches for this – the system in place incentivizes boring hockey.
A more logical system would be 3-2-1, where a win is worth 3 points, an overtime win is worth 2 points, an overtime loss is worth 1 point, and a regulation loss is worth 0 points. Hopefully the NHL makes this change (or a similar one) in the future – certain games shouldn’t be worth more points than others!
Just for fun, the figure below shows the actual standings for the 2022-2023 NHL season compared to if the league had used the 3-2-1 point system.
You might be thinking that this isn’t that different – the top teams in the old system are still at the top, and the bottom teams are still at the bottom. You’re right! But that is not the point, the purpose of switching the system is to motivate teams to play differently, not to drastically change the standings.
Key Takeaways
This entry of the Hockey Handbook provided an overview of NHL league structure and standings, focusing on the season and playoff structure, as well as explaining wins, losses, overtime, and points. In summary:
- The NHL regular season typically comprises 82 games per team, with 32 teams split into two conferences and further divided into two divisions each.
- Sixteen teams qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, with four rounds of best-of-7 series.
- Teams earn two points for a win in regulation, and one point for an overtime loss.
I also “went off” a bit on the current point system and my belief that it promotes boring hockey. I advocate for a 3-2-1 point system to inject more excitement into the game and encourage teams to take risks.
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