How many teams qualify for the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs?

The Stanley Cup Playoffs are nearly here. On April 19, half of the NHL will compete in the league's postseason tournament for the privilege and honor of hoisting the greatest trophy in all of sports: The Stanley Cup.

Thursday marks the final day of the regular season and some teams needed all 82 games to clinch their respective playoff berth. The Montreal Canadiens were the final squad into the bracket after staving off the resurgent Columbus Blue Jackets. They'll face the Eastern Conference's No. 1 seed in the Washington Capitals in the opening round.

There are a total of 16 teams in the NHL playoffs, eight from each conference, that will face off in individual best-of-seven series with the winners advancing to the next round until the champions of the Western and Eastern Conferences play in the Stanley Cup Final.

What is the Stanley Cup Playoff format? Origins of the 16-team bracket

Since 1979-80, the NHL has allowed 16 teams to play for Lord Stanley's Cup. But the format in which teams fought one another to be the last one standing was vastly different. From then up until 1993, the league prioritized division titles and organized the field so that the top four teams from each division would play each other in best-of-five series. Division champions then emerged to play each other to determine conference champions, then those two would play in the Stanley Cup Final.

From 1993 to now, that format was altered several times to re-seed teams by division (and even those were re-aligned multiple times). But finally in 2014, the league settled on the 16-team system we'll enjoy this year.

The Western Conference's Winnipeg Jets will be the No. 1 overall seed in the entire postseason after clinching the President's Trophy, awarded to the team that accrues the most standings points during the regular season. Washington tops the Eastern Conference but would not have home ice advantage if both met in the Stanley Cup Final.