When do the NHL Playoffs Start?

The NHL regular season runs from mid-October through mid-April. The 2023-24 regular season will conclude on April 18. After the regular season ends, the NHL Playoffs, most often referred to as the Stanley Cup Playoffs, will begin.

16 teams will qualify for the playoffs, while 16 teams will not. Eight teams from each conference, the Eastern Conference and Western Conference, will qualify. These teams will navigate postseason action in pursuit of the Stanley Cup. 

When do the NHL Playoffs begin?

The 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs are slated to begin on Saturday, April 20. This is two days after the conclusion of the regular season. Official dates and times for the games will be announced once the matchups have been set.

The playoffs were originally set to begin on Monday, April 22. The NHL decided to move the date up by two days. A weekend start may be a strategy to increase viewership. This impacts the teams competing in the playoffs. They will now have less time between the end of their regular season and the start of their playoff action.

There will be four rounds of the playoffs: the first round, the second round, the Conference Finals, and the Stanley Cup Finals. There is a best-of-seven format in each round. Details on the playoff format can be found here, via nhl.com. The playoffs will continue to run through the end of April, all of May, and much of June. The last possible day for the playoffs to end is June 24.

Recent history of the NHL playoffs

In the 2021-22 season, the Colorado Avalanche defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning to become Stanley Cup champions. This was the Avalanche’s third Stanley Cup win. The Lightning were the defending champions at the time, following their wins in 2019-2020 and 2020-21.

The 2022-23 season saw the first Stanley Cup win for the Vegas Golden Knights, an expansion team established in 2017. The Stanley Cup Finals featured the Golden Knights vs. the Florida Panthers, a Wild Card team that knocked out the Presidents’ Trophy winner, the Boston Bruins, in the first round.

The New York Rangers, Carolina Hurricanes, Boston Bruins, Florida Panthers, Dallas Stars, Colorado Avalanche, and Vancouver Canucks will be in the 2023-24 playoffs. Nine more teams will qualify. Click here for updated qualifications. Teams that have qualified are denoted with an ‘x’. Teams that clinch their division are denoted with a ‘y’. The playoff action starts on April 20.