NHL Playoff Standings
Who’s in, who’s chasing and who has the easier road the rest of the way: the wild card standings, every team’s chance of making the playoffs, and a 1-to-10 score for its remaining schedule.
Eastern Conference wild card standings
| Team | GP | Record | Pts | Games left | Ease | Projected pts | Playoff chance | 7-day trendpercentage points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atlantic | ||||||||
| Tampa Bay LightningTBL | 19 | 13-4-2 | 28 | 65 | 5 | 111 (98–123) | 94% | ▲ 8 |
| Montréal CanadiensMTL | 19 | 12-3-4 | 28 | 65 | 7 | 110 (97–122) | 93% | ▲ 8 |
| Boston BruinsBOS | 19 | 13-5-1 | 27 | 65 | 3 | 109 (96–120) | 92% | – |
| Metropolitan | ||||||||
| Carolina HurricanesCAR | 20 | 15-3-2 | 32 | 64 | 6 | 120 (108–132) | >99% | – |
| New Jersey DevilsNJD | 20 | 14-6-0 | 28 | 64 | 6 | 105 (93–117) | 86% | ▲ 8 |
| New York RangersNYR | 21 | 12-8-1 | 25 | 63 | 5 | 94 (82–106) | 48% | ▲ 13 |
| Wild card | ||||||||
| Ottawa SenatorsOTT | 20 | 12-6-2 | 26 | 64 | 3 | 100 (88–113) | 72% | ▲ 15 |
| Florida PanthersFLA | 20 | 11-7-2 | 24 | 64 | 1 | 94 (81–106) | 44% | – |
| Playoff line | ||||||||
| Washington CapitalsWSH | 17 | 10-7-0 | 20 | 67 | 7 | 96 (83–109) | 58% | ▲ 4 |
| New York IslandersNYI | 18 | 8-6-4 | 20 | 66 | 4 | 92 (80–105) | 41% | ▲ 3 |
| Buffalo SabresBUF | 19 | 8-7-4 | 20 | 65 | 1 | 90 (78–103) | 31% | ▼ 23 |
| Toronto Maple LeafsTOR | 21 | 8-11-2 | 18 | 63 | 1 | 79 (67–91) | 5% | ▼ 17 |
| Detroit Red WingsDET | 20 | 7-10-3 | 17 | 64 | 4 | 82 (70–94) | 8% | ▼ 12 |
| Pittsburgh PenguinsPIT | 19 | 7-10-2 | 16 | 65 | 4 | 84 (71–96) | 13% | ▲ 2 |
| Philadelphia FlyersPHI | 21 | 5-10-6 | 16 | 63 | 7 | 79 (67–91) | 5% | – |
| Columbus Blue JacketsCBJ | 17 | 7-10-0 | 14 | 67 | 3 | 81 (69–94) | 9% | ▼ 12 |
Western Conference wild card standings
| Team | GP | Record | Pts | Games left | Ease | Projected pts | Playoff chance | 7-day trendpercentage points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central | ||||||||
| Minnesota WildMIN | 21 | 14-3-4 | 32 | 63 | 9 | 115 (103–127) | 99% | – |
| Nashville PredatorsNSH | 20 | 11-4-5 | 27 | 64 | 8 | 103 (90–114) | 82% | ▲ 28 |
| Colorado AvalancheCOL | 20 | 11-6-3 | 25 | 64 | 6 | 108 (95–119) | 93% | ▲ 5 |
| Pacific | ||||||||
| Edmonton OilersEDM | 20 | 14-3-3 | 31 | 64 | 5 | 112 (100–124) | 98% | ▲ 4 |
| Vegas Golden KnightsVGK | 21 | 13-5-3 | 29 | 63 | 8 | 107 (95–118) | 95% | ▲ 6 |
| Anaheim DucksANA | 19 | 10-8-1 | 21 | 65 | 9 | 94 (82–107) | 63% | ▲ 2 |
| Wild card | ||||||||
| Dallas StarsDAL | 18 | 10-6-2 | 22 | 66 | 5 | 102 (89–114) | 80% | ▼ 6 |
| Utah MammothUTA | 20 | 10-8-2 | 22 | 64 | 7 | 93 (81–105) | 47% | ▼ 22 |
| Playoff line | ||||||||
| Winnipeg JetsWPG | 20 | 9-8-3 | 21 | 64 | 6 | 88 (76–101) | 29% | ▲ 17 |
| St. Louis BluesSTL | 19 | 9-8-2 | 20 | 65 | 9 | 91 (79–104) | 40% | ▲ 3 |
| Seattle KrakenSEA | 17 | 9-7-1 | 19 | 67 | 6 | 90 (77–103) | 43% | ▼ 16 |
| San Jose SharksSJS | 21 | 8-11-2 | 18 | 63 | 5 | 79 (68–92) | 9% | – |
| Calgary FlamesCGY | 19 | 8-10-1 | 17 | 65 | 7 | 80 (68–92) | 11% | – |
| Los Angeles KingsLAK | 17 | 5-10-2 | 12 | 67 | 7 | 79 (67–92) | 10% | ▼ 20 |
| Chicago BlackhawksCHI | 19 | 5-13-1 | 11 | 65 | 6 | 66 (54–78) | <1% | – |
| Vancouver CanucksVAN | 21 | 3-17-1 | 7 | 63 | 7 | 55 (44–66) | <1% | – |
If the playoffs started today
First-round pairings under the NHL format: the conference’s top division winner meets the second wild card, the other division winner meets the first, and the second- and third-place teams in each division meet.
Biggest trends this week
Rising
- Nashville: playoff chance trended up 28 percentage points, to 82%.
- Winnipeg: playoff chance trended up 17 percentage points, to 29%.
- Ottawa: playoff chance trended up 15 percentage points, to 72%.
Falling
- Buffalo: playoff chance trended down 23 percentage points, to 31%.
- Utah: playoff chance trended down 22 percentage points, to 47%.
- Los Angeles: playoff chance trended down 20 percentage points, to 10%.
Toughest and easiest remaining schedules
St. Louis has the easiest road left. Three teams score a 9 out of 10 (St. Louis, Anaheim and Minnesota), and St. Louis’s schedule rates easiest of them, worth about 1.5 standings points more than an average one over the 65 games remaining. The Blues have 11 back-to-backs left and 17 games against teams currently in the league’s top 10.
Toronto has the toughest road left. Three teams score a 1 out of 10 (Toronto, Buffalo and Florida), and Toronto’s schedule rates toughest of them, worth about 1.7 standings points fewer than an average one over the 63 games remaining. The Maple Leafs have eight back-to-backs left and 22 games against teams currently in the league’s top 10.
Next-easiest: Nashville (8), Vegas (8), Vancouver (7). Next-toughest: Boston (3), Ottawa (3), Columbus (3).
How the NHL playoff format works
Sixteen of the 32 teams make the Stanley Cup Playoffs, eight from each conference. The top three teams in each of the four divisions qualify automatically. The last two spots in each conference go to wild cards: the two teams with the most points among everyone else in the conference, regardless of division.
The 2026-27 regular season is 84 games per team, up from 82. The two extra games are both against division rivals.
When teams finish tied on points, the NHL separates them in this order: points percentage (if they’ve played different numbers of games), regulation wins, regulation and overtime wins, total wins, points in head-to-head games, goal differential, then goals scored. (Source: the NHL’s tiebreaking procedure.)
How the numbers work
Playoff chance. A computer plays out every remaining game of the season, deciding each one with a weighted coin flip: weighted toward the stronger team, the home team and the better-rested team. That gives one possible ending to the season, with its own final standings and its own 16 playoff teams. We do that 20,000 times. If the Vegas Golden Knights made the playoffs in 18,915 of those 20,000 seasons, their chance is 95%.
Team strength is this season’s points percentage and goal differential, plus last season’s record, which counts for about a third of a team’s rating in early November and about a tenth by April.
Schedule ease asks how many standings points a league-average team would expect from this exact remaining schedule: who the opponents are, home or road, and back-to-backs for either side. A 5 or 6 is roughly an average schedule; each step is worth about four-tenths of a standings point over the rest of the season.
Every number here is calculated by The Trend Line from NHL data. None comes from betting markets or other sites. The method was tested on the 2023-24, 2024-25 and 2025-26 seasons: teams given an 80-95% chance made the playoffs 88% of the time.