How do the NHL Playoffs work?
337883
the highest seed faces the lowest seed in the second round.  the next highest seed plays the next lowest seed in the playoffs in the second round.  an good example would be if the 1st seed won in the first round they would face either the the 7th seed if they win against the 2nd seed or the 6th seed if they win against the 3rd seed. another possibility is the 1st seed vs the 4th seed.  now the next highest seed would play the next lowest team in the second round.  an example would be 2nd seed vs the 4th seed or the 2nd seed vs the 5th seed. another possibility would be the 2nd  seed vs the 3rd seed.  anything is possible in the playoffs.
837927
all 3 teams are doing great right now, but you know what there are many other teams that are playing great hockey right now not just them 3, look at Dallas 10-2-2, Anaheim 9-0-4, Minnesota 10-2-0, My Habs 7-2-3, all these teams are playing great hockey and there are a few more, but this are the most consistent teams right now in the NHL. and it doesn't really matter what happened the regular season sure you do need to win to make the playoffs but once your in the playoffs its an all new season, and nobody can tell who will win the cup, it doesn't matter if you went 10-0-0 in the first 2 weeks or went 0-10-0 all that matters is how well you perform in the biggest and best sporting event in the world yes babe the NHL PLAYOFFS THAT'S WERE IT COUNTS THE MOST.\n\nwh-a.t!!>>> read the question correctly and loOK at what room your in before you make your self look like an idiot, this is the hockey room that means hockey questions, this is not the football room ok.\n\nGO HABS GO!!!!!!!!!!!!1
25861
You get into a league(public is a random league, and private is one with an i.d# and password.)Then with a minimum of 4 teams, you can get a "live draft"(one where everyone shows up and chhoses their players on-line)or a automated draft.(each team pre ranks players and the computer determines the teams.)Then, you can trade players, claim them off the free agency and waivers, and then comes playoffs. The commish for private leagues chooses the playoff format. For public leagues, playoff format and point distributation is default. Whoever wins the playoffs wins the league! Have fun next year with FF!
469561
It is like this\n1. Division winner with the best record\n2. Division winner with the 2nd best record\n3. Division winner with the worst record\nThen it goes by record till the last seed.
884968
The teams get seeded 1-6 based on records. The 1-4 seeds are division champs and the 5 and 6 teams are wild card teams. \n\nOn wild card weekend in both conferences, The 3 seed hosts the 6 seed and the 4 hosts the 5, even if the 5 seed has a better record. Both conference's top seeds get a bye. (4 games this weekend)\n\nThe next weekend, the Divisional Round, the 1 seed gets the lowest seed that advances (which could be 4, 5, or 6) and the 2 seed hosts the highest seed that advances (3, 4, or 5). (4 more games, bringing the total to 8)\n\nIn the Conference Championship round, the highest seed which advances hosts the lower seed to determine who plays in the Super Bowl. (2 games, bringing the total to 10. This is either a team's 2nd or 3rd game depending on the seed).\n\nIn the Super Bowl, the AFC and NFC Champions play at a neutral site to determine that season's champion. (The 11th game and a team's 3rd or 4th).
988467
The 4 teams in each group play each other.  The two teams with the most points (win 3 pts, undecided 1 pt) advance to the next round.  If 2 teams have the same number of points, they look at their goal difference (goals made vs. goals against).  If that is also the same, they look at the result of the game played between the 2 teams.  If they played to an "undecided", then they raffle off the next round.  Sounds unfair, but what else is there - a "drink-off"??  THAT would be cool, though....
785056
First Tie Breaker is division head to head then conference head to head then total points scored, then total points scored in common opponent games.  There is a 1 in 4 Billion chance that it would need to go further than that.
346758
They would just work the schedules - You are also assuming they would all have home court/ice advantage - the games are spread out enough. It's also happened in Boston or Phoenix, I think - I'm sure somewhere else - where they played a hockey game during the day, then they just lay the basketball floor over the ice surface and play a night basketball game. The same scheduling conflicts occur all regular season, you know - the leagues just work together.
841208
Thats difficult to say. It isn't all the teams that have ever one it, infact it is quite empty now as Caroline who won last year was the first team inscribed on the new ring. They cup can only grow so big so they take the bottom ring off and add a new one to the top when it gets full. If you want to figure it out yourself. \n\nThe first ring only contains 1 team.\n3 rings contain 13 teams.\n1 ring contains only 12 teams as the 1965 Montreal Canadiens use more space then they were supposed to.\n\nThat means the last 52 teams to win the cup are on it.\n\nThe players for that team engraved must follow certain guidelines\n\n-a player must have played at least 41 games for the championship team during the regular season and stay with the team in the playoffs until the end \n-Or played in one game of the Finals\n-There are exceptions made by the league however\n\nSo if you really want to know use that and do some research and you should be able to figure it out. \n\nAlthough estimating that there are 21 players per team there would be roughly 1100 names on the cup. Thats give or take a few though, most likely more.
282965
for the playoffs, this is how it goes for each of the two confererences (eastern conference and western conference):\n\nthe first three teams are the teams with the best records (win-loss percentage) in their divison.  the rest of the teams from #4 down are ranked according to their record.  this gives an incentive for a team to win their division. each conference has 3 divisions.  \n\nsome divisions contain teams that win a lot and some divisions have teams that don't win a lot.  that's why there's teams who are ranked higher but are division leaders even though they lose more than others teams who win a lot but are not division leaders.
850473
The lottery determines the order of the first 14 picks. Only teams that did not make the playoffs are eligible for the lottery. The chance that a team wins the lottery is determined by that teams record the previous season. Teams with the worst records, have a greater statistical chance of winning the lotter than those with better records. The remaining picks are determined by record as well.
514502
It boggles my mind that any sport can use some sort of shootout to determine the winner of a hard fought game. You have to just play overtimes until there is a winner end of story. \n\nThe National Hockey League at least has the good sense to play its playoff games to a natural completion by a goal, even thought they use the dreadful shootout in the regular season.\n\nEdit: Very simply modify the rules to allow more subsitutions as the games go into OT's. Also, playing games out will reward the more physically fit team as if you are fatigued it is more likely that you will be scored on.\n\nBasically ending a match based on a single aspect of the game such as penalty kicks is just stupid. Why not have a contest to see who could kick the ball the furthest or who ca ndo the longest throw in? There is simply no argument out there (fatigue or otherwise) that can convince me that a shoot out is the way to end any sporting endeavor..
1123651
Seed the teams 1-thru-15. Or, if it's a random draw, assign each team a number 1-thru-15.\n\nIn the first round:\n#1 gets a bye.\n#8 vs. #9 in Game A.\n#5 vs. #12 in Game B.\n#4 vs. #13 in Game C.\n#6 vs. #11 in Game D.\n#3 vs. #14 in Game E.\n#7 vs. #10 in Game F.\n#2 vs. #15 in Game G.\n\nIn the second round:\n#1 vs. Game A-winner in Game H.\nGame B-winner vs. Game C-winner in Game I.\nGame D-winner vs. Game E-winner in Game J.\nGame F-winner vs. Game G-winner in Game K.\n\nIn the semi finals:\nGame H-winner vs. Game I-winner in Game L.\nGame J-winner vs. Game-K winner in Game M.\n\nIn the finals:\nGame L-winner vs. Game M-winner in Game N.\n\nWinner of Game N is your champion.
641601
Depends on your area.  Since Boston and New York are out of the playoff picture, you don't have local stations to show the games, and regional cable may not have it. \n\nOutdoor network OLN have been carrying many of the games in the playoff. In addition, the finals will be televised on NBC.\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Stanley_Cup_Final_broadcasters\n \n\nDirect TV Satellite has a hocky plan where they show every game of the playoffs.  The site is below, but I could get no pricing.  I believe watching a promo for about $50 for the rest of the playoffs, but can't be sure.\n\nhttp://www.a1sat.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=DTVSports
189541
It is easy to understand, just like many other tournaments. \n\nThe first place team plays the eigth place team. The second place team plays the seventh place team, and so on. The other thing to note are the three divisions in each conference. The three winners of each division (Northeast, Atlantic, Southeast) for the Eastern Conference are automatically seeds 1, 2, and 3 depending on who has the most points. Seeds 4 - 8 are determined by the five next best teams, even if the fourth place team has more points than the division-leading third place, they are still seeded 4th in the playoffs. \n\nAfter the first round, the highest place team left plays the lowest place, the second highest plays the second lowest. For example if teams 1, 3, 5, and 7 are left...team 1 will play 7, team 3 will play 5
1041330
you play every team in your division twice, once at home and once on the road.  Then you play every team in another division once, so does everyone else in your division.  Then the remaining games go by your record the previous years.
248063
in the playoffs, 20 minute sudden death overtime periods are used to solve ties. in the regular season, shootouts are used to solve ties after a 5 minute overime period. therefore, shootouts arent needed in the playoffs because there is already a tie-breaking mechanism