2026 Stanley Cup playoffs

The 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs will be the playoff tournament of the National Hockey League (NHL) for the 2025–26 season. The playoffs are scheduled to begin on April 18, 2026 and will conclude with the Stanley Cup Final with the series ending no later than June 21.

The Colorado Avalanche will qualify for the playoffs as the Presidents' Trophy winners with the most points (i.e. best record) during the regular season. The Buffalo Sabres ended their NHL-record 14-year playoff drought, clinching a playoff spot for the first time since 2011. The Toronto Maple Leafs failed to qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time since the 2015–16 season, ending what was the longest playoff streak in the NHL. The longest active playoff streak is now held by the Colorado Avalanche and Tampa Bay Lightning, who have qualified for the playoffs every year since 2018. Additionally, the two-time defending champion Florida Panthers failed to qualify for the playoffs, becoming the first defending champions to fail to qualify since the 2014–15 Los Angeles Kings. The Utah Mammoth tied the Seattle Kraken as the second-fastest expansion team to clinch their first playoff berth, doing so in their second season. For the first time in league history, all three New York metropolitan area-based teams (the New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, and New York Rangers) failed to make the playoffs. The Philadelphia Flyers also ended their six-year playoff drought.

This is the eleventh year in which the top three teams in each division make the playoffs, along with two wild cards in each conference (for a total of eight playoff teams from each conference).

The following teams have qualified for the playoffs, as of April 13, 2026:

• Buffalo Sabres
• Tampa Bay Lightning
• Montréal Canadiens

1. Carolina Hurricanes, Metropolitan Division champions, Eastern Conference regular season champions
2. Pittsburgh Penguins
3. Philadelphia Flyers

• Boston Bruins
• Ottawa Senators

1. Colorado Avalanche, Central Division champions, Western Conference regular season champions, Presidents' Trophy winners
2. Dallas Stars
3. Minnesota Wild

• Edmonton Oilers

• Vegas Golden Knights

• Utah Mammoth

In each round, teams will compete in a best-of-seven series following a 2–2–1–1–1 format (scores in the bracket indicate the number of games won in each best-of-seven series). The team with home ice advantage will play at home for games one and two (and games five and seven, if necessary), and the other team will play at home for games three and four (and game six, if necessary). The top three teams in each division make the playoffs, along with two wild cards in each conference, for a total of eight teams from each conference.

In the first round, the lower seeded wild card in the conference will play against the division winner with the best record while the other wild card will play against the other division winner, and both wild cards are de facto #4 seeds. The other series will match the second and third-place teams from the divisions. In the first two rounds, home-ice advantage is awarded to the team with the better seed. Thereafter, it is awarded to the team that had the better regular season record.

Legend

• A1, A2, A3 – The first, second, and third place teams from the Atlantic Division, respectively
• M1, M2, M3 – The first, second, and third place teams from the Metropolitan Division, respectively
• C1, C2, C3 – The first, second, and third place teams from the Central Division, respectively
• P1, P2, P3 – The first, second, and third place teams from the Pacific Division, respectively
• WC – Wild Card teams

This will be the eighth playoff meeting between these two intrastate rivals, with Philadelphia winning four of the seven previous series. They last met in the 2018 Eastern Conference first round, which Pittsburgh won in six games. These teams split this year's four-game regular season series.

This will be the third playoff meeting between these two teams with Dallas winning both previous series. They last met in the 2023 Western Conference first round, which Dallas won in six games. These teams split their four games in the regular season.

This is the 12th and final postseason of the league's Canadian national broadcast rights deal with Rogers Sports & Media before a new 12-season contract begins next (2026–27) season. Games will air across the Sportsnet networks and CBC under the Hockey Night in Canada brand. For first and second-round U.S.–U.S. games not on CBC, Sportsnet generally simulcasts the U.S. feed instead of producing their own telecast. The 2026 Stanley Cup Final will be simulcast on both CBC and Sportsnet.

Sportsnet+ will stream all games.

This is the fifth season of the league's seven-year U.S. national broadcast rights deals with the ESPN family of networks and TNT Sports. First- and second-round games are split between ESPN-produced telecasts (either on ESPN, ABC, or ESPN2) and TNT Sports-produced telecasts (either on TNT or TBS, with selected simulcasts on TruTV). Each U.S. team's regional broadcaster will also televise local coverage of first-round games, except for games on ABC.

The ESPN networks have the first choice of which conference final series to air, and TNT Sports will broadcast the other conference finals. As per the alternating rotation, ABC has coverage of the 2026 Stanley Cup Final.

The ESPN app and HBO Max will stream all ESPN-produced games and TNT Sports-produced games, respectively. Disney+ may also stream ESPN-produced telecasts.

• Stanley Cup playoffs