National Hockey League STANDINGS

NHL standings guide

The National Hockey League is the world’s leading ice hockey competition. Thirty-two teams contest it — sixteen in the Eastern Conference and sixteen in the Western Conference — each split into two divisions of eight. The league’s 32 clubs include the league’s newest sides alongside the Original Six, whose rivalries are the oldest in the sport. Each team plays 82 regular-season games.

A win is worth two points, in regulation, overtime or a shootout, while a loss in overtime or a shootout is still worth one point and a regulation loss is worth nothing. The points system keeps the table tight: a side that loses often in overtime can stay in the race far longer than its win total suggests. Ties on points are settled first on regulation wins, then on goal difference. Shootouts decide games that are still level after overtime in the regular season, but the play-offs keep playing until someone scores — there are no shootouts once the postseason begins.

The top three teams in each division qualify for the play-offs automatically, joined by two wild-card teams in each conference — the best remaining records regardless of division. The play-offs are a series of best-of-seven rounds inside each conference, ending with the Stanley Cup Finals between the Eastern and Western champions.

The table on this page shows every team’s position, points and recent form in one view. Use it to follow the divisional races, the wild-card cut-off, and the fight for the higher seed and home advantage in the play-offs.

The regular season runs from October to April, with the play-offs following into June. The trade deadline in March can reshape the race, as contenders add depth for the run-in and rebuilding sides trade veterans for draft picks. A side’s position at the deadline often says as much about its ambitions as about its record.