NHL standings, explained: Everything you need to know, from points to playoff seedings

I’ve always been a hockey fan, and I’ve never paid much attention to other sports.
That’s why I only recently learned that some leagues determine their standings based on wins and losses, nothing more.
In the NHL, on the other hand, teams are ranked based on a points system.
If you grew up watching other sports, the NHL standings might be a little confusing. Here’s a brief explanation of how it all works.
The NHL uses a points system to determine the standings. A win is worth two points, an overtime or shootout loss is worth one point, and a regulation loss is worth zero points.
Because of this setup, it’s possible for a team at or near the top of the standings to have less wins than a team below it.
This happened last year in the Metropolitan Division: The New York Islanders finished ahead of the Washington Capitals, even though the Islanders had 39 wins and the Capitals had 40. The Islanders had five more overtime/shootout losses than the Capitals, so they got the better playoff position.
If two teams have an equal number of points, a series of tiebreakers will determine the superior team in the NHL standings.
Games played: The first tiebreaker only applies while the season is ongoing: games played. If two teams have an equal number of points but one team did it in less games, that team is ahead in the standings. By the end of the season, though, every team has played the same number of games so this tiebreaker is futile.
You can see the “games played” number in standings data under the “GP” column.
Games won in regulation: The first meaningful tiebreaker is games won in regulation. So, excluding games won in overtime and shootouts, the team with more wins finishes higher in the standings.
This is the column in the standings that reads “RW.”
Regulation/overtime wins: If two teams’ scores are somehow still tied, they bring overtime wins back into play but exclude shootout wins. You can see this in the standings under the “ROW” column.
Total wins: Next up is total wins, which includes wins of every fashion. This is reflected in the “W” column in the standings.
Points earned against each other: The next tiebreaker goes to the team that earned the most points against the other that season. However, if the two teams played an odd number of games against each other, one game is disregarded. The disregarded game is the first one that was played in the city that hosted more games.
There is no column in the standings data for this.
Goal differential: If it’s somehow still tied after all those steps, the team with the higher goal differential prevails. For example, if Team A scored 300 goals and allowed 200 goals, and Team B scored 300 goals and allowed 201 goals, Team A would finish ahead of Team B.
The “DIFF” column in the standings reflects this.
Goals for: The final way to break a tie is to compare the total number of goals scored by each team during the season. This figure is shown in the “GF” column of the standings.
Now that we understand the points system, let’s talk about why it matters: the playoffs.
The NHL is divided into two conferences: the Western Conference and the Eastern Conference. Each conference is divided into two divisions: the Pacific and the Central in the Western Conference and the Atlantic and the Metropolitan in the Eastern Conference.
The top three teams in each division make the playoffs. The two next-best teams from each conference also make the playoffs in what are called “wild-card” spots.
The top team in each conference faces the bottom wild-card team in that conference in the first round of the playoffs. The best team in the other division of each conference takes the second wild-card team. The No. 2 and No. 3 seeds from each division play each other.
Home ice advantage is awarded to the higher-seeded team throughout the playoffs.
This system makes for great rivalries because the number two and three seeds often remain the same from one year to the next.
For example, the Los Angeles Kings have faced the Edmonton Oilers in the first round three years in a row, so now every game between those teams is must-watch hockey.
Seeding in the second round of the playoffs simply follows the divisional alignment: The winner of the first seed and the wild-card team plays the winner of the second and third seeds of that same division.
In the third round, the two remaining Western Conference teams play each other and the two remaining Eastern Conference teams play each other.
As you probably guessed, the Stanley Cup Final is between the two remaining teams: one from the Western Conference and one from the Eastern Conference.