The Stanley Cup Playoffs are the NHLs annual post-season playoffs that determine who will win the Stanley Cup and be the league champion. The champions trophy, the Stanley Cup, is the oldest North American professional sports trophy, so it deserves a good show. Here’s the history and how it works.

In 1892, Sir Fredrick Arther Stanley, Lord Stanely of Preston, and the son of Earl of Derby donated the cup to Canada’s top-ranking amateur ice hockey team. In 1910, the National Hockey Association (NHA) got possession of the cup and it became a symbol of professional hockey. The NHL, the successor of the NHA, took the cup in 1926, and since then, only NHL teams could compete for the Stanley Cup (even though it wouldn’t be deeded to the league until 1947). 

Here’s how it works; Sixteen teams qualify for the Stanley Cup, 8 from the Western Conference and 8 from the Eastern Conference. They play in a four round, best-of-seven bracket. Each Conference sends the top six (three from each division) and can choose two wild cards. The wild cards are the teams with the highest conference points other than the automatic top six. In the first round, the wild card with the lesser record plays the division winner with the best record while the wild card with the higher record plays the other division winner. The four who win the first round moves up the fixed bracket. In the second round, the winners of the first round play each other to determine the top two from each conference that will go to the Conference Finals. The two teams that won their Conference Finals will go to the Stanley Cup Final.