NHL Playoff Chances & Projected Standings

Every remaining game is played out against the NHL Power Ranking power model to project the final standings and playoff field (500 simulated seasons). These are model probabilities, not sportsbook odds, generated September 30, 2026.

Representative champion

Panthersone sampled bracket, not a probability

Projected Cup FinalCanucks vs Panthersseries 0–4

Playoff chances by team

Projected final record and points from the latest simulation, with each team's modeled chance of making the playoffs.

#	Team	Playoff	Δ	Proj. record	Proj. PTS
1	Vancouver Canucks	100%	+99%	68-13-3	139
2	Boston Bruins	92%	+39%	56-8-20	132
3	Vegas Golden Knights	97%	+20%	60-16-8	128
4	Florida Panthers	94%	+85%	57-16-11	125
5	Tampa Bay Lightning	40%	-56%	60-21-3	123
6	Toronto Maple Leafs	43%	-32%	59-21-4	122
7	Montreal Canadiens	88%	+14%	48-17-19	115
8	Chicago Blackhawks	72%	+26%	48-18-18	114
9	Carolina Hurricanes	52%	-30%	47-18-19	113
10	Calgary Flames	45%	+24%	49-25-10	108
11	New Jersey Devils	46%	+40%	50-28-6	106
12	Detroit Red Wings	32%	+3%	41-20-23	105
13	Minnesota Wild	47%	-38%	42-22-20	104
14	New York Islanders	45%	+16%	46-27-11	103
15	Seattle Kraken	42%	+35%	39-20-25	103
16	Winnipeg Jets	41%	+23%	42-24-18	102
17	Los Angeles Kings	35%	+33%	42-27-15	99
18	Anaheim Ducks	44%	-33%	36-22-26	98
19	Nashville Predators	51%	-11%	40-28-16	96
20	Pittsburgh Penguins	35%	-25%	33-23-28	94
21	Colorado Avalanche	45%	-55%	38-28-18	94
22	St. Louis Blues	44%	+3%	36-27-21	93
23	New York Rangers	39%	-6%	30-21-33	93
24	Dallas Stars	48%	-11%	41-34-9	91
25	Philadelphia Flyers	46%	+30%	37-30-17	91
26	San Jose Sharks	46%	0%	31-25-28	90
27	Columbus Blue Jackets	39%	-9%	28-23-33	89
28	Utah Mammoth	42%	-21%	31-27-26	88
29	Ottawa Senators	33%	+15%	31-27-26	88
30	Buffalo Sabres	30%	-61%	33-32-19	85
31	Edmonton Oilers	0%	-94%	27-30-27	81
32	Washington Capitals	46%	-24%	18-28-38	74

Projected bracket

The representative bracket from the same simulation. Series scores are one sampled outcome, not a prediction; a team's strength is summarized by its projected seed and record above.

Eastern Conference

Bruins vs CanadiensBOS in 4
Panthers vs LightningFLA in 4
Hurricanes vs Maple LeafsTOR in 4
Devils vs IslandersNJD in 4

Western Conference

Canucks vs KingsVAN in 4
Golden Knights vs FlamesVGK in 4
Blackhawks vs KrakenCHI in 4
Wild vs JetsMIN in 4

How the projection works

The simulator walks every remaining regular-season game through the head-to-head engine, which blends each club's power sections with goaltending, rest and roster availability, tracking running standings after each result. The playoff field follows the divisional format, and the bracket is resolved from the stored playoff ensemble. For the season-long view see the power rankings; for where the standings disagree with the model, see rankings vs standings.