NHL's new playoff format explained

With the NHL playoffs about to start, time totake a refresher on how teams are ranked this year, the first under the league's new post-season format.

First, a brief recap ofregular-seasonrealignment: instead of 15 teams in each conference,there were16 teamsin the East and 14 in the West. They weregrouped into four divisions: Atlantic, Metropolitan, Central and Pacific.

Just like under the old system, eight teams from each conference maketheplayoffs, but it's no longer a simple matter of the top eight teams in the conference qualifying.

The top three teams ineach division automatically get in, accounting for 12 of the league's 16 playoff berths. The final four spots, two per conference, goto the teams with the highest point totals who finish outside oftheir division's top three.These are the wild cards.

This format allows for the possibilitythat any given division could send as few as three teams to the playoffs, and as many as five.

Once the playoffs start, the two division winners in each conference match up againstthe two wild-card entries (thedivision winner with the most points faces the wild-card team with the fewest points, regardless of which division they play in). The other matchups are intradivisional:the second- and third-ranked teams ineach division square off against each other.

The winners of these series move on to the second roundto play for a spot in theconference finals. Unlike in past years, teams will not be re-seeded after the first round. Instead, a bracket system is being used, whereinpotential opponents can be identified in advance.

To help visualize a potential first round, here's an example of how the playoffslookin the Eastern Conference.

Division winners:

• Atlantic: Boston (awardedEast's topseed as division winner with most points).
• Metropolitan: Pittsburgh.

Division No. 2 and No. 3teams:

• Atlantic: (2) Tampa Bay, (3) Montreal.
• Metropolitan: (2) New York Rangers, (3) Philadelphia.

Wild cards:

• Wildcard No. 1: Columbus(most points among the two wild-card teams).
• Wildcard No. 2: Detroit.

1st-round matchups:

• Boston (best division winner)vs. Detroit(worst wild card).
• Pittsburgh (second-best division winner) vs. Columbus (best wild card).
• Tampa Bay (Atlantic No. 2 seed) vs. Montreal (Atlantic No. 3 seed).
• New York Rangers (Metropolitan No. 2 seed) vs. Philadelphia (Metropolitan No. 3 seed).

2nd-round matchups:

• Winner of Boston/Detroit vs. Winner of Tampa Bay/Montreal.
• Winner of Pittsburgh/Columbus vs. Winner of Rangers/Philadelphia.