Thank you so much for these videos! I’ve been binging them in preparation for the season to start because I want to start watching hockey, so I appreciate it!
I'm just now getting into hockey and loving every minute of it. Can't wait for next season cuz I know this one is about to come to an end. Let's go Dallas Stars
I am Brazilian and live in the Netherlands. Both countries have absolutely nothing to do with Ice Hockey. A couple of weeks ago I had a dream about Ice Hockey for no reason, out of the blue... then had another dream about it last night... and now here I am in a total ice hockey rabbit hole! I am even thinking of getting skates to go skate from time to time... haha Thanks for the video! It is anyways always cool to learn new things!
That's wild haha, I guess your brain was trying to tell you something! It's a great sport that's easy to get sucked into once you give it a chance. If you're into soccer it's like that but, smaller, faster, on ice and with sticks skates and hitting allowed!
I'm very late to comment, but I've recently been trying to learn about hockey and your videos have been fantastic. They are informative and you've helped grow my love of this fantastic sport
Thanks for the well structured video, im a hockey fan in my homecountry and had my difficulties with the devisions and play-off system of the NHL but now i know better :D
I’ve been watching hockey for over 30 years and seen a lot of changes happen in the NHL and you did a amazing job describing a nhl season and how to get into the playoffs you forgot to tell what happens though if 2 teams are tied for points after the 82 games but I still loved your video you got my subscription keep up with your awesome videos
Glad someone on here is repping Seattle for once. I’m one of the new fans trying to get into the Kraken. I normally just like baseball, and I never really cared for football too much, so Im trying to learn for the upcoming debut.
Yeah, that's part of why I started. Couldn't really find everything I wanted (especially Seattle stuff) so I decided to do it myself, and it's kinda taken on a life of its own from there
Saw you were a Kraken fan like me. Funny story about Jordan Eberle. His 1st cousin was the flower girl at my parents wedding, still trying to snag that jersey
So Professor, let me understand this correctly...If I wear a Tampa Bay Sweater, then I only get one point, whereas if I wear a Seattle Kraken Sweater I get 2 points and the ability to move ahead to the playoffs. Nice video, hope we get some new fans.
Haha, well I think Tampa will be in the playoffs for a few years to come still, but yes the Kraken have many 2 point nights ahead of them! (knock on wood)
It would be crazy if Tampa Bay took almost every major sports title in 2021, with the exception of the NBA. They have already on super bowl and Stanley Cup, and they are on track to go to the baseball postseason.
Today I was watching my Jays game when suddenly the broadcast started talking about the maple leafs playoffs game and after finishing the the baseball game I starting watching the NHL playoffs and it was amazing!! As a Venezuelan Im closer to the american Sports style events there is nothing like post-season games, I like football too but the emotions you get from post-season you can not get it at football at least it is world cup or Champions league. Btw thanks for Explain me how the NHL works!!
Absolutely! There is nothing like the Playoffs and hockey probably has the best playoffs. The 7 game series for every round really intensifies everything. Plus the speed and hitting goes way up.
Glad to help! I enjoy playing soccer, but I can't watch it. It's just too slow for me and I didn't grow up with it like I did baseball. Also for whatever reason I have a hard time getting into teams that aren't in the top league of their sport, which the MLS clearly isn't. I know that's a weird reason but it is what it is I guess, it's part of why I don't watch much college football either.
After 5 times after watching the video, and reading a bunch of texts, I can say that I understood the scoring system, playoffs, and who is playing with whom and when "I was a little sick after". By the way, what do you think about the Carolina Hurricanes team. Thank you for explanation🇧🇦💙
I like the canes, fun team, play fast and seem to have a lot of fun! Plus a lot of Seattle's front office (my favorite team) is from the Cane's organization at some point.
Amazing! Thank you for explaining man. New to the sport, super exciting. Only question: During the playoffs, lets say round 1 are each of the 8 games 7-game series? And so forth in Round 2? Eg: Does the pacific seed 2 play the seed 3 in a 7-game series in round 1 of the playoffs? Thanks in advance :)
Glad to help! Hockey is awesome but learning a new sport can be a lot. To answer your question, yes every playoff matchup in the NHL is a best of 7. Unlike baseball for example where they start with best of 5 the later do best of 7.
5:04 “…who had a total of 132 points…” You said 132 points, and the screen says 135 points. I’m just knockin on you man for laughs, I appreciate the great video! 👍 I really do have a better understanding of hockey now!
As an Aussie who has only just started watching American sports, I don't understand the whole 7-game series thing? any chance you could explain that part more in depth? Thanks in advance.
So as opposed to a tournament where the winner of one game advances (like the world cup for a non north American example) the winner of each matchup is decided by a best of 7 series of games (first to 4 wins) Hope that makes sense
Absolutely, I'm happy to help! If you have any questions please ask. Toronto is definitely a place that knowing hockey is a good thing in! (Altho the local team can be... frustrating for it's fans)
question about the wildcard teams... so eastern and western division top 3 teams go to the playoffs, so teams 1A, 2A, 3A (A = Eastern) and teams 1B, 2B, 3B (B = Western) since the playoffs require 8 teams the next 2 teams which are the wildcards are called wildcards, cause if the next two teams with most points that come after dont need to be 1 from each division, so the next 2 teams could be 4A, 5A, both from the eastern confrence instead of having to be 4A, and 4B... right???
Yes I think you have it but just in case I'll try to explain. First off there are 2 conferences (east and west) each with 2 divisions and both conferences send 8 teams for a total of 16. The teams that make it are determined the same in both conferences. So in each conference of 2 divisions the top three teams in each division go (1a 2a 3a, 1b 2b 3b) and then 2 wildcard teams that are the best of the team left. Those most often come one from each division (4a and 4b) but can both come from the same one (4a 5a or 4b 5b) I hope that helps.
Im english and ive been watching hockey in england for about 5 years now and i want to watch more NHL and playoffs and get to know the sport more I love hockey.
@CheapSeatsSports I watch a team in England called the Sheffield Steelers. But my team i found and I enjoyed was Maple leafs already got a jersey with Nylander on the back. Would you know how I could get some cheap hockey tickets?
Ok quick question. With the points of a game win and total points . does that include individual player points like from scoring or defenceve saves from a goalie ?
If I'm understanding the question correctly then no player points (goals and assists) are entirely separate from team points in the standings (2 for a win, 1 for an OT loss)
@@CheapSeatsSports that rangers game today but… thought penguins had them for a while there. Was that considered an upset? I feel to get in properly I need to start from the start of a season rather than the play offs haha
No they are not the same. That is because while you get 2 points for a win you get 1 for an OT loss. Example: Say a team has a 1-1-1 record in 3 games (win - loss - OT/SO loss). They will have a 33% win percentage having only won 1 of the 3 games and lost 2, but will have a 50% points percentage having gotten 3 of the possible 6 points in those games.
How do the wild card positions get decided on who they play do they play the 1 seed in there division or can they play either 1 seed and it depends on point you might of said this and I overlooked it but i am a nba fan trying to get into the nhl
They can play the top seed of either division in their conference. Of the two wildcard teams the one with fewer points (the second wildcard) gets the division winner with the most points. The first wildcard then gets the division winner with fewer points.
Nope. The 3 teams from each division and then the wildcards are just the 2 best remaining teams from that conference (east or west) so 5 teams from one division could make it. That would mean if say 5 Central teams make it the 1 seed from the Pacific would play the first round against a central team that's a wildcard.
yes the should play 84 games it would make so much more sense 32 v inter conference (2 each) 24 v interdivisional (3 each) 28 v divisional (4each) 84 games that is all fair and even! :D
Hey im from england and have started getting into the nhl before the next season starts. I understand all the rules and how the stanley cup playoffs work but i am so confused about the "regular season" part in the video. Im getting confused on the conferences and divisions part as well as the number of games. I understand you are busy and was wondering if there's anywhere you recommend me to go to learn about it more? Thank you
All good, what part is confusing? I'm happy to answer questions. Basics are the NHL is a 32 team league. Those 32 are grouped into 2 conferences of 16 teams, each with 2 divisions of 8 teams. These are largely determined by location. It would be like if soccer (of football where you are from) had one super league of teams (touchy subject based on this last year) and had regional divisions like a UK division a Spanish division ect. The purpose is to limit excessive travel during the regular season, and promote rivalries. The regular season is 82 games long, every team plays 82 games. At the end of that the teams with the best records (points) go to the playoffs. It is definitely different from how things work over there with soccer so I understand the confusion and am happy to answer questions.
@@CheapSeatsSports ahhhh okay. So now i understand what the conferences and divisions are. But what about what you said about the games? I understand the best of 7 part but you also said something about a team playing anpther team 3 times? Why is that? I think thats the only other part im confused on. Also could you give me a rough idea of when the regular season starts or does it change every year? Thank you do much for your help. I know you are very busy
@@benburton8021 I'm sure specifically what the 3 times is, but during the regular season each team plays every other team at least twice, and the play the teams in their conference a little more and the teams in their division the most. These games are spread out over the season so if they play a team 3 times in the regular season it wouldn't be all at once. The playoffs are always best of 7 series, where they play that same team every game. Hope that helps.
@@CheapSeatsSports okay thank you i understand now. Thank you for all your help. I really appreciate it. As i said im from the uk and the nhl is not popular here at all. Im mainly a ufc fan but i am starting to get into the nhl and hopefully the mlb and nfl at some point. Thank you for all your help!
Hi there 👋 My son plays ice hockey here in England but obviously not as big as in America... can you alibirate in English terms please as there isn't much knowledge here and I'm still struggling to understand the whole competition 😅😅 cheers
82 games a season??!!!??? That's insane!!! I'm Australian and here we play AFL football (if you've never seen it, look it up) and we play during winter, every weekend from mid march till the end of September. It's 23 games. And if you play finals the most games a team can play in if they win is 4. Honestly if it was longer than that I think we'd all loose interest. How can you guys keep watching your team for 82 games?
I don't know a ton about how your AFL works but I've seen some games and it looks neat. If you think 82 is a lot the MLB players 162. Yeah it's a lot of games unless you are a super diehard fan. Most fans probably watch 20-40 games and then toon in for playoffs if the team makes it. It's mostly as many games as it is because the league revenue is based off ticket sales.
sorry, but as a Blackhawks fan, I don't want the Predators to win the Stanley Cup. and yes I know sadly the Blackhawks won't be in the playoffs this year.
Can someone explain this difference between a team winning a conference championship and a division championship? And how does the President's Trophy work. Am I right in thinking that it is awarded to the team with the most points out of all 32 teams at the end of a regular season.
You are correct about the president's trophy. A team wins a division by having the most points in the division at the end of the regular season. The conference champion is decided in the 3rd round of the playoffs. The western and eastern conference champs play for the Stanley cup in the finals.
Yes, points (not goals to be clear) are what decided standings. 2 points for a win and 1 for an OT loss. So wins are still the best, but it does happen where a team with fewer wins but more losses were in OT finishes higher in the standings.
I'm planning a road trip in North america in april/may of 2025 and am looking into if I can visit an NHL game in Boston, Montreal or Toronto somewhere in those months. Can anybody give me some advice? Is it dependend on whether or not those clubs reach play-offs for example? Would prefer may over april because of weather :) I'm also curious if I as a european can get acces to tickets easily (for example in my country for football matches you often have to have to be registered as a fan of that club).
The regular season ends in mid April but both Boston and Toronto are likely to make the playoffs I'd say. Toronto can be hard to get tickets to from what I've heard but having never been there I can say for sure.
@@CheapSeatsSports Ah that's good to know, thanks! Any idea how far upfront you can get tickets and what I can expect for ticket prices? is it like between 100 and 200 dollar?
Thanks for the video. It presented in a simple way for someone like me coming from a football background. But I have to say it's way too complicated for it's own good. In Europe, football leagues are simple. Each team plays against another team twice during the season, home and away. And that's it. This system of playing other teams like 4 times during the season...why? quite complicate I must say. But I do my best to get into hockey. Could you do an explanation of the. Swedish Hockey Leauge? would that be simpler than NHL?
It was a little simpler than it is now when there were fewer teams but adding or subtracting games from the season is a big process. The reason they play more vs some teams than others is mainly to limit travel a bit but also to encourage rivalries to form. To be honest I don't know many specific details about the swedish league (or finish or KHL for that matter) but with fewer teams and less issues with travel distances it might be simpler.
Been a hockey fan for a long time and tried to follow the nhl the best I've been able to but my focus is on the SHL since that's where I'm from and my home town plays. Knew most of the structure but I am confused over why you play 3 times against teams in your conference and not 2 or 4? Here in Sweden and the SHL they make it so no team ever has more home or away matches than anyone else. Now Sweden is much smaller than the US & Canada so having more games in the NHL is a given and I get that they wanna limit travel and breed rivalries. But here everyone faces eachother 4 times, 2 home and 2 away with a total of 14 teams so 52 games in a season. Also sidenote here in the SHL a win is worth 3 points, win in overtime 2 and loss in overtime 1 so there is a penalty for not finishing the job in regular time.
I've been considering doing a video looking at possible alternatives to the schedule but basically it's because of how many games they play. 32 of the 82 are 2 against the opposite conference which leaves 50 games vs the other 15 teams so you can make it perfectly even. They do switch which team gets the 2 home games in each match up each year. So for example the Wild played 2 times in Seattle this last year and once in Minnesota, next year that flips.
There are trophies for the team with the best regular season record and the winners of the eastern and western conferences (the teams that play for the Stanley Cup). But no there are no division trophies and even with those others everyone is playing to win the Stanley Cup and anything else is nice but not the end goal.
Mate in Canada sent me a bunch of punch on in hockey. We hear about It but never see. Started watching wow an figure should understand not just wait for fights. An thank you easy game an ya run it straight
Can you do one about how the games in the Stanley cup work?? Do they seriously play eachother 7 times in only the first round?? 😳 In the UK im new to all this 😂 and I'm loving you 101 videos 😁
Sorry if I wasn't clear. Teams play their opponent in a best of 7 series in EVERY round. From round 1 to the Stanley Cup Final. So for a team to win the cup they need to win 16 playoff games. Glad you're enjoying the videos! I'm always happy to clarify.
I'm sorry to hear that, I tried to use images to the best of my ability at the time, but it doesn't work for everyone. If you have any specific questions I'm happy to try to answer them.
im more confused that the other leagues dont count points. im just trying to figure out NHL playoffs because there are so many different regions. SHL is simple for me lol
Most North American sports just do wins and losses (and in rare occasions ties) so standings are just based off best W-L record. For NHL playoffs you can think of it as 2 "regions" (east and west) each split into 2 "sub-regions" for 4 total. At the end of the season the top 3 (of 8) in each sub-region make the playoffs. Then of the remaining teams the two teams with the most points in each region make it also as wild card teams. In the end both East and West each have 8 teams make it out of 16. Hope that helps.
Hockey is better than Soccer in every way (maybe aside from being harder to play) so you choose well. It's also fast paced enough to be a great distraction. Sorry to hear about what brought you to the sport, but you'll bounce back!
If you mean regulation plus OT wins it's just a tiebreaker if needed at the end of the season. If two teams have the same points, the one with more wins gets the tiebreaker.
Glad you're enjoying them! I also appreciate the honest feedback. The into will likely get changed but the name and logo probably not. I'm a bit invested in them.
Why isn't there a main league then if your playing every team kn the nhl I think they should have Overall standings of the NHL 1 through 32. First place are the winners of the NHL that season of course this would mean you also won your conference and division Western/Eastern conferences. First place inside the conference wins the conference so this would be the third best thing to win (I'll get to that) Then the divisions - first place in the division wins thier division. This would be the 4th best thing to win Then the playoffs - where all the teams that qualify play each other as usual and the winner gets the big trophy. This would be the second best thing to win as you beat all the best teams that season in a knockout format competition. Read my reply to see how the UK does hockey
In the UK the elite league does an overall elite league standings Conferences based on where you are, for example all 3 scottish teams + Manchester (the northernmost teams) are in the same conference and play each more than they play the other teams in the league. Games between Scottish teams or manchestrr are league and conference games. The playoffs And the challenge Cup
At least in North American sports it's the norm that regular seasons are entirely for earning your spot in the playoffs (the better you do the higher seed you get). The Playoffs are where it's make or break to win the ultimate prize, a championship. Personally I prefer it this way as it adds more drama to winning a title (especially in years like this one where everyone knew who was going to end with the best record by the halfway point of the season). The NHL is actually the only league over here that has a trophy for the best regular season record, and players tend to not care about it much.
@@CheapSeatsSports yeah i get what you mean but you could win every single game the whole season and loose the playoff final and end up with nothing special. Seems like a crazy concept to a Scottish guy like me. I think the playoffs should still be a thing but maybe just reward the most consistent team
That is certainly possible, I have to admit I'm not super familiar with most European sports other than F1 if that counts. Basically both conferences and divisions are ways of grouping teams (usually based on location) into smaller groups they play against more in the regular season. In the NHL there are 32 teams split into 2 conferences of 16 teams (east and west) each of those 2 conferences are split into 2 divisions of 8 teams. So for example the Seattle Kraken are in the Pacific division in the western conference. Again playeling more often against teams in their division and conference. The purpose is mainly to reduce travel some as well as create rivalries.
@@CheapSeatsSports Haha yes I'm British & definitely consider F1 ours! Got to claim what you can when responsible for so much bad stuff too! Thanks for taking the time to reply, appreciate it & understood. There are conferences & divisions in soccer but by ability at higher levels and both ability & geography at semi-pro levels. I had wondered if ability played a factor in NHL too because so many big names are in the Atalantic division, but guess that's due to it being most of the historic base of ice hockey in NA
Just bought my first NHL jersey. Need to go to a game....unfortunately my team requires a COVID VACCINE CARD. I wont vax...so im stuck wearing my jersey at home SMH
@@CheapSeatsSports it was that fact I had a lot of reg loses and not ot loses but man your videos help alot as someone who is just getting into hockey keep it up 💪
Maybe it's cause I grew up without them but there is something slightly unsettling about watching a game that ends in a tie. It just feels like it was pointless, I want to feel something other than apathy at an outcome even if it's disappointment.
![Hockey Explained (NHL Playoffs, Conferences & Divisions, Wild Card System) [2023]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/GVlEISPLjPc/mqdefault.jpg)
I've been trying to get into hockey for a while and haven't been able to find any beginner friendly videos to break down the basics. Thank you!
Glad to help!
same here...but I still find it complicated. Coming from a football background this feels way to complicated for it's own good!
lol facts
@@andreidoanca4262 you can just google the fixtures for the team you support
And watch the match to see if they win or lose 🥅🏒🤷🏼♀️
Thank you so much for these videos! I’ve been binging them in preparation for the season to start because I want to start watching hockey, so I appreciate it!
I'm just now getting into hockey and loving every minute of it. Can't wait for next season cuz I know this one is about to come to an end. Let's go Dallas Stars
Welcome! It's a great game. Stars should make the playoffs so still plenty to watch this season
I am Brazilian and live in the Netherlands. Both countries have absolutely nothing to do with Ice Hockey. A couple of weeks ago I had a dream about Ice Hockey for no reason, out of the blue... then had another dream about it last night... and now here I am in a total ice hockey rabbit hole! I am even thinking of getting skates to go skate from time to time... haha Thanks for the video! It is anyways always cool to learn new things!
That's wild haha, I guess your brain was trying to tell you something! It's a great sport that's easy to get sucked into once you give it a chance. If you're into soccer it's like that but, smaller, faster, on ice and with sticks skates and hitting allowed!
Trying to get into the nhl so I'm just learning the rules of it before knowing players
Same here
I'm very late to comment, but I've recently been trying to learn about hockey and your videos have been fantastic. They are informative and you've helped grow my love of this fantastic sport
Glad you've found the videos helpful! That was the goal, to make the barrier to entry easier to get through!
Awesome vid man. I've admired Hockey from afar for a while and now wanna get more into the sport
It's an awesome sport but can be a lot for newer fans. Glad you enjoyed the video!
Best channel to understand hockey basics
Thanks for the well structured video, im a hockey fan in my homecountry and had my difficulties with the devisions and play-off system of the NHL but now i know better :D
Glad to help! Feel free to ask questions if you need anything clarified.
I’ve been watching hockey for over 30 years and seen a lot of changes happen in the NHL and you did a amazing job describing a nhl season and how to get into the playoffs you forgot to tell what happens though if 2 teams are tied for points after the 82 games but I still loved your video you got my subscription keep up with your awesome videos
Thanks, I appreciate the support! Good catch on the tiebreaker I'll have to add something to the description.
so ummm, what happens if 2 teams are tied?
@@dulla8469 head to head results
Glad someone on here is repping Seattle for once. I’m one of the new fans trying to get into the Kraken. I normally just like baseball, and I never really cared for football too much, so Im trying to learn for the upcoming debut.
Yeah, that's part of why I started. Couldn't really find everything I wanted (especially Seattle stuff) so I decided to do it myself, and it's kinda taken on a life of its own from there
@@CheapSeatsSports You’re doing a great job. Very professional.
Thanks man, I'm slowly watching more and more NHL on the regular. Great video
Glad to hear it helped!
New to Hockey, these videos are much appreciated, and have provided most of the knowledge I have on the subject so far. Thanks!
Glad to help!
Thank you for using the flame 50 win and 7 OTL for an easy math for us to see
Saw you were a Kraken fan like me. Funny story about Jordan Eberle. His 1st cousin was the flower girl at my parents wedding, still trying to snag that jersey
Huh that's neat! I'd highly recommend you get an adidas and not fanatics when you can. I cost more, but it's worth saving up for IMO
Thank you so much. This is very useful for those like me who don't live in the US and do not know anyone interested in NHL :P
Glad to help! You're the Hockey expert in your town now!
GO Kraken!
RELEASE THE KRAKEN!
Go Kraken!!
So Professor, let me understand this correctly...If I wear a Tampa Bay Sweater, then I only get one point, whereas if I wear a Seattle Kraken Sweater I get 2 points and the ability to move ahead to the playoffs. Nice video, hope we get some new fans.
Haha, well I think Tampa will be in the playoffs for a few years to come still, but yes the Kraken have many 2 point nights ahead of them! (knock on wood)
It would be crazy if Tampa Bay took almost every major sports title in 2021, with the exception of the NBA. They have already on super bowl and Stanley Cup, and they are on track to go to the baseball postseason.
The video starts at 2:40
Thank you
Today I was watching my Jays game when suddenly the broadcast started talking about the maple leafs playoffs game and after finishing the the baseball game I starting watching the NHL playoffs and it was amazing!! As a Venezuelan Im closer to the american Sports style events there is nothing like post-season games, I like football too but the emotions you get from post-season you can not get it at football at least it is world cup or Champions league. Btw thanks for Explain me how the NHL works!!
Absolutely! There is nothing like the Playoffs and hockey probably has the best playoffs. The 7 game series for every round really intensifies everything. Plus the speed and hitting goes way up.
As an all around Seattle fan thank you for me helping me get into hockey. That being said how can you not like soccer when the Sounders are so good???
Glad to help!
I enjoy playing soccer, but I can't watch it. It's just too slow for me and I didn't grow up with it like I did baseball. Also for whatever reason I have a hard time getting into teams that aren't in the top league of their sport, which the MLS clearly isn't. I know that's a weird reason but it is what it is I guess, it's part of why I don't watch much college football either.
@@CheapSeatsSports I get. I like nfl more than college too. I just have a hard time rooting for teams that aren’t in North America
After 5 times after watching the video, and reading a bunch of texts, I can say that I understood the scoring system, playoffs, and who is playing with whom and when "I was a little sick after". By the way, what do you think about the Carolina Hurricanes team. Thank you for explanation🇧🇦💙
I like the canes, fun team, play fast and seem to have a lot of fun! Plus a lot of Seattle's front office (my favorite team) is from the Cane's organization at some point.
Amazing! Thank you for explaining man. New to the sport, super exciting. Only question: During the playoffs, lets say round 1 are each of the 8 games 7-game series? And so forth in Round 2? Eg: Does the pacific seed 2 play the seed 3 in a 7-game series in round 1 of the playoffs? Thanks in advance :)
Glad to help! Hockey is awesome but learning a new sport can be a lot. To answer your question, yes every playoff matchup in the NHL is a best of 7. Unlike baseball for example where they start with best of 5 the later do best of 7.
My son loves these
Awesome! Glad to hear it and more coming soon!
5:04 “…who had a total of 132 points…”
You said 132 points, and the screen says 135 points. I’m just knockin on you man for laughs, I appreciate the great video! 👍 I really do have a better understanding of hockey now!
The screen was probably right, good catch. Glad the video helped anyway lol
As an Aussie who has only just started watching American sports, I don't understand the whole 7-game series thing? any chance you could explain that part more in depth? Thanks in advance.
So as opposed to a tournament where the winner of one game advances (like the world cup for a non north American example) the winner of each matchup is decided by a best of 7 series of games (first to 4 wins)
Hope that makes sense
Im going to live in Toronto and I find hockey soo interesting but as a colombian I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT IT . Thank you so much for your channel
Absolutely, I'm happy to help! If you have any questions please ask. Toronto is definitely a place that knowing hockey is a good thing in! (Altho the local team can be... frustrating for it's fans)
@@CheapSeatsSports HAHAHA I've heard. Thanks for the "Hockey for Beginners" playlist *-*
this will be explainable
question about the wildcard teams... so eastern and western division top 3 teams go to the playoffs, so teams 1A, 2A, 3A (A = Eastern) and teams 1B, 2B, 3B (B = Western) since the playoffs require 8 teams the next 2 teams which are the wildcards are called wildcards, cause if the next two teams with most points that come after dont need to be 1 from each division, so the next 2 teams could be 4A, 5A, both from the eastern confrence instead of having to be 4A, and 4B... right???
Yes I think you have it but just in case I'll try to explain. First off there are 2 conferences (east and west) each with 2 divisions and both conferences send 8 teams for a total of 16.
The teams that make it are determined the same in both conferences. So in each conference of 2 divisions the top three teams in each division go (1a 2a 3a, 1b 2b 3b) and then 2 wildcard teams that are the best of the team left. Those most often come one from each division (4a and 4b) but can both come from the same one (4a 5a or 4b 5b)
I hope that helps.
Im english and ive been watching hockey in england for about 5 years now and i want to watch more NHL and playoffs and get to know the sport more I love hockey.
That's awesome! Hopefully you're able to find a way to watch more or maybe make a trip to see a game in person down the line!
@CheapSeatsSports I watch a team in England called the Sheffield Steelers.
But my team i found and I enjoyed was Maple leafs already got a jersey with Nylander on the back.
Would you know how I could get some cheap hockey tickets?
Ok quick question. With the points of a game win and total points . does that include individual player points like from scoring or defenceve saves from a goalie ?
If I'm understanding the question correctly then no player points (goals and assists) are entirely separate from team points in the standings (2 for a win, 1 for an OT loss)
@@CheapSeatsSports you understood the queation curretly . sorry for it being confussing and thank you as always for answering
On a cheap seat shots binge and this is a great primer as we enter the playoffs
Nothing better than playoff hockey!
As an Australian who watches NRL, this conference stuff really got me confused but I’m glad this sorted cleared things up… I think.. GO KRAKEN
It's mostly for scheduling and playoff matchup purposes to reduce team travel a bit.
@@CheapSeatsSports we only have 16 teams in our competition so it wouldn’t make too much sense to follow that structure haha
@@CheapSeatsSports that rangers game today but… thought penguins had them for a while there. Was that considered an upset? I feel to get in properly I need to start from the start of a season rather than the play offs haha
I know in hockey there are points instead of winning percentage but are points percentage and winning percentage the same thing?
No they are not the same. That is because while you get 2 points for a win you get 1 for an OT loss.
Example: Say a team has a 1-1-1 record in 3 games (win - loss - OT/SO loss). They will have a 33% win percentage having only won 1 of the 3 games and lost 2, but will have a 50% points percentage having gotten 3 of the possible 6 points in those games.
very well said
My favorite sport
I know absolutely nothing about hockey. This video helped so much. Now it’s time to just randomly choose a team lol.
Glad to help! If you happen to choose Seattle (or even if not) I also do recaps to every Kraken game.
How do the wild card positions get decided on who they play do they play the 1 seed in there division or can they play either 1 seed and it depends on point you might of said this and I overlooked it but i am a nba fan trying to get into the nhl
They can play the top seed of either division in their conference. Of the two wildcard teams the one with fewer points (the second wildcard) gets the division winner with the most points. The first wildcard then gets the division winner with fewer points.
@@CheapSeatsSports thanks this helped alot
Great video
Thanks!
Does each wildcard team need to be in the same division as the 1 seed in each division?
Nope. The 3 teams from each division and then the wildcards are just the 2 best remaining teams from that conference (east or west) so 5 teams from one division could make it. That would mean if say 5 Central teams make it the 1 seed from the Pacific would play the first round against a central team that's a wildcard.
I got in hockey but as european the 80 games per team and the best of 7 games series drove me away...as football/soccer fan
The NHL playoffs are so awesome. It's hard not to get hooked in!
yes the should play 84 games it would make so much more sense
32 v inter conference (2 each)
24 v interdivisional (3 each)
28 v divisional (4each)
84 games that is all fair and even! :D
It might be OCD but I hope they change things up to make it even
@@CheapSeatsSports yesssss i completely agree
Great jersey man
Thanks!
Hey im from england and have started getting into the nhl before the next season starts. I understand all the rules and how the stanley cup playoffs work but i am so confused about the "regular season" part in the video. Im getting confused on the conferences and divisions part as well as the number of games. I understand you are busy and was wondering if there's anywhere you recommend me to go to learn about it more? Thank you
All good, what part is confusing? I'm happy to answer questions.
Basics are the NHL is a 32 team league. Those 32 are grouped into 2 conferences of 16 teams, each with 2 divisions of 8 teams. These are largely determined by location. It would be like if soccer (of football where you are from) had one super league of teams (touchy subject based on this last year) and had regional divisions like a UK division a Spanish division ect. The purpose is to limit excessive travel during the regular season, and promote rivalries.
The regular season is 82 games long, every team plays 82 games. At the end of that the teams with the best records (points) go to the playoffs.
It is definitely different from how things work over there with soccer so I understand the confusion and am happy to answer questions.
@@CheapSeatsSports ahhhh okay. So now i understand what the conferences and divisions are. But what about what you said about the games? I understand the best of 7 part but you also said something about a team playing anpther team 3 times? Why is that? I think thats the only other part im confused on. Also could you give me a rough idea of when the regular season starts or does it change every year? Thank you do much for your help. I know you are very busy
@@CheapSeatsSports also how many teams from each division go to the playoffs. Is it 4 from each?
@@benburton8021 I'm sure specifically what the 3 times is, but during the regular season each team plays every other team at least twice, and the play the teams in their conference a little more and the teams in their division the most. These games are spread out over the season so if they play a team 3 times in the regular season it wouldn't be all at once. The playoffs are always best of 7 series, where they play that same team every game. Hope that helps.
@@CheapSeatsSports okay thank you i understand now. Thank you for all your help. I really appreciate it. As i said im from the uk and the nhl is not popular here at all. Im mainly a ufc fan but i am starting to get into the nhl and hopefully the mlb and nfl at some point. Thank you for all your help!
Hi there 👋
My son plays ice hockey here in England but obviously not as big as in America... can you alibirate in English terms please as there isn't much knowledge here and I'm still struggling to understand the whole competition 😅😅 cheers
82 games a season??!!!??? That's insane!!! I'm Australian and here we play AFL football (if you've never seen it, look it up) and we play during winter, every weekend from mid march till the end of September. It's 23 games. And if you play finals the most games a team can play in if they win is 4. Honestly if it was longer than that I think we'd all loose interest. How can you guys keep watching your team for 82 games?
I don't know a ton about how your AFL works but I've seen some games and it looks neat. If you think 82 is a lot the MLB players 162. Yeah it's a lot of games unless you are a super diehard fan. Most fans probably watch 20-40 games and then toon in for playoffs if the team makes it. It's mostly as many games as it is because the league revenue is based off ticket sales.
can you explain the # of games people bet on in brackets?
I'm not 100% sure I know exactly what you mean. Are you talking about playoff brackets?
I am so worried about my Predators hockey game this year because I want Predators to win each hockey game to make it into playoffs this year.
sorry, but as a Blackhawks fan, I don't want the Predators to win the Stanley Cup. and yes I know sadly the Blackhawks won't be in the playoffs this year.
You got your wish! They are in.
Can someone explain this difference between a team winning a conference championship and a division championship? And how does the President's Trophy work. Am I right in thinking that it is awarded to the team with the most points out of all 32 teams at the end of a regular season.
You are correct about the president's trophy.
A team wins a division by having the most points in the division at the end of the regular season. The conference champion is decided in the 3rd round of the playoffs. The western and eastern conference champs play for the Stanley cup in the finals.
So points are more important than wins technically correct? And the “seeding/ranks” are determined by overall points…..right??
Yes, points (not goals to be clear) are what decided standings. 2 points for a win and 1 for an OT loss. So wins are still the best, but it does happen where a team with fewer wins but more losses were in OT finishes higher in the standings.
@@CheapSeatsSports oh man I dont like that, it’s unamerican smh
@@m.danielzamzamy7633 yup
I'm planning a road trip in North america in april/may of 2025 and am looking into if I can visit an NHL game in Boston, Montreal or Toronto somewhere in those months. Can anybody give me some advice? Is it dependend on whether or not those clubs reach play-offs for example? Would prefer may over april because of weather :)
I'm also curious if I as a european can get acces to tickets easily (for example in my country for football matches you often have to have to be registered as a fan of that club).
The regular season ends in mid April but both Boston and Toronto are likely to make the playoffs I'd say. Toronto can be hard to get tickets to from what I've heard but having never been there I can say for sure.
@@CheapSeatsSports Ah that's good to know, thanks!
Any idea how far upfront you can get tickets and what I can expect for ticket prices? is it like between 100 and 200 dollar?
Thanks for the video. It presented in a simple way for someone like me coming from a football background. But I have to say it's way too complicated for it's own good. In Europe, football leagues are simple. Each team plays against another team twice during the season, home and away. And that's it. This system of playing other teams like 4 times during the season...why? quite complicate I must say. But I do my best to get into hockey. Could you do an explanation of the. Swedish Hockey Leauge? would that be simpler than NHL?
It was a little simpler than it is now when there were fewer teams but adding or subtracting games from the season is a big process. The reason they play more vs some teams than others is mainly to limit travel a bit but also to encourage rivalries to form.
To be honest I don't know many specific details about the swedish league (or finish or KHL for that matter) but with fewer teams and less issues with travel distances it might be simpler.
Been a hockey fan for a long time and tried to follow the nhl the best I've been able to but my focus is on the SHL since that's where I'm from and my home town plays. Knew most of the structure but I am confused over why you play 3 times against teams in your conference and not 2 or 4? Here in Sweden and the SHL they make it so no team ever has more home or away matches than anyone else. Now Sweden is much smaller than the US & Canada so having more games in the NHL is a given and I get that they wanna limit travel and breed rivalries. But here everyone faces eachother 4 times, 2 home and 2 away with a total of 14 teams so 52 games in a season. Also sidenote here in the SHL a win is worth 3 points, win in overtime 2 and loss in overtime 1 so there is a penalty for not finishing the job in regular time.
I've been considering doing a video looking at possible alternatives to the schedule but basically it's because of how many games they play. 32 of the 82 are 2 against the opposite conference which leaves 50 games vs the other 15 teams so you can make it perfectly even.
They do switch which team gets the 2 home games in each match up each year. So for example the Wild played 2 times in Seattle this last year and once in Minnesota, next year that flips.
Thank you
Have been slowly getting into NHL and NFL so thank you for explaining this (:
Teams finishing top of the division or conference don't get any trophy? Is Stanley Cup the sole championship that the NHL teams are after?
There are trophies for the team with the best regular season record and the winners of the eastern and western conferences (the teams that play for the Stanley Cup). But no there are no division trophies and even with those others everyone is playing to win the Stanley Cup and anything else is nice but not the end goal.
@@CheapSeatsSports I get it 👍🏻. Thanks for explaining 🙌🏻
I didn’t know that the concept of a shootout was very new
Yup! Finally decided it was better than a tie which I personally agree with at least for regular season
Mate in Canada sent me a bunch of punch on in hockey. We hear about It but never see. Started watching wow an figure should understand not just wait for fights. An thank you easy game an ya run it straight
Can you do one about how the games in the Stanley cup work?? Do they seriously play eachother 7 times in only the first round?? 😳 In the UK im new to all this 😂 and I'm loving you 101 videos 😁
Sorry if I wasn't clear. Teams play their opponent in a best of 7 series in EVERY round. From round 1 to the Stanley Cup Final. So for a team to win the cup they need to win 16 playoff games. Glad you're enjoying the videos! I'm always happy to clarify.
@@CheapSeatsSports haha that's crazy 😱 thanks for the help 😁
Red Wings actually beat the Tampa Bay Lightning to the punch by winning 62 games in 1995-1996 and had 131 points total
3rd time watching this video, im dead serious, i always come back cause i can never wrap my head around this shit
I'm happy to answer questions as best I can!
would be handy to have some info graphics. didnt understand anything
I'm sorry to hear that, I tried to use images to the best of my ability at the time, but it doesn't work for everyone. If you have any specific questions I'm happy to try to answer them.
NHL is the best
im more confused that the other leagues dont count points. im just trying to figure out NHL playoffs because there are so many different regions. SHL is simple for me lol
Most North American sports just do wins and losses (and in rare occasions ties) so standings are just based off best W-L record.
For NHL playoffs you can think of it as 2 "regions" (east and west) each split into 2 "sub-regions" for 4 total. At the end of the season the top 3 (of 8) in each sub-region make the playoffs. Then of the remaining teams the two teams with the most points in each region make it also as wild card teams. In the end both East and West each have 8 teams make it out of 16. Hope that helps.
@@CheapSeatsSportsoh ok, but NHL doesnt have Relegation? any idea why?
my ex loved soccer so trying to find a new sport to not think about her lmfao cheers mate
Hockey is better than Soccer in every way (maybe aside from being harder to play) so you choose well. It's also fast paced enough to be a great distraction. Sorry to hear about what brought you to the sport, but you'll bounce back!
@@CheapSeatsSports yeah it just might be, looks very interesting just from a few videos. and thanks for the kind words, best of luck
oMG MY BRAIN HURTS.... lol
thankyou!
side note- TAMPA BAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Let me know if you have any questions!
Came here for an explanation of Row. Didn’t get it :(
If you mean regulation plus OT wins it's just a tiebreaker if needed at the end of the season. If two teams have the same points, the one with more wins gets the tiebreaker.
Bro!! You need to work on the titles of the videos! It’s hard to find specific videos because of it.
Any suggestions? Not sure how else to fit it all in the title
Great video and very helpful, but SLOW DOWN.
Appreciate the feedback! You can also slow down the video in the video settings as well if its too fast.
Did anyone notice he changed his shirt throughout the video?
Haha, yeah I had to leave in the middle of recoding it and forgot I had changed shirts when I got back.
found out my home team "Avalanche" is popping off so now I have to care about NHL
They sure are! They are also my second favorite team and we're my favorite before Seattle got a team.
I like your videos and simple explanations but I think you should change the intro, name, and logo
Glad you're enjoying them! I also appreciate the honest feedback. The into will likely get changed but the name and logo probably not. I'm a bit invested in them.
@@CheapSeatsSports what is the story behind the logo and name
Why isn't there a main league then if your playing every team kn the nhl
I think they should have
Overall standings of the NHL
1 through 32. First place are the winners of the NHL that season of course this would mean you also won your conference and division
Western/Eastern conferences. First place inside the conference wins the conference so this would be the third best thing to win (I'll get to that)
Then the divisions - first place in the division wins thier division. This would be the 4th best thing to win
Then the playoffs - where all the teams that qualify play each other as usual and the winner gets the big trophy. This would be the second best thing to win as you beat all the best teams that season in a knockout format competition.
Read my reply to see how the UK does hockey
In the UK the elite league does an overall elite league standings
Conferences based on where you are, for example all 3 scottish teams + Manchester (the northernmost teams) are in the same conference and play each more than they play the other teams in the league. Games between Scottish teams or manchestrr are league and conference games.
The playoffs
And the challenge Cup
At least in North American sports it's the norm that regular seasons are entirely for earning your spot in the playoffs (the better you do the higher seed you get). The Playoffs are where it's make or break to win the ultimate prize, a championship. Personally I prefer it this way as it adds more drama to winning a title (especially in years like this one where everyone knew who was going to end with the best record by the halfway point of the season). The NHL is actually the only league over here that has a trophy for the best regular season record, and players tend to not care about it much.
@@CheapSeatsSports yeah i get what you mean but you could win every single game the whole season and loose the playoff final and end up with nothing special. Seems like a crazy concept to a Scottish guy like me. I think the playoffs should still be a thing but maybe just reward the most consistent team
Not familiar with what a conference, division .etc. is. Think that's far more common in US sports than in Europe
That is certainly possible, I have to admit I'm not super familiar with most European sports other than F1 if that counts.
Basically both conferences and divisions are ways of grouping teams (usually based on location) into smaller groups they play against more in the regular season. In the NHL there are 32 teams split into 2 conferences of 16 teams (east and west) each of those 2 conferences are split into 2 divisions of 8 teams. So for example the Seattle Kraken are in the Pacific division in the western conference. Again playeling more often against teams in their division and conference.
The purpose is mainly to reduce travel some as well as create rivalries.
@@CheapSeatsSports Haha yes I'm British & definitely consider F1 ours! Got to claim what you can when responsible for so much bad stuff too! Thanks for taking the time to reply, appreciate it & understood. There are conferences & divisions in soccer but by ability at higher levels and both ability & geography at semi-pro levels. I had wondered if ability played a factor in NHL too because so many big names are in the Atalantic division, but guess that's due to it being most of the historic base of ice hockey in NA
Just bought my first NHL jersey. Need to go to a game....unfortunately my team requires a COVID VACCINE CARD. I wont vax...so im stuck wearing my jersey at home SMH
Bro you fuckin' saved my school project about the NHL. Thank u a lot!
Haha glad to help! Go get that A!
Also dope you get to do a project on the NHL.
About ties we only had one tie in owe Afl an they played agen as they didn't know what to do. Stkilda lost
When’s the next expansion draft video
Hopefully tomorrow. Im editing it now.
@@CheapSeatsSports sounds good, what team is it?
@@kaiparker126 Flames!
@@CheapSeatsSports Ok, going up today?
@@kaiparker126 hopefully tonight, if not it will be up tomorrow. I am aiming for tonight tho.
Did you really mean "against their will" 😂😂😂
I'll be honest it's been a while since I made this so idk what part you're referring to, but I'll say yes? 😂
The part that you said "if you're trying to get your friends on hockey against their will"
What hole do you breathe out of?
First
LoL 😂 mean I had 45 wins on NHL 23 and still missed the playoffs cause of points like wtf
Yeah, I can't speak to what's typical in the video game side of things, but that is kinda crazy lol
@@CheapSeatsSports it was that fact I had a lot of reg loses and not ot loses but man your videos help alot as someone who is just getting into hockey keep it up 💪
this answers a lot of questions but is still deeply confusing to my european brain, mostly just can't understand why you guys won't accept ties
Maybe it's cause I grew up without them but there is something slightly unsettling about watching a game that ends in a tie. It just feels like it was pointless, I want to feel something other than apathy at an outcome even if it's disappointment.
@@CheapSeatsSports yea dude I think this is one of those cultural differences I'm just not gonna get, I'll just roll with it
Wtf you cooked overseas?
Way to much info. We dont need old examples.
I still don't understand shit.
anything in particular that is especially confusing?