I’ll start by admitting I’m not the greatest fan of the NHL. But I love watching the Wild. I have always assumed that the playoffs were just lined up 1 through 8 in the standings. I was wrong. When did the NHL come up the current playoff framework? And Why? It seems rather random.
Here is how they would match up by standings in the conference by points (if the season ended today)
#1 vs #8
#2 vs #5
#3 vs #4
#6 vs #7
It happened when the did the realignment of the conferences. Now each conference has 2 divisions (I think it was 3 pre realignment). There are 16 teams in the East and 14 in the West. Top 3 teams in each division are in the playoffs. The next 2 teams with the best record in the conference that are not top 3 in a division are the wild card teams and they can both be from the same division (ie you could get 5 teams from one division and 3 from the other). #2 and #3 in each division play each other in the first round of the playoffs. The top team in the conference plays the lowest seeded wild card team and the top team in the other division plays the wild card with the better record. 2nd round the 2 winners in each division play each other. If a wild card had to play in the other divisions playoffs, they continue in that division. Example, the Wild finish 8th and beat the Ducks in the Pacific Division, they would then have to play the other winner in that division.
That explain it? 
The easiest way to think of it is there is no reseeding anymore. First 2 rounds are divisional playoffs. The caveat being the Wild card teams may have to go through the other division to get to the conference final by winning their first 2 playoff series.
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