blank'/> THE PUCK REPORT: NHL Stanley Cup Playoff Sweeps

Sunday, June 18, 2023

NHL Stanley Cup Playoff Sweeps

When a team eliminates their opponent using the minimum number of games without sustaining a single loss in a multi-game series they are said to have swept the other team. In the Stanley Cup Playoffs that means winning the first four games of a best-of-seven series.

Of the NHL's 756 best-of-seven playoff series since the league's origins through 2023, 128 (17%) have ended in a sweep.  The most sweeps in a single postseason during this span is five (1969, 1992).  Only four times since all postseason series were expanded to best-of-seven in 1987 has a Stanley Cup Playoff series gone without a sweep (1991, 2002, 2016, 2020).

Over the past 36 postseasons (since the 1987 expansion to best-of-seven series), a sweep has resulted in 76 of 540 series, representing 1 in 7 (14%) of all playoff series. The chart below describes playoff sweeps by year, noting the number and round in which sweep(s) occurred.

Year: Sweeps (Round)       Year: Sweeps (Round) 
1987: 3 (2P, 1Q) 2006: 2 (1P, 1S)
1988: 2 (1Q, F) 2007: 1 (1P)
1989: 3 (2P, 1Q) 2008: 2 (1P, 1Q)
1990: 2 (1P, 1S) 2009: 4 (3P, 1S)
1991: 0 2010: 1 (1S)
1992: 5 (2Q, 2S, F) 2011: 3 (1P, 2Q)
1993: 3 (2P, 1Q) 2012: 1 (1Q)
1994: 2 (2P) 2013: 2 (1P, 1S)
1995: 4 (3Q, F) 2014: 1 (1P,)
1996: 2 (1P, F) 2015: 2 (1P, 1Q)
1997: 2 (1Q, F) 2016: 0
1998: 3 (1P, 1Q, F) 2017: 2 (2P)
1999: 3 (3P) 2018: 2 (1P)
2000: 2 (2P) 2019: 4 (2P, 1Q, 1S)
2001: 3 (2P, 1Q) 2020: 0
2002: 0 2021: 3 (2P, 1Q)
2003: 2 (1P, 1S) 2022: 3 (1P, 1Q, 1S)
2004: 1 (1Q) 2023: 1 (1S)
2005: N/A

(P = Preliminary, Q = Quarterfinal, S = Semifinal, F = Final)

Breaking it down by round, the most sweeps on a percentage basis have happened in the Stanley Cup Final (6/36 = 17%), though no team has been swept there since 1998 when the Detroit Red Wings disposed off the Washington Capitals. The Quarterfinal (22/144 = 15%), Preliminary (38/288 = 13%) and Semifinal (10/72 = 14%) rounds follow with a historically significant but decreasing likelihood of sweep.

The 2023 Playoffs delivered just one sweep with Florida disposing of Carolina in four consecutive games in the Eastern Conference Final.


* See also NHL Playoff Sweeps Without Surrendering Lead.

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