NHL Stanley Cup Playoff Length By Days & Games

The 2020 NHL playoffs began on August 11 and ended on September 28, boasting 79 games in 49 days. During this time, the Stanley Cup winning Tampa Bay Lightning skated in 22 games, for a total of 95 games (70 + 3 + 22) since the unprecedented suspended and abbreviated season that began twelve months earlier. 

Tampa Bay's playoff run begs the question, how long does a typical NHL postseason last? The chart below describes each postseason since 1987 (when the NHL expanded each playoff round to seven games) by start date, end date and length (i.e., total days and games).

Year	Start Date / End Date	Days	Games
1987	April 8 - May 31	54	87
1988	April 6 - May 26	51	83
1989	April 5 - May 25	51	82
1990	April 5 - May 24	50	85
1991	April 3 - May 25	53	92
1992	April 18 - June 1	45	86
1993	April 18 - June 9	53	85
1994	April 16 - June 14	60	91
1995	May 6 - June 24	50	80
1996	April 16 - June 10	56	86
1997	April 16 - June 7	53	82
1998	April 22 - June 16	56	82
1999	April 21 - June 19	60	86
2000	April 12 - June 10	60	83
2001	April 11 - June 9	60	86
2002	April 17 - June 13	58	90
2003	April 9 - June 9	62	89
2004	April 7 - June 7	62	90
2006	April 21 - June 19	60	84
2007	April 11 - June 6	57	81
2008	April 9 - June 4	57	85
2009	April 15 - June 12	59	87
2010	April 14 - June 9	57	89
2011	April 13 - June 15	64	89
2012	April 11 - June 11	62	86
2013	April 30 - June 24	56	86
2014	April 16 - June 13	59	93
2015	April 15 - June 15	62	89
2016	April 13 - June 12	61	91
2017	April 12 - June 11	61	87
2018	April 11 - June 7	58	84
2019	April 10 - June 12	64	87
2020	August 11 - September 28	49	79
Avg		57	86

Since the NHL expanded all four rounds of the playoffs to a seven game series, the maximum number of playoff games that could possibly be played if all series went to a Game 7 is 105. Alternatively, the least possible number of playoff games if all 15 series resulted in a sweep is 60 games.

In terms of total games played in a postseason since 1987, the fewest is 79 games (2020).  Only four times has a playoff lasted more than 90 games (1991, 1994, 2014, 2016), the longest postseason being 93 games in 2014. The average playoff length during this span is 86 games.

Only twice in the past 32 postseasons has a playoff lasted fewer than 50 days (1992, 2020) and just seven times has it exceeded 60 days (2003, 2004, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017), the longest lasting 64 days (2011, 2019). The average playoff length during this span sits at 57 days.

With each team playing approximately 70 games before the regular season was suspended due to COVID-19, 2020 Stanley Cup Champion Tampa Bay Lightning skated in 95 games (70 + 3 + 22) during 362 days dating back to the opener on October 3, 2019, representing 99% of the days in a calendar year and leaving only 108 days off between the Stanley Cup winning game and opening night of the next regular season.

Players on the 7 teams that did not skate in the 2020 postseason will enjoy 306 days off between regular season games, an additional 7 months or 198 days over their Cup winning counterpart. For those suffering such a playoff drought, here's hoping that rest translates into success.

* See also NHL League Size And Regular Season Length.
* See also Fewest And Most Games Needed to Win Stanley Cup.