NHL Playoffs 2025-26
Your NHL Playoff Bracket Pool, on Autopilot
16 teams, 4 rounds, zero spreadsheets. Set up your pool in minutes and let the app handle the rest.
Trusted by 4,312+ players across 1,093+ pools
Sound Familiar?
Spreadsheets, group chats, and manually tracking a two-month playoff run
The NHL Playoffs stretch over two months with 4 rounds of best-of-seven series. Keeping a spreadsheet accurate that long is exhausting, and one mistake means a wrong leaderboard for weeks.
Collecting picks from everyone is a mess. Texts, DMs, group chats — you're piecing together brackets from five different places. Someone always forgets to submit.
Everyone wants to know who's winning, but you're still calculating standings from last night's results. By the time you update, another series has ended.
How It Works
Up and Running in Minutes
Create Your Pool
Name your pool, set point values per round, and share a link. Friends join and start picking in minutes.
Make Your Picks
East - Round 1
10 pts / Pick
Everyone predicts the bracket — pick series winners from the first round through the Stanley Cup Final. Picks lock when games start.
Watch the Playoffs
Scores and standings update automatically after each series. No manual work required.
Loved by Pool Commissioners
Real feedback from real users on Reddit.
“Cool, our group is going to give your app a try this year. Logged into RunYourPool for the first time in a while and can't understand what they've become lol. Tough to navigate now.”
My family and I are very grateful for this app! It's so user-friendly. Thank you for making this!!
I appreciate all the work you've put into this so far. It's shockingly hard to find a good playoff pick'em…
Just wanted to say my group has really enjoyed the site thus far. Will keep thinking of improvements. Another obvious use would be March Madness.
I recommend it for a straightforward and easy to use March madness style bracket challenge! Great job!
Thank you for doing this! Doing a fun money challenge with the boys! Gotta get that fantasy money back somehow hahaha
Thanks for sharing! Was just looking for something to setup a playoff bracket with friends.
Guide
How NHL Playoff Bracket Pools Work
The NHL Playoff Format
The NHL Playoffs feature 16 teams — 8 from the Eastern Conference and 8 from the Western Conference. Teams are seeded 1 through 8 in each conference based on regular season and wild card standings. The bracket follows four rounds: First Round, Second Round, Conference Finals, and the Stanley Cup Final. Every round is a best-of-seven series. In the First Round, the 1-seed faces the 8-seed, the 2-seed faces the 7-seed, and so on. From there, the bracket is fixed — winners advance along their side of the bracket.
What Is an NHL Playoff Bracket Pool?
In a bracket pool, participants predict the winner of every playoff series from the First Round through the Stanley Cup Final. Before the playoffs begin, everyone fills out their bracket — picking which team advances in each matchup. You earn points for each correct series prediction, with the commissioner setting custom point values per round. Because every round is a seven-game series, there's more predictability than single-game formats — but upsets still happen, especially in the first round.
Running a Pool Over Two Months
The NHL Playoffs stretch from mid-April through late June. That's a long time to keep a group engaged, and it's what makes spreadsheet-based pools such a pain. A bracket pool keeps the competition alive the entire time — every series result matters, and the leaderboard shifts with each round. Round-by-round picking is popular for the NHL because it lets participants adjust their picks as matchups become known.
Wild Card Seeding
The NHL uses a wild card playoff format. The top three teams in each division qualify, plus two wild card teams per conference. The wild card teams are slotted into the bracket based on their point totals, which can create some interesting first-round matchups. The bracket pool starts once the 16-team field is set after the regular season ends.
Features
Your Pool, on Autopilot
Full Playoff Bracket
All four rounds from the first round through the Stanley Cup Final. Everyone fills out their bracket in one place.
Custom Scoring Per Round
Make the Stanley Cup Final worth more than the first round, or keep every round equal. You define the points.
Live Standings
Scores update as series are decided. Everyone can see who's leading without waiting for a manual update.
Full Bracket or Round by Round
Let your group pick the entire bracket upfront, or reveal each round as matchups are set. Your pool, your rules.
Built by a Commissioner, for Commissioners
I run a playoff pool with my family. Everyone used to email me their picks and I'd enter them into a spreadsheet. Every year it was the same story: chasing people for their picks, updating scores after every game, and manually fixing brackets when things went wrong.
So I built Playoff Pick'Ems to be the tool I wished existed. Just a simple way to run a bracket pool with the people you care about.
Simple, Transparent Pricing
Start free, upgrade when you need more. No hidden fees.
Free
Perfect for trying things out
- Host 1 pool
- Up to 10 members in your pool
- 1 entry per user
- Manual entries for offline players
Season Pass
Everything you need to run your pool
- Host unlimited pools
- Unlimited members per pool
- Multiple entries per user
- Manual entries for offline players
- One-time payment. No subscription
Lifetime Access
Pay once, use forever
- Everything in Season Pass
- Never pay again
- Lifetime updates
- One-time payment. No subscription
Per tournament. Only pay for the tournaments you use.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Still have questions?
Your NHL Playoffs Pool, simplified.
Running a pool is fun, but managing it can be a headache. Skip the tedious stuff and just enjoy the playoffs with your friends.