Hockey & playoff guides
Long-form explainers on NHL seeding, magic numbers, Monte Carlo odds, the draft lottery, and the math behind The BlueLine — written for fans, not statisticians.
Updated 2026-04-01
How NHL Playoff Seeding Works
A plain-language guide to the NHL playoff format: division winners, wild cards, bracket structure, and how tiebreakers decide close races.
Read guide →Updated 2026-04-02
What Are Magic Numbers in Hockey?
Magic numbers count down to clinching a playoff spot: how they are defined, how to interpret them with real standings, and common misconceptions.
Read guide →Updated 2026-04-03
Understanding Monte Carlo Playoff Odds
How Monte Carlo simulation estimates playoff probability by replaying the season thousands of times—and how to interpret the percentage on the standings page.
Read guide →Updated 2026-04-04
NHL Draft Lottery Explained
How the NHL draft lottery assigns early picks, why odds differ by finish, and how to read lottery percentages on a standings tracker.
Read guide →Updated 2026-04-05
Pythagorean Expectation in Hockey
How goals-for and goals-against produce an expected win rate, why analysts use it in playoff models, and what it misses about goaltending and luck.
Read guide →Updated 2026-04-05
Strength of Schedule in a Playoff Race
How remaining opponents’ quality shapes playoff odds, how SOS is approximated from standings, and why an “easy” schedule is not a free pass.
Read guide →