A playoff pool counts only the points from the NHL playoffs, played by the 16 qualified teams. It runs over a few weeks instead of the whole season. A playoff hockey pool has three formats: a draft, a box grid or predictions. The commissioner chooses the format when creating the pool.
The three formats
- Draft: a snake draft among the players of the 16 teams, then cumulative points.
- Grid: a box pool, with no draft. Each participant picks one player per box.
- Predictions: each pooler predicts the winner and the number of games of each series.
Head-to-head doesn't exist in the playoffs, because it wouldn't have time to play out. Playing is free for poolers: the pool's access, a pass or a plan, comes from the commissioner or their organization, as described below.
The playoff draft
A playoff pool's draft runs like a season pool's, but the default lineup is shorter: 6 forwards, 3 defensemen and 1 goalie, with no bench or injured reserve. That makes 10 rounds.
Points come from playoff games only. A playoff pool's default scoring gives 1 point per goal, 1 per assist, 2 per goalie win and 2 per shutout. It's smaller than a season's, because the playoffs have far fewer games, and it counts neither shots nor plus-minus. The commissioner can change it before the draft. Once the draft has started, a playoff pool's scoring doesn't change anymore: it's the one the poolers committed to when they drafted.
When a player's team is eliminated, their row is greyed out in the lineup, but their points stay earned.
The playoff grid
In a grid, the commissioner prepares boxes of players and each participant picks one player per box, before the deadline. Several participants can pick the same player. The page on the box pool describes the boxes, the deadline, the bonus questions and late entries.
In a playoff grid, player replacements are off by default, while they're allowed in a season grid. The commissioner can turn them on. The default scoring is the playoff scoring described above.
Predictions
In a prediction pool, there's no draft and no players. For each series, the pooler picks the team that wins and the number of games, from 4 to 7. The commissioner sets the mode:
- Full bracket: the pooler fills in all 15 series before the first playoff game. Their matchups from round 2 on follow from their own picks: if they change the winner of a series, the later picks that no longer fit are cleared.
- Round by round: each series opens when its matchup is known and closes at the opening faceoff of its first game.
A prediction pool starts as a full bracket. Created after the first playoff faceoff, it starts round by round, since the full bracket would already be closed. Switching from full bracket to round by round clears the predictions for round 2 and later, and the commissioner has to confirm it.
A series closes on its own, at game time: nobody has to close it. In a full bracket, all 15 series close at the first faceoff. The other poolers' picks are visible only once the series is closed. Before that, each pooler sees only their own. A series the pooler didn't predict is worth 0.
Fill with favourites fills the pooler's empty series with the team that finished higher in the regular season, in 6 games. Picks already made are never replaced, and the pooler can then change everything while the series is open. Estrade sends a reminder the day before and one hour before each close, only to poolers who still have a series to predict.
Prediction scoring
The default scoring gives points for the right winner, and a bonus for the right number of games, which counts only if the winner is right:
| Round | Right winner | Right number of games, on top |
|---|---|---|
| Round 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Round 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Conference final | 4 | 4 |
| Stanley Cup Final | 8 | 8 |
The commissioner can change the values for each round. Two other bonuses exist, off by default: a bonus for the number of games within one, which never adds to the right-number bonus, and an upset bonus, when the winner is the lower-ranked team of the actual matchup. Both need the right winner.
Favourite team, bonus questions and tiebreaks
Each pooler can choose a favourite team among the first-round teams. It earns one point per playoff win. The favourite team is on by default, and the commissioner turns it off by setting the value to 0. The pick is made before the first faceoff, and the others see it only at that moment.
The commissioner can also add up to three bonus questions, worth 8 points by default. A bonus question is one of these kinds:
- Top scorer: the player with the most points, goals and assists combined, in playoff games. The question earns nothing until the playoffs are over.
- Player (typed in): the commissioner enters the player who is the correct answer themselves.
- Number: the commissioner enters the exact number, and the closest answer wins the points, ties included.
Bonus questions can be edited, and poolers answer them, until the first faceoff.
In a tie, the standings break it first by the right winner of the final, then by the most correct numbers of games. The commissioner can also ask a numeric tiebreaker question: the closest answer goes ahead. If the tie remains, the rank is shared.
The mode, the scoring, the favourite team and the tiebreak lock at the first playoff faceoff. Before then, the commissioner sets them freely.
The second chance
In a full bracket, a second chance is on by default: the pooler predicts rounds 2 to 4 again on the real matchups, as in round by round. A series opens when its matchup is known and closes at the opening faceoff of its first game. The second chance has its own standings, with the same scoring and the same tiebreak. It counts the series only: not the favourite team or the bonus questions. The main standings don't change.
In a playoff grid, a second chance exists too, but it's off by default. The commissioner turns it on, then opens a second grid, generated from the clubs still alive, when the 8 first-round series have a winner.
From a season pool
A playoff pool created from a season pool takes its name with the suffix "Playoffs" and offers to reinvite the poolers who claimed their spot, with an account and an email. The commissioner is already in the new pool.
This link to the season pool doesn't carry over any access: a Season Pass doesn't cover the playoff pool, which needs one of the options below.
Paying for the pool
Poolers never pay. The playoff pool needs one of these:
- the Playoff Pass, bought for this pool;
- a Combo Pass, which covers the season and includes a Playoff Pass the commissioner applies to a playoff pool;
- a Grand Pool Pass, which includes a Playoff Pass for a playoff pool played as a grid or predictions, and lifts the limit of 20 spots;
- a Team or Organization plan from the organization the pool belongs to.
In a prediction pool, a series counts only if the pool had its pass when that series closed. Without a pass at that moment, the series counts for nobody, and a pass applied afterward doesn't reopen series already closed. Estrade also emails the commissioner, 48 hours before the first faceoff, if the pool doesn't have the access it needs.
Number of poolers
A playoff draft is always limited to 20 poolers, whatever the pool's access. A grid or a prediction pool doesn't have this sign-up limit, but above 20 spots, a prediction pool needs the Grand Pool Pass or an Organization plan, otherwise its standings don't show, even though poolers can still join. A playoff grid follows the box pool rule: above 20 complete grids, it doesn't lock without one of the two.