2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs

The 2017 Stanley Cup playoffs of the National Hockey League (NHL) began on April 12, 2017.

The Washington Capitals made the playoffs as the Presidents' Trophy winners for the second consecutive year with the most points (i.e. best record) during the regular season. The Detroit Red Wings failed to make the playoffs for the first time since the 1989–90 season, ending the NHL's longest active playoff streak at 25 consecutive seasons; the streak was also tied for the third-longest streak in NHL history.

The longest active playoff streak moved to the Pittsburgh Penguins with eleven consecutive appearances.

The Edmonton Oilers made the playoffs for the first time since 2006, ending a record-tying playoff drought for a team with ten years missed (the Florida Panthers also missed the playoffs between 2001 and 2011 inclusively). Also for the first time since 2006, both Alberta teams, the Oilers and the Calgary Flames, qualified for the postseason in the same year.

For the first time since 2013 (and the third time since 2001), all three Eastern Canadian teams (Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs) qualified for the playoffs. In all, five Canadian-based teams made the playoffs, matching 2015, after a season in which none of the seven teams in Canada contended.

The final game of the first round between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Washington Capitals, was the eighteenth overtime game, eclipsing the previous record of seventeen overtime games in the first round set in 2013. It was also the first time since 2001 that no first round series went the full seven games.