NHL standings today: points, games in hand and goal difference

Carolina Hurricanes sit top of the NHL table with 17 points from 11 games, but the standings on any given morning are a snapshot of unequal schedules: one team may have played 5 more games than another.

Points first, games played second

A point total only means something next to games played. Philadelphia Flyers have played 12, while Los Angeles Kings have played 7; the gap is the reason a table read on Monday can look different from the same table read on Thursday.

The full table

Every team, sorted by points, with the record and the last ten games in the right-hand column.

Updated 22 October 2026, 19:00 · live feed, season 2026-27

Goal difference is the tiebreaker worth watching

Carolina Hurricanes own the widest goal difference in the league at +15. That figure is a better description of a team's season than its win total, because it counts every goal in every game rather than only the result.

Form over the last ten

Recent form is the column that moves first. Vancouver Canucks have the strongest last-ten record in the table at 1-8-1, 0 PTS, which usually shows up in the standings a week or two before anything else does.

How to read games in hand

A team with fewer games played can gain ground without winning anything: the missing games are potential points. That is why a five-point gap with two games in hand is a different situation from the same five-point gap with none.

• Compare points only between teams with the same number of games played.
• Treat goal difference as a tiebreaker, not as a sign of quality on its own.
• Check the last-ten column before drawing a conclusion about form.

Updated automatically

The table on this page is generated from a live standings feed and rebuilt through the day, so the numbers you see are the current ones rather than a figure frozen at publication. The date stamp under the table shows exactly when it was last refreshed.