When a team eliminates their opponent using the minimum number of games without sustaining a single loss in a multi-game series they are said to have swept the other team. In the Stanley Cup Playoffs that means winning the first four games of a best-of-seven series.



Of the NHL's 681 best-of-seven playoff series since the league's origins through 2018, 117 (17%) have ended in a sweep. The most sweeps in a single postseason during this span is five (1969, 1992). Only three times since all postseason series were expanded to best-of-seven in 1987 has a Stanley Cup Playoff series gone without a sweep (1991, 2002, 2016).



Over the past 31 postseasons (since the 1987 expansion to best-of-seven series), a sweep has resulted in 65 of 465 series, representing 1 in 7 (14%) of all playoff series. The chart below describes playoff sweeps by year, noting the number and round in which sweep(s) occurred.



Year: Sweeps (Round) Year: Sweeps (Round) 1987: 3 (2P, 1Q) 2006: 2 (1P, 1S) 1988: 2 (1Q, F) 2007: 1 (1P) 1989: 3 (2P, 1Q) 2008: 2 (1P, 1Q) 1990: 2 (1P, 1S) 2009: 4 (3P, 1S) 1991: 0 2010: 1 (1S) 1992: 5 (2Q, 2S, F) 2011: 3 (1P, 2Q) 1993: 3 (2P, 1Q) 2012: 1 (1Q) 1994: 2 (2P) 2013: 2 (1P, 1S) 1995: 4 (3Q, F) 2014: 1 (1P,) 1996: 2 (1P, F) 2015: 2 (1P, 1Q) 1997: 2 (1Q, F) 2016: 0 1998: 3 (1P, 1Q, F) 2017: 2 (2P) 1999: 3 (3P) 2018: 2 (1P) 2000: 2 (2P)

2001: 3 (2P, 1Q)

2002: 0

2003: 2 (1P, 1S)

2004: 1 (1Q)

2005: N/A



Breaking it down by round, the most sweeps on a percentage basis have happened in the Stanley Cup Final (6/31 = 19%), though no team has been swept there since 1998 when the Detroit Red Wings disposed off the Washington Capitals . The Quarterfinal (19/124 = 15%), Preliminary (33/248 = 13%) and Semifinal (7/62 = 11%) rounds follow with a historically significant but decreasing likelihood of sweep.

(P = Preliminary, Q = Quarterfinal, S = Semifinal, F = Final)