 | |
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | April 21 – June 19, 2006 |
| Teams | 16 |
| Defending champions | Tampa Bay Lightning (notwithstanding the cancelled 2004–05 season) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | Carolina Hurricanes |
| Runner-up | Edmonton Oilers |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Scoring leader(s) | Eric Staal (Hurricanes) (28 points) |
| MVP | Cam Ward (Hurricanes) |
The 2006 Stanley Cup playoffs for the National Hockey League (NHL) championship began on April 21, 2006, following the 2005–06 regular season. This was the first playoffs since 2004 due to the 2004–05 NHL lockout that cancelled the previously scheduled season. The 16 teams that qualified, seeded one through eight from each conference, played best-of-seven series with re-seeding after the Conference quarterfinals. The conference champions played a best-of-seven series for the Stanley Cup.
The Finals concluded on June 19 with the Carolina Hurricanes winning the Stanley Cup, defeating the Edmonton Oilers in the final series four games to three. Carolina goaltender Cam Ward was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as Most Valuable Player of the playoffs. The Edmonton Oilers would miss the playoffs each year thereafter until 2017. This was also the last time until 2023 that the Pittsburgh Penguins missed the playoffs. The St. Louis Blues missed the playoffs for the first time since 1979, ending a 25–season playoff streak, the third longest in NHL history. The current longest playoff streak moved to the Detroit Red Wings at 15 consecutive seasons. This was additionally the first time in history that the Chicago Blackhawks and the St. Louis Blues missed the playoffs in the same season.
While the 2005–06 season introduced a shootout to break ties after five minutes of four-on-four overtime, the Stanley Cup playoffs retained their traditional format of unlimited 20-minute periods of five-on-five sudden-death overtime to break ties.
The Western Conference made history in the first round when all four series were won by the lower-seeded teams (conversely, all four series in the Eastern Conference were won by the higher-seeded teams). The eighth- and lowest-seeded Oilers proceeded to win the Western Conference and participate in the Stanley Cup Finals. Four Canadian teams qualified for the playoffs this year, this total was not equaled again until 2013 and not exceeded until 2015 with five.