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 756 best-of-seven playoff series since the league's origins through 2023, 128 (17%) have ended in a sweep. The most sweeps in a single postseason during this span is five (1969, 1992). Only four 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, 2020).
Over the past 36 postseasons (since the 1987 expansion to best-of-seven series), a sweep has resulted in 76 of 540 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) | 2019: 4 (2P, 1Q, 1S) |
| 2001: 3 (2P, 1Q) | 2020: 0 |
| 2002: 0 | 2021: 3 (2P, 1Q) |
| 2003: 2 (1P, 1S) | 2022: 3 (1P, 1Q, 1S) |
| 2004: 1 (1Q) | 2023: 1 (1S) |
| 2005: N/A |
(P = Preliminary, Q = Quarterfinal, S = Semifinal, F = Final)
Breaking it down by round, the most sweeps on a percentage basis have happened in the Stanley Cup Final (6/36 = 17%), though no team has been swept there since 1998 when the Detroit Red Wings disposed off the Washington Capitals. The Quarterfinal (22/144 = 15%), Preliminary (38/288 = 13%) and Semifinal (10/72 = 14%) rounds follow with a historically significant but decreasing likelihood of sweep.
The 2023 Playoffs delivered just one sweep with Florida disposing of Carolina in four consecutive games in the Eastern Conference Final.
* See also NHL Playoff Sweeps Without Surrendering Lead.
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