probally lakers. celtics and spurs
Teams do not retain possession of the Stanley Cup after winning it. The Cup is passed on to the next year's champion.
Three teams are promoted. The top two teams get automatic promotion. The next 4 teams play two semi-finals and a final to win the third position.
The Premier League is top level, so there is no promotion and there are no play-offs. In the division below, the top two teams are promoted to the Premier League and the next four teams go into play-offs for the last promotion place, having two semi-finals and a final.
US sports reward losing teams so they can have more confidence and makes them more interested in winning the next game they will play.
Detroit Red Wings
Last year the San Diego Chargers had a 4-6 record and los the next 2 games, but ended up winning out to clinch the AFC West with an 8-8 record
If two teams are tied on points, the next statistic in GD (goal difference) and the team with the highest goal difference goes through. If they are level on that, then its goals scored with the team with the larger number of goals scored progresses.
Next season
Next Big Star - 2001 Finals was released on: USA: 3 March 2002
They have a good chance of getting to the quarter finals - having seen them play recently I dont think at this time they will but, the games are still a year away.
The Next - 2012 Semi-Finals 1-8 was released on: USA: 2 October 2012
It is a best of 7 series. Just to clarify things abit........... ALL of the post season NHL play-offs are a best 4 out of 7 format. That means that a team has to get 4 wins in a series to advance to the next level, quarter finals, to semi finals, to the final championship series of games, that will determine the Stanley Cup winning team.