Longest Active NHL Playoff Appearance Streaks

In this era of parity in the NHL, there’s not many teams who can regularly feel comfortable about their team’s chances of making a deep playoff run or making a playoff run at all. 

It’s not like other times in the league’s history when there were several teams on active decades-long playoff appearance streaks. 

Still, a few teams have made a habit of making the postseason. 

Here are the longest active playoff appearance streaks in the NHL as of the 2025 playoffs. 

Longest Active NHL Playoff Appearance Streaks

Who Has the Longest Active Streak of Making the Playoffs in the NHL?

The Toronto Maple Leafs have made the playoffs each year for the last nine years. 

The last time Leafs fans had to go a whole spring without the fortune — or, in their case, misfortune — of a Toronto playoff appearance was in 2016. 

While they have had the longest streak of appearances, it hasn’t translated to all that much success. In seven out of those nine appearances, the Leafs didn’t make it out of the first round. 

The last time the team made the conference finals was in 200,2 and their last Stanley Cup Finals win was in 1967, also the last time they appeared in the final round. 

Don’t get too upset about it, though, Leafs fans. Two of the three longest playoff appearance streaks, 28 years for Chicago and 25 for St. Louis also resulted in no Stanley Cup wins.