Stanley Cup Heating Up: NHL Postseason Advertising

This guide breaks down how to run profitable campaigns during the NHL playoffs, from timing your ads around key games to choosing the right formats and targeting strategies. The NHL season is reaching its icy peak, and the Stanley Cup Playoffs are coming. Cue the hype and attention exploding… now. Oh, and let’s not mention the Florida Panthers and their three-peat chances. Awkward…

For over two months, from April to June, millions of fans will tune in for every hit, goal, and Game 7 meltdown (that’s right! Our favourite best-of-7 series is back!). That means one thing for advertisers: massive traffic, high engagement, and real conversion potential.

Time for the playoff season, and time to show up at the perfect time and get those clicks!

COUNTRIES TO TARGET

After the huge Olympic Gold medal clash between the US and Canada, we can expect interest to be as high as ever, with Canada keen to get a bit of revenge. Expect huge traffic from both of them.

Foreign markets continue to be on the rise, however. Expect to see growing interest from the UK, Mexico, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland – don’t sleep on these!

TIPS ON ADVERTISING DURING NHL

The NHL playoffs are where things get serious. No more “I’ll catch the highlights later.” Every game matters, every goal hurts (or heals), and fans suddenly have very strong opinions about everything.

Which is great news for advertisers. Because when fans are this invested, they click more, engage more, and convert more. -If you want to show up at the right moments, start with these key dates:

▪️April 18 – Playoffs start

▪️June 04  – Stanley Cup Finals Start

The following dates are based on Central European Time (CET)

With more dates to be announced officially in the near future, make sure to add the NHL calendar 2025/26 to Google Calendar (or iPhone), so you’re always on top of the action.

Ad Content

During the NHL playoffs, fans are properly invested – all the emotions. If your ads don’t match that energy, they get ignored. That’s why leaning into strong hockey themes isn’t optional. When the playoffs are on, everything else fades into the background. Your creatives need to feel like part of the action, not a distraction from it.

This is not the time to play it safe. Playoff games are louder, faster, and more intense. Your ads should be too. Bold visuals, high contrast, clear hooks. If it doesn’t stand out instantly, it’s gone.

Build around storylines

The smartest campaigns tap into the moment. Keep on your toes and be ready to update creatives regularly. Think:

▪️Game 7 pressure

▪️Elimination nights

▪️Underdog runs

▪️Rivalry matchups

▪️Overtime drama

If a fan clicks on an ad built around a “win or go home” moment, they’re stepping deeper into the experience. That’s what drives engagement, clicks, and ultimately, wins.

Keep it contextual

Generic “hockey ad” doesn’t work during playoffs. Tie your creatives to:

▪️Specific matchups

▪️Current series (e.g., 2–2, Game 5 tension)

▪️Big moments happening that day

The closer your ad feels to what the fan is already watching, the higher the chance they interact with it.

What the Experts are Saying

This year’s playoffs aren’t about one dominant team. It’s a cluster of contenders—and a lot of chaos. This is what we want. If match-ups are tight, they’ll run long into their 7-game series. This means way more games and way more chances to get those ads out there.

Here’s where experts are leaning:

▪️Colorado Avalanche – The most complete team overall. Strong across the board, with one of the highest Cup probabilities. If goaltending holds, they’re a top-tier favorite.

▪️Carolina Hurricanes – Built for playoff hockey. Structured, aggressive, and consistent. The question isn’t talent; it’s whether they finally deliver when it matters.

▪️Vegas Golden Knights – Deep, balanced, and experienced. Not flashy, but extremely hard to eliminate in a 7-game series.

▪️Dallas Stars – The quiet contender. No hype, just consistency. The kind of team that grinds through rounds while others collapse.

▪️Tampa Bay Lightning – The dangerous veteran. Not dominant anymore, but still capable of flipping a series overnight.

▪️Edmonton Oilers – High-risk, high-reward. Can outscore anyone, but just as capable of falling apart early.

▪️Montreal Canadiens/Buffalo Sabres – Dark horse territory. Strong late-season momentum makes them the teams nobody wants to underestimate.

Ad Formats

Playoff hockey is confidence in the chaos. Your ad formats should be too. This is not the time to be subtle. If your campaign quietly taps someone on the shoulder, it’s getting ignored. You need formats that walk in, grab attention, and refuse to leave.

Pop-Under is your power play. It’s loud, it’s scalable, and it gets your offer in front of fans whether they planned for it or not. If you want volume, this is your workhorse. Now layer it.

In-Page Push keeps you in the fight. While fans are glued to the game, especially when they’re refreshing scores and checking lineups on their phone whilst pretending to work, Push hits them in real time with something they can’t ignore. It’s less “hey, look at this” and more “you’re clicking this.”

And timing? That’s where most people mess it up. Traffic doesn’t slowly build. It spikes. Hard.

▪️Right before puck drop

▪️During intermissions

▪️After big goals

▪️In Game 7 moments when everyone forgets how to breathe

That’s when your ads should be everywhere. If your ad says “NHL Playoffs,” congratulations, you sound like everyone else. Use the actual matchup. Use the stakes. Make it feel like part of the game.

Payment Models

The way you bid should change depending on how you track success. If you’re set up to track conversions, lean on a CPA Target model. Our optimization tech automatically adjusts to hit your conversion goals. Think of it as your McDavid, always finding the right angle to score.

For more intent-driven formats (Banners, Interstitials, and Push), we recommend going with CPC. That way, you’re only paying for the users who show real interest in your creative. Don’t be shy about bidding aggressively: doubling or even tripling the average bid helps you secure the highest-quality traffic. 

Monetization Tips

Playoff traffic is easy to get. Keeping it (and actually making money from it) is where most publishers mess up. This is where you separate “I got some clicks” from “time to monetize.”

Prepare before the spike hits

By the time traffic shows up, it’s too late to optimize. Your placements, formats, and setup should already be dialed in before puck drop. Because when the spike hits, it hits fast, and it doesn’t wait for you to fix things. If your setup is clunky, slow, or under-optimized, you’ll feel it immediately in your revenue.

 Don’t rely on one format

One format is safe. Safe doesn’t make money. The publishers who win during playoffs don’t pick a format; they stack them.

▪️Pop-Under for scale

▪️In-Page Push for visibility

▪️Interstitial to hit them when they’re paying attention

▪️Video slider to effortlessly draw the eye

More touchpoints – more chances to monetize the same user. Or… you skip the manual work and let Autotag 4-in-1 do it for you.

Autotag automatically rotates multiple high-performing formats in a single placement, optimizing in real time to get you the best possible return. No guesswork, no constant tweaking, no “did I pick the wrong format?” It just finds what works and pushes it harder.

Conclusion

You’ve got the playbook. Now it’s time to actually use it. The NHL playoffs don’t wait around. Traffic spikes, trends shift, and opportunities disappear just as fast as they show up. The winners aren’t the ones who “try things out”; they’re the ones who show up ready and move fast.

So, helmet on. Campaigns live. No overthinking.

If you want to go deeper – more strategies, more events, more chances to catch the next big spike – check out our Sports Calendar and stay one step ahead of the crowd.

And if you need backup, Adcash support is right there. Real people, real help, no waiting around. Now go make something out of the traffic while everyone else is still warming up.