Close your eyes, throw those darts and hope you don’t embarrass yourself. That might as well be the mentality for making Stanley Cup playoff picks every year. And that’s what makes it so darned fun. No matter how much conviction each of us has about their picks every spring, something will happen that no one expects, such as the Florida Panthers dethroning a 65-win Boston Bruins team in Round 1 last year.
The odds of the playoffs turning out exactly as laid out below are slim. But it sure is fun to try. So we present to you Daily Faceoff’s staff playoff brackets.
The panel of prognosticators:
Colby Cohen, co-host of Morning Cuppa Hockey
Steven Ellis, DFO associate editor & prospect analyst
Jason Gregor, co-host of The
DFO Rundown podcast
Matt Larkin, DFO managing editor & senior writer
Jonny Lazarus, DFO writer & co-host of Morning Cuppa Hockey
Brock Seguin, DFO managing fantasy editor
Frank Seravalli, DFO president of hockey content and co-host of The DFO Rundown podcast
Tyler Yaremchuk, host & senior producer of The Nation Network
COLBY COHEN’S BRACKET
STEVEN ELLIS’ BRACKET
JASON GREGOR’S BRACKET
MATT LARKIN’S BRACKET
JONNY LAZARUS’ BRACKET
BROCK SEGUIN’S BRACKET
FRANK SERAVALLI’S BRACKET
TYLER YAREMCHUK’S BRACKET
A few noteworthy takeaways:
– The Dallas Stars are the most popular pick, chosen by four of us to win the Stanley Cup, by five of us to reach the Final and by seven of us to make the Western Conference Final.
– The Edmonton Oilers got two championship votes, while the New York Rangers and Florida Panthers were the only Eastern Conference teams to get picked.
– The Carolina Hurricanes were picked by three of us to reach the Stanley Cup Final, but no one has them going all the way.
– No faith in the defending champs? Every one of us has the Vegas Golden Knights dropping out in Round 1 on account of their difficult draw against a stacked Stars team.
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