The second-round projections didn't quite go as planned for the panel, as they picked only one correct series winner (Dallas). None of the individual writers picked all four series correctly either.

Perhaps the teams remaining in the final four haven't received the respect that they deserve. That's why it shouldn't be that much of a fluke that they have made it this far.

Florida: Last season's Presidents' Trophy winner

Carolina: First place, Metropolitan Division

Dallas: Second place, Central Division (only one point behind division winner Colorado)

Vegas: First place, Pacific Division

The writers will try to improve on their record with some conference final picks that won't be easy. They will try to build on their lifetime record of 130-84 when it comes to postseason predictions.

With Conference Final games starting on Thursday, below are the panel's picks.

For the coin toss, heads was the higher-seeded team.

Strong Favorites

The panel didn't lean strongly one way or the other for either series. That should be no surprise, as none of the teams are considered a strong favorite for the Stanley Cup, as per the betting sites.

Updated Stanley Cup champion odds:

Carolina Hurricanes +225
Vegas Golden Knights +250
Dallas Stars +320
Florida Panthers +370 pic.twitter.com/E7zNDInIzR

— Odds Shark (@OddsShark) May 16, 2023

Too Close to Call

The Eastern Conference Final in particular was too close to call. This result was ultimately decided by a coin toss, as it was evenly split with nine writers picking Carolina and nine writers picking Florida. The Hurricanes have home-ice advantage, but does Florida's run as an underdog make them for real?   

Dallas was more of the clear pick in the Western Conference Final, although Vegas has home-ice advantage and is the slight betting favorite.

About the Panel

Dobber launched this website in 2005 after he was the fantasy hockey columnist for The Hockey News website, The Fantasy Sports Network, and a contributor to The Forecaster. DobberHockey has since grown into the Dobber Sports Network and has work can be found across the Internet, including on Sportsnet.

Ian Gooding is the managing editor of DobberHockey and a regular writer on the daily Ramblings beat. He has also contributed to many other sites, including Sportsnet, Today's Slapshot, Kukla's Korner, and fantasyhockey.com.

Mike Clifford is an associate editor of DobberHockey and contributor for Rotowire and other fantasy hockey ventures.

Alex MacLean is an associate editor and writes the Ramblings once a week. He was previously the author of the Capped column and also contributes salary cap league rankings.

Mario Prata is the manager of special projects and marketing for Dobber Sports. He is also a co-founder of the famous The Sports Forecaster magazine.

Eric Daoust manages our valued Frozen Pool section.

Tom Collins writes the weekly Top 10 column that can be found here every Monday.

Rick Roos authors the weekly Roos Let Loose column every Wednesday. He is the former Cage Match writer for Dobber Hockey.

Michael Amato is the Goalie Post editor who provides the latest starting goalie information and writes the Goalie Ramblings.

Grant Campbell writes the weekly Wild West column every Monday.

Brennan DeSouza does double duty, as he writes the weekly Eastern Edge column every Tuesday and gives us the latest injury information every Wednesday.

Chris Kane writes the Frozen Pool Forensics column on Fridays.

Ben Gehrels pens the weekly prospect column The Journey that can be found here every Saturday. He has also contributed to Dobber Prospects.

Andrew Santillo checks out what’s coming down the pipe schedule-wise with the Looking Ahead column every Friday.

Jamie Molloy authors the salary cap column Capped, which can be found here every Thursday.

Peter Ryell provides you with what you need to know about line combinations in Lining Up.

Steve Dotzel provides tons of tips to help you win your daily fantasy leagues on Thursdays and Saturdays.

Flip Livingstone is our Saturday game picks author. He is a former NHL writer for theScore with past experience at such outlets as Postmedia, Hockey Night in Canada, and the CBC.

Brad Hayward also picks DFS players twice a week. 

Enjoy the playoffs, folks!