The panel picked three out of the four second-round series correctly, only missing on the Rangers defeating the Hurricanes. The panel's lifetime record is now 140-88 when it comes to postseason predictions.

Congratulations to Brennan DeSouza, Eric Daoust, and Peter Ryell, who correctly picked all four series in the second round!

Here are the picks for the conference finals:

For the coin toss, heads was the higher-seeded team. The default is seven games for each coin toss pick, as well as for any writers who replied only with series winners. The coin toss results aren't counted among the aggregate results – they are just there to embarrass any of our writers if needed.

Note that the number of games is the average number of games picked by the panel and does not factor in who will win the series.

Eastern Conference

The Presidents' Trophy-winning Rangers won their first seven games of the playoffs before Carolina gave them a scare for two games. They will be in tough against a Panthers team that appears to be hungry to return to the Stanley Cup Final.

Western Conference

The Stars were the most popular pick among our writers for the Stanley Cup before the playoffs started, so it should be no surprise that they are the choice in the Western Conference Final. As well, they will be the more well-rested team in this series with home-ice advantage.

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.

Ian Gooding is the managing editor of DobberHockey and a regular writer on the daily Ramblings beat, also providing monthly Top 100 Roto Rankings. 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, writing the Ramblings multiple times per week. He also covers DFS for Stokastic and writes for EP Rinkside.

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.

Brennan DeSouza is the latest writer to join the editing team, as he now also writes the Ramblings once a week. He had previously covered Injury Ward, Eastern Edge, and Lining Up.

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.

Rick Roos authors the weekly Roos Let Loose column every Wednesday, covering a variety of topics. He is the former Cage Match writer for Dobber Hockey.

Flip Livingstone started as the Saturday game picks writer and is now taking on Eastern Edge and the Top 10 list as well. He is a former NHL writer for theScore with past experience at such outlets as Postmedia, Hockey Night in Canada, and the CBC.

Michael Amato is the Goalie Post editor who provides the latest starting goalie information and writes the Goalie Ramblings. He also covers fantasy hockey for Sportsnet and is the co-host of the Sleepers & Keepers podcast for The Hockey News. 

Grant Campbell keeps an eye on everything Western Conference in the Wild West column every Monday.

Chris Kane writes the Frozen Tools Forensics column on Fridays, emphasizing what he finds on Frozen Tools.

Ben Gehrels pens the weekly prospect column The Journey that can be found here every Saturday. He is also an associate editor at Dobber Prospects.

Andrew Santillo checks out what’s coming down the pipe schedule-wise with the Looking Ahead column every Friday, as well as salary cap column Capped on Thursdays. He has also contributed to Goalie Post.

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

Brad Hayward provides tons of tips to help you win your daily fantasy leagues on Saturdays.

Ryan Brudner shares his expertise of multicategory leagues in the Geek of the Week column every Sunday. He has also contributed to GoaliePost.

Blake Creamer brings his medical knowledge and sense of humor to Injury Ward every Wednesday. He also hosts the Apples & Ginos Fantasy Hockey Podcast.

Stas Pupkov dives deep into advanced stats with Analytics Advantage, a new column for the 2023-24 season.

Enjoy the conference finals, folks!