The puck is about to drop on the Stanley Cup Playoffs! As is the case every season, the panel is weighing in with predictions for each of the eight playoff series, the Stanley Cup finalists and winner, and Conn Smythe Trophy winner. The panel will also return for more predictions at the start of every round.

The panel's lifetime record is 141-90 when it comes to postseason predictions.

Eastern Conference

Western Conference

Stanley Cup

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.

Strong Favorites

There were no unanimous selections from the panel, but there were clear favorites in half of the series. Presidents' Trophy-winning Winnipeg over recently cooled St. Louis seems like a no-brainer. Toronto over Ottawa and Vegas over Minnesota also seem to make sense. All but three writers picked Carolina over New Jersey even though the two teams were separated by only eight points in the standings. Not having Jack Hughes in the lineup might make winning a playoff series a difficult task for the Devils.

Too Close to Call

The close series seem to follow the theme of "this team deserved better than having to face that opponent in Round 1." The Battle of Florida will be a hard slog, with the defending Stanley Cup champions facing their cross-state rivals that has won two previous Stanley Cups with much of its current core. Colorado and Dallas both loaded up at the deadline, only to have one of them see their Stanley Cup dreams die in the first round. Edmonton and Los Angeles face each other for the fourth consecutive year – will the fourth time finally prove to be a charm for the Kings?                                                                                

Stanley Cup Winner

Results were all over the map on this one, with all sorts of different combinations. In the end, Colorado winning the Stanley Cup over Tampa Bay was the most likely scenario. This would mirror what happened in 2022.

Nathan MacKinnon and Connor Hellebuyck each received more votes for the Conn Smythe than any other player.  

Want to make your own playoff predictions while challenging the DobberHockey community? Join DobberHockey’s bracket challenge!

DobberHockey's bracket challenge!https://t.co/5CyfSrOCoB
cc. @Ian_Gooding @SlimCliffy @pharling

— Dobber (@DobberHockey) April 17, 2025

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 an associate editor who 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 is the Saturday game picks writer. 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.

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's a very busy guy, also sharing his DFS picks three days a week.

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

Stas Pupkov dives deep into advanced stats with Analytics Advantage every Thursday.

Puneet Sharma handles the popular Top 10 list every Monday, and he lends his prospects expertise to The Journey every Saturday. Puneet is also a senior writer at Dobber Prospects.

TJ Branson focuses on Eastern Conference teams in the Eastern Edge column. TJ is also a host on the Five Hole Fantasy Hockey podcast.

Logan Clarkson details the key injuries you need to know about every Wednesday in Injury Ward. He has also written for GoaliePost.

Eli Feldman covers line combinations every Tuesday in Lining Up.

Chad Simpson has filled in on a few articles this season, most recently Injury Ward.

Enjoy the playoffs, folks!