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 2021-22 Stanley Cup playoff series:

(A1) Florida vs. (WC2) Washington

(M1) Carolina vs. (WC1) Boston

(M2) NY Rangers vs. (M3) Pittsburgh

(A2) Toronto vs. (A3) Tampa Bay

(C1) Colorado vs. (WC2) Nashville

(P1) Calgary vs. (WC1) Dallas

(C2) Minnesota vs. (C3) St. Louis

(P2) Edmonton vs. (P3) Los Angeles

For matchups, the number shows the seeding within the division.

The panel's lifetime record is 114-73 when it comes to postseason predictions.

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. 

Strong Favorites

Florida and Colorado were both unanimous selections among all 19 panelists to win their series, as not a single panelist chose either Washington or Nashville to win.

All but one panelist chose Calgary to win over Dallas. Like Florida and Colorado, Calgary was projected by the panel to win its series in five games.

Too Close to Call

All of the series have a clear majority in terms of a winner. However, Boston/Carolina, NY Rangers/Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay/Toronto, and Minnesota/St. Louis all have seven games as the most frequent choice among all who chose that majority. Could that mean another Game 7 heartbreak in Toronto? Not ideal if you're a Leafs fan.  

Stanley Cup winner

The panel has chosen Colorado to win the Stanley Cup, with Nathan MacKinnon the most popular Conn Smythe Trophy winner from that team. Both Colorado and MacKinnon are the panel favorites for the second consecutive season. Maybe this is the season that they come through.

Florida was not far behind as the second-most popular choice. If Florida hoists the cup, then Aleksander Barkov would be the projected Conn Smythe winner.

Agree? Disagree? Comments?  

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.

Scott Royce gives you the fantasy hockey Geek of the Week every Sunday. 

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.

Brad Hayward also picks DFS players on Tuesdays.

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.

Vlad Zorila also makes Saturday game picks.

Enjoy the playoffs, folks!