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 return for more predictions at the start of every round.

The panel's lifetime record is 150-96 when it comes to postseason predictions.

Eastern Conference

Western Conference

Stanley Cup

For the coin toss, heads was the higher-seeded team. The coin toss results aren't counted among the aggregate results – they are used to break potential deadlocks (see below) and 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

Colorado over Los Angeles was a unanimous selection (except for the coin!) The two teams were separated by 31 points, which is the largest difference of any two playoff teams, let alone two teams in a series. The Avalanche feature Rocket Richard Trophy winner Nathan MacKinnon (53 G), while Mackenzie Blackwood and Scott Wedgewood won the Jennings Trophy as Colorado allowed the fewest goals (197 GA) of any team. The Kings are banking on in-season acquisition Artemi Panarin to help pull off an upset, although they will be without another top-6 forward in Kevin Fiala.

Too Close to Call

While the Avalanche have been handed as easy a matchup on paper as they could receive, two of the Western Conference's top three teams in Dallas and Minnesota square off in a series that has been inevitable for a while and is stronger than your typical first-round matchup. This one was split up the middle by our voters (10 for each team), so we used the coin toss as the tiebreaker. Dallas finished with eight more points and has the home advantage, so it would make sense that they are the slight favorites. Yet Dallas is dealing with injuries to Miro Heiskanen and Roope Hintz, while Minnesota has decided to go all in by acquiring Quinn Hughes for a hefty package of young players. This should be an entertaining series that could go the distance.

An honorable mention goes to Boston and Buffalo. In their long-awaited return to the playoffs, the red-hot Sabres are a bit of an unknown quantity. The Sabres turned out to be the slight favorites, but it is noted that Rasmus Dahlin and Tage Thompson (among others) will be making their first-ever appearance in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Stanley Cup Winner

The Presidents' Trophy winning Colorado Avalanche are the most popular choice here, which makes sense. Voters were split between Tampa Bay or Carolina as their opponent. Colorado and Tampa Bay met in the 2022 Stanley Cup Final, with the Avalanche winning in six games. Colorado and Carolina have never met in the final, but they are connected in another way. Martin Necas was acquired by the Avalanche last season in the Mikko Rantanen trade, with Rantanen being moved to Dallas later that season.

MacKinnon received more votes for the Conn Smythe than any other player. 

Participating in a playoff pool? Purchase Dobber's Playoff Draft List, available from the Dobber Sports Store.

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 has also written 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.

Puneet Sharma is also an associate editor who also writes the Ramblings once a week. He has covered both the Top 10 list and The Journey in the past. Puneet is also a senior writer at Dobber Prospects.

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 DobberHockey.

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 has also co-hosted the Sleepers & Keepers podcast for The Hockey News. 

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

Lucas Main keeps an eye on everything Western Conference in the Wild West column every Monday. He shifts over to line combinations on Tuesdays with Lining Up.

Andrew Santillo shares salary cap league thoughts in Capped on Thursdays. He's a very busy guy, also sharing his DFS picks two days a week.

Ryan Brudner covers what you need to know about NHL betting in his weekday article Puck Picks. He has also written the Geek of the Week column, has written for GoaliePost, and has contributed goalie stats to Frozen Tools.

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

Mike Ouellet focuses on Eastern Conference teams in the Eastern Edge column. He also writes for GoaliePost.

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

Caleb Desjardins authors our popular Top 10 column. He also checks out what’s coming down the pipe schedule-wise with the Looking Ahead column every Friday.

Victor Nuno shares his extensive prospect knowledge in The Journey every Saturday. Also known as the Fantasy Hockey Doctor, Victor is also the co-host of the Fantasy Hockey Life podcast and is an editor for DobberProspects. 

Garrett Finlay writes for GoaliePost, and he also creates videos for several DobberHockey writers.

Enjoy the playoffs, folks!