The DobberHockey writers select their winner for the 2018 Stanley Cup Final.

The end of the playoff road is here, as the Stanley Cup Final is set to start on Monday night. Coming out of the East are the Washington Capitals (M1), while the expansion Vegas Golden Knights (P1) continue to wow the hockey world in 2017-18 by representing the West and taking aim at the greatest trophy in sports, the Stanley Cup.

After a solid 6-2 showing of predictions in the first round, DobberHockey's panel stumbled in Round 2 with a 1-3 record, and were most-recently blanked 0-2 in Round 3. Consensus-wise, they go into the Final with a 7-7 slate — the team's most arduous performance since the website started keeping track. Will they top (or fall below) the .500 mark with a winning prediction for the Final? Their record was 81-38 going into this postseason. Quick note about Round 3: only Rick Roos, Alexander MacLean and Adam Daly-Frey had the Golden Knights advancing.

Individually, predictions for the Final aren't split down the middle but they are close enough nonetheless with the Capitals garnering 11 of the possible 19 votes. And, benefitting from the opportunity to re-pick their Conn Smythe Trophy winner since the Round 1 pre-playoff predictions, the boys chose the Golden Knights' Marc-Andre Fleury in overwhelming fashion (12/19 votes).

Below are each writer's selections for the Cup Final, as well as for the prestigious Conn Smythe:

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.

Steve Laidlaw is the managing editor of DobberHockey. His work can be followed through our regular-season Ramblings, as well as on Sportsnet.

Ian Gooding is an associate editor of DobberHockey and a regular writer on the daily Ramblings beat. He also contributes to many other sites, including Sportsnet.

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

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.

Cam Robinson is an associate editor at DobberProspects and, along with Ian Gooding and Mike Clifford, collaborates to Daily Ramblings throughout the summer while Steve Laidlaw is on leave.

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 Cage Match column every Wednesday.

Adam Daly-Frey checks out what's coming down the pipe with the Looking Ahead column every Friday.

Adam Mark is our resident prognosticator, penning the weekly Saturday NHL Picks column.

Alex MacLean authors the salary cap column Capped, which can be found here every Thursday.

Brennan Des writes the weekly line combinations column every Tuesday, and gives us the latest injury information every Wednesday.

Brad Phillips, also a senior writer with DobberProspects, pens the weekly prospect column The Journey that can be found here every Saturday.

Chris Liggio writes the Frozen Pool Forensics column on Fridays.

Scott Maran pens Fantasy Hockey Geek, found here every Sunday.

Chris Wassel delivers the weekly Draft Kings primer, now on Thursdays.

Cameron Metz pens the Eastern Edge column that's published on Tuesdays.

Christopher Kane writes the weekly Wild West column every Monday.

Thanks for being with us throughout — enjoy the Final, folks!!