Stanley Cup FINAL – DobberHockey Experts Panel – NHL Playoffs 2018

Mario Prata

2018-05-27

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:

 

Dobber
Stanley Cup Final:
Capitals in 6
Conn Smythe: M-A Fleury

 

Steve Laidlaw
Stanley Cup Final:
Golden Knights in 7
Conn Smythe: M-A Fleury

 

Ian Gooding
Stanley Cup Final:
Golden Knights in 6
Conn Smythe: M-A Fleury

 

Michael Clifford
Stanley Cup Final:
Capitals in 7
Conn Smythe: A. Ovechkin

 

Mario Prata
Stanley Cup Final:
Capitals in 6
Conn Smythe: E. Kuznetsov

 

Cam Robinson
Stanley Cup Final:
Golden Knights in 6
Conn Smythe: M-A Fleury

 

Eric Daoust
Stanley Cup Final:
Golden Knights in 6
Conn Smythe: M-A Fleury

 

Tom Collins
Stanley Cup Final:
Capitals in 6
Conn Smythe: M-A Fleury

 

Adam Daly-Frey
Stanley Cup Final:
Golden Knights in 5
Conn Smythe: M-A Fleury

 

Rick Roos
Stanley Cup Final:
Golden Knights in 7
Conn Smythe: E. Kuznetsov

 

Alexander MacLean
Stanley Cup Final:
Golden Knights in 5
Conn Smythe: M-A Fleury

 

Brennan Des
Stanley Cup Final:
Capitals in 7
Conn Smythe: A. Ovechkin

 

Brad Phillips
Stanley Cup Final:
Golden Knights in 5
Conn Smythe: M-A Fleury

 

Adam Mark
Stanley Cup Final:
Capitals in 6
Conn Smythe: M-A Fleury

 

Cameron Metz
Stanley Cup Final:
Capitals in 5
Conn Smythe: A. Ovechkin

 

Christopher Kane
Stanley Cup Final:
Capitals in 6
Conn Smythe: M-A Fleury

 

Chris Liggio
Stanley Cup Final:
Capitals in 6
Conn Smythe: J. Vrana

 

Scott Maran
Stanley Cup Final:
Capitals in 6
Conn Smythe: A. Ovechkin

 

Chris Wassel
Stanley Cup Final:
Capitals in 6
Conn Smyther: M-A Fleury

 

CONSENSUS
Stanley Cup Final:
Capitals in 6
Conn Smythe: M-A Fleury

 

 

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.

 

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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!!

 

 

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UPCOMING GAMES

Mar 28 - 19:03 OTT vs CHI
Mar 28 - 19:03 TOR vs WSH
Mar 28 - 19:03 MTL vs PHI
Mar 28 - 19:03 PIT vs CBJ
Mar 28 - 19:03 FLA vs NYI
Mar 28 - 19:03 CAR vs DET
Mar 28 - 20:03 MIN vs S.J
Mar 28 - 20:03 STL vs CGY
Mar 28 - 20:03 WPG vs VGK
Mar 28 - 21:03 EDM vs L.A
Mar 28 - 21:03 COL vs NYR
Mar 28 - 22:03 SEA vs ANA
Mar 28 - 22:03 VAN vs DAL
Mar 28 - 22:03 ARI vs NSH

Starting Goalies

Top Skater Views

  Players Team
TAGE THOMPSON BUF
JJ PETERKA BUF
JORDAN GREENWAY BUF
ANTHONY DUCLAIR T.B
JURAJ SLAFKOVSKY MTL

Top Goalie Profile Views

  Players Team
ALEKSEI KOLOSOV PHI
JOONAS KORPISALO OTT
KAREL VEJMELKA ARI
UKKO-PEKKA LUUKKONEN BUF
JUSTUS ANNUNEN COL

LINE COMBOS

  Frequency DAL Players
23.3 MASON MARCHMENT MATT DUCHENE TY DELLANDREA
21.3 JASON ROBERTSON JOE PAVELSKI ROOPE HINTZ
18.8 SAM STEEL CRAIG SMITH RADEK FAKSA

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