The playoff season means that all of the pundits are out in full force, making their picks on which teams will win each of the eight first round, quarterfinal playoff series. (For the record, we make our picks here in this space on Tuesday.)
NHL Playoff Predictions: So-Called Experts Make Mostly Unsurprising Quarterfinal Picks
While these picks obviously mean nothing, it’s always fun to feign outrage when somebody on the Internet picks against your team, and it’s always fun to pretend like you feel good about your team’s chances when that same person picks your team to advance. So let’s compile all of these picks into one place, shall we?
ESPN.com has seven so-called experts making picks this season, and most of them are in agreement with each other on a lot of the quarterfinal matchups. 7 of 7 picked the Capitals to advance past the Rangers, the Sharks to beat the Kings and the Red Wings to knock out the Coyotes, while 6 of 7 selected the Bruins to beat the Canadiens and the Penguins to beat the Lightning.
The fine folks at The Hockey News picked things as a collective, and they believe in the higher seed on just about every level. They selected Washington, Vancouver, Philadelphia, San Jose, Boston, Detroit and Anaheim to win their first round series, while they left the Pittsburgh Penguins as the only higher seed to lose out in the first round. They picked the Lightning to win that one.
Sportsnet.ca’s dueling experts, Mike Brophy and Mark Spector, each predicted one conference. Spector took the West and Brophy took the East, and nothing is particularly shocking. Nashville in seven, Coyotes in six (perhaps the biggest surprise), Sharks in five, Canucks in six, Bruins in six, Flyers in six, Lightning in six.
The only surprise pick on Sportsnet’s list is Brophy’s pick on the Rangers over the Caps in seven, but given Washington’s history and New York’s success this season against the Caps, is that even a shocking pick either?
At CBC, Tim Wharnsby made his picks as follows: NYR in seven, PHI in six, BOS in six, PIT in seven, VAN in six, SJ in five, DET in seven and NSH in seven.
Again, we’ll have our picks on Tuesday.
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