NHL Playoff Pool 2023

Welcome to the 2nd annual CFL Forum NHL Playoff Pool. With some skillful picks and a good dose of luck you could walk away with the fabulous Stan Lee Cup as crafted by @Maaax

As you can see Bobo is the defending champion although the history of other CFL pools tells us that defending a pool championship is very difficult to do.

The rules are simple. All you have to do is pick the winner of each series throughout the playoffs. There will be 15 series in total. The winner is the person with the most correct picks. If there is a tie, as there was last year between Bobo and Paolo, the winner will be determined by a golf like countback with the loser being the first person to have lost a round to the person they are tied with, starting with the Final and counting back from there.

All picks must be made no later than one hour before the start of the first game in each round. The first eight picks must therefore be made no later than 5 p.m. Eastern time on Monday, April 17th.

For the first round the series from which you must pick the winners are as follows, with the team that has home ice advantage listed second:

Florida vs Boston
NYI vs Carolina
NYR vs NJ
Tampa vs Toronto
Minnesota vs Dallas
LA vs Edmonton
Seattle vs Colorado
Winnipeg vs Las Vegas

Pool standings will be posted after each round.

The pool is open to all, even Leaf fans, but in order to facilitate participation I will specifically invite last year’s participants:

@Grover @bobo82 @Paolo_X @mahalcflers @kav2001c @Krisiun @FootbalYouBet @Maaax @Jasmine @Aerial

I will also invite those known to me as either frequent participants in other CFL Forum pools or frequent posters in NHL related threads. Sorry if I have missed anyone but everyone is welcome.

@tony @Abendschan @Squishy21 @GridironGirl @GHT120 @Eskimos4Ever @Mightygoose @IllinoisGuy @Tedtanium1976 @Paul_ste_marie

One last thing. It would be great if we could limit this thread to pool picks and pool related comments. There is a general discussion NHL playoff thread started yesterday by Krisiun that would be the best place for general and ongoing playoff commentary. Based on past experience and comments received it is difficult to follow everyone’s picks when there are many discussion posts intertwined with those picks. Thank you in advance.

Feel free to pick away and good luck to all!

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Do we have to predict in how many games or just winners straight up?

Just winners straight up. Same as last year. That’s difficult enough given the inevitable upsets that occur.

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Thanks. Honestly there’s no wrong answer as the teams are fairly matched.

The Leafs can be a disappointment though.

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Florida vs Boston
NYI vs Carolina
NYR vs NJ
Tampa vs Toronto
Minnesota vs Dallas
LA vs Edmonton
Seattle vs Colorado
Winnipeg vs Las Vegas

I'll go

Boston
Carolina
NJ
Toronto :scream:
Dallas
Edmonton
Colorado
Las Vegas

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Like last year, here goes nothin’:

Florida
Carolina
NYR
Toronto
Minnesota
Edmonton
Colorado
Winnipeg :roll_eyes:

Thanks Jon!

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I’ll go as well:

Boston
Carolina
NYR
Tampa (not feeling it but I’ll take history for $1,000 Alex)
Dallas
Edmonton
Colorado
Winnipeg (homer upset special just like I expect Bobo will take the Islanders and Krisiun will take the Kings)

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Ready to defend my title and take on all comers .
Alright here go . Round # 1 Predictions .

EAST

BOSTON over Florida
NY ISLES over Carolina
T . BAY over Toronto
JERSEY over New York

WEST

DALLAS over Minnesota
EDMONTON over Los Angeles
COLORADO over Seattle
VEGAS over Winnipeg

Good Luck to all in round # 1 :beers: :ice_hockey:

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I think we’re doomed to roll over and burst into flames on take-off with our Jets picks.

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Boston
Carolina
NJ
Tampa
Dallas
Edmonton
Colorado
Las Vegas

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It’s a bit of a flyer for sure but I’m going with Craig Button’s prediction and blaming him if we’re wrong.

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It's always hard to pick in these pools when your team is the underdog or similarly a team that you hate is considered a heavy favourite.

So here is my attempt for Round 1:

BOSTON
CAROLINA

NJ
TAMPA
DALLAS
LA
COLORADO
VEGAS

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Heck yeah! I don’t follow hockey much but I’m totally in.

No jinxing but I’m all but guaranteed to finish last so make your opposite picks accordingly.

Boston
NYI
NJ
Toronto
Minnesota
Edmonton
Seattle
Winnipeg

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You are selling yourself short. Past pools have proven that you don’t need to be an expert in a sport to do well in a pool. Glad you’re in.

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Well.......

Boston
Carolina
NJ
Tampa
Dallas
Edmonton
Colorado
Winnipeg

If there are upsets - they will be Florida and Seattle......

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Boston
New York Islanders
New Jersey
Toronto


Dallas
Edmonton
Seattle
Las Vegas

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Hey they are allowed their eventual 1st round collapse still

I feel like too many picks are more emotional (aka I like that team) vs empirical tho

Florida vs Boston BOSTON
NYI vs Carolina ISLANDERS
NYR vs NJ RANGERS
Tampa vs Toronto TAMPA
Minnesota vs Dallas MINNESOTA
LA vs Edmonton EDMONTON
Seattle vs Colorado COLORADO
Winnipeg vs Las Vegas VEGAS

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It’s good to have them in the pool because you know you will have that one game edge on them in the first round.

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The great thing about picking those Leafs in the early rounds is that you win no matter what happens!

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