Playoff Pool Predictions

[blayze]

I presume many of us have our playoff drafts tomorrow. Thought it'd be helpful to see which teams most people will be concentrating their picks on.

Let's each list our "top 5" to go deep.

1) Pens
2) Hawks
3) Canucks
4) Rangers
5) Blues

Personally I'll be targeting Hawks/Canucks in the early-mid rounds and then I'll be switching over to Rangers/Blues depending on who's available.

[HockeyProphet]

1. Pens
2. Hawks
3. Nucks
4. Rangers
5. Ducks

Not sure what a great playoff strategy would be but I like my top 3 as the more for sure bet.. and my 4 and 5 as the potential dark horses.. especially the Ducks..

Not sure why but I feel the Ducks..

[STONE.]

I always think that a playoff pool depends entirely on where you draft.
If I'm early, I'm disappointed. I'll probably grab one of the stud Pens (Crosby, Malkin, Neal) and then look to grab some duo in rounds II and III (on another team -- maybe even the Isles if Tavares lasts that long).

Anywhere in the middle, and I'm grabbing the best player on the best team available and looking for that same team in round II. Hoping for a Sedin/Kesler or Ovy/Ribeiro

If I'm late, I'm looking for a dynamic duo on whatever team that has a chance: Nash/Stepan, Getz/Perry, Datsyuk/Zetterberg -- whoever I can solidify.

I never go in with specific teams in mind. It's boom or bust in the playoffs -- never seems like it pays off to have a hodgepodge.

[Ari]

1. Pens
2. Hawks
3. Kings
4. Canucks
5. Bruins

[smoothfun]

Like your ideas Stone , however we usually try to pick 2 teams from both sides

Draft was last night , rough when you don't know who plays who or if some teams will even make it!
We can drop and add before the playoffs begin but , it's 1st come 1st serve.
So we drafted 8th and grabbed H. Sedin 1st , went with the best player available , in my partners mind , on the way back down , Kadri.Then took D. Roy coming back , Hansen on the return , then gambled on the recently returned to play Michalek.Got Edler coming back down and nabbed Higgens on the return trip.Then Silvenberg , Kindl , Wiercoch , Kassian , Tootoo , who I dropped today for Dekeyser ; it's the playoffs so d-men are fed more , imo.

So , 4 teams , Van. , Sens , Det , Toronto.

Best part my buddy and I decided that since I'm a Sens fan and he's hardcore Toronto that we should flip a coin and pick either T.O or the Sens to win the cup.Karma's a bitch , Toronto to win the cup...I think I threw up in my mouth when the draft announcer got to us and orrated our choice as Toronto , I pulled my hood over my head in shame!

POOL ON fellas!

Go Sens Go!...and Vancouver too!

[dodospice]

Did my draft last night before the matchups were set and ended up picking Ovechkin,Backstrom,Green,Ribeiro,Kopitar,M.Richard s,J.Carter,Doughty,Stepan,Callahan,Parise,M.Koivu now I wish I hadn't of taken the two Rangers but I didn't anticipate them playing the Caps in the first round... But oh well what can you do

[metaldude26]

I envision myself going after Caps guys pretty hard if the opportunity presents itself.

[blayze]

Well... I completed my draft tonight and overall I feel pretty good about the results.

I wound up with concentrations on 3 teams: NYR (5), PIT (2) and VAN (3)... all teams I initially targeted.

The good: I think I stand a good shot at winning it if: 1) Sens beats Habs and 2) Rangers beat Caps (duh). That will assure me at least 4 (and most likely 5-6) series before the finals.

The bad: I probably don't have enough depth between PIT and VAN to win it all if the Rangers get eliminated early.

League: 12 teams, snake draft ( I picked last), 10 man rosters, min 1 goalie and 2 def

Results:
Round 1 (12th overall): Neal
Round 2 (13th overall): Iginla
Round 3: Lundqvist
Round 4: Nash
Round 5: Richards (Brad)
Round 6: Stepan
Round 7: Roy
Round 8: Garrison
Round 9: Higgins
Round 10: Del Zotto

[Zorro]

Results:
Round 1 (12th overall): Neal
Round 2 (13th overall): Iginla
Round 3: Lundqvist
Round 4: Nash
Round 5: Richards (Brad)
Round 6: Stepan
Round 7: Roy
Round 8: Garrison
Round 9: Higgins
Round 10: Del Zotto

12th overall and you got Neal?? WOW..

Great job on the Rangers.. Ovie is going to be shut down.. I heard that he scored over half his goals against non playoff teams, I see the Rangers shutting him down..

Only bad thing is: I see the Sharks smacking the nucks around..

I do like your team though.. You will be cheering hard for Ottawa, so the PENS and RANGERS don't meet in the 2nd round..

[redrobster22]

12th overall and you got Neal?? WOW..

Great job on the Rangers.. Ovie is going to be shut down.. I heard that he scored over half his goals against non playoff teams, I see the Rangers shutting him down..

Only bad thing is: I see the Sharks smacking the nucks around..

I do like your team though.. You will be cheering hard for Ottawa, so the PENS and RANGERS don't meet in the 2nd round..

I couldn't believe I got Neal 22nd overall in the pool I just finished!

I had pick 3 out of 12 and got Malkin only to have Neal fall to me on the way back down...

I'm liking a top 2 duo that could potentially get 50+ points just them 2 alone!

The rest of my picks were Dupuis, Saad, Kesler, Martin, Johannson, Leddy, Hamuis, Shaw.

[blayze]

12th overall and you got Neal?? WOW..

You will be cheering hard for Ottawa, so the PENS and RANGERS don't meet in the 2nd round..

Yeah I couldn't believe it myself... I think it's cause 5 Pens were scooped up with the first 7 picks (Malkin, Crosby, Kunitz, Letang, Fleury) so the few guys ahead of me were turned off and went in other directions.

It's going to feel really weird being a sens fan for a couple weeks haha

[TheWhale]

went into my pool wanting hawks, pens, nucks and rangers. The 1st and 2nd rounds were huge surprises and I ended up with: 1 pen (malkin), 3 hawks, 3 habs and 7 blues. Play the cards your dealt is my playoff pool moto...Let's go blues!!!!!

[newfcollins]

I went into my pool with these teams as final four: Chicago, SJ, Pittsburgh and Washington. I picked six out of six (14 players each). By the time it got to me, Malkin and Crosby, Toews and Kane and Ovi were gone. Knowing those three teams were all going to be chosen again before it came back to me, I went in another direction.

I took Perry and Getzlaf, and then took three Leafs with my next few picks (I think they'll beat the Bruins).

And then my draft started going downhill (haha... yes, the draft went downhill *after* I took the Leafs... I heard the joke all last night from my wife, who is also in the pool). I started choosing from teams no one else wanted. I took a few Blues. Took Tavares and Moulson. Parise and Suter.

It wasn't until after the draft, I realized that I took two players from each of the #8 seeds, and out of 14 players, only four are from teams that are the higher seed (two Anaheim, two Montreal). So now I need to hope for a lot of upsets.

[blayze]

I took Perry and Getzlaf, and then took three Leafs with my next few picks (I think they'll beat the Bruins).

And then my draft started going downhill (haha... yes, the draft went downhill *after* I took the Leafs... I heard the joke all last night from my wife, who is also in the pool). I started choosing from teams no one else wanted. I took a few Blues. Took Tavares and Moulson. Parise and Suter.

It wasn't until after the draft, I realized that I took two players from each of the #8 seeds, and out of 14 players, only four are from teams that are the higher seed (two Anaheim, two Montreal). So now I need to hope for a lot of upsets.

I like the improvisation of taking Perry and Getzlaf but after that you're pretty much screwed haha.

[DerekReese]

1) Pens
2) Hawks
3) Bruins
4) Ducks
5) Kings