The 2023 Canes Country Playoff Pick ‘Em: Round 1

Welcome back, my friends, to the show that never ends actually runs for about two months, give or take, and provides a chance at glory in the form of bragging rights awaiting you at the end.

If you’re new here or this is your first time participating, the Pick ‘Em is a Canes Country tradition that stretches back to the 2013 postseason. Prior to every round, we’ll post an article similar to this one, and you make your picks for that round in the comments. I track them all in a spreadsheet and update the scores after each round. The top score at the end of the Stanley Cup Final wins the contest. (Don’t get any ideas about getting rich from this; bragging rights are the only prize on offer.)

Here are the rules:

• Make a selection for each first round series in the comments of this post: who wins, and in how many games.
• In the first round, you’ll get one point for each winning team you correctly pick. The points double for each successive round, so two for the second, four for the conference final, and eight for the Cup final.
• If you pick both the correct team and the correct series length, you’ll also get five bonus points. The five bonus points will stay constant throughout the contest; the points for picking the winners will increase in each round.
• You get zero points if you don’t pick the correct team to win, even if you get the series length correct. There are no overtime loss points to be had here. You gotta earn it.
• The maximum score, if you get every single winner correct and nail the length of each of those series, is 107 points. You will not get 107 points. If you get even half of that, you have a good chance of winning the contest.
• All picks must be entered by the start of the first playoff game, which is Monday, April 17 at 7:00 p.m. The comments will close at that time. Entries must be posted in this comment thread; we will not include any entries in the comments on any other article.

Please post your picks in the following order (it makes it way easier to enter into the spreadsheet if they’re all in the same order):

Metro
(1) Carolina Hurricanes vs. (WC1) New York Islanders
(2) New Jersey Devils vs. (3) New York Rangers

Atlantic
(1) Boston Bruins vs. (WC2) Florida Panthers
(2) Toronto Maple Leafs vs. (3) Tampa Bay Lightning

Central
(1) Colorado Avalanche vs. (WC1) Seattle Kraken
(2) Dallas Stars vs. (3) Minnesota Wild

Pacific
(1) Vegas Golden Knights vs. (WC2) Winnipeg Jets
(2) Edmonton Oilers vs. (3) Los Angeles Kings

If you have any questions about the contest, post them below or email us. The CC staff picks will be posted sometime Monday or whenever we get them all in.

Good luck!

As promised, here are the staff picks for this year’s first round, along with our predictions for who takes home the Stanley Cup: