Canes Country’s 2023 Playoff Pick ‘Em: Final Standings

Yes, it’s been a little nuts around here, so much so that it took me a week and a half after the Stanley Cup was handed out to get around to posting the final standings from this year’s Playoff Pick ‘Em. Better late than never, right?

And just like the Golden Knights, this year’s Pick ‘Em was won by a relative newbie, a first-time participant in the competition, and a true ass. Congratulations are in order to SheepishDonkey, who took the lead after Round 3 and never let up, taking a four-point win over HootiePepper. (Yes, that’s a gratuitous joke at Mr./Ms. Donkey’s expense, but we’re never ones for highbrow humor around here.)

This year’s Stanley Cup Final was a little less chalky than last year’s, but we still had seven correct picks of Vegas in five (including, ahem, your humble correspondent, and you’re darn right I’m taking that victory lap after the hash I made of the first round). Unsurprisingly, participation took a nosedive after the Canes were out: 67 picks in the conference finals, 43 for the SCF. Who knew that the local team doing well leads to more traffic?! Stunning, I tell you.

Regarding the poll about the scoring system, more than half of you who voted want to keep it the same as we’ve done it the past few years, so in the interest of not messing with what clearly works, we’ll do just that. Interestingly, not a single person voted for the original system, so making that change was obviously a good thing!

Final picks from the SCF are below. If you’d like to see the whole spreadsheet, with every pick in every round, it’s available at this link. (Staff is in bold on the big sheet.)

Thanks to all for playing and we will see you back here again next year!