NHL 2017 STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS / POOL PREDICTION THREAD

Playoff Pool Update:

The St. Louis Blues have dispatched the Minnesota Wild in 5 Games are now moving on to the second round for the second straight season.

Cap_H & GreatRedSpirit both receive 2 Points each for successfully predicting that the Blues would win that series. GreatRedSpirit also picks up 2 Additional Points for 4 Points Total for correctly predicting that not only would the Blues win that series in 5 but that they would also defeat the Wild in 5 as well.

Also, the New York Rangers have defeated the Montreal Canadiens in a tough fought 6 Games.

Addit receives 2 Points for successfully predicting that the Rangers would win that series. Ankylo, Hexatona and Shinan also all receive a Bonus Point for predicting that the series would go to 6.

And, finally, the Edmonton Oilers become the first Canadian team to advance to the second round by defeating last year’s Stanley Cup Runner-Up's in the San Jose Sharks in 6 Games.

Addit, Cap_H, Hexatona, Kentona & Shinan all receive 2 Points each for successfully predicting that the Oilers would win that series. Shinan also picks up 2 Additional Points for 4 Points Total for correctly predicting that not only would the Oilers win that series in 6 but that they would also defeat the Sharks in 6 as well.

Everyone’s now pretty close and still has a fighting chance after tonight, but Cap_H still holds a single point lead now over Shinan, who’s now rocketed up to second place overall. GreatRedSpirit, last year’s predictor champion, is sitting currently in 3rd.

- The full bracket and standings have now been fully updated!

It’s still a bit too complicated at the moment to predict who’s likely eliminated from contention or not, as there are still a few factors left in play to determine everything, but I would imagine that once the last two series’ wrap up in the next few days, I’ll be able to figure it out some more.

But, yeah – there’s still a remote chance for everybody to win, still...even Hexatona.

(...You gotta be kiddin' me...)

EDIT: Okay, so I just figured this out right now and stuff, but IF the Senators happen to beat the Bruins today and the Capitals ALSO manage to close out their series against the Leafs, then both Kentona and Shinan will be officially eliminated from contention, as none of them will be able to catch up to, or even manage to tie for 1st place at all.

Kentona may still have the Oilers left, but the maximum amount of points he can possibly reach at that point would be at 14. But Cap_H, who would be in the lead in this situation with 14 points (if the Sens and Caps happen to win their games tomorrow, of course) ALSO has the Oilers winning in the second round too, so that would give Cap_H at least 16 points in total, which means Kentona cannot pass him, and, henceworth, cannot win.

Shinan may have the Capitals and Ducks still left, but so too will a lot of other remaining players (who would already be ahead of him in this situation), with some players, such as Ankylo & I, still having the Capitals left as our Stanley Cup pick, which gives us double the amount of points for any possible win or remote outcome. Even if the Capitals go full Capitals again and lose out in the second round...again (god, I hope not), Cap_H would be too far ahead for Shinan to catch up to him, anyways.

Everybody else, though, would still has a remote chance to win; it would just be Kentona and Shinan that would be screwed, which is gonna be funny to see on the overall standings, because Shinan would be in 5th place currently and officially eliminated but Hexatona, who would be currently in 6th place with two points less than Shinan in that scarnario, would still have a chance to win, lol.

Confused yet? I am too.

So in other words, you guys better hope and pray that the Bruins come back in the series and the Leafs manage to pull off the impossible, otherwise you guys can still always try for second or third place, I guess?

Amazingly, you two guys still both have a chance to win this whole bloody thing…more so ankylo then you, GreatRedSpirit – but you still have hope, too!

And yeah, sorry, you are right: you do have 8 points before the current update not 6 points. I must have made a mistake somewhere the other night when I wasn’t paying attention when tallying up all these scores and all, so sorry ‘bout that. I did go back and double check everyone else to see if I also made any other mistakes, but everyone is where they should be right now. And speaking of that:

Playoff Pool Update:

Earlier today, the Ottawa Senators have defeated the Boston Bruins in overtime in 6 Games to finally take the series and move on to the next round.

Addit, Cap_H, GreatRedSpirit and Shinan all receive 2 Points each for successfully predicting that the Senators would win that series. Addit, Cap_H and GreatRedSpirit also pick up 2 Additional Points for 4 Points Total for correctly predicting that not only would the Senators win that series in 6 but that they would also defeat the Bruins in 6 as well.

And finally, the Washington Capitals avoid the potential scare by defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs in 6 Games and are now moving on to face the Penguins again for the second year in a row.

Addit, Ankylo, Cap_H, GreatRedSpirit, Hexatona and Kentona all receive 2 Points each for successfully predicting that the Capitals would win that series. Ankylo also picks up 2 Additional Points for 4 Points Total for correctly predicting that not only would the Capitals win that series in 6 but that they would also defeat the Leafs in 6 as well. In addition, since the Capitals are both Addit and Ankylo's Stanley Cup Picks, The Points Here Are Doubled.

Also, with today’s current standings and future probabilities, Kentona, Hexatona and Shinan are all eliminated from contention and cannot possibly reach or tie for 1st place during the rest of the playoffs. Sorry guys, you did your best. But here’s hoping you guys can still finish strong and try again for next year.

Cap_H and GreatRedSpirit are currently tied for the lead while Addit trails both of them by 2 points for 3rd place right now with Ankylo bringing up the rear.

- The full bracket and standings have now been updated!

Yeah, so apparently after doing some more digging around, Hexatona’s also got no chance to win now. He’s only got the Predators in round two and the Blues left in the Conference Finals but so too does Cap_H, who’s already 7 points ahead of him already and also picked the Blues to win in the Conference Finals. Even if Hexatona gets a full 4 points from the Predators and Blues as well, Cap_H would still up end ultimately outscoring him, so there’s no way Hexatona can win now.

So it looks like now it’s just a four man race to see who wins the coveted Brent Burns Beard Award. There are a ton of different factors still left to determine who wins and all, but all four of us still have a chance to hoist the ultimate prize. It’s gonna be interesting.

Hey, you can still probably finish third or something with a little luck involved. And either way, at least you’re doing slightly better than Kentona right now. That’s gotta count for something, right?