Who NHL experts are picking to win the Stanley Cup Final
NHL experts are quite split on who will win this year’s Stanley Cup Final rematch between the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers.
The Oilers fantastic run, which has seen them eliminate both the Vegas Golden Knights and Dallas Stars in just five games, appears to finally be getting the recognition it deserves from those in the media world.
Heading into the Western Conference Final, the vast majority of writers at NHL.com had the Stars coming out on top. This was similar to the first round, where only three of their writers picked them to defeat the LA Kings.
Seeing the Oilers dismantle the Stars in rather quick fashion, however, as many of those writers finally giving this team the respect they deserve.
The 16 voters were split right down the middle, with eight picking the Panthers, while Amalie Benjamin, Tom Gulitt, Pete Jensen, Bill Price, Dan Rosen, Dave Stubbs, Derek Van Diest, and Mike Zeisberger all went with the Oilers. To no surprise, not one of the 16 writers are predicting the series to end in less than six games, which is a true testament to how evenly matched these teams are.
Meanwhile, experts at ESPN are giving the upperhand to the Oilers, although it was a close outcome as well.
Of the 23 ESPN experts tasked with giving their picks, 14, including Mark Messier, Ryan Callahan, and John Buccigross went with the Oilers. Yet again, none of the 23 picked the series to end in less than six games.
Last year, it was the Panthers winning it all by defeating the Oilers in Game 7 by a 2-1 final.
The optimism for Oilers fans going into this round is that the Panthers suffered the same fate a year prior, as they fell to the Vegas Golden Knights in the Stanley Cup Final in a series that went just five games.
There is plenty riding on this for the Oilers, as they are looking to bring the Stanley Cup back to Canada for the first time in over 30 years. Meanwhile, Connor McDavid would only further cement his status as one of the all time greats should he be able to get it done.
Game 1 of this highly anticipated rematch is set to get underway at Rogers Place on Wednesday at 6 p.m. MDT.