Heading into the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, theScore's Kyle Cushman, Kayla Douglas, Mike Dickson, Josh Gold-Smith, John Matisz, Sean O'Leary, and Josh Wegman make their picks for the first round, conference finals, Stanley Cup Final, and Conn Smythe Trophy winner.

The Panthers managed to squeak into the playoffs last season before going on a Stanley Cup Final run. This time, they enter as the top seed in the Atlantic looking to build from last year's success. Our editors expect Florida to get revenge on its in-state rivals after the Lightning swept the Panthers in the second round in 2022, with just one editor thinking Tampa Bay can find some of its former postseason magic.

The Maple Leafs finally made it out of the first round for the first time in nearly two decades in 2023. Now they again meet a team that's caused them so much heartache. The Bruins won all four meetings between the two during the regular season, and the majority of our editors see that trend continuing in the playoffs. However, everyone expects this series to go long.

The Capitals have a date with the Presidents' Trophy-winning Rangers after earning their postseason berth in their final game of the season with a little help from the Flyers. The 23-point differential between Washington and New York is the largest of any of the eight opening-round matchups. Our editors don't forsee the Rangers facing too much of a test.

In a rematch of last season's first round that saw the Hurricanes oust the Islanders in six games, we don't predict much of a difference a year later. As with the other Metro Division series, our editors have made a unanimous selection.

The Stars captured the top spot in the West with one of the best regular seasons in franchise history. For their reward, they get the defending champs as their opening opponent. These two met in last year's Western Conference Final, with Vegas emerging as the victor in six games on the way to its first Stanley Cup win. While our editors feel a close series is likely, the majority expects Dallas to take it this time.

The 2022 Stanley Cup champions were disappointed with their first-round exit to the Kraken last year, but the Avalanche are back looking for their second title in three years. However, the Jets enter the series with home-ice advantage after the second-best regular season in franchise history. Despite a potential Game 7 in Winnipeg, our editors mostly expect an Avalanche victory in a lengthy series.

While the Canucks got off to a blazing start in 2023-24, it's the Predators who come into the postseason red-hot after being written off at the trade deadline. Vancouver and Nashville present the most evenly split matchup of the first round, with four of our seven editors picking the Preds to take the series and everyone predicting it to go at least six games.

The Kings and Oilers meet in the first round for the third consecutive season, and just like the last two years, our editors see Edmonton taking the series. With the history between these two, and the Oilers winning three of the four regular-season games, this series marks the third unanimous selection of the first round.

Most of our editors have the Hurricanes making a return trip this season, with more than half predicting Carolina as the East's representative in the Stanley Cup. Five editors see the Canes' conference final opponent last year, the Panthers, also making it back. However, only two see Florida making it back to the Cup final.

The Stars and Oilers appear to be the most popular picks to reach the West final, with all seven editors selecting Edmonton to emerge from the Pacific Division. Despite that, Dallas has the edge among our editors in actually making the Stanley Cup Final for the second time in five years.

There's no true consensus among our editors on who'll lift Lord Stanley's mug this year, with the Oilers (three), Stars (two), and Hurricanes (two) all receiving multiple votes. A Dallas-Carolina matchup appears to be the favorite to be the Cup final, with each team picked four times to reach the final. However, is this finally the first time since 1993 that a Canadian team wins the Cup?

McDavid and, in perhaps a bit of a surprise, Guentzel are the only two players to be selected by multiple editors to win playoff MVP. While the McDavid (or Draisaitl) selection is a pretty obvious pick if you think Edmonton will win the Cup for the first time since 1990, Guentzel has put up 25 points in 17 games since being dealt from Pittsburgh to Carolina. If the Hurricanes are to win it all, they'll need their deadline acquisition to have a big impact.

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Colorado Avalanche forward Jonathan Drouin will miss the entire first-round series against the Winnipeg Jets with a lower-body injury, the team announced Saturday.

Drouin scored 19 goals and a career-high 56 points in 79 games this season as he rekindled chemistry with junior teammate Nathan MacKinnon.

The 29-year-old left Colorado's regular-season finale Thursday and didn't return. The Avalanche were already locked into a matchup against the Jets.

The Colorado-Winnipeg series commences Sunday. Should the series go the distance, Game 7 is scheduled for May 4.

Drouin has played in the Stanley Cup Playoffs three times, most recently in 2020 with the Montreal Canadiens. He has six goals and 21 points in 33 career postseason contests.

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Playoff time is upon us, which means an overwhelming wave of anxiety is beginning to settle deep within the hearts, minds, and stomachs of hockey fans across the world.

Sixteen teams are vying to make that tension worth it by lifting the Stanley Cup by the end of the spring. However, they'll need to survive the opening round first to get there.

Here, we rank the eight series, focusing on watchability and vibes to decide the order. Let's get into it.

1. Boston Bruins-Toronto Maple Leafs

Come on, is there another option for the top spot? We think not. This is what dreams are made of - or nightmares, if you root for the team in blue. The Atlantic Division rivals have battled in the opening round three times since 2013. Each meeting has stretched to seven contests, with Boston coming out on top every time.

Why this rematch is exciting for Leafs fans: Hey, maybe they'll finally slay the dragon - the big, bad Bruins who have haunted them since Patrice Bergeron's Game 7 overtime winner 11 years ago (it was 4-1!). The most recent postseason clash between Toronto and Boston came in 2019, and only five players from that Maple Leafs team are still on the roster: Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares, William Nylander, and Morgan Rielly. Things are totally different now!

Why this rematch is exciting for Bruins fans: There's no better way for Boston to recover from last year's first-round upset than drawing a matchup against the team it has been psychologically torturing for years.

Why this rematch is exciting for everyone else: If Toronto falls flat on its face and returns to first-round futility, you'll get to point and laugh at Leafs fans while crafting some dastardly burns on X, if that's your thing.

We see this as an absolute win. The content machine stays fed regardless of the result.

2. Florida Panthers-Tampa Bay Lightning

Rivalries - both historical and geographic - went a long way in determining our rankings. The last time the Battle of Florida took place in the playoffs, the Lightning spoiled the Panthers' Presidents' Trophy campaign with a second-round sweep, and there was no shortage of bad blood. While the animosity will likely remain the same, there's a new dynamic between the two teams now.

In 2022, the Bolts were the class of the league, fresh off back-to-back Stanley Cups and on their way to another finals appearance. The Panthers, then coached by Andrew Brunette, were an offensive force without an in-your-face mentality. Paul Maurice has since transformed the club into a defensive juggernaut, and Matthew Tkachuk's arrival helped make the Cats mean. Tampa Bay isn't nearly as dangerous at five-on-five anymore, but its special teams can swing any game.

On top of these two clubs generally detesting each other, the talent between both squads makes for appointment TV. Tkachuk, Aleksander Barkov, Sam Reinhart, and Sergei Bobrovsky squaring off against Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos, Brayden Point, and Andrei Vasilevskiy is just about as good as it gets this spring.

3. Winnipeg Jets-Colorado Avalanche

The Jets and Avalanche don't have any sort of longstanding rivalry (yet). But this series features two of the league's best teams and matches up an unstoppable force (Nathan MacKinnon) against an immovable object (Connor Hellebuyck) that'll likely determine which squad advances through what should be a nail-biter.

Colorado led the league in goals this season, while Winnipeg allowed the fewest. This matchup is essentially a coin flip and should highly entertain fans. Although Hellebuyck's brilliance forms the Jets' identity, Winnipeg boasts four deep lines and should benefit from securing home ice, where the club went 27-11-3 this season. Conversely, Colorado was 19-16-6 away from Denver in 2023-24.

The Avalanche are the far more dangerous team on paper and ice, but goaltender Alexandar Georgiev is their clear X-factor. Going up against the likely Vezina Trophy winner is a daunting task, and Georgiev will need to improve on his .897 save percentage - particularly if he doesn't get the run support he's used to.

This series exemplifies why most hockey fans are fed up with the league's playoff format. Pitting the conference's second- and fourth-best teams in the first round can be seen as unfair, especially when the West's fifth- and seventh-place squads face off in another series. It makes little sense, but the NHL has no intention of changing how things work. We might as well enjoy the elite matchups that come out of the flawed format, even if they're earlier than they should be.

4. Dallas Stars-Vegas Golden Knights

The Stars and Golden Knights are set to lock horns again in a rematch of last year's Western Conference Final. This feels like an unlikely 1-seed versus 8-seed matchup, but the defending champs lost a step in the regular season. That said, Dallas can't be thrilled about its draw, as Vegas is rife with championship pedigree and at full strength again with captain Mark Stone in the picture. It should surprise no one if the Golden Knights get hot as soon as the real season begins.

The Stars are among the deepest teams in the NHL, icing a roster with a perfect blend of youth and experience. Dallas was also a top-10 squad in expected goals for and against per 60 minutes during the regular season, and it feels more equipped than ever to go on a championship run. But the Stars must knock off the titleholders if they want to become the new Western Conference powerhouse.

5. Vancouver Canucks-Nashville Predators

This series might be the biggest mystery box of the first round. We may look back in two weeks (or less) thinking this matchup was the most exciting one.

Many of the questions surround the Canucks since no one seems to agree if they're legitimate contenders or not. The answer to that question through the season's first few months was yes, but their 17-12-4 record since the All-Star break puts them in the middle of the pack. Vancouver still finished atop the Pacific Division but had battled for first in the league earlier in the winter.

The Predators rank third in the NHL in points percentage (.726) with a 21-7-3 record since early February. While Roman Josi and Filip Forsberg were machines during that run, the Canucks have more star power at their disposal with J.T. Miller, Brock Boeser, Elias Pettersson, and Quinn Hughes.

Nashville is the more battle-tested team in playoff experience in recent years, but will that matter if a now-healthy Thatcher Demko continues playing at a Vezina-caliber level for Vancouver? Discounting Juuse Saros wouldn't be wise, either. Though he hasn't dominated consistently, he was strong down the stretch to help the Preds get here.

Is it too late for Predators GM Barry Trotz to buy tickets to The Sphere in Las Vegas again and promptly cancel the trip? Hey, it resulted in a 16-0-2 run for Nashville the last time he did it.

6. Edmonton Oilers-Los Angeles Kings

We'd be justified in moving this one up a few spots due to the mere presence of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl and the fact that they go Super Saiyan mode in the playoffs, but we've seen this movie before.

Like, is there anything else on?

This is the third straight spring that Edmonton and Los Angeles have met in the opening round. The Oilers won the first two meetings, and beating the Kings to start the playoffs could become a tradition for Edmonton by this point. Unless L.A. has somehow found a way to slow down the best player in the league and his homies, we'd put our money on the Oilers winning again.

Edmonton should also be highly motivated. In eight seasons of McDavid doing McDavid things, the Oilers have made the conference finals only once. Last spring, the club lost to the eventual Stanley Cup champs in the second round, and Draisaitl dubbed Edmonton's year as a "failure or a wasted season, almost" as a result. The club's mantra heading into 2023-24 was essentially "Cup or bust," and we wouldn't want to get in front of that train.

What does L.A.'s offseason look like if it loses to the same team again? Does GM Rob Blake spend his entire summer crafting the squad into bloodthirsty, Oilers-killing machines? Well, the Kings won't have to worry about that if they finally get over their Edmonton-shaped hump.

7. New York Rangers-Washington Capitals

This one has some potential to get spicy, but our hopes aren't high. When has the second wild-card team in the Eastern Conference ever upset the Presidents' Trophy winners in a first-round meeting?

Oh, right. Just last year, actually.

Still, it's a tough thing to do, and we aren't confident in the Capitals' ability to pull it off, so we've put this series in the basement. For one, Washington rocked a minus-37 goal differential in the regular season - the worst mark by a playoff team since 1990-91. Led by overlooked Hart Trophy candidate Artemi Panarin, the Rangers ranked seventh in the league with 3.39 goals per game.

That isn't the most favorable matchup for the underdogs. And even if goalie Charlie Lindgren can stave off New York's attack, he'll still have to outduel Igor Shesterkin, who can enter Vezina Trophy mode at any moment.

And Shesterkin might not have the toughest workload. The Capitals' 2.63 goals per game was the fifth lowest in the NHL this season. Washington also ranked 30th in shots per game (26.5).

We can never discount the Alex Ovechkin factor, but the 38-year-old sniper might not be able to will his team through this one.

8. Carolina Hurricanes-New York Islanders

Unless you're a fan of squads that roster a Sebastian Aho, it's tough to find much excitement in the second straight running of Hurricanes-Islanders in Round 1. Last year's series didn't provide many fireworks, and this one is heavily lopsided in Carolina's favor again.

The Canes have been white-hot since the trade deadline and appear more motivated than ever to finally get over the hump and reach the Stanley Cup Final. Carolina is far better than the Isles at five-on-five and special teams, and it has more talent on forward and defense. There's a reason the Hurricanes are the odds-on favorite to win it all.

The Islanders have been a considerably better team under head coach Patrick Roy - who might be this series' best hope at quality entertainment - but this is a huge mismatch in his first playoff series at the helm on Long Island. It'll be on Roy to motivate his troops to make this a close battle and prove our rankings wrong.

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