Playoff Predictions

With the playoffs starting tonight, I've been scrambling for the last few days to make my picks and get rosters sent in for various pools as I'm sure all of you have. While creating my playoff bracket, I got curious about what percentage of series go to 4, 5, 6 or 7 games. A few minutes in excel had it figured out, so follow after the jump for series length since the start of the current playoff format, plus playoff brackets from me, Bcapp, and JPNikota.

At first I only calculated series lengths since the lockout, but later decided to extend the sample. As you can see, in some years there is a large variation in series lengths per year, but as the sample got larger the results became more consistent. At some point I may update this article to take into account which round the series occurred in.

That being out of the way, here are our brackets for the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Curtis - Let's see how I do with these, can't see anyone but Pitt coming out of the East, obviously if Crosby or Malkin goes down with an injury that could change. (crossing my fingers that Sid stays concussion-free for the whole playoff).

East

 
1 Rangers vs. 8 Senators - 1 Rangers in 6                                

2 Bruins vs. 7 Capitals    - 2 Bruins in 7
3 Panthers vs. 6 Devils   - 6 Devils in 6
4 Penguins vs. 5 Flyers   - 4 Penguins in 7

1 Rangers vs. 6 Devils     -1  Rangers in 6
2 Bruins vs. 4 Penguins   - 4 Penguins in 6

1 Rangers vs. 4 Penguins - Penguins in 7

West                                                                  


1 Canucks vs. 8 Kings           - 1 Canucks in 6
2 Blues vs. 7 Sharks              - 2 Blues in 7
3 Coyotes vs. 6 Blackhawks - 6 Blackhawks in 7
4 Predators vs. 5 Red Wings - 4 Predators in 7

1 Canucks vs. 6 Blackhawks - 1 Canucks in 6
2 Blues vs. 4 Predators           - 4 Predators in 6

1 Canucks vs. 4 Predators      - 1 Canucks in 6

Finals - Penguins vs. Canucks - Penguins win in 7

Bcapp



East

 
1 Rangers vs. 8 Senators - 1 Rangers in 5                                

2 Bruins vs. 7 Capitals    - 7 Capitals in 6
3 Panthers vs. 6 Devils   - 6 Devils in 5
4 Penguins vs. 5 Flyers   - 4 Penguins in 7

1 Rangers vs. 7 Capitals  - 7 Capitals in 6
3 Devils vs. 4 Penguins   - 4 Penguins in 5

4 Penguins vs. 7 Capitals - 4 Penguins in 6

West                                                                  


1 Canucks vs. 8 Kings           - 1 Canucks in 5
2 Blues vs. 7 Sharks              - 7 Sharks in 7
3 Coyotes vs. 6 Blackhawks - 3 Phoenix in 7
4 Predators vs. 5 Red Wings - 5 Red Wings in 7

1 Canucks vs. 3 Sharks          - 1 Canucks in 6
3 Coyotes vs. 5 Red Wings

1 Canucks vs. 5 Red Wings   - 1 Canucks in 6

Finals - Penguins vs. Canucks - Penguins win in 6

East

 
1 Rangers vs. 8 Senators - 1 Rangers in 5                           

2 Bruins vs. 7 Capitals    - 2 Bruins in 6
3 Panthers vs. 6 Devils   - 6 Devils in 5
4 Penguins vs. 5 Flyers   - 4 Penguins in 6

1 Rangers vs. 6 Devils  - 1 Rangers in 5
2 Bruins vs. 4 Penguins - 2 Bruins in 7

1 Rangers vs. 2 Bruins  - 1 Rangers in 7 

West                                                                  


1 Canucks vs. 8 Kings           - 1 Canucks in 6
2 Blues vs. 7 Sharks              - 2 Blues in 6
3 Coyotes vs. 6 Blackhawks - 6 Blackhawks in 6
4 Predators vs. 5 Red Wings - 4 Predators in 7

1 Canucks vs. 6 Blackhawks - 1 Canucks in 6
2 Blues vs. 4 Predators          - 4 Predators in 7

1 Canucks vs. 4 Predators     - Predators in 7

Finals - Rangers  vs. Predators - Rangers win in 6

We can revisit these after the playoffs and see how wrong we all were. 

As always, you can find some of us on Twitter, I'm @curtismayhem and JP is of course @JPNikota. If you like, you can get after Bcapp in the comments on this post and badger him until he finally starts using twitter.