The LHH NHL Playoff Prediction Pool

It's that time of the year again: the infamous LHH Playoff Pool, a tradition that started with the Olympics and then carried over to the playoffs.

The concept is simple: Everyone makes their picks now for the whole playoffs. Each round increases in point value.

So each correctly picked quarterfinal series winner is worth 1 point, each correct semifinal winner is worth 2 points, the Cup finalists are worth 3 points and the Stanley Cup winner is worth 4 points. Every year there has been a 1-point difference between 1st and 2nd. BringBackBobby won the pool two years ago; Dougtone won it last year.

In an effort to make things easier for me, I have set up the pool on another website. I've got the feeling that the popularity of the site is reaching the point that doing these by hand would be tough for me. You can still feel free to post your bracket predictions below, so that we can taunt you later. But the actual playoff pool is available here (for your picks to count, you'll have to leave them there).

Yes, you are going to have to register for that website, but it isn't really hard to do. The deadline for joining the pool is April 11 at 11:45 PM EDT.

I might be able to slip you in afterwards, but the rules have always been no more entries after the 2nd game of the first round. If the website asks you for a password, the password is frans.

Good luck to everyone, if there are any problems let me know either in comments or emails. I might be able to add you to the pool manually if you for some reason can't from there. This is free too, just in case the website makes you think you have to pay for anything.

My picks (this is the format you can use if you're sharing your picks with us in comments):

East QF
Rangers Over Ottawa
Bruins Over Capitals
Panthers Over Devils
Penguins Over Flyers

East SF
Rangers Over Pens
Bruins Over Panthers

East F
Rangers Over Bruins

West QF
Canucks Over Kings
Blues Over Sharks
Hawks Over Coyotes
Preds Over Wings

West SF
Canucks Over Hawks
Preds Over Blues

West F
Canucks Over Preds

Stanley Cup:
Canucks Over Rangers

(And yes, I'm picking Canucks in the finals for the 3rd year in a row, and Canucks winning the Cup for the 2nd year in a row.)

Note: There is no cash prize or anything "of value" like that. This is just a pool for fun, for bragging rights and of course sweet, delicious taunting. That means it's legal in all 50 states AND Puerto Rico.