2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs Printable Bracket: Get Yours Today!

The Stanley Cup Playoffs open tomorrow with a whopping five first-round Game 1s, so if you’re looking for something to make your predictions on, we’ve got you covered with the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs printable bracket

Everyone loves to make postseason predictions, no matter the sport. That includes the NHL’s Stanley Cup Playoffs, as NHL.com has been running a bracket challenge in recent years. And now we’ve got for you the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs printable bracket.

You see the success NCAA tournament brackets have as a betting and marketing tool, and it’s no surprise these have made the jump to the NHL. It’s just fun to challenge your knowledge of a certain sport against that of your friends. Of course, many of these brackets just wind up with your favorite team winning it all (at least mine do), but that’s another story.

Anyway, back to what you came here for: the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs bracket. As we do each year, we at Blackhawk Up have got a printable version for you.

(Editor’s note: I had to create a website just to link the bracket to this post. There’s nothing else really on the website, so probably not worth exploring.)

Now, I’m going to let you guys in on a secret: my first bracket predictions for this year. I’m going to be making at least two brackets, but I filled out out early Monday morning, not long after the schedule was mercilessly released by the NHL.

Conference quarterfinal predictions

Chicago Blackhawks over Nashville Predators

Minnesota Wild over St. Louis Blues

Anaheim Ducks over Calgary Flames

Edmonton Oilers over San Jose Sharks

Washington Capitals over Toronto Maple Leafs

Pittsburgh Penguins over Columbus Blue Jackets

New York Rangers over Montreal Canadiens

Boston Bruins over Ottawa Senators

Conference semifinal predictions

Chicago Blackhawks over Minnesota Wild

Edmonton Oilers over Anaheim Ducks

New York Rangers over Boston Bruins

Pittsburgh Penguins over Washington Capitals

Conference final predictions

Chicago Blackhawks over Edmonton Oilers

Pittsburgh Penguins over New York Rangers

Stanley Cup Final prediction

Chicago Blackhawks over Pittsburgh Penguins

So the first thing you may have a gripe about with my predictions is the Pittsburgh Penguins. Yes, they are a really beat up team. But I just have this feeling their healthy star players will carry them to a huge offensive output, and that Matt Murray will have an amazing postseason in net.

They’ll be without Kris Letang for the postseason (barring a rapid comeback), but as long as everyone else gets healthy, I like them to come out of the East. Washington still has to answer for its past postseason chokes, Columbus will rely too much on Sergei Bobrovsky, the Rangers have no defense and the Atlantic teams just aren’t viable options to go far (unless Montreal’s Carey Price goes nuclear; that man can steal more than one series).

Over in the West, the Blackhawks really should make it out unless key injuries crop up. The first-round matchup against Nashville wasn’t the best choice (I still think that would’ve been St. Louis), but it’s a plenty good one. And you get the feeling Minnesota-St. Louis is going seven games, so the Blackhawks should get a beat-up opponent there.

While Anaheim is red-hot, I think their goaltending is not playoff tested and their key forwards tend to disappear in the postseason (Ryan Getzlaf, Ryan Kesler, Corey Perry). Cam Fowler’s absence will also hurt on the blue line. This opens the door for the also-hot Oilers, with all their young talent, to barrel through to the conference final.

It could be like a Blackhawks-Red Wings situation in 2009, when the Blackhawks were the up-and-comers who weren’t quite ready for the big time. The Wings disposed of them in five games before falling to Pittsburgh in the Final.

Next: Blackhawks Open Playoffs Third In Power Rankings

So, who do you have winning each matchup? Print out the above bracket, and you can show everyone around you your NHL genius. Or you can have a competition with coworkers. It’s the most fun time of the year to be a hockey fan.