The 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs Open Post

For the fifth straight year, New Jersey Devils fans will not be able to support their favorite team in the postseason. The Devils did not make the playoffs. In fact, they finished last in the East and are guaranteed to draft in the top ten in the 2017 NHL Draft. What can we do in the meantime? Even though they are not in it, the Stanley Cup Playoffs are generally very entertaining.

Plus, we can cheer on anyone who plays Our Hated Rivals in the hopes of ensuring that they win as many Cups as the Devils did this season. We can live vicariously through a rival being beaten. I know I can.

Even if you can’t, this is a post where you can discuss entire 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs. All talk about the playoffs should be in this post. All games, all news surrounding the games, and so forth goes here. Should you want to know the match-ups and the schedule, then go visit this page at NHL.com. Do you want a more detailed guide? SBNation has one for you right here.

In terms of a rooting interest, well, Carey Price has a chance to knock the collective blocks off Our Hated Rivals. We know he’s good at throwing fists and stopping pucks; hopefully his team will follow his example. 4/23 Update: Montreal sucks. It’s Go Sens Go for Round #2. As long as you don’t support Our Hated Rivals, whoever you’d like is fine.

5/9 Update: Congratulations to Ottawa for doing what Montreal failed to do. Send Our Hated Rivals to the links where they belong. And for doing so in the World’s Most Overrated Arena. In honor of another season of not winning any more Cups than the team we love, I give you this short song:

Golf in Maaaaaaaaay.

Golf in Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay.

Hey!

Hey!

Hey hey hey!

Hey!

Hey!

Hey hey hey!

You may now watch the rest of the playoffs with a fully comfortable feeling for yet another year.

Glorious tweets! First, from TheJRod2006 in the comments of this very post:

Glorious. Second, from @CSchneidersEgo:

Amazing.

5/29 Update: Well, those Conference Finals were something. Now, it’s the Stanley Cup Final where the Pittsburgh Penguins will get to defend their crown against the championship debutantes, the Nashville Predators. One way or another, we will find out which is superior: gold or yellow.

It should be a fun series all the same. Every game is at 8 PM EST. Games 1 (tonight), 4 (June 5), 5 (June 8), 6 (June 11), and 7 (June 14) will be on NBC. Games 2 (May 31) and 3 (June 3) will be on NBC SN.

Original message follows. Man, that extra fourth and sixth from Nashville is going to be late.

The Devils do have a few draft picks that will be affected by how a few teams do in the playoffs. The Devils have Boston’s second round pick, San Jose’s third round pick, and fourth and sixth round picks from Nashville. I checked CapFriendly; I didn’t see any conditions attached with those picks. So the further those three teams go, the later those picks will become in those rounds. Personally, I wouldn’t be concerned about those picks being late as the Devils will be picking early in each round anyway with their own pick and Colorado’s third rounder.

All site rules apply for this open post. There may be separate ones for Albany’s playoff run (possible) and the World Championships (may be rolled into Albany’s open post). Please don't feed the trolls. Enjoy the postseason. I’ll update this on an as-needed basis. Go opponents of Our Hated Rivals!