March for the Cup is where you will vote on hypothetical playoff matchups in a bracket style setup mimicking the NCAA basketball tournaments. Here is the setup.

I’m going to seed all 31 teams based on the current overall standings with one play in game because of the odd number of teams. You will have a chance to vote on who you think should win the matchup. I’ll give some brief overviews and you’ll use those and your own intuition to make your selections. The results will be hidden until the next blog when the results are revealed. We will go round by round until we have a winner. Who knows? Maybe our selection will be the only winner this season.

This is all hypothetical. However you want to analyze things, go for it. If you want to assume every team has full health, go for it. Anything goes in the Coronavirus era of hypothetical playoff hockey.

Here are the results of round 1 from the Jaromir Jagr Division

(16) New York Rangers vs (17) Calgary Flames



Oh my. When they say every vote counts they mean it. The Calgary Flames will move on after beating the New York Rangers by a single vote. Was it my vote that put the Flames over the top? It was not. I voted for the Rangers on the backs of Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad. This one will sting for Ranger fans after losing by one internet point.

(8) Vegas Golden Knights vs (25) Buffalo Sabres



Can’t blame Jack if he goes to the front office and asks for a trade. The Sabres couldn’t even register double digits in votes here. I voted for Vegas.

(9) Edmonton Oilers vs (24) Montreal Canadiens



I thought this one might be a little closer, but Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl make easy work of the Canadiens. I actually voted for the upset here. Montreal has been quietly good as of late. They will now be really quiet until next season.

(4) Tampa Bay Lightning vs (29) San Jose Sharks



Even with Erik Karlsson and Tomas Hertl back in the lineup it was a complete blowout. Maybe the Lightning were extra motivated to impress Tom Brady. I voted Tampa Bay here.

(13) Columbus Blue Jackets vs (20) Vancouver Canucks



Upset alert. The Blue Jackets probably deserved a closer vote, but they were shellacked here and Tyler Toffoli and the Vancouver Canucks will be moving on. I voted for Columbus.

(5) Washington Capitals vs (28) Los Angeles Kings



The Capitals are a great team and it was reflected in the voting against the lesser Kings team. Ilya Kovlchuk’s Stanley Cup dreams are still alive for the moment. I voted for Washington.

(12) Toronto Maple Leafs vs (21) Minnesota Wild



Plan the parade Toronto has finally made it out of the first round! I thought they deserved to make it past the Minnesota Wild so my vote went to Toronto.

Those were all the matchups for round one in the Jaromir Jagr Division. Here is the updated bracket



The Bruins will be making their debut in round 2 and is that a Washington vs Toronto second round matchup I see? Should be interesting.

Next blog will have voting for 2nd round of the Mario Lemieux Division open. Stay tuned.

Thanks for reading!

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