Matthews goes first in TSN Hockey playoff fantasy draft

The NHL playoffs are upon us, which also means so are NHL playoff pools.

With the North Division playoffs getting underway on Wednesday, TSN Hockey’s Jeff O'Neill, Martin Biron, Dave Poulin and Carlo Colaiacovo reveal their picks as they go head-to-head in fantasy play.

With the first overall pick, O’Neill selected Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews.

“You saw he was pumped up with his goal celebrations at the end of the season and he can be my main guy leading me through this playoff run,” O’Neill said of his pick.

The second selection in the draft went to Colaiacovo, who nabbed Edmonton’s Connor McDavid and then grabbed Leon Draisaitl soon after.

“I think it’s safe to say most people project the Oilers to go two rounds and if they can get you 20 points each it gives you a pretty comfortable lead in the 14 games that they might play. But also, I mean, it’s the NHL. It’s the unpredictability that one team could possibly catch lightning in a bottle and if Edmonton is one of those teams it bodes well for me,” he said.

Poulin’s strategy was to load up on players from four particular teams and only one from each division, going with members of the Leafs, Tampa Bay Lightning, Boston Bruins and the Vegas Golden Knights.

Biron raised some eyebrows when he selected defenceman MacKenzie Weegar of the Florida Panthers

“MacKenzie Weegar is a stud. When Aaron Ekblad went down, he was almost a point per game in the rest of the regular season games. He led all defencemen in even-strength points this year. Now, he didn’t get a point in the four goals that they scored in Game 1, but I still think he’s a stud,” Biron said.

Here are the full rosters: