Updated April 13
Sure it has been good so far, but who will be left standing at the end?
That's really the most important question right now. Trouble is it can't be answered yet despite 1,230 meaningful games having been played on two continents over the past six months.
The end of the regular season might be a good time to measure a team's strengths and weaknesses, giving you an idea of how it handled things over the long haul. But for those teams continuing into the playoffs, this particular point is not always the best barometer for gauging how they will fare in a particular matchup over seven games.
Still the conference champion San Jose Sharks and Boston Bruins head into the playoffs presumed to be Stanley Cup favorites along with last season's winner, the Detroit Red Wings. All three are deep and have been dominant for the most part, although only Boston is heading into the postseason with any momentum.
You could probably throw Washington into the serious contender mix because of the Capitals' ability to create offense. But their goaltending really has the potential to be an Achilles' heel, much like the situation the Philadelphia Flyers face. And then there are the talented Chicago Blackhawks, who might still be a little too young to realize how good they can be.
• Playoffs: Bracket | Picks | Dodd | B/R | Talk!
Truth is the final standings don't necessarily reflect which teams are playing the best hockey at the right time. That would be the Pittsburgh Penguins and Carolina Hurricanes in the East and Vancouver Canucks and Anaheim Ducks in the West. Any one of them would get to the Finals without really raising any eyebrows.
At a time of the season when stunning upsets are common and great goaltending performances can carry teams to victory, would anybody dare count out lower seeds like Columbus (Steve Mason), Calgary (Miikka Kiprusoff) or the New York Rangers (Henrik Lundqvist)?
The fun begins Wednesday. In the meantime, here are the final power rankings:
| Power Rankings | ||||||||||
| Current | Team | Previous | ||||||||
 | 1 | Bruins · Trends | 1 | |||||||
| Boston hit its stride early and rarely stumbled under the smart coaching of Claude Julien. The Bruins can score and enter the playoffs as the only team with fewer than 200 goals allowed. | ||||||||||
 | 2 | Sharks · Trends | 2 | |||||||
| A first Presidents' Trophy will only mean something to the league's best home team if it turns out to be a stepping stone for a first deep playoff run. | ||||||||||
 | 3 | Red Wings · Trends | 3 | |||||||
| Detroit often looked like the reigning Cup champs this season, but not lately. Maybe they can flip the switch, but both goalies have sub-.900 save percentages. | ||||||||||
 | 4 | Penguins · Trends | 7 | |||||||
| Everything about Pittsburgh's season before the coaching change and the deadline acquisitions is irrelevant. These Penguins are a fine-tuned version of last spring's Stanley Cup finalists. | ||||||||||
 | 5 | Capitals · Trends | 4 | |||||||
| Ovechkin and company will have to provide enough fireworks to overcome a defense that is vulnerable. Can a team run and gun its way to a Stanley Cup in this day and age? | ||||||||||
 | 6 | Canucks · Trends | 10 | |||||||
| No one out West has played better over the past few months than the Canucks, who will ride a very hot Roberto Luongo into the playoffs. Vancouver won the Northwest after being 13 points back in January. | ||||||||||
 | 7 | Blackhawks · Trends | 8 | |||||||
| Nikolai Khabibulin is playing like someone in his contract year should and the kids are alright again after going through a rough stretch last month. Starting the playoffs at home is a bonus. | ||||||||||
 | 8 | Ducks · Trends | 6 | |||||||
| A strong finish got them to the playoffs, and with Francois Beauchemin back, they've got the best blue line in the business. This is the dark-horse team in the West. | ||||||||||
 | 9 | Hurricanes · Trends | 5 | |||||||
| A sloppy finish cost Carolina a shot at the fourth seed, but the Hurricanes' late-season surge wasn't a fluke and Cam Ward is playing like a Conn Smythe winner again. | ||||||||||
 | 10 | Flyers · Trends | 11 | |||||||
| At one point this season, the Flyers had a 13-1-3 stretch, but they've been a .500 team since the trade deadline. So they're an enigma heading to the playoffs, a team that could get to the Finals or get bounced in Round 1. | ||||||||||
 | 11 | Devils · Trends | 9 | |||||||
| The wheels seemed to come off after Martin Brodeur set his wins record in March. A couple of meaningless late wins won't convince anyone the Devils have fixed things. | ||||||||||
 | 12 | Blue Jackets · Trends | 14 | |||||||
| They have the league's worst power play and allowed more goals than they scored, yet the Jackets still found a way into the playoffs because rookie sensation Steve Mason always gives them a chance to win. | ||||||||||
 | 13 | Rangers · Trends | 18 | |||||||
| The Rangers earned their playoff spot by winning the games they had to, mainly because Henrik Lundqvist came up very big. But he'll need help for New York to make any kind of run. | ||||||||||
 | 14 | Blues · Trends | 15 | |||||||
| The Blues officially claimed the feel-good story of the year title last week by grabbing a playoff spot with their roster full of fuzzy-faced kids. St. Louis could be dangerous playing without the pressure of expectations. | ||||||||||
 | 15 | Flames · Trends | 13 | |||||||
| The impact of Calgary's implosion hasn't muted because the Flames are in the playoffs. But the Flames have been borderline awful for the past six weeks and they are pretty banged up heading into the playoffs. | ||||||||||
 | 16 | Canadiens · Trends | 12 | |||||||
| Montreal backed into the playoffs last week, which temporarily saved the organization from another major embarrassment in a season that has already gone down in flames. | ||||||||||
 | 17 | Sabres · Trends | 19 | |||||||
| A second consecutive season without the playoffs. Buffalo was competitive but was done in by Ryan Miller's untimely injury. | ||||||||||
 | 18 | Panthers · Trends | 17 | |||||||
| Much progress this season under rookie coach Peter DeBoer, but not enough to overcome a punchless offense and too many bad goals against Tomas Vokoun. | ||||||||||
 | 19 | Wild · Trends | 20 | |||||||
| Things would have probably been different had Marian Gaborik been there all season. At least Minnesota got an idea about what it will be like next season. | ||||||||||
 | 20 | Predators · Trends | 16 | |||||||
| The Predators stayed in the playoff race longer than they should have and seemed to have set themselves up in goal for the next few seasons with Pekka Rinne. | ||||||||||
 | 21 | Oilers · Trends | 21 | |||||||
| Edmonton placed a lot of hope -- probably too much -- on several young players and it backfired this season. Long-time coach Craig MacTavish could pay the price. | ||||||||||
 | 22 | Senators · Trends | 23 | |||||||
| Here is a microcosm of how Ottawa's season went: Sniper Dany Heatley scored four times in his first three games, stayed healthy and still finished one shy of a fourth straight 40-goal season. | ||||||||||
 | 23 | Thrashers · Trends | 22 | |||||||
| A strong finish and some good young pieces give the Thrashers some hope, although that's getting a bid old for a franchise that has been in only four playoff games. | ||||||||||
 | 24 | Kings · Trends | 25 | |||||||
| Their development process got a lot further than expected this season and the Kings have the cap space to add big pieces over this summer. They could produce a quick turnaround next year. | ||||||||||
 | 25 | Coyotes · Trends | 26 | |||||||
| Can we say Phoenix took a step forward this season? Not really, but the bigger concern surrounds the team's future in the desert. | ||||||||||
 | 26 | Stars · Trends | 24 | |||||||
| Too many key injuries to deal with, especially in a season that had off-ice distractions and Marty Turco far from his best. | ||||||||||
 | 27 | Maple Leafs · Trends | 27 | |||||||
| Now that the season is over the Brian Burke era will really begin. | ||||||||||
 | 28 | Lightning · Trends | 28 | |||||||
| All kinds of questions for the Bolts heading into the summer, but the biggest is whether Vincent Lecavalier will be back. | ||||||||||
 | 29 | Avalanche · Trends | 29 | |||||||
| All signs are pointing to Patrick Roy becoming coach of the Avs after their worst season in Colorado. | ||||||||||
 | 30 | Islanders · Trends | 30 | |||||||
| The prize for an awful season will come at the draft when New York gets either John Tavares or Victor Hedman. | ||||||||||
