Updated: April 29, 2013, 1:48 PM ET
Clarity at the top
By Scott Burnside (posted April 29, 2013)
And just like that, it's over. The 48-game, lockout-shortened season is gone in a flash.
It surely seemed like a blur to teams like Chicago and Pittsburgh, who established themselves as the cream of the crop in their respective conferences.
Will their regular-season prowess be a harbinger of playoff success? Only time will tell. But their superlative play guarantees them spots atop the final Power Rankings. It is as it should be.
| Rk(LW) | Team | Rec |
|---|
| 1 | Chicago | 36-7-5 |
| The Presidents' Trophy winners kept their focus from beginning to end and closed the season with just seven regulation losses. |
| 2 | Pittsburgh | 36-12-0 |
| The Penguins are getting healthy just before the playoffs, and they were pretty darned scary when they were banged-up. |
| 3 | Anaheim | 30-12-6 |
| The Ducks were under the radar pretty much the entire season, but they still managed to finish third overall in wins and points, and enjoy the second seed in the mighty tough Western Conference. |
| 4 | St. Louis | 29-17-2 |
| The Blues shook off a rocky stretch in the middle of the season to finish in fourth place in the Western Conference, and will open the playoffs at home against the defending champion Kings. |
| 5 | Vancouver | 26-15-7 |
| The runaway Northwest Division winners (again) still may have goaltending issues, but they once again are a bona fide Stanley Cup threat. |
| 6 | Washington | 27-18-3 |
| The Caps never let up, even after they'd come out of nowhere to lock up the Southeast Division. Alexander Ovechkin, the NHL's goal-scoring leader, gets full value for his Hart Trophy chatter. |
| 7 | Montreal | 29-14-5 |
| The Habs may have finished the regular season out of sync, but given how well they played under new coach Michel Therrien, all is forgiven. Montreal will enjoy home-ice advantage in the first round. |
| 8 | Boston | 28-14-6 |
| It was a disappointing end to a season that came with great expectations for a deep, talented team. All of that will be forgotten if they can flip that switch we know exists in the Bruins' locker room. |
| 9 | Los Angeles | 27-16-5 |
| A late-season stumble cost the Kings home-ice advantage in the first round. That didn't bother them one iota last spring, though, when they opened on the road four straight times en route to a Stanley Cup win. |
| 10 | Toronto | 26-17-5 |
| The Leafs couldn't snag home-ice advantage, but when you haven't been to the postseason since 2004, a playoff game of any kind, anywhere, is a bonus. |
| 11 | San Jose | 25-16-7 |
| The Sharks fell to sixth in the West and earned a first-round date with Vancouver. However, that's still a fine finish for a team that retooled on the go at the trade deadline. |
| 12 | Detroit | 24-16-8 |
| The Wings won four straight to end the regular season, keeping their playoff streak alive at 22 incredible seasons. |
| 13 | NY Rangers | 26-18-4 |
| The Rangers pulled away from potential playoff disaster with strong play down the stretch, and are looking to put an inconsistent regular season behind them, beginning with a familiar playoff foe in Washington. |
| 14 | NY Islanders | 24-17-7 |
| The Isles surged into the playoffs for the first time since 2007 as if they belonged (which they do), and with John Tavares in the middle of serious Hart Trophy discussion. |
| 15 | Columbus | 24-17-7 |
| The Blue Jackets were a phenomenal story, but even three straight wins to end the season weren't enough to offset a poor start and get a surprise playoff berth. Still, the strong finish has renewed faith in the franchise for next season. |
| 16 | Ottawa | 25-17-6 |
| The Sens looked for a while as if they would slide right out of the playoff picture, but they found a foothold and will return to the postseason for the second straight year. The return of Erik Karlsson to the lineup in the final week was nothing short of remarkable after his Achilles tendon injury. |
| 17 | Minnesota | 26-19-3 |
| The Wild stumbled down the stretch but still managed to qualify for the playoffs for the first time in five years. It may not last long, given their first-round matchup with Chicago, but they're in and that's something. |
| 18 | Winnipeg | 24-21-3 |
| The Jets -- as they did so often as the Atlanta Thrashers -- fell short of the postseason after a spirited run down the stretch. Still too many holes in the lineup and too many pucks in the back of their net. Are they close to being a playoff team? Hard to tell at this stage. |
| 19 | Phoenix | 21-18-9 |
| The Coyotes' string of three straight postseason appearances comes to an end. A season ago, they were Western Conference finalists. That's life in the NHL. |
| 20 | Philadelphia | 23-22-3 |
| The Flyers finished strong with four straight wins. Not nearly enough, and one wonders what changes are afoot for a team that never sleeps. |
| 21 | Buffalo | 21-21-6 |
| The Sabres miss the postseason for the second straight year under new owner Terry Pegula. An offseason of upheaval seems inevitable. |
| 22 | New Jersey | 19-19-10 |
| The Devils ended up playing out the string and heading home early after being a Stanley Cup finalist last June. Wow. |
| 23 | Dallas | 22-2-4 |
| General manager Joe Nieuwendyk pays the price for a fifth straight season without a playoff berth, and coach Glen Gulutzan likely isn't far behind. |
| 24 | Edmonton | 19-22-7 |
| New GM Craig MacTavish has promised bold action for a talented young Oilers team that still isn't close to getting it right. |
| 25 | Calgary | 19-25-4 |
| You have to wonder what's next for a Flames team that hasn't won a playoff series since 2004. |
| 26 | Carolina | 19-25-4 |
| A fourth straight season without a playoff game is not what Canes fans had in mind with the arrival of Jordan Staal and Alexander Semin this season. |
| 27 | Tampa Bay | 18-26-4 |
| There is tons of work ahead for new coach Jon Cooper and GM Steve Yzerman. A berth in the 2011 Eastern Conference finals seems like a million years ago. |
| 28 | Colorado | 16-25-7 |
| The Avs dismissed coach Joe Sacco during the final weekend, but this team's mess goes far beyond coaching. |
| 29 | Nashville | 16-23-9 |
| It was a wildly disappointing finish for the Preds, who won just once in their last 11 games. |
| 30 | Florida | 15-27-6 |
| After an opening-night win, it was pretty much all downhill for the Panthers. |
