What To Make Of The Oilers' Triumph And The Stars' Failure

1. The Oilers are gaining much more respect the second time around. One reason is the pride that Edmonton has taken in the defensive side of the game.

2. If it’s possible McDavid & Co. are even faster than during last year’s playoffs.

3. This from Vic Morren on NHL Wraparound with Neil Smith: “These are the two best NHL teams and it’s not even close. Carolina and Dallas proved – in their way – how far away they are.”

Rangers Blunder That Could Win The Cup For Edmonton 1. When Chris Drury canned Gerard Gallant, the Rangers had GG’s successor all lined up in Hartford. His name was – and still is – Kris Knoblauch.

4. More Morren: “The Canes DNA is good but in the end they don’t have championship personnel. And something always happens to Dallas where it appears that they have the personnel and then their game craps out.”

5. Finally Morren: “I’m going with the rematch trends from 1984 and 2009. The motivation to win for the first time outweighs the motivation to defend the title. Finally, Kris Knoblauch is proving to be a brilliant bench boss!”

6. Dallas was picked by The Hockey News Yearbook to win The Stanley Cup. Now the Stars GM Jim Nill will have to decide whether to retain coach Pete Deboer the hockey version of “Close, But No Cigar.”

7. Those of us who watched Lane Lambert coach the Islanders are happy to see this good guy get another shot; this time with  Seattle. It’s a good gig but not an easy one.

8. This from Jess Rubenstein: “Mike Sullivan may turn out to be a good Rangers coach but his problem is that he’s working for a GM who repeatedly gives bad contracts after bad contracts!”

9. Isles new high command got off to an encouraging start by retaining Patrick Roy as well as reliable Kyle Palmieri.

10. Jonathan Toews’ decision to make a comeback should gain Chris Drury’s attention. He’d make a responsible third-line center.

11. Jake Oettinger got a raw deal and I’ll leave it at that.

12. The fact that Oilers GM Stan Bowman chose to retain Corey Perry will go down as one of the quietest smart moves of the entire playoffs.

13. NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti sums up the Panthers: “They have championship pedigree.”

14. Blue Collar Blue Shirts columnist-extraordinaire Sean McCaffrey stunned The Maven with this one: “Watch for the Panthers to make an Offer Sheet for Matt Rempe!”

15. This Stanley Cup Final will tell us whether age is catching up to Sergei Bobrovsky or that he’ll just keep rolling along.

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