from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

Here is a Pass/Fail exercise for the teams that won’t hold Stanley Cup parades next month after qualifying for, and then being eliminated from, the playoffs.

Could the season nevertheless be considered successful, gaining a Pass grade for 2022-23? Or was it a failure, colossal or otherwise, thus earning an F?

That is the existential question, and here are the marks for the 13 teams that had been ousted as of Friday. Giannis Antetokounmpo has not been consulted....

Seattle: PASS for the second-year team taking out the defending champion Avalanche in a seven-game first round before pushing Dallas to seven games in Round 2.

Carolina: PASS earned with respect to the structure and work ethic the ’Canes bring night after night while ultimately undermined by the absence of their most productive forward, Andrei Svechnikov, when structure and work ethic weren’t going to be quite enough....

Boston: FAIL, as in epically, because nobody but nobody cares about their 65 victories or 135 points after they failed to protect a 3-1 first-round lead, just like nobody but nobody cares about the NBA Warriors, who won 73 games and failed to win the title. And no, it doesn’t make it any better because the Panthers have since turned into a juggernaut.

Edmonton: FAIL in coming up one round short of advancing to the conference finals and now with four series victories in eight years with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, as opposed to Pittsburgh winning the Cup in Year 4 of the Sidney Crosby-Evgeni Malkin partnership.

the rest of the teams plus more topics...