Final Thoughts on 2013 NHL Season: All's (Really) Well That Ends (Really, Really) Well

It's still rather hard to believe that less than six months ago, many of us we're sitting here thinking that we were on the brink of seeing an entire NHL season wiped out for the second time in less than a decade. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed, the puck dropped, and things could not have worked out more perfectly.

I will clearly get to my fawning Final Thoughts wrap-up of the beloved Blackhawks' season in the next post (hopefully tomorrow), but it's important to step back and look at the Playoffs and the entire season as a whole. It apparently wasn't just me who was enjoying the hockey this year. Following the conference finals, the playoffs were the second most-watched in 16 years. This year's Stanley Cup Final was the most watched on record (which, admittedly, only goes back to 1994), and the deciding Game 6 was the ninth-most watched game ever in the United States.

But let me not read too much into those numbers. It is customary for most hockey fans to complain about the lack of attention the sport is receiving, but if we can acknowledge that this cult sport remains fourth in popularity among the four major sports, those of us who did watch were royally treated these past two months. There were overtime games galore, a good number of competitive series and a Stanley Cup Final that at time seemed to be about as evenly matched as any I've ever seen. Much like last year's shortened NBA season, it felt as though this 48-game NHL campaign not only compelled viewers to pay closer attention during the regular season, but brought out another level of competitive spirit from the players as well. The end result is a conclusion so glorious, I suspect many might even forget there was a work stoppage in the first place.

Again, it was rather stunning how few of the "experts" had correct predictions in the last round. Other than myself, only five other people had Chicago. As a result, here's how the final standings wound up after the playoffs ended:

1. (3) Chris Peters, CBS Sports: 12-3 (5)
2. (1) Nicholas Cotsonika, Yahoo: 12-3 (4)
2. (5) Craig Custance, ESPN: 12-3 (4) 
4. (2) Joe McDonald, ESPN: 11-4 (6) 
5. (8) Pierre LeBrun, ESPN: 11-4 (5)
6. (3) Katie Strang, ESPN: 11-4 (4)
7. (5) Sean Leahy, Puck Daddy: 11-4 (3)
8. (7) Barry Melrose, ESPN: 11-4 (2)
8. (11) YOURS TRULY: 11-4 (2)
10. (12) Adam Gretz, CBS Sports: 10-5 (7)
11. (9) Steve Levy, ESPN: 10-5 (3)
11. (9) Harrison Mooney, Puck Daddy: 10-5 (3)
13. (17) John Buccigross, ESPN: 9-6 (4)
14. (13) Greg Wyshynski, Yahoo: 9-6 (2)
15. (14) Scott Burnside, ESPN: 9-6 (1)
15. (14) Sam McCaig, Yahoo: 9-6 (1)
17. (16) Ryan Lambert, Puck Daddy: 9-6 (0)
18. (18) Darryl Dobbs, Puck Daddy: 8-7 (3)
18. (18) James Murphy, ESPN: 8-7 (3)
20. (20) Brian Stubits, CBS Sports: 8-7 (1)
21. (21) Linda Cohn, ESPN: 7-8 (3)
22. (22) Dmitry Chesnokov, Puck Daddy: 7-7 (2) 
22. (22) Paul Grant, ESPN: 7-8 (2) 

Now, looking back on my predictions before the year began, I was absolutely right that the Presidents' Cup winner in this shortened season would go on to win the Stanley Cup. And while I was wrong about what team that would be, I'm certainly not going to complain with the team that did it. Overall, my regular season standings predictions weren't so great, getting only nine of the 30 teams' final places correct. I had seven of the eight Western Conference teams in the playoffs right, but only four in the East. I was correct about three of the four winners as well as one loser in the conference semifinals, and I missed only the winner of the Western Conference Finals in that round, nailing Boston over Pittsburgh and correctly predicting that the Cup defense would end in that round for Los Angeles. And then I also was right that the Bruins would wind up being this year's runner-up.

Overall, I'm guessing that's better than I've done in years past for accuracy when it comes to that late in the playoffs. There were certainly more surprises in the Eastern Conference than there were in the West, namely in the Northeast. It will be interesting to see how things unfold with realignment next year ... when we've also got Olympics to deal with. However the schedule lines up, I'll certainly be rooting for a repeat of this season—in more ways than one.