It's frustrating as a Hurricanes fan as well... the east is so much stronger than the west

lol the only team better than the west is FLA. Healthy COL/DAL/VGK are better than any of the Eastern Conference teams.

Florida got lucky playing EDM, but props to EDM for making it there.

COL/DAL/VGK are not better than the FLA/NYR/CAR.

They absolutely are.

Especially COL/VGK - bigger, stronger, faster, deeper, and they've actually won something aside from a bunch of regular season games.

No not really...
Colorado still has the same problem that it's always in the playoffs had which is getting production from the bottom half of their lineup and over-relying on 29 and 96
Vegas had the same problem that Colorado had except they actually tried to run 4 lines

Carolina got decent production from everybody they just couldn't get a save
New York also got very decent produced from everybody but they just ran into Flordia

lol k.

I think Carolina's problem was a little more complex then just not being able to get a save. Freddy did let in a few soft ones but was strong up until game 6. Still agree that Those top 3 from the east could've given any team in the west a run for their money.