Quoting: PleaseBanMeForMyOwnGood
They are not a crap shoot, almost always the team's with biggest stars win. Tampa, Pittsburgh, Washington, Chicago etc.
Ouf. A Leafs fan saying that the teams with the biggest stars almost always win is some pretty low laying fruit man...
Anyway, given that the regular season is typically 82 games (A decent sample size), one could conclude that by your logic, the winner of the regular season (The Presidents trophy winner) should be consistently the favourite. Since 2002, the Presidents trophy winner has won the cup twice. They've actually only made the finals 3 times total over that span. VERRRRYYYY Fun fact: They haven't advanced past the first round *FIVE* times during that span. FIVE! So, yes, one can very quickly conclude that the playoffs are in fact a crapshoot.
But yeah, the teams that win typically have a lineup with very good hockey players playing for them. Why? Because it's the NHL and almost EVERY team has big name players.
So, to go alllllll the way back to the original question, which was whether Carolina could make the cup or not: Yes. Yes they can. They likely have as good of a shot as most teams.