IMO, even if they get out of the 1st round I dont think that helps, they need a deep run.
Dubas (and Keefe) have hitched their wagon to the 4 forwards pulling over half the cap, and have not been able to surround them with quality youth, real depth or been able to address the defense or goaltending.
Lets blame freddy andersen, lets blame campbell, lets blame samsonov, lets blame team defense, team depth, etc... yet every year its these duct tape fixes. Its the team structure, approach, mindset.
We have one young guy (whos in his 4th pro season already) in liljegren, with robertson looking like a bust and amirov being struck down, leaving just 3-4 above average prospects, yet are relying on 30+ yr olds in Giordano, ROR, Acciari, Jarnkrot, Schenn to fix whats wrong. And theres this ridiculous revolving door of has beens/never weres in mcmann, mete, benn, kral, steeves, malgin, hunt, holmberg, mikheyev, engvall, clifford, simmonds, kalgren all offerring very little and all getting just a glimpse, but none being good enough to stick, (or if they are good enough, we cant afford to keep them: Mikheyev, kapanen, Hyman, etc...). And at the single most important position, Dubas is like throwing darts blindfolded with perennial unreliable AND expensive guys like mrazek and murray, and then being mildly suprised but ultimately disappointed by a campbell or samsonov.
Its this reliance on 4 forwards to do it all, even though thats been shown year in and year out that it doesn;t work in the playoffs. Going into next year, with a thinner team and lesser chances for youth (all the picks gone), do you actually expect Dubas to admite his prior mistakes and be able to make this team better AND get Matthews, Nylander to resign for reasonable monies or trade them for a boatload?
The biggest worry is that they dont trade 1 of the big 4 in the offseason, go through 23-24 and again show themselves to be regular season powerhouses, and you CAN'T trade them at the deadline, because you'd get less AND you cant pack up the season on game 68 if you're once again near the top of the east.