Most naysayers don't want to acknowledge the youth factor. These are the 9 youngest teams in the NHL:
Columbus, Arizona, and the Habs are on the ground floor of their rebuilds. Ottawa and Vancouver have been trying to avoid a rebuild for years and failing. Detroit has been rebuilding for half a decade. I don't know wtf Philly is doing, but they're a long way from good. The Devils have been rebuilding for a few years and it came together this year. Besides NJ, the Sabres are the only team on that list that had a realistic chance at the playoffs come April. And they didn't even start properly rebuilding until 2021 after they realized "shortcuts" like Taylor Hall were fool's gold. I wouldn't be at all surprised if they make a similar leap to NJ next year with finally competent goaltending.