Five Takeaways From a Round 2 That Kept the NHL Honest

Round 2 did what it usually does - it stripped away the nice stories and showed which teams could actually survive. The lessons from this round are the kind that front offices and coaches file away for later, because they reveal more about structure, depth, and nerve than about one lucky bounce. Some teams learned they can lean on their stars, and others learned that stars alone do not buy a deep run.