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But that strategy is garbage. Edmonton and Carolina won with a solid 3 lines and solid 6 defenders - that just won't change.

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And like lots of other teams, Edmonton and Carolina paid a lot of money to their top 10 or 12 guys, and spread a little money around the rest. Those two teams just happened to get good performances out of the whole roster (which is not a shock, every team that goes deep in the playoffs needs to be firing on all cylinders), that certainly doesn't mean the payroll approach they used is "garbage". That's just the way almost all teams are approaching the salary cap, and it shouldn't be a shock to anybody that this is happening.

Heck, if you want to look at the Oilers, they signed Fernando Pisani for $2.5 million a year. This is a guy who's had exactly one good playoff run, otherwise he's been a 30-40 point winger in the regular season. Purely on the stats he's wildly overpaid, but because the Oilers are a bit thin on the wing they were wise to overpay and lock him in. That is the reality of the NHL under the salary cap, just looking at a player's salary without considering his particular situation simply doesn't work any more. Are Chara and Jovanoski worth more than Pronger? Probably not. Are they the best players on Boston and Phoenix respectively and thus able to command a premium? Probably, and that's what counts now.