1. Pre-season Cup-winning odds per The Hockey News Yearbook last fall had Dallas – picked to take The Cup – at 8-1, Oilers at 10-1 and The Champs at 13-1.
2. Maven's pick for "Most Amazing Playoffs Feat" goes to the Panthers' training staff. While other teams would have collapsed due to attrition the Cats' staff miraculously avoided any sign of it. (Very hard to figure out how they pulled it off.)
3. "Panthers are unique," says Al Greenberg, The Maven's Man in Florida. "Spending time with them, I saw how close they were as a unit and how everyone is treated equally and everyone contributes in his own way."
4. Greenberg adds: "What they did with Cup handoffs was a wonderful gesture. Every new player – including some who never played a game in the playoffs – got to hoist The Cup before the regulars took their turn."
5. Another Greenberg gem. "Herb Brooks -- when assembling the 1980 Olympic squad -- said, 'I don't need the best players. I want the best team."
6. Wayne Gretzky on Florida: "That's a well-oiled machine!"
7. Let's not forget the Islanders Dynasty-maker Bill Torrey was the man who launched the original Panthers in Miami and it was Bowtie Bill who saved the franchise from moving out of The Sunshine State.
8. Here's a feat you never would have thought possible back three decades ago: That Sun Belt teams would have won five out of the last six teams and four of them in Florida.
9. For the record, it's now 31 seasons since a Canadian team won the Stanley Cup. (Habs, 1993).
10. Also for the record: the richest team in the NHL happens to be the Maple Leafs. (Incredible But True: Toronto last had a Cup-winner in 1967.) So much for "Money Talks."