After an extremely entertaining first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, here are ten things that have nothing to do with concussions, suspensions or brawls: 1. The lockout has now completely succeeded in changing the NHL in the league office’s favor; and that isn’t a bad thing. While the implementation of the salary cap was mostly meant to limit the ability of big market teams to hoard high priced players, an underlying goal was competitive parity. This year more than any other you could make a legitimate case for 80% of the playoff teams winning the Stanley Cup. Sure enough, out in the first round are perennial heavyweights Detroit, San Jose, Pittsburgh, Chicago and Vancouver. 2. The Western Conference Semifinals will feature St. Louis, Phoenix, Nashville and Los Angeles. Take a moment and then remind yourself that one of those four teams will be in the Stanley Cup Final. No, you didn’t misread that. 3. There should be two Jack Adams trophies, one for Dave Tippett and one for the second-best coach. The more I look at their roster and their success, the dizzier I get. Has it been mentioned yet that for three consecutive years the team didn’t know if it would be in Phoenix the next fall? 4. Claude Giroux put on as dominant a display as I have seen in years in the playoffs. 14 points in six games, plus-6 rating; only five players scored 20 points in the entire playoffs last year, Giroux will probably have that half-way through the second round. 5. Giroux deserves two cents, the second being he is clearly the early frontrunner for the Conn Smythe. If I had a vote, my top five through the first round would be Giroux, Braden Holtby, Jonathan Quick, Mike Smith and Andy McDonald, who holds just a slight edge over Pekka Rinne. 6. What happened to MVP-to-be Evgeni Malkin? Does he wear contacts that someone stole? Should he wear contacts? According to NHL.com he missed the net 18 times in six games (though it looked more like 38), and also had more giveaways than any other forward (eight, and only one takeaway). 7. Every playoff fantasy pool I had was littered with Bruins, Penguins, Sharks and Canucks. Subsequently, I am out of every playoff fantasy pool I entered already. Additionally, my preseason Stanley Cup match-up was Washington-San Jose, which only looks half-terrible now. My pre-playoff Stanley Cup match-up was Pittsburgh-Vancouver (I wasn’t the only one, just ask TSN). Why they still let me write here is beyond me. 8. There are three things in life that are guaranteed: death, taxes, and Daniel Briere killing it in the playoffs. I love players who step up their game when the stakes get higher like this 34-year-old does. Career regular season numbers: 0.79 points per game, 0.34 goals per game in 813 games (280-363-643). Career playoff numbers: 1.01 points per game, 0.46 goals per game in 103 games (47-57-104). 9. Nothing beats watching overtime in the playoffs. The intensity and the passion; the edge-of-your-seat feeling every time someone breaks free or winds up for a shot; the gritty third- and fourth-line players that score the clutch goals even though no one picked them in the #bucciovertimechallenge; noticing how valuable faceoff wins are, and other little things that turn into big things (chipping the puck out, dumping the puck in, etc.); staying up until 1:00am and getting up five hours later for work. Actually one thing does beat it: Game 7 overtimes. 10. Goalies are easily the story of the playoffs going forward. Which West goalie (Smith, Rinne, Quick, the Brian Elliott/Jaroslav Halak combo) will reign supreme? Will Ilya Bryzgalov continue the theme of Flyers’ goalies ruining their title chances? Is rookie Braden Holtby the next rookie Patrick Roy? Is this Martin Brodeur’s swan song? Will King Henrik become as beloved as Derek Jeter, if only for a couple of months? Nick is RealGM’s NHL Feature Writer. You can reach him by email nick.obergan@realgm.com or on twitter @NickObergan