Give the Devils their due.
An Eastern Conference cellar-dweller a year ago, New Jersey experienced a surprising revival in 2017-18, qualifying for the playoffs for the first time in six years.
That they exited the best-of-seven Conference Quarterfinals with a whimper in five games to the top-seeded Lightning after Saturday's 3-1 loss in Tampa shouldn't diminish anything.
The Devils became a tough team to play against. They were competitive, sitting in a playoff slot wire-to-wire and finishing with 97 points (44-29-9), a 27-point improvement.
More importantly, they became fun.
However, from the sounds at the podium and in the locker room following Game 5, the Devils understand they won't be hanging any "Mission Accomplished" banners at Prudential Center to acknowledge this elevation that was probably a year or two ahead of schedule.
If anything, the Lightning series showed just how many stories the Devils must climb to get to the League's penthouse.
MORE: Lightning Eliminate Devils From Playoffs
The Devils are fast. The Lightning played faster. The Devils came into the series with the League's hottest goaltender in Keith Kinkaid and were able to turn to former number one Cory Schneider when looking for a momentum swing after getting down 2-0. Even though Schneider was phenomenal in Game 5, Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy was just a little bit stingier, making the big saves when needed to limit New Jersey to only one goal in each of the last two contests. While the Lightning received consistent offensive production throughout their top two lines, the Devils were too reliant on Taylor Hall, who factored in on 50 percent of the Devils' goals in the series. That exceeded the ridiculous 38 percent of Devils' markers Hall created in a Hart Trophy-worthy regular season.
The biggest difference was in the defense corps, made even wider when Devils top d-man Sami Vatanen exited with "an upper body injury" after a high hit from Nikita Kucherov late in the first period of Game 4. He never returned in the series. The Devils were tragically inadequate on the back end, often failing to lock up players in front and struggling to transition pucks out of their own zone.
It's the area Devils general manager Ray Shero must prioritize in a very important offseason.
Shero and coach John Hynes have done wonders in their three seasons together, transforming the roster into one with far superior talent and work ethic than they inherited. However, it's important to remember that the League as a whole has gotten better, faster. The Devils squeezed into the playoffs by a mere one point over the surging Panthers.
In other words, internal growth and tweaks around the edges probably won't be enough to sustain the Devils' forward momentum.
There's still some young guns in the pipeline who will be ready for next training camp to top off the outstanding yield from rookies Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt, Blake Coleman and Will Butcher this season. Look for Joey Anderson, 19, a 2016 third-rounder from the 2016 NHL Draft who signed a three-year entry-level contract last week after winning an NCAA Championship at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, to battle for a roster spot next season with top forward prospects like Michael McLeod, John Quenneville and Blake Speers.
The Devils will take a bigger leap, however, if their rise in the standings this season leads to a reevaluation of New Jersey as a landing spot for top players.
Shero, for the first time, dipped his toes into the trade deadline buyers' market in late February, using assets (draft picks, prospects and the Devils' ample salary cap space) to acquire upgrades in rental wings Michael Grabner and Patrick Maroon.
Will it portend another transformational summer, this time with the Devils using their estimated $23 million in cap space to go after primo free agent targets, not just bottom-six forwards like Drew Stafford and Masterton Trophy finalist Brian Boyle? In the past three offseasons, Shero used trades as the vehicle to boost talent, obtaining in succession Kyle Palmieri, Hall and Marcus Johansson.
Shero will first have decisions to make about retaining his own key unrestricted free agents in forwards Grabner, Maroon, and Brian Gibbons plus defenseman John Moore. Restricted free agents Miles Wood, Stefan Noesen, Blake Coleman and Steven Santini will likely re-sign for more moderate raises.
That will still leave plenty for Shero to be a serious player July 1. At that point, he should perhaps focus his attention on a prospective free agent currently residing on one of the area's other clubs.
No, not that one. Islanders center John Tavares is a brilliant player, but teammate Calvin De Haan, a steady 27-year old left-handed defenseman, would fill a more urgent need at a fair price, thanks to a shoulder injury that required surgery and wiped out over half his 2017-18 season.
Washington's John Carlson is far and away the top defenseman expected to hit the free agent market, but he's a right-handed shot. Shero has already committed about $11.5 million in 2018-19 cap space paying Vatanen, Damon Severson, and Ben Lovejoy for those lineup slots. I'd give up Severson, who was a healthy scratch for Game 1, in a heartbeat. However, it's an open question how much the six-year, $25 million contract extension he signed last summer affected his trade value, even if he's just 23 with identifiable skills.
The point is that the Devils worked hard to get moving in the right direction this season. They integrated young talent and established the identity Hynes has been talking about nonstop since the desultory end to last season. They then reaped the reward of experiencing what it's like to play at higher levels.
But, as Hynes said following the elimination, "We can be proud, but we can't be satisfied."
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