Another regular season came to a close with some surprising results.

	NANCY MARRAPESE-BURRELL'S EAST ALL-STARS
	FIRST TEAM Forwards Joe Thornton, Boston Glen Murray, Boston Dany Heatley, Atlanta Defensemen Sergei Gonchar, Washington Kim Johnsson, Philadelphia Goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin, Tampa Bay SECOND TEAM Forwards Mario Lemieux, Pittsburgh Marian Hossa, Ottawa Alexander Mogilny, Toronto Defensemen Wade Redden, Ottawa Tomas Kaberle, Toronto Goaltender Ed Belfour, Toronto

First off, last year's Eastern Conference champion -- the Carolina Hurricanes -- went from the top of the Eastern heap to the bottom of the entire league, landing with an unbelievable thud. The Rangers, and their $80 million-plus payroll, proved that money can buy overpriced, underachieving players, but it can't necessarily buy success.

Pittsburgh -- and the rest of us -- has likely seen the last of Penguins owner Mario Lemieux as a player. Montreal, the upstart of the postseason last year, faded out of the running. Atlanta showed signs of becoming a force to be reckoned with. The young Florida roster has plenty of potential, and Buffalo ended the year on a strong note after a rocky campaign.

Without further ado, here are the final grades for 2002-03:

Atlanta Thrashers
When the club brought in Bob Hartley to be the new bench boss, the Thrashers' fortunes turned around pretty much immediately. They have two of the most talented youngsters in the NHL in forwards Dany Heatley (MVP of this year's All-Star Game) and Ilya Kovalchuk. Goaltending was a chore, given that they signed unrestricted free agent Byron Dafoe to solidify the position, only to watch him suffer injury after injury. No one really considered them a candidate to make the playoffs -- well, for the most part -- but they were very good at playing spoilers. They finished with 30 wins -- a franchise first -- and were 18-14-5-1 under Hartley. Overall, they improved by 11 wins and 18 points. Next year, expect a great deal more.
Grade:

Boston Bruins
The team got off to a roaring start only to stumble their way through the rest of the season. After starting with a 19-4-3-1 record through 27 games, the final two-thirds of the year weren't nearly as successful, as they went 17-27-8-3 over the last 55. Last season, they captured the No. 1 seed only to be dropped like a bad habit in the playoffs by the No. 8 Montreal Canadiens. This year, No. 7 isn't that much of a bargain considering the Bruins are facing New Jersey. Their defense has been spotty, their goaltending inconsistent and their scoring -- led by the line of center Joe Thornton, right wing Glen Murray and left wing Mike Knuble -- has pretty much kept them afloat. General manager Mike O'Connell felt it necessary to fire coach Robbie Ftorek on March 19, the day after a particularly sluggish performance in Phoenix. O'Connell, who appointed himself bench boss and brought up Mike Sullivan from Providence to be an assistant and the heir apparent, finished with a 3-3-3-0 record. Career years by Thornton, Murray and Knuble are great, but this team will be measured by postseason success and nothing more.
Grade:

Buffalo Sabres
Coach Lindy Ruff became the winningest coach in franchise history, but being the Sabres' bench boss this season was a mixed blessing at best. Bankruptcy and ownership worries didn't exactly aid the Sabres' quest. Miroslav Satan had a career year, but there was little else to cheer about in western New York until the stretch run. After a 12-game winless streak in November, a six-game losing streak in December and an eight-game winless streak in February, the Sabres seemed poised to finish in the league basement, but something else happened. With new owner B. Thomas Golisano taking over the reins, the club found its game, finishing out the year with a six-game unbeaten streak at home. What the future holds for Ruff and general manager Darcy Regier remains to be seen, but they held the fort under the worst of circumstances.
Grade:

Carolina Hurricanes
Call it a whopping case of Stanley Cup hangover. Call it bad luck in terms of injuries to key players (the defense early in the season, the forwards late). Call it a failure by the goaltenders to reach the level they'd achieved a season earlier. Whatever you want to attribute it to, and all those reasons are legitimate, it all added up to a big fat zero for the Hurricanes. In early February, general manager Jim Rutherford conceded the season, with his first order of business trading underachieving forward Sami Kapanen to Philadelphia. Everything hit right for the Hurricanes a year ago, and everything hit them wrong this year.
Grade:

Florida Panthers
Last year, coach Mike Keenan said he believed goaltender Roberto Luongo would someday reach superstar status. It didn't happen this season, but Keenan seems dead-on in his assessment of the young netminder. In his final 20 starts, he had a 2.17 goals-against average and .934 save percentage. His record was only 8-10-2, but that's less about Luongo and more about the Panthers' 1.95 scoring average over that span. Olli Jokinen, who made magic with Atlanta's Dany Heatley in the All-Star Game, is among the more dynamic forwards in the game. The NHL's youngest roster has plenty going for it, when they get it all together, but no one has yet to put their finger on why this club was so woeful on home ice.
Grade:

Montreal Canadiens
After last season's surprise upset of the Bruins in the first round of the playoffs, the Canadiens were hoping to build on that success this year. It didn't happen. Last season's Hart Trophy winner as the most valuable player and Vezina winner as the NHL's best goaltender -- Jose Theodore -- couldn't follow it up and had a disappointing year. He said playing with a tear in the medial collateral ligament of his left knee since November didn't affect his performance. Others who underachieved were forward Donald Audette -- so good in his club's playoff round against Boston -- as well as forward Mariusz Czerkawski and defenseman Patrice Brisebois. Giving the coaching job to Claude Julien in place of Michel Therrien certainly seems an upgrade, but Julien needs more experience before a real evaluation can be made.
Grade:

New Jersey Devils
In Pat Burns' first year behind the bench, the Devils just seemed to pick up where they left off -- as one of the better teams in the NHL. They retained their defensive style and rely heavily on the substantial talents of goaltender Martin Brodeur. Brodeur, who is on track to shatter a myriad of netminding records, is among the more easygoing athletes around, but when it comes time to playing, the only guy who seems to come close is Colorado's Patrick Roy. The Devils don't score a great many goals, but with Brodeur in net, they haven't had to.
Grade:

New York Islanders
If people think the Rangers are a tough club to figure out, try putting a microscope on the Islanders. Recently, captain Michael Peca came out and said the team needed to change its attitude, saying "our team mopes and groans a lot." Ouch. They backed into the playoffs -- giving the Rangers false hope all the way to the bitter end -- and limped into the postseason with a record of 6-11-5-0 in their last 22. Peca, touted by coach Peter Laviolette as a Hart Trophy candidate back in February, seemed to stop scoring the instant his coach spoke up on his behalf. Mark Parrish's offense also went south, and Shawn Bates wasn't much better. The club varied in consistency and intensity from night to night and sometimes period to period.
Grade:

New York Rangers
It's hard to know what to say about this team without it looking like piling on. President/general manager Glen Sather, who it was announced would be back next season despite his club missing the playoffs for a franchise-record sixth straight time, thought the way to build a winner was by adding on payroll and stockpiling talent. He had so many of the same type of player, there wasn't enough ice time for everyone. Had Brian Leetch not come back from injury to play so spectacularly, the Rangers' hopes for a playoff spot wouldn't have lasted nearly as long as they did. Money is a great thing when it's spent wisely. Sather didn't spend wisely. He spent desperately, and the result was still the same -- fruitlessness. What complicates matters is how handcuffed they now are because of bloated contracts. Even if they wanted to blow it up and start over, they can't.
Grade:

Ottawa Senators
The President's Trophy winner has put together an impressive season in every sense. In the past, the Senators were questioned about their defense. They answered that. They were questioned about their goaltending. Patrick Lalime answered that. And most of all, they were questioned about their toughness and grit. Before the trading deadline, they answered that loudly. Jacques Martin has guided his team to a consistently strong performance on most nights. It hasn't hurt to have Daniel Alfredsson and Marian Hossa up front and Wade Redden and Zdeno Chara behind the blue line. There are some great subplots as the team heads into their first round matchup against the Islanders. One involves Redden, who was dumped by the Islanders sixth months after they made him their first pick (No. 2 overall) in 1995, The other involves Alexei Yashin, who will face his former club in the postseason. That promises to bring out the emotion in the passionate Ottawa fandom.
Grade:

Philadelphia Flyers
On paper, it's hard to argue that the Flyers aren't a good team. But for a good portion of the season, some of those listed on the roster weren't on the ice. They were on the shelf. John LeClair and Simon Gagne were particularly hard hit by the injury bug. The addition of Tony Amonte, acquired at the deadline, has added a spark to their offense. It has aided Jeremy Roenick to be reunited with his former teammate who goes back with him all the way to high school. Defenseman Kim Johnsson hasn't gone gangbusters in the scoring department, but he's been one of that team's best players. Roman Cechmanek, although bothered at times by groin problems, has been among the top netminders in the league. All eyes will be on him come playoff time, especially given their matchup against the Ed Belfour-led Toronto Maple Leafs.
Grade:

Pittsburgh Penguins
Few stories in the NHL this year have been more depressing than the state of the Penguins. It seems a fait accompli that Mario Lemieux will bid the league adieu for the final time as a player. Who can blame him? The financial crisis the club is in shows no signs of abating. It took a great deal for general manager Craig Patrick to admit the Penguins simply can't compete under the current climate. That resulted in a salary dump that left Pittsburgh's roster looking more like a minor-league team than an NHL one. Lemieux said he was wrestling with whether he wanted to be part of a rebuilding process. If he is, look for it to be on the ownership end only. That burden is plenty.
Grade:

Tampa Bay Lightning
Hard to know where to start on the accolades. First, there is general manager Jay Feaster, one of the most accessible and direct GMs in the business. After Rick Dudley departed, Feaster was able to calm the rough waters that had been swirling around their best forward -- Vincent Lecavalier. Lecavalier, in turn, has played like a kid with no worries. They added veteran forward Dave Andreychuk, who has done a stellar job as captain, and they dealt for John Grahame to give Nikolai Khabibulin a much-needed break. If this isn't the best story in the NHL this year, it's close. Coach John Tortorella, in his classic tell-it-like-it-is style -- a.k.a. the NHL's version of Dr. Phil -- has done a strong job of guiding the older and younger players alike.
Grade:

Toronto Maple Leafs
When the team signed veteran netminder Ed Belfour in the offseason to take the place of popular Curtis Joseph -- who defected to Detroit because he thought the Red Wings had a better chance at a Stanley Cup -- it was met with almost universal skepticism. Belfour and the Maple Leafs' front office seemed to be about the only ones who thought it was going to turn out to be a good move. Now, look at him. Belfour, after a shaky start followed by an injury, has lived up to everything he promised. That general manager/coach Pat Quinn felt the need to go out and load up on veterans at the trade deadline was curious, especially given his lack of movement in the past. That virtually all of them went out and suffered injuries almost immediately was really bizarre. If the Maple Leafs want their props, though, regular-season success will have to translate to playoff victories. If it doesn't, all they've accomplished won't matter for beans.
Grade:

Washington Capitals
No one can argue this isn't one of the more talented rosters in the league. It's also one of the more expensive and least easy to figure out. Jaromir Jagr is one of the more formidable forwards to ever play, but so far the fit with the Capitals has been less than like a glove even with the addition of center Robert Lang, whom the club overpaid to come from Pittsburgh to rejoin Jagr. Part of that is due to the Capitals' defensive mentality, which isn't Jagr's forte. New coach Bruce Cassidy, in his first year, has tried to implement a system in which everyone can thrive. He said he's learned the art of motivating players on a daily basis, which as any veteran bench boss could tell him is no mean feat. He has stressed that he isn't relying just on goalie Olaf Kolzig or Jagr or Peter Bondra or any one player to bring them success. But all of his best have to be very good in order for them to go anywhere in the playoffs.
Grade:

Nancy Marrapese-Burrell of the Boston Globe is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.