Of all the sayings in hockey, I hate "just make it in and anything can happen" more than all of them.
2008: Red Wings 1st place in West beat Penguins 2nd in East
2009: Penguins 4th in East beat Red Wings 2nd place in West
2010: Hawks 2nd in West beat Flyers 7th in East
2011: Bruins 3rd in East beat Canucks 1st in West
2012: Kings 8th in West beat Devils 6th in East
2013: Hawks 1st in West beat Bruins 4th in East
2014: Kings 6th in West beat Rangers 5th in East
2015: Hawks 4th in West beat Tampa 3rd in East
2016: Penguins 2nd in East beat Sharks 6th in West
2017: Penguins 2nd in East beat Nashville 8th in West
2018: Capitals 3rd in East beat Vegas 3rd in West
In eleven years, out of a possible 22 teams, there's only been a Wildcard (7 or 8 seed) win the Cup once or make the Cup Finals 3 times. 1/22 to win it (4%) and 3/22 to make it to the Finals (13%). We've seen the Hawks 09 WCF run, 2010 Cup, 2011 first round exit, 2012 first round exit, 2013 Cup, 2014 WCF run, 2015 Cup, 2016 first round exit, 2017 sweep, 2018 lotto finish. We know what the difference between a first round exit team and a Cup winner looks like. We've seen that even when the Hawks are at their absolute best, they still need A LOT of luck to win it all. They need tons of elite talent and elite depth all over their lineup and they need elite goaltending.
Yes the Hawks are playing better than the bottom 5 team they've been most of the season but they are not a very good team. If they make it into the playoffs they have Kane, Toews, DBC, and a deadly powerplay. But they also have poor forward depth, no defensive shutdown pairs, no goalie, no PK. What happens if/when the Hawks 1st line gets shutdown or goes cold? When the Hawks were a one line team in 2016 with Hart, Ross, and Lindsay Kane who had Panarin on his wing, they didn't go anywhere. That team even had Crawford, Kieth, Hjalmarsson, and Hossa on it. What about 2017?
"Anything can happen"...no. The only thing that'll happen is they'll get spanked by whichever of Nashville, Calgary, Winnipeg, or San Jose they play.
We know what a great team looks like. This is not it.