That's all fine and good that it helped them make a bunch of money, but it was exactly what you said, a Marketing tool. It was still hilarious for me to watch it unravel. Pittsburgh on their way to their 5th Stanley Cup and 2nd in a row going about their business vs. Nashville, just happy to be there, inviting every country music industry tool (who mostly couldn't care less about hockey) to sing the anthem, drinking beer out of a catfish, etc.
I said Preds fans don't seem to understand the sport because I spoke to many Preds fans throughout the series who didn't understand basic principles of the game. I understand that success brings new fans, but if someone is a new fan and they argue about the game as though they're a life-long watcher it's kind of comical to me.
In my comparison to San Jose fans who had just been to their 1st Stanley Cup in their franchises existence the year prior, Nashville was laughable. It wasn't a rant, it was more of a musing than anything.
Edit: Please excuse me for finding it funny that a franchise who made it past the 2nd round for the first time in almost 20 years didn't "act like they've been there", and now ceremonially raised a (mostly) meaningless banner.