Western Confrence the superior power

[3chrisosgood0 7]

i was looking at the standings and i noticd that in the west all but the last 2 teams are playing .500 hockey as to the east where only the top 10 teams are at the .500 mark

and also looking at the west vs east records all teams in the west but st louis (15th in the West) have a .500 or better winning % against the east

http://www.nhl.com/ice/standings.htm?type=...id=NAV|STN|East

always thought the west was better but i didnt think the west was this dominant

[egroen 384]

i was looking at the standings and i noticd that in the west all but the last 2 teams are playing .500 hockey as to the east where only the top 10 teams are at the .500 mark

and also looking at the west vs east records all teams in the west but st louis (15th in the West) have a .500 or better winning % against the east

http://www.nhl.com/ice/standings.htm?type=...id=NAV|STN|East

always thought the west was better but i didnt think the west was this dominant

The West also has a ridiculously great record against the East so far this year.

[19Hockeytown5 0]

"West vs East is like pitbulls vs poodles"

[Louisville 112]

The East has no defense. Boston has a good GA but that is also partly to do with the stellar performance of Tim Thomas in the first half.

[Doggy 130]

Yeah the East is a friggin' joke again this year. The four worst teams in the league are in the East and 6 of the worst 8.

Also, is someone able to explain to me how it's possible for the Southeast division to continue to get worse every... single... year?

[3chrisosgood0 7]

ive always kind of thought of the east as like weak as in toughness

it may be wrong but ive always seen the west as the tough teams , and on top more talented

take some crappy team from thewest like idk blues maybe or the jackets and shove them in the east in replace ment for a lower east time like NYI or tampa or atlanta (haha atlanta)

and i bet the blue jackets finish 6 or higher

specialy wit the play of Mason lately

[egroen 384]

I still think Nashville would have beaten Pittsburgh last year.

[jenova0 0]

I still think Nashville would have beaten Pittsburgh last year.

I agree. Especially, considering they were our toughest competition.

[digitaljohn88 4]

Last time I saw the stats, West vs. East was dead even IF you take out all games involving the Southeast division.

The Southeast sucks so much.

[MacK_Attack 108]

I still think Nashville would have beaten Pittsburgh last year.

I still think you're wrong.

[FirstSamuel1745 0]

Easy on the Southeast - sure, the division is bad, but the Capitals are one of the best teams in hockey, the Panthers seem to have turned it around, and there is still star power in Carolina and Tampa.

[Echolalia 2,961]

I agree. Especially, considering they were our toughest competition.

I think if they had our schedule, Nashville would've made it to the finals, but lost to Pittsburgh.

So I guess I'm meeting you in the middle.

[YoungGuns1340 1]

The Pittsburgh Penguins and New Jersey Devils would probably have a lot more points too if they weren't in a division with the Rags and Flyers. You can talk all you want about who is playing above .500 hockey, but teams like the Nucks and Flames wouldn't have nearly the amount of points they do if they were facing off against 3 other strong teams. Same goes for the Wings and Sharks. The fact that that the Atlantic division has 4 good teams and the Southeast really only has 1 makes the East top to bottom look weaker, when in fact its VERY good this year. If not better than recent years.

[sibiriak 84]

i was looking at the standings and i noticd that in the west all but the last 2 teams are playing .500 hockey as to the east where only the top 10 teams are at the .500 mark

and also looking at the west vs east records all teams in the west but st louis (15th in the West) have a .500 or better winning % against the east

http://www.nhl.com/ice/standings.htm?type=...id=NAV|STN|East

always thought the west was better but i didnt think the west was this dominant

Or, applying a different spin, 10 Eastern and 11 Western teams are above .500 which will likely change tonight.

The West is ahead in combined head to head record, but not badly: 77W-43L-15OTL for 73% of possible points to the Eastern record of 58W-61L-16OTL for 66%;

and SJ and MN account for 15 of the 19 wins' differential. (Not that MN can repeat that performance with their current form. )

So a more correct statement would be that the conferences are about even, but SJ and MN happened to dominate the Eastern opponents they faced.

Edited January 6, 2009 by sibiriak

[The Mule 0]

Easy on the Southeast - sure, the division is bad, but the Capitals are one of the best teams in hockey, the Panthers seem to have turned it around, and there is still star power in Carolina and Tampa.

Nobody's denying that the Capitals are a very good team, but they do benefit from a terribly weak division.

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

I still think Nashville would have beaten Pittsburgh last year.

I think if they had our schedule, Nashville would've made it to the finals, but lost to Pittsburgh.

So I guess I'm meeting you in the middle.

Considering that Pittsburgh only lost twice I believe until the SCF last playoffs, saying that Nashville would've beaten them is a bit of a stretch I think.

[egroen 384]

Considering that Pittsburgh only lost twice I believe until the SCF last playoffs, saying that Nashville would've beaten them is a bit of a stretch I think.

Fair enough - I just was not impressed with the level of hockey being played in the Eastern Conference playoffs last year.

Eastern Conference record vs. West:

58-62-16

Western Conference record vs East:

78-43-15

Edited January 7, 2009 by egroen

[Lovin Jiri Fischer 147]

Western Teams > Eastern Individuals

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

Fair enough - I just was not impressed with the level of hockey being played in the Eastern Conference playoffs last year.

Eastern Conference record vs. West:

58-62-16

Western Conference record vs East:

78-43-15

Hard denying that with those records. And upsets in the playoffs aren't anything new. Hell, we've witnessed the Wings flame out early as a high seed a good bit until two seasons ago, and in 2005 or 2006 all the bottom seeds in the WC beat the top seeds in the first round. I'd still put my money almost every time on a 2 seed (Pitt at the time) beating an 8 seed (Nashville), especially when that 2 seed was probably that hottest team going into the SCF looking at things now that the dust has settled.