East is LEast no more

[Winged_Wheel88]

Everybody seems to be red hot at the same time. 5 of the top 8 teams in the Eastern Conference have 7 wins in their last 10 games:


1st - Tampa Bay 7-3-0
4th - Montreal 7-2-1
5th - Detroit 7-3-0
6th - Washington 7-1-2
8th - NY Rangers 7-3-0

And even those without 7 wins are on win streaks:

2nd - NY Islanders 3W
3rd - Pittsburgh 2W
7th - Boston 5W


Just thought this was an interesting observation at this point in the season.

 

[puckhead]

teams with less than 5 wins in their last 10
East: 6
West: 3

in summary. meh

 

[Winged_Wheel88]

I wasn't really attempting to start an East > West debate.


It was 1 AM and I couldn't think up a more interesting subject title. I have failed in life.

 

[puckhead]

I wasn't really attempting to start an East > West debate.


It was 1 AM and I couldn't think up a more interesting subject title. I have failed in life.

I was going to say originally that the better teams in the east are feasting on the shit at the bottom, but then I remembered that my Nucks are still in the East and fairly fragile. I didn't want to anger the hockey gods.

But yes, top teams are all pretty hot right now. Hard to make up any ground.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

I was going to say originally that the better teams in the east are feasting on the shit at the bottom, but then I remembered that my Nucks are still in the East and fairly fragile. I didn't want to anger the hockey gods.

But yes, top teams are all pretty hot right now. Hard to make up any ground.

What would be nice is for some of the lower teams with talent to go on a win streak - Columbus, Minnesota, Dallas and Philly in particular. If the Leafs can get down into that bottom five i'll be the happiest kid in the world.

 

[awaz]

teams with less than 5 wins in their last 10
East: 6
West: 3

in summary. meh

hm, so the east has more teams on fire and more teams ice cold. it's like they have more teams or something. LOL, wouldn't that be dumb.

oh wait...........

 

[Darkstone42]

Everybody seems to be red hot at the same time. 5 of the top 8 teams in the Eastern Conference have 7 wins in their last 10 games:


1st - Tampa Bay 7-3-0
4th - Montreal 7-2-1
5th - Detroit 7-3-0
6th - Washington 7-1-2
8th - NY Rangers 7-3-0

And even those without 7 wins are on win streaks:

2nd - NY Islanders 3W
3rd - Pittsburgh 2W
7th - Boston 5W


Just thought this was an interesting observation at this point in the season.

You only say this because the Wings are in the East now...

 

[sabresfaninthesouth]

I didn't feel like adding up total records, but there are only three teams in the West with less than a .500 point % against the East - LA, Calgary, and Arizona.

But there are only 4 teams in the East with less than a .500 point % against the West - Buffalo, NJ, Columbus, and Carolina.

Yay for loser points! (Almost) everyone's a winner!

 

[esls79]

Bunch of bugs it seems

 

[dash]

Definitely a lot closer this year than in previous years.

 

[Darkstone42]

Bunch of bugs it seems

Windshields abound!

 

[forty_three]

You know it's tough when a team can go 12-1-1 and not improve their chances of making the playoffs AT ALL.

 

[tducey]

The NHL is very wide open this year, no team looks like they're the favourites to win it all.

 

[DevilishWon]

fuck the west

 

[elocomotive]

The NHL is very wide open this year, no team looks like they're the favourites to win it all.

^This. The top 16 teams in the league right now are only 13 points apart from top to bottom. Except maybe the Pacific, every division seems to have 3-4 teams that could legitimately win the divison.

It does seem pretty wide open right now. No dominant team(s) this season.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

^This. The top 16 teams in the league right now are only 13 points apart from top to bottom. Except maybe the Pacific, every division seems to have 3-4 teams that could legitimately win the divison.

It does seem pretty wide open right now. No dominant team(s) this season.

The division races are open for teams that are already in a playoff spot. There are maybe 4 teams, and that's being generous to the Avs, that are on the outside looking in with an actual shot, and only one of those teams are in the east and have been playing pretty badly as of late. At this pace, there might only be one playoff race come the deadline. That kind of sucks.

 

[sabresfaninthesouth]

The division races are open for teams that are already in a playoff spot. There are maybe 4 teams, and that's being generous to the Avs, that are on the outside looking in with an actual shot, and only one of those teams are in the east and have been playing pretty badly as of late. At this pace, there might only be one playoff race come the deadline. That kind of sucks.

At the very least, the new divisonal playoffs could make the play for ceding exciting down the stretch.

Take the Central for instance. Imagine the difference between two of Nashville, St. Louis, and Chicago playing each other, while the other gets Calgary or Winnipeg (based on current standings, though I assume LA will put it together and get at least a WC).

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

At the very least, the new divisonal playoffs could make the play for ceding exciting down the stretch.

Take the Central for instance. Imagine the difference between two of Nashville, St. Louis, and Chicago playing each other, while the other gets Calgary or Winnipeg (based on current standings, though I assume LA will put it together and get at least a WC).

That's a silver lining, but where the hell is the competitive balance the NHL was so damn proud of for years? Isn't the point of the salary cap and the stupid loser point to keep the playoff races interesting? I get that sometimes franchises are just dumb and Leafy but it's tough for me to get excited for Nashville and St. Louis jostling for position.

 

[sabresfaninthesouth]

That's a silver lining, but where the hell is the competitive balance the NHL was so damn proud of for years? Isn't the point of the salary cap and the stupid loser point to keep the playoff races interesting? I get that sometimes franchises are just dumb and Leafy but it's tough for me to get excited for Nashville and St. Louis jostling for position.

I think the idea is to have the illusion that playoff races are interesting when they really aren't. The season is pretty much settled much earlier. It's just the specific rankings that change.

This is from the beginning of the 2013-14 season (so numbers may have changed), but Friedman had some excellent information on how the loser points play into things:

30 Thoughts: Playoff also-rans determined early in NHL | Hockey | CBC Sports

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

I think the idea is to have the illusion that playoff races are interesting when they really aren't. The season is pretty much settled much earlier. It's just the specific rankings that change.

This is from the beginning of the 2013-14 season (so numbers may have changed), but Friedman had some excellent information on how the loser points play into things:

30 Thoughts: Playoff also-rans determined early in NHL | Hockey | CBC Sports

That's more about teams coming from the bottom. There are usually teams from 9-12 that are at the very least in with a chance at this time of the year, no? I know the current alignment complicates things, but right now the conference with more teams has one team on the bubble, and that's it. That makes for 7 teams out of it in one conference by January 19, average 46 games in. At this point last season, the only team that was more than 7 points out of a playoff spot in the East was Buffalo. That's a big swing.