Atlantic division teams leading 3 of 4 current divisions

[AvroArrow]

I've been consistently right about the leafs by picking them to lose against BJ, lose against Boston 2x. I can back that up. It's not a biase if it's reflected in reality.

You would pick the leafs to lose every series

 

[RogerR]

I've been consistently right about the leafs by picking them to lose against BJ, lose against Boston 2x. I can back that up. It's not a biase if it's reflected in reality.

Leafs have been underdogs in 3 out of their 4 series. You being right "In the past" doesn't change the fact it's very silly to ignore roster changes. Are you really going to pick the Leafs any series anyways?

 

[GirardSpinorama]

You would pick the leafs to lose every series

If the leafs won against the BJs I would have admitted they won fair and square. But they didn't, so why would anyone have a problem that I stated a correct prediction.

 

[AvroArrow]

Florida, Tampa, Boston, Toronto all look great. If we go back to normal divisions next year, it'll be the toughest one no doubt. All 4 top teams in the East could potentially be in the same division, NHL really should go back to normal 1-8 seeding.

 

[Deadly Dogma]

As an Oilers fan, I find that highly unlikely lol.

Everyone likes to say the North sucks but maybe just maybe it has 1 really good club, 3 or 4 playoff quality clubs and some struggling clubs. I think the Oilers and Jets are better than other people think. Hell even the pesky Sens are better than people think. Not sure whats up with the Flames but its clear something is amiss.

 

[Chips]

A lot of discussion has been had about how the current divisions are unbalanced, but you have to wonder how much worse it really is then in years past: The top 3 teams in the former Atlantic division are 3 of the 4 division leaders (there are no Atlantic teams in the West division) and the second placed team in the Central is the former fourth placed Atlantic division team.

Admittedly there were other times there were “overpowered” divisions (the Central a few years ago was absolutely insane). Do you think that in a post-covid world the NHL should try to just reorganize everything into just two conferences in order to try and make things more balanced? Or would the costs of removing divisions in terms of scheduling and travel just outweigh any advantages in terms of having a more even strength of schedule?

1. bruins aren’t leading their division already, because it’s a very close division... so right there you’ve got at least three more teams from another division roughly as good lol.

2. As you pointed out, the divisions NOW are unequal. Really, the west as a whole hasn’t been especially amazing the last few years, so it makes sense the consistently best Bolts are on top (another metro team, Canes are right there with them) but especially when most of the teams range from bad to average the last few years. The Bolts are insanely deep.

Leafs are another great team, and they’d probably be right in the air tight East race, but they’re pretty much always a lock to win the North, they’d definitely not be a lock to win the East or the Central.

*Point is, there’s at least three teams from the Metro, up to five, who range from about-as-good to better-than when they consistently are playing to their potential (Caps, Flyers; Isles assuming they maintain, tho they started hot before and suddenly forgot to score, almost missed the same playoffs they went deep in, but they look great; Canes are improving as ever and hanging in their with the Bolts, they’ve been up and coming; Pens are hard to read.. they had bad stretches and ended hot last couple years too, they’re playing like ass yet still in the race; )

3. most important of all, as I say every year and people forget every year...

**Sample size**
The season isn’t done yet. “It’s a shorter season” doesn’t matter for this concept. Sample size is sample size, so they’ll have a better chance at this point to stay on top til the end; but in terms of judging a team, consistency is key to proving it’s not a streak. It wouldn’t be unrealistic at all for the Bruins or Bolts to not finish on top their division.

 

[Jetcetera]

Mason Appleton has more goals than Mackinnon, I like the aves but its a little much to see an aves fan boasting when they're currently 4th seed and play teams like LA, San Jose, Anaheim and Arizona. Even Minnesota who on paper really aren't that good are playing better than the avalanche