Has the East finally overtaken the West

[dkollidas]

Pittsburgh twice and now Washington winning the cup last year means our last three cups have gone to the Eastern Conference.

The last cup winner out of the West, Chicago, seems to be in a steady decline.
Vegas has a great run, but it’s a question of whether they’ll be able to do it again.
Nashville has been great, but how long can they keep the big-4 on the back end and still have good enough talent up front, along with Rinne’s playoff issues give them some questions.

Winnipeg is definitely on the rise, and San Jose might still be a contender, but Anaheim, Minnesota and Los Angeles seems to be fighting an uphill battle.
Edmonton has McDavid, and he’s a force to reckoned with no matter what team he’s playing on, but Edmonton has a lot of questions moving forward. Their d-corps needs more puck movers, their forward depth needs work, and their goaltending is a question. Not to mention some bad contracts (with significant term) they’re carrying around (Lucic, Russell, and Sekera).


Meanwhile in the East...

Pittsburgh needs some work on the back end but has two of the best players in the game and fortified their center depth with Brassard.

The Caps are obvious as they just won.

And teams like Tampa Bay Boston and Toronto are on the rise as well...

To me it looks like the East is really on its way to taking over the league for the next 5-10 years.

Click to read more...

 

[jetsforever]

The big Western teams are definitely getting up there in age, I'd probably put it at pretty even right now but I could see the East taking over soon

 

[iwanttobelieve]

How is west even close of east right now? They have like 1 good team in Jets or am I missing some hidden expansion team coming there?

 

[Stasis]

In my younger days it was all about hip hop.

Now it's the same with hockey.

When will it end? Can't we all get along?

=P

 

[Uncle Scrooge]

This East vs West is pretty pointless debate in my opinion, a lot can and will change every year.

The West is filled with teams that are capable of 100 point seasons and most of these teams are a piece or two away from being serious contenders.

Right now the East may have the advantage with the absolute top tier teams, but the West is ridiculously tight. Imagine the Blues getting JT, Edmonton/Dallas adding something in FA, LA signing Kovalchuk, Chicago getting a big bounce back year from their top guys, new GM in Minny making a big splash that works out, Flames catching fire under Peters etc..

Technically when the summer is over you could look at all the teams and say this team should make the playoffs, outside Van/Ari.

Meanwhile in the East there's like 5 teams that will probably miss the playoffs yet again.

Also does anyone even remember Metropolitan division was the worst division this year points-wise as far as the top 3 teams go. 2/3 of the divisions ahead of them was in the West naturally.. If the Preds or Jets go on to win the cup is anyone even saying the East is superior?

This will be a better discussion to re-visit once most of the summer moves are over and done with. Most teams in the NHL have a good team in place that can improve a ton by adding something new.

 

[SI90]

The metro itself is insane.

 

[voxel]

The East vs. West balance shifted a few years back. It used to be West teams with a massive win-loss advantage but now it's the East with a decent regular season advantage (except this season was closer).

 

[Chips]

I think the east will have an advantage past this year, but I doubt it will last a full 5 years, definitely not 10.

But definitely, given how much better the east looked this season, I’d expect the someone from east to take the Cup again... if I had to bet on it.

I’m not a firm believer in Vegas being better than “pretty good”. Things just worked out for them, and they had the bounces and some very fortunate matchups in the playoffs. That they handled the conference so easily makes the West look fairly weak.

The Preds are one team in the West atm I believe are solid cup contenders. Very deep. Things don’t always work out based just on talent but if they get hot at the right time they can take it to any opponent. The Jets and some other teams are on the cusp of becoming great if they add reliable depth without losing anything else. We’ll have to see how their offseason goes.

 

[Hivemind]

Three consecutive Stanley Cups. How is this even a question?

 

[Apotheosis]

Three consecutive Cups, Tampa, Boston, Toronto all looking ridiculously good and relatively young, and majority of the West is old and the recent final was heavily in the East's favour. It's the East's league for the next 5 years at least.

 

[Dont Toews Me Bro]

Three consecutive Stanley Cups. How is this even a question?

Because it's about more than just cups.

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

East has been clearly better since the beginning of the 2015-16 season. With teams like Toronto and NJ on the rise it's not going to get any easier. The best teams in the west are Winnipeg, Nashville, and Vegas. That's a bit underwhelming, especially compared to the Chicago/LA era.

 

[razor ray]

East no doubt.

The East is also adding picks #1, 2, 3, and 4 from this draft.

 

[GellMann]

It's been three years sweaty

 

[stuffradio]

Just wait for Vancouver to get back to competitive form, we still dominate the "big" teams in the east. How sweep it was for us to demolish the Penguins this year, thanks to that lucky Boeser.

 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

The East is more predictable than the West.

 

[Frank Drebin]

Montreal would be a playoff team in the West.

Winnipeg would be a wild card team in the east

The real sc final was the second round in the east

 

[Frank Drebin]

Just wait for Vancouver to get back to competitive form, we still dominate the "big" teams in the east. How sweep it was for us to demolish the Penguins this year, thanks to that lucky Boeser.

Lmfao. Trash talking gone bad

 

[Genuflexion]

Yeah. Honestly it's pretty great because the 'unstoppable' West fans are possibly the most obnoxious out there

 

[CanadianPensFan1]

The west dominated for quite a few years.

We are now in a period where the east is in control.

It's not even. At all. These things are cyclical. In a year or two, it's very likely the west will reign supreme. But for now, it's the east

It's ok fans of west teams. You'll be ok.

 

[voxel]

Montreal would be a playoff team in the West.

Winnipeg would be a wild card team in the east

The real sc final was the second round in the east

Montreal has the worst record against the West in the Eastern Conference. They are a bottom feeder in arguably the worst division in the NHL.

2017-18 NHL Regular Season Vs. Division Standings - National Hockey League

The only reason their record isn't more terrible is they play worse teams in that dreadful Atlantic division.

 

[Frank Drebin]

Montreal has the worst record against the West in the Eastern Conference. They are a bottom feeder in arguably the worst division in the NHL.

2017-18 NHL Regular Season Vs. Division Standings - National Hockey League

The only reason their record isn't more terrible is they play worse teams in that dreadful Atlantic division.

It was firmly tongue in cheek in response to posts from yesteryear

 

[IWantSakicAsMyGM]

The East had 4 of the 5 teams with the best chance at 1OA in the draft lottery. Washington and Pittsburgh have overtaken the West is a much more accurate statement, since the East is also bringing up the rear.

 

[Scotty Pucks]

The West needs the Hawks.

The “new guard” teams that have made the final the past 3 seasons are a bunch of chokers.

 

[ColbyChaos]

Montreal would be a playoff team in the West.

Winnipeg would be a wild card team in the east

The real sc final was the second round in the east

Well this has managed to be the dumbest post in the thread, well done.