Rank the divisions

[Bedards Dad]

The deepest Canadian team is winning the cup in '21

I dont think Toronto is winning the cup this year.

 

[Bedards Dad]

Not sure how anyone has the North ahead of the west? Colorado, St. Louis, and Vegas are all better than any of the Canadian teams

I'm guessing becuase the North only has 1 really bad team. If this was a ranking of the top 3 teams you'd have a solid argument.

 

[Pandaman11]

Columbus is currently first in the Central with 2 wins and 5 losses

(and yes, I know the reason, but it still looks funny)

 

[SheldonJPlankton]

I dont think Toronto is winning the cup this year.

Agreed.

 

[The Winter Soldier]

East

Central
West
North

 

[joe dirte]

Brings me back to the 80s when the Adams division had Quebec-Hartford so making the playoffs was easy while the Patrick division had 1 more team and every season a team in the Patrick didnt make it because of that extra team. Huge difference 7 vs 8 teams.
1988 last in Patrick would have been 2nd in Norris. Plenty of such oddities in those unbalanced divisions.

Fans of McDavid sometimes talk about not even Mario Lemieux being good enough to get the Pens to the playoffs for about 3 or 4 years.

What they always fail to recognize is the playoff format, and there were teams with 20 to 30 less points making the playoffs those years, because of playoff format and the fact that the Pens were in the best division. Literally 20 to 30 points less.

 

[The Winter Soldier]

But it sort of depends on the team right? It all comes down to your immediate competition. There’s 4 spots per division so how many teams are you better than?

In the East a good team is going to miss. Boston, Washington, Philly, Boston, Pittsburgh were all top 10 teams last year and someone is the odd team out. I know Boston has sustained some losses in personnel but still they won the presidents trophy last year. Then you have NYI who made the ECF and NYR who is a very promising young team that added the 1OA in Laf and if Igor is the real deal in net they will be very good. NJ is the ‘weakest’ team and even they aren’t a push over.

I agree with this. The East is the division of death with the realignment. There are no easy spots in this group. It is what it is, but there are going to be some good teams that do not make the playoffs.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

East

Central
West


North

 

[X66]

East is easily the toughest.

The other 3 are interchangeable.

 

[MSSLYNX]

Not sure what to make of fact East leads league with 9 ot losses. And only 1 team below .500

League-wide i believe standings will stretch quite rapidly and tanking could be quite a thing early on.
Reminds me of NFL nfc east getting in but early exit.

 

[Avelanche]

Only think East is noteworthy as hard. The rest will have some sus teams getting in.

 

[EveryDay]

East
West
Central/North

 

[A1LeafNation]

East North Central West

Technically we could see a Toronto vs Boston final.

 

[rosscow]

West 3 good teams
East 3 good teams
Central 2 good teams
North 1 good team

 

[burstnbloom]

East North Central West

Technically we could see a Toronto vs Boston final.

lol PLEASE

 

[BFLO]

The 5th and 6th place teams in the east are likely top 10 overall in the league.

Imagine swapping the Sabres to the north for the Leafs. Leafs would struggle to even make the playoffs in the east. And Sabres would be a solid contender in the North.

 

[983 others]

East
(huge gap)
West
Central

North

North is by far the worst. There isn’t a single actual contender in the entire division.

I expect there to be huge individual numbers from the North and for people to point to that as a sign of strength or difficulty of the division as a whole, when it’s really the opposite.

 

[Jee]

East
(huge gap)
West
Central

North

North is by far the worst. There isn’t a single actual contender in the entire division.

I expect there to be huge individual numbers from the North and for people to point to that as a sign of strength or difficulty of the division as a whole, when it’s really the opposite.

I bet this will age well.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

I bet this will age well.

He's right

 

[Jee]

He's right

Too early to tell.

 

[b in vancouver]

Brings me back to the 80s when the Adams division had Quebec-Hartford so making the playoffs was easy while the Patrick division had 1 more team and every season a team in the Patrick didnt make it because of that extra team. Huge difference 7 vs 8 teams.
1988 last in Patrick would have been 2nd in Norris. Plenty of such oddities in those unbalanced divisions.

I get what you're saying but don't pick on The Adams Division. They at least had 2 or 3 of the top teams in the league every year. Making the playoffs was easier but Boston and Montreal had to meet in the playoffs for a ridiculous 9 straight years as two of the top teams. Then you get The Patrick.
Similar to The Smythe with Calgary and Edmonton. Easier to make it but then you have a yearly date in the 2nd round
But then they at least got to coast through the conference Final.

Because The Norris was a joke. One season The Leafs made the playoffs one point out of last place while The Nords, Pens and NYR(?) all missed with 20-30 points more than them.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

Too early to tell.

It's not too early to know how weak the division is defensively, nor having any teams that did great last year, best was Edm in 12th. Aside from the Habs, the other 6 teams had average offseason additions/substractions, while Edmonton suffered a huge loss. Habs got better, but are digging out of 24th place last year and their only gauge so far to assess if they're better, are the same weak-ass defenses the Habs were already good against, safe for Edmonton WITH Klefbom.

It's a very weak division and I can't believe the leafs and Habs homers putting it 2nd out of 4. It's 3rd at best. Every other division had at least one team in the top 10 last year

 

[Pyrophorus]

lol PLEASE

Things could change...

 

[Pyrophorus]

It's not too early to know how weak the division is defensively, nor having any teams that did great last year, best was Edm in 12th. Aside from the Habs, the other 6 teams had average offseason additions/substractions, while Edmonton suffered a huge loss. Habs got better, but are digging out of 24th place last year and their only gauge so far to assess if they're better, are the same weak-ass defenses the Habs were already good against, safe for Edmonton WITH Klefbom.

It's a very weak division and I can't believe the leafs and Habs homers putting it 2nd out of 4. It's 3rd at best. Every other division had at least one team in the top 10 last year

The North leader, leads the league currently?

 

[Jee]

It's not too early to know how weak the division is defensively, nor having any teams that did great last year, best was Edm in 12th. Aside from the Habs, the other 6 teams had average offseason additions/substractions, while Edmonton suffered a huge loss. Habs got better, but are digging out of 24th place last year and their only gauge so far to assess if they're better, are the same weak-ass defenses the Habs were already good against, safe for Edmonton WITH Klefbom.

It's a very weak division and I can't believe the leafs and Habs homers putting it 2nd out of 4. It's 3rd at best. Every other division had at least one team in the top 10 last year

I'm not talking about the division rankings, I'm talking about his take on the North division having no contenders. It's waaaaay too early to tell.