Rank the divisions

[RogerR]

Have you watched them this year? They have a good team with a depleted D. Once healthy they will be very tough and battle the Isles to the end for the 4th spot.

They do not have a good team at all. And that D when healthy is just terrible as well.

It's over for them.

 

[RogerR]

Yeah the team that has 4 regulation wins so far this season and got booted by Montreal in the qualifying round would be first in the North.

It’s one thing calling the North weak, it’s another claiming an extremely mediocre team who’s on a downward trend would run the table in the division.

Essentially he is saying Pens would have NHLs best record right now. It's just ludicrous.

This is an example why people are finding the knock on the North Over-The-Top

 

[Bounces R Way]

East
Central
West
North

Pretty easy really.

 

[Isaac Nootin]

Pittsburgh, as it stands currently, is basically constructed as a worse version of Edmonton.

Top end forwards (McD/Drai, Crosby/Malkin), with suspect defense and goaltending.

Only difference is Edmontons forwards are the 2 best in the league and in there prime, while Pittsburghs are past there best before date.

At best, Pitt is fighting with Montreal for 4th, behind Toronto, Winnipeg and Edmonton.

 

[The Winter Soldier]

They'd be behind Montréal (4th in the North), who bounced Pittsburgh with ease in last year's playoffs. That string of poor play from Pittsburgh has continued so far this season.

They still have decent forwards. Defence and goaltending is terrible. Time to rebuild.

Ludicrous. They wouldn't make the playoffs in the North.
You don't seem to be able to remove yourself from how good Pittsbugh use to be. It's 2021. They were clearly om a downswing last year.
They are no longer even close to Toronto. Not in forwards, depth, D or goaltending.

The penguins were 9-8 last year against North teams and they are arguably worse this year. They would be somewhere in the middle.

The Penguins were actually 11-4-1 against North division teams last season. Again, just last season. That's a .719 points percentage. This would put them near the top of the North Divison. 23 out of a possible 32 points against Canadian teams.

There is nothing to suggest their dominance over Northern Division teams would not carry over to this year.

Divisions matter, the East is far superior to the North. Yet again, I ask, how are they terrible if you agree with @RogerR assertion, they are not near the bottom of the NHL while playing in the toughest division this year. Claiming they are terrible would seem a stretch to most.

2019-20 Pittsburgh Penguins Head-to-Head Results | Hockey-Reference.com

 

[Hollywood3]

Here's the actual numbers. Last season's point percentage for each division, teams ranked 1-8.

The East is really the only standout, the other three divisions trade blows (average point percentage for each of the other three are basically within a rounding error of each other). North has the weakest high end, West has the weakest low end, except for Detroit, of course.

View attachment 402375

I did the maths and posted the tables elsewhere. Basically, I did a strength-of-schedule ("SOS") to account for interlocking results last year, applied those numbers to last year's standings, then calculated an average for this year's new alignment.

The only above-average division is the East, and the North is weakest. Here are the numbers (1.000 would be the league average):
East 1.105
Central .986
West .976
North .934

Since there are no interlocking games this year, it is pure opinion and speculation as to which divisions may have improved or weakened over the off-season.

In any event, by applying the foregoing to this year's records (as at Feb 27th) the standings adjusted for SOS would be like this:

 

[Canadienna]

Comparing teams between divisions is tough, but when you just look within divisions, it looks like the "hardest" divisions to battle for a playoff spot are the East, the North, then either west or central.

CHI or LA could make those divisions interesting but it seems like the North will be a tough fight and the East will definitely lose a good team.

Bear in mind this is all still fairly early, and it's bound to change over time, but the trends are starting to come out.

 

[albator71]

That's ok. It will be a big surprise then.

It sure will keep dreaming buddy!!!

 

[Notsince67]

It sure will keep dreaming buddy!!!

I'm not even thinking of the cup. I'm thinking how long the dynasty will last.

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

The penguins were 9-8 last year against North teams and they are arguably worse this year. They would be somewhere in the middle.

Where did you pull that number from lol, they were 11-4-1.

Pit vs Tor last season:

6-1 pit
5-2 pit
4-0 tor

Pit vs Edm

2-1 edm
5-2 pit

Pit vs Wpg

4-1 wpg
7-2 pit

Pit vs Cgy

3-2 pit
4-1 pit

Pit vs Van

8-6 pit
4-1 van

Pit vs Ott

5-2 pit
7-3 pit

Pit vs Mtl

3-2 pit
4-1 mtl
4-1 pit

 

[The Winter Soldier]

I'm well aware of what the Pens did years ago. Not relevant now. 4 regulation wins.

Not sure why so many go back to past accomplishments with different rosters in judging teams.

Timely. They won last night in regulation over Philly, and they didn't need Crosby in the line up to do so. Nice reverse jinx there. The Pens are tied for 4th now in the East, toughest division in hockey.

 

[RogerR]

Timely. They won last night in regulation over Philly, and they didn't need Crosby in the line up to do so. Nice reverse jinx there. The Pens are tied for 4th now in the East, toughest division in hockey.

You believe they'd be first in the North and therefore, best record in the NHL.
They are not a good team at all. The NHls attempt at parity is helping them more than any team, but still it's over fo rthem.

I still think you're guilty of seeing Crosby, Malkin, remembering those 3 cups and not able to equate the quality of team in 2021.

 

[Zybalto]

Cant find many but...

Before the season started, Division rankings by non-partisan sources:


The Score:

Ranking the NHL's realigned divisions

1. East
2. North
3. Central
4. West

Overtime Heroics:

2020-21 NHL Division Rankings

1. East
2. West
3. North
4. Central

Broadstreet Hockey (a bit partisan I guess but everyone has the East first anyways so who cares)

Ranking the 2021 NHL divisions

1. East
2. West
3. Central
4. North

NHL.com had a gimmicky article in which 4 staff writers picked the 4 different divisions so that doesn't really count.

Pretty much the same as the consensus around here before the season started in that the East was the group of death and all the other divisions were rated all over the map. A credit to the NHL in some sense that they balanced it pretty good and also got lucky that Canada has some good teams. If this had hit 5 years ago, the North really would be as bad as the stupid narrative some are pushing lately.

 

[WATTAGE4451]

Cant find many but...

Before the season started, Division rankings by non-partisan sources:


The Score:

Ranking the NHL's realigned divisions

1. East
2. North
3. Central
4. West

Overtime Heroics:

2020-21 NHL Division Rankings

1. East
2. West
3. North
4. Central

Broadstreet Hockey (a bit partisan I guess but everyone has the East first anyways so who cares)

Ranking the 2021 NHL divisions

1. East
2. West
3. Central
4. North

NHL.com had a gimmicky article in which 4 staff writers picked the 4 different divisions so that doesn't really count.

Pretty much the same as the consensus around here before the season started in that the East was the group of death and all the other divisions were rated all over the map. A credit to the NHL in some sense that they balanced it pretty good and also got lucky that Canada has some good teams. If this had hit 5 years ago, the North really would be as bad as the stupid narrative some are pushing lately.

Lol at the score picking the north as 2nd

 

[Woncka]

Id have the North last while having the West 1st

i think, in terms of inter-divisional competitiveness, the East is the winner

 

[Peiskos]

East
West
Central
.
.
.
.
North

The North is by far the weakest division. First, mathematically it provides the easiest path to the playoffs. Secondly, it is Toronto and a batch of bad teams. Edmonton, Vancouver and Calgary all had inflated records last year from playing in a weak division.

Irrelevant.

When are people going to stop pretending like the Lighting don't get to feast on the Stars, Wings, Preds or the Capitals and Bruins who get to feast on the Sabres, Devils and Rangers? or the Blues and Knights getting to feast on the Ducks, Sharks and Kings?

Every division has bad teams stop acting like Toronto is the only team getting to play some bad teams.

End of the day these are all NHL caliber teams.

 

[Jetcetera]

East
Central
North
West

 

[Hollywood3]

Cant find many but...

Before the season started, Division rankings by non-partisan sources:


The Score:

Ranking the NHL's realigned divisions

1. East
2. North
3. Central
4. West

Overtime Heroics:

2020-21 NHL Division Rankings

1. East
2. West
3. North
4. Central

Broadstreet Hockey (a bit partisan I guess but everyone has the East first anyways so who cares)

Ranking the 2021 NHL divisions

1. East
2. West
3. Central
4. North

NHL.com had a gimmicky article in which 4 staff writers picked the 4 different divisions so that doesn't really count.

Pretty much the same as the consensus around here before the season started in that the East was the group of death and all the other divisions were rated all over the map. A credit to the NHL in some sense that they balanced it pretty good and also got lucky that Canada has some good teams. If this had hit 5 years ago, the North really would be as bad as the stupid narrative some are pushing lately.

I did the maths based on last year's results:

 

[Zybalto]

I did the maths based on last year's results:
View attachment 403306

Love what you've done there. I'd certainly add in the nuance of injury, PDO and offseason additions to make even more precise predictions before the season but thats an awesome tool to try and figure out the strength of standings using the maths.

 

[Fisticuffer]

Central
North and East
West

 

[Hollywood3]

Love what you've done there. I'd certainly add in the nuance of injury, PDO and offseason additions to make even more precise predictions before the season but thats an awesome tool to try and figure out the strength of standings using the maths.

The problem then is the mix of subjective factors, which I wanted to avoid.

 

[dlawong]

Much easier to play against Buffalo, NYR and NJ than it is to play in the North. All three are comparable to Ottawa.

Not Rangers, they actually has good goalies and a young star D - Fox. Rangers looked real good against Isles in one of the games and they are hard to predict. NJ may lack enough talents upfront but their defense is not that bad based on the recent game we seen when they played Isles. But the Sabres is another story which is kind of sad for their two high end players - Eichel and Dahlin. I think Olofsson has pretty good talent. He has a real good one timer, dangerous on the PP. I still think their problem may be in net.

 

[The S5]

Central
East
North
West

 

[Chimpradamus]

East

Central
West
North

The only mainly competitive division is the East. The rest have some top teams and some bottom feeders. Then we have those who argues North is a top division because "it's the closest between the teams". Yeah, of course it gets close when basically all the teams except Toronto are so flawed and quite bad.

 

[pictman]

I actually don't think it's possible to rank them. Trying to rank divisions that don't play each other is impossible. You can't compare them by last year. One player change or development changes that. You can't rank them by competiveness because the teams could all be bad or all good .You can't compare the by where they are in the over all standings because a good team from a weak division will obviously be misplaced. A division with weak teams at the bottom could be because of particularly strong teams at the top. Winning percentage, goals scored, goals against, .......Even dare I say, eyeseeing.You are watching apples and oranges. So simply, it can't be done.