The Western Conference - Not Very Good

[NoNecksCurse]

Preds and Vegas may be one-hit wonders but I hardly think the West is "not very good". WPG, STL, SJS, ANA seem to always be in the mix and still all have really great teams.

damn blueton. throwing shade on the preds while giving the blues a compliment? rofl.

 

[Mass]

LOL at conference cheerleading. Might as well get some SEC cucking in here as well.

 

[JianYang]

not sure how you can say it was just goaltending when each of Vegas' line and 5 man unit were slightly better than the Jets. The only exception was Byfuglien being the best D on both team

What I'm saying is that competent goaltending is one of the prerequisites to a stanley cup, and the Jets didn't get it in the 3rd round. I'm also questioning how much that 1 day break affected them coming off that emotional series against Nashville.

 

[SavedByRoy]

Vegas still has a 50% chance to win the series. There is way too much recency bias in play0ff hockey. A team wins a game or two: "it's over!". Then the other team wins a game or two: "it's over!" in their favor. I really hope the Caps can win two more games though.

And if Hellebuyck played like he did the first 2 series instead of .900 last round, the Jets might've won and would've been favorites in the SCF. The West is actually good.

 

[Ainec]

Vegas still has a 50% chance to win the series. There is way too much recency bias in play0ff hockey. A team wins a game or two: "it's over!". Then the other team wins a game or two: "it's over!" in their favor. I really hope the Caps can win two more games though.

And if Hellebuyck played like he did the first 2 series instead of .900 last round, the Jets might've won and would've been favorites in the SCF. The West is actually good.

the logic that Hellebuyck is the reason Jets lost.. is the same logic that Vegas still has a 50% chance of winning the cup down 2 games to 1

 

[BlueDream]

-The West isnt anywhere close to being a top notch conference like Hawks and Kings fans proclaimed. There is zero parity and no one else can win. And they had the benefit of coming out of the West with 2 less teams then the East.

-If the Caps win this year, the Penguins, Caps, Devils, Rangers, Hurricanes all proved they can win a cup. The Islanders and Flyers won a bunch but that is past history. The Central Division looks grossly overrated right now too. And with Chicago in the basement for the forseeable future, it looks like the Metro, huge gap, then anyone's guess. Maybe the Central is the 2nd best division without any contenders.

Haha what? The Hurricanes, Devils and Rangers proved they can win a Cup? When was that? Because if you go back to the last time those teams won, I don't know how those years are relevant to the thread at all.

LOL at conference cheerleading. Might as well get some SEC cucking in here as well.

Right. I never understood why people take pride in a different team in their conference winning... lol. That does nothing to show that your team that didn't win is superior at anything.

 

[KingBran]

damn blueton. throwing shade on the preds while giving the blues a compliment? rofl.

Truth hurts I guess? What I said is really how it has happened for the past few seasons. Why do you think everything I say is specifically about the Preds and Blues? Please quit stalking me. My post was about multiple teams in the WC.

 

[KingBran]

Almost the opposite! But that is looking to change

That's actually true, WPG really hasn't been "in the mix". Good point. I agree they are primed to be "in the mix" though for the foreseeable future.

 

[Ivan13]

Preds and Vegas may be one-hit wonders but I hardly think the West is "not very good". WPG, STL, SJS, ANA seem to always be in the mix and still all have really great teams.

Preds a one-hit wonder, but Blues are a really great team

 

[NoNecksCurse]

Preds a one-hit wonder, but Blues are a really great team

it's blueton. he's great.

 

[NoNecksCurse]

Truth hurts I guess? What I said is really how it has happened for the past few seasons. Why do you think everything I say is specifically about the Preds and Blues? Please quit stalking me. My post was about multiple teams in the WC.

the preds destroyed the blues in 2016 in the only series between the two. and went on to make to the finals. the next year the preds win the presidents trophy and the blues don't even make the playoffs and actually sold at the deadline. what the hell are you talking about, seriously?

 

[Jordan Belfort]

Lol when someone tries to argue for the least. Such a soft conference

 

[Ivan13]

What were the Blues in the mix for? Award for the perennial paper tiger?

 

[Quid Pro Clowe]

-The West isnt anywhere close to being a top notch conference like Hawks and Kings fans proclaimed. There is zero parity and no one else can win. And they had the benefit of coming out of the West with 2 less teams then the East.

-If the Caps win this year, the Penguins, Caps, Devils, Rangers, Hurricanes all proved they can win a cup. The Islanders and Flyers won a bunch but that is past history. The Central Division looks grossly overrated right now too. And with Chicago in the basement for the forseeable future, it looks like the Metro, huge gap, then anyone's guess. Maybe the Central is the 2nd best division without any contenders.

All that means is they had 2 less mediocre/bad teams to get points against.

 

[McCoy]

Preds a one-hit wonder, but Blues are a really great team

Blues greaterness but even Coyotes and Kings for sure.

Bruins, Canadiens, Leafs and Sabres in Eastern nice and show business.

 

[McCoy]

What were the Blues in the mix for? Award for the perennial paper tiger?

Bouwmeester
Berglund
Statsny
Thomas
Jaskin

But we in Seattle needs Statsny or both this star and Bouwmeester to season 2020-2021.

 

[AD1066]

It kind of makes sense if you look at the distribution and production of top draft picks over the last decade or so.

The East already had the Big 3 in Crosby, Ovechkin, and Malkin; and these generational (or near-generational) talents have won 3 of the last 3.

But looking beyond that, over the past decade, the Eastern conference has also been adding top picks at a higher rate. If I'm counting right, of players selected first or second overall, 13 have gone to the East since 2008, and only 7 have gone to the West. Dahlin and Svechnikov going as projected would bump the East up to 15. Obviously there's more to drafting and team-building than top-2 picks, but if we consider that they have the highest likelihood of becoming impact players, we're looking at something like:

East: Stamkos, Hedman, Tavares, Seguin*, Barkov, Eichel, Matthews, Hischier, Dahlin, Svechnikov
West: Doughty, Hall*, RNH, Yakupov, MacKinnon, Landeskog, McDavid, Laine

The verdict is still out on Hischier, Dahlin, Svechnikov, but just looking at the groupings above, and with Hall now being in NJ, I wouldn't be surprised to see the balance of power remain in the East for the foreseeable future.

 

[McCoy]

But Statsny couldn't missed transfer to Seattle.

 

[LetsGoBLUES91]

the preds destroyed the blues in 2016 in the only series between the two. and went on to make to the finals. the next year the preds win the presidents trophy and the blues don't even make the playoffs and actually sold at the deadline. what the hell are you talking about, seriously?

Really? I vehemently disagree with that. They were a terrible call away from a 7 game series.

 

[topshelf15]

Meh ,it has been and always be a cyclic thing...The east is stronger for now,give a few years and it will be the west again

 

[HolyJumpin]

[mod]

Really it's the fact that the Eastern conference isn't competitive and the central is the thunderdome is why the West has struggled over the past few years. Teams are playing just higher quality teams in the first and second round in the west rather than the east.

 

[Shockmaster]

[mod]

Really it's the fact that the Eastern conference isn't competitive and the central is the thunderdome is why the West has struggled over the past few years. Teams are playing just higher quality teams in the first and second round in the west rather than the east.

The Central is "the thunderdome?"

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

[mod]

Really it's the fact that the Eastern conference isn't competitive and the central is the thunderdome is why the West has struggled over the past few years. Teams are playing just higher quality teams in the first and second round in the west rather than the east.

More like the dome of mediocrity. Nashville and Winnipeg are the only good teams in the division and they were more second tier contenders compared to Washington/Pitt/Tampa. Teams like Minnesota, St Louis, Colorado, Dallas are not a threat for anything.

 

[DannyGallivan]

Ever since the Hawks and Kings... full of a bunch of prima Donna first timers who become flavor of the month, then the Final comes and you couldn’t melt them down into a pressure situation.

Full credit to the Caps. What they’ve done so far these playoffs is unreal, and they’re a deserving cup champion (yes, I’m assuming they’ve won. There’s literally been nothing in these games that shows me Vegas stands a chance). Between having the stars (Ovi, Kuzy, Backstrom), an incredibly solid D and goalie, and the Trotz System, no one was beating them this year.

However, I honestly believe you could plug half of the Eastern conference into this final and they’d win too. Tampa, The B’s, Penguins, heck even Toronto and I wonder if my Fly Guys could give them a scare.

When will the West win again? Who in that conference even can without the Hawks/Kings on top?

The West isn't very good? You mean, the conference where the league's top two regular season teams both came from the West? Naw, I don't buy that. When you look at how complete the Preds and Jets are, and with Vegas likely reloading with free agents in the off season, I expect the Stanley Cup to return to the West for the forseeable future.

 

[HolyJumpin]

More like the dome of mediocrity. Nashville and Winnipeg are the only good teams in the division and they were more second tier contenders compared to Washington/Pitt/Tampa. Teams like Minnesota, St Louis, Colorado, Dallas are not a threat for anything.

They had a higher winning percentage than the metro, they had a higher point threshold to get into than the metro. But whatever, facts don't matter.