When West became better conference?

[Chain Attack]

For me it as started on the Colorado-Detroit-Dallas powerhouse time frame, a lot of time the "reel" stanley cup was the west conference final.

Dallas may have been a powerhouse by western conference standards, but New Jersey was the only team on Detroit's level.

 

[Chain Attack]

I think from the mid 1990s onward the West was tougher. From 1995 to 2003 the only Eastern team to win was Jersey. That left Detroit, Colorado and Dallas as the powerhouses and perennial contenders.

But lately I wouldn't say the West is any stronger now. Maybe deeper, a bit, but at the top level the East has Pittsburgh, Washington, Boston and once in a while Philly. The West has Detroit, Vancouver and San Jose with a team like Anaheim once in a while being dangerous. Pretty even.

New Jersey was the only team in that time frame but they reached the finals 4 times, knocking off some potential champions in the process. A lot of people thought Ottawa had a better team than Jersey in 2003. No matter who came out of the East that year would have been favoured over Anaheim. If Jersey doesn't come back from 1-3 against Philly in 2000, we have a Philly/Dallas showdown and that could've gone either way. (philly would've had home ice)

 

[Hawkey Town 18]

Dallas may have been a powerhouse by western conference standards, but New Jersey was the only team on Detroit's level.

I guess you can make some arguments about Dallas (I personally would include them as one of the powerhouses), but how can you say Colorado wasn't on Detroit and New Jersey's level?

1996: Beat Detroit in WCF
1997: Lost to Detroit in WCF
1999: Beat Detroit in WCSF
2000: Beat Detroit in WCSF
2001: Beat New Jersey in Cup Finals
2002: Lost to Detroit in WCF

 

[Chain Attack]

I guess you can make some arguments about Dallas (I personally would include them as one of the powerhouses), but how can you say Colorado wasn't on Detroit and New Jersey's level?

1996: Beat Detroit in WCF
1997: Lost to Detroit in WCF
1999: Beat Detroit in WCSF
2000: Beat Detroit in WCSF
2001: Beat New Jersey in Cup Finals
2002: Lost to Detroit in WCF

I've just always thought of Colorado as Detroit's younger brother. They had arguably the highest-end talent of any team in that era but as a team there isn't a system that really defined them. Detroit was a puck possession team, New Jersey was a trapping team, Colorado was?? The team with lots of superstars on it. To me, Colorado felt like a modern-day Pittsburgh. The Penguins might win the stanley cup this year. That's how I felt about Colorado most years. I don't think it's wrong to label them a powerhouse, but I don't think they were on Detroit's level; heck on second thought I don't think New Jersey was either.

 

[TasteofFlames]

Ok, I was thinking that we should consider all teams in each conference, not just the good ones

What I mean is that the conferences more or less average out even.

 

[DanZ]

What I mean is that the conferences more or less average out even.

If the top end teams are roughly equal, and the West has better depth, then the conferences are more or less not equal.

 

[TasteofFlames]

If the top end teams are roughly equal, and the West has better depth, then the conferences are more or less not equal.

How about this, the difference is so minimal that I consider it negligable. If one happens to be stuck on the idea that one has to be better than the other then the west wins, but, imo, it's an uneccesary argument. One being better than the other can change almost daily right now. The last handful of seasons the west has been better, but it's to the point that the east could be better with a Winnipeg win streak.

 

[LT]

East has more skill when it comes to the top teams and has those top teams.

West overall is more skilled as a whole, and more competitive. It has two of the more competitive divisions (Pacific and Central) and while there isn't a Crosby or Ovechkin on any Western teams, they typically seem to have stronger depth and some very solid teams.

 

[begbeee]

Yeah, I can see how one thinks West is deeper and East has better high-end talent. But I still dont understand how could someone comes to conclusion that deeper is equal better. And many many people say "West is better" and they say it for many many years. I dont buy an argument "cuz they have deeper fourth line". And it seems that we have just come to this conclusion.