Anaheim and especially San Jose are better than I thought they'd be. Both are on better paces than what Vancouver won the President's Trophy with in 11-12. LA's scoring is way worse than I thought it'd be and that's a big reason why they're not fighting for the division. Vancouver is definitely doing more poorly that I thought, but missing the playoffs was always a distinct possibility in my mind. I just would've expected them to miss by a couple of points rather than potentially picking in the top 6 or 7.
That said, I think the division stuff is overblown a little. The Canucks aren't missing the playoffs because of their division, but because they've played poorly against everyone. There's no better example of that than their record against the Eastern Conference. Between 08-12 their record vs the East ranged from .625 to .725 while this year they're .500. That's about 8-12 lost points right there that's completely irrespective of how they played against their tough divisional opponents.
And that makes a big difference. LA has only gotten 2 more points than Vancouver has vs. the Western Conference. But because they've gotten 45 points against the East compared to Vancouver's 32 points they're way ahead and comfortably in a playoff spot.
Yeah if there was no division realignment and we were still the NW division, we'd still be sitting in pretty much the same spot with Colorado and Minnesota representing our div for the playoffs and us on the outside looking in. Also if it was the same division probably 80-90% of us would have voted 1st in the division.
And we wouldn't have been wrong to do so, just that unexpected things can and always do happen in a season. Colorado is an even better example of this, I mean seriously from dead last in the West on pace for 66 points to 4th overall and a likely 110 points? That's an over 40 point difference, where the Canucks in comparison are currently about 20 behind with games left.
A prediction is a prediction, doesn't make you smart if you bet low and won... unless you're doing it consistently around the league. If you could have gotten Vegas odds at the start of the season for where we'd finish, this low would probably only be about 10%.
Really it's a lot like Nonis' last two seasons here, where pretty much the same team put up 105 points one season while healthy, then with an unusual rash of injuries dropped 17 points and out of the playoffs.
