1) It doesn't take a mathematician to see that once again the conference with more depth of excellence is The West. Even with the movement of some teams (Detroit to East) there still appears to be far more solidly good teams out West than in the other conference. What this potentially will set up is the unfortunate (for one team) elimination of one of the best NHL teams in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
2) In the West we could argue that 6 teams are legit Cup contenders:
- Los Angeles
- Chicago
- San Jose
- Colorado
- Anaheim
- St. Louis
Any of those teams could make an argument that they are good enough to go all the way. Meanwhile in the East other than Boston and Pittsburgh we don't see any other legit contenders to win Lord Stanley's Cup. Sorry NY and Montreal fans. What that means is that we will most definitely have at least 1 if not 2 of those 6 Cup contending teams in the West go out in the first round. Usually that indicates failure to teams that are in true pursuit of excellence. Usually resulting in either coaching changes or significant personnel upheaval. However in this case we'd urge those unfortunate teams to realize the predicament they are in. It is what it is. We can't see another way of more fairly seeding the playoff match ups. The rivalries that the NHL likes to see erupt will fade if a more egalitarian 1 plays 16, 2 plays 15, etc type system was instituted.
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