yave1964 Posted February 27, 2023 Share Posted February 27, 2023 I remember as a teen watching the Bad Boys in Detroit and the Jordan led Bulls, every year save for a blip where the Rockets won twice for over a decade the East dominated, usually the top three or four teams in the game were in the East, Pistons, Bills, Knicks, Reggie Miller and his Pacers, Hell even the Cavaliers were almost always better than the fodder that the West would put out there in the finals. It was a running joke, the Western Conference was clearly inferior, a pipeline to funnel players to the big boys in the East. That is more or less exactly what we have in the NHL right now. The Western Conference is a joke. Yeah, i know the Avalanche won it all last year and are defending champs until someone unseats them, but truth is the top six teams in the NHL are all in the East this year, and nearly all have gotten better ahead of the deadline and likely none of them are done making moves 6) Rangers. Added Mikkola and Taresenko, looks like Kane is coming too 5) Leafs O'Reilly and Accairi with rumors of Schenn on his way to help the back end 4)Lightning An overpay but Jeannot is built for the playoffs. 3) Hurricanes Nothing yet but a forward is coming, as well as a third pair defender on the wish list 2) Devils Timo Meier one of the games top young power forwards came aboard yesterday. 1) Bruins made their own big move, adding Orlov and Hathaway to add nastiness Other than the two nice pieces the Bruins added from the Capitals, all the rest came from the West. And while this is going on? What is the West doing? Well the Avalanche brought back spare part Jack Johnson, Dadonov was given away to the Stars, very, very little to be honest. Barbashev did move from Western Conference St. Louis to Vegas, a good play, but that is about it. The East is tooling up for a juicy fun as hell my skill against your skill competition while out West it looks as if it will come down to which flawed team is slightly less so than their opponent. Oh I guess you could bring up Nino Niederreitter to the Jets but he is an injury replacement and hardly a needle mover on his best day. Colorado has not been themselves all year, its the truth, but they are the team to beat in the West, maybe Vegas but without Stone are not the same club, one of the Western Canadian teams might win the West, but every team mentioned there is flawed. Calgary hates their coach, Edmonton has replaced Smith/Koskinen with a younger version who are more or less the same, Winnipeg has skill and is fun to watch but something is missing and nobody wants to play there, Vegas without Stone is not going to win anything and their goaltending is not cup winning caliber, Colorado is not the same team that ran wild over the league last year, they havent seen Landeskog all year and might not, MacKinnon has been hurt and they miss Kadri more than they want to admit and truth is they are the 7th best team in the game but the best team in the West. It has been building this way for years, andit got more profound during the frenzy last year, of the top twenty free agents who left for greener pastures, fifteen or more went from the West to the East. A few stayed in Conference, and the West did really nothing to move the needle. Can a Western conference team beat an Eastern conference team? Of course but the odds are high. It would take someone like Vegas getting a good draw for the first few rounds, winning in five games in each, coming out healthy and then winning the conference with momentum going against the winner of the East. They would need, and just picking a name, Toronto barely escaping Tampa, somehow clawing their way past Boston and then beating the Hurricanes in a bloody hard fought seven game series, too exhausted with nothing left in the tank by the time the SCF rolls around. Gods truth i still say that as much as i respect the Avalanche that is what happened last year. Tampa was and is the better team but they killed themselves getting there for the third year in a row, Colorado was healthy and fast and tampa was beat up and running on fumes and still could have won the series with a break or two. Prior to last year the East has won six of the previous seven with only the Blues winning during that time from the West, and anyone who doesnt think that was the flukiest damn thing ever does not watch hockey. They went from dead last in their conference on New Years to winning it all which simply shows just how even the West is, no team dead last in the East on New Years is gonna even make the playoffs ever, let alone make a run. Even the lower rung of the Eastern conference contenders, leaving Detroit out because i can not be subjective Buffalo and Pittsburgh are probably as good or close to it as anything coming out of the West. Long write up, sorry, boiled down the East is some of the most amazing Hockey i have seen in years while the West is slow and frankly not very interesting. Glad to live in the good time zone. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FD19372 Posted February 27, 2023 Share Posted February 27, 2023 Unless it's the Avs again..and I have to see a little more out of them but they certainly have it in them, there are three or four teams in the East with a better chance to win it, Boston, Tampa and New Jersey and even MAYBE Toronto. Not entirely sold on Carolina's depth or goaltending. Georgiev has been very good, but I'm not completely sold on their goaltending, for the playoffs. I don't see a team like Vegas or anyone else in the West winning the Cup. Maybe after the trade deadline, I'll give the West a better chance..but for right now, it looks like the East's Cup to lose. I don't see Vegas being quite good, or deep enough, at this point... though they are playing extremely well, particularly on the road this season, 17-5-5. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yave1964 Posted February 27, 2023 Author Share Posted February 27, 2023 4 minutes ago, FD19372 said: Unless it's the Avs again..and I have to see a little more out of them but they certainly have it in them, there are three or four teams in the East with a better chance to win it, Boston, Tampa and New Jersey and even MAYBE Toronto. Not entirely sold on Carolina's depth or goaltending. Georgiev has been very good, but I'm not completely sold on their goaltending, for the playoffs. I don't see a team like Vegas or anyone else in the West winning the Cup. Maybe after the trade deadline, I'll give the West a better chance..but for right now, it looks like the East's Cup to lose. I don't see Vegas being quite good, or deep enough, at this point... though they are playing extremely well, particularly on the road this season, 17-5-5. I personally put the Rangers in the top tier category, especially adding Taresenko, Mikkola, Motta and Kane coming aboard before the deadline. They could just punish people offensively and smother you on defense with the best goalie in the world in net. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FD19372 Posted February 27, 2023 Share Posted February 27, 2023 1 minute ago, yave1964 said: I personally put the Rangers in the top tier category, especially adding Taresenko, Mikkola, Motta and Kane coming aboard before the deadline. They could just punish people offensively and smother you on defense with the best goalie in the world in net. How could I forget the Rags? Good point. They're certainly in that Eastern mix, too. If they get Patrick Kane, they'll be loaded. They're pretty good, at least on paper, as it is now. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaucyJack Posted February 27, 2023 Share Posted February 27, 2023 (edited) So if I understand everyone correctly… …in their classic and haunting dirge The End, Jim Morrison and The Doors were full of toro caca in saying… “The West, is the best. The WEST…is the BEST!!” ————— Lyrics might have, should have been… ”Lost, in a Campbell Conference, Wilderness of pain. And alllll theeeeir Geeee-Emmmms Aaaaaaaare Innnnnnnn-saaaaane…” Edited February 28, 2023 by SaucyJack 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaucyJack Posted February 28, 2023 Share Posted February 28, 2023 17 hours ago, SaucyJack said: ”Lost, in a Campbell Conference, Wilderness of pain. And alllll theeeeir Geeee-Emmmms Aaaaaaaare Innnnnnnn-saaaaane…” Sorry, left out the closing verse: ”…thinking that they’ll siiiign, Patrick Kane!” 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.