Balance of power shifting to the East

[yave1964]

  For years the Power in the NHL has been in the West. The more I look at it, the more that I believe that is about to change.

 

  The Kings and Hawks traded cups for five years, IMHO both are due for a serious decline. All other teams in the West are flawed, the Stars have rotten netminders, the Sharks will likely face the SCF loser hangover and were a 6 seed in the conference anyway. The Ducks were awful 5 on 5 and did nothing to improve. The Blues lost Backes and Brouwer, two of the only players on the team who play with heart. Nashville may be the best team in the West.

 

  In the East, you have:

 

MORTAL LOCKS TO CONTEND: Florida, Tampa, Pittsburgh Washington could be argued as the best 4 teams in Hockey. There is not a single team in the West whom i would take in a seven game series against any of the four.

 

A STEP BELOW BUT STILL DEADLY: Islanders if the kid forwards come of age can be right there with anyone.

 

DONT LOOK NOW: The Flyers, Hurricanes, Devils, Jackets. All have talented and even elite players at key positions and are building something. The Flyers and Canes have the two most enviable young defensive cores in the game, the Jackets are a hard hitting unpleasant bunch to play against and the Devils have possibly the games best goalie and just added Hall.

 

LONG IN THE TOOTH BUT STILL HAVE SNARL:  Rangers, Wings, Canadiens and Bruins. Rangers and Bruins in the SC Finals in recent years, the Wings retooling on the fly. all could contend if things break right.

 

 That is 12 teams who range from elite level to damn good, the East is the best in the league now, not even close. I wonder if it is too late to petition Bettman for my Wings to move back to the West, lol. And Buffalo and Toronto are certainly moving the right way.

 

  In the West:

MORTAL LOCKS TO CONTEND: None. You could make a reasonable argument for any team in the West to miss the playoffs. Parity has settled in.

 

A STEP BELOW BUT STILL DEADLY: Blues, Stars, Predators, Sharks, Ducks. A lot of teams in this category.

 

DONT LOOK NOW: Predators, Oilers, Flames and Jets. These four teams look to be the future in the West, looking ahead to the next three years I would almost be willing to bet that the next three representatives from the West will all come from this quartet.

 

LONG IN THE TOOTH BUT STILL HAVE SNARL: Hawks, Kings and Wild. Hawks and Kings have dangerously low depth but are still the Hawks and Kings. For some reason the Wild are considered a young team by many but all the key players are on the wrong side of 30 including newcomer Staal.

 

 

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

As always, these "shifts in Conference power" are cyclical.

 

Yes, the West has been the 'dominant' Conference for years....but that was after the East was that during the 90's and even into the early 2000's with the Pens, Devils, Rangers, and Flyers being the cream of the crop during that time. The only Western team that seemed to rival the Eastern powers back then were...yup, the Red Wings with an appearance by the Avalanche here and there.

 

I bet NBA fans wish they would at LEAST have cyclical shifts like this, no? Hehe....

[elmatus]

I think you're mostly right. I think you're selling some of the west short though.

 

You alluded to Nashville being the best in the west. I think you're right, and I think they compare very well to all of the eastern teams you mention. I would put the Stars just a notch behind them as well. They have one of the very best one-two punches in the game, and that can go a long way. They also have some pretty good fillers for at least the top six, and their defense is good enough to keep things afloat. All they really need is to find a goalie that gets hot at the right time. Plenty of teams have made deep runs with just that.

 

I'm right with you on many of the others though. The Blues, Kings, and Ducks are going to drop pretty quick imo. That's all without mentioning the SCF Sharks, which I have very little faith in either. Thornton and Marleau are still too important to that team, and they're not going to be around much longer. Removing them from the current roster leaves gaping holes to fill.

 

So, I do think you're right, but I don't think it's quite as dire as it seems. I think the biggest challenge will be in the long-term. Teams in the west with the best farmhouses are all chronic under-performers (Edmonton, Calgary, Arizona, Winnipeg). I have a hard time believing in any of them.

 

Edmonton is the obvious wildcard with McJesus, but trading away Hall was a substantial mistake. It's also very much the type of garbage mistake to be expected from Chiarelli (see: Tyler Seguin). Yeah, he won a cup in Boston, but that cup was won in the crease. It had less to do with the back office. McLellan is nothing if not consistent -- great regular season coaching, subpar in the playoffs. Until he shows different stripes, I would expect only more of the same.

[BluPuk]

@yave1964: I think you are undervaluing the Leafs. By the end of the season last year, they were a force to be reckoned with and only got much better in the off-season. With Babcock's guidance and system in effect for a full year and the Leafs getting outworked by no one, the Leafs can only move up in the standings. Improved (and hopefully consistent) goaltending, better goal scoring (much better, actually), and a much, much better environment in which to play, will lead to a much improved record.

You don't even mention them.

[yave1964]

1 hour ago, BluPuk said:

@yave1964: I think you are undervaluing the Leafs. By the end of the season last year, they were a force to be reckoned with and only got much better in the off-season. With Babcock's guidance and system in effect for a full year and the Leafs getting outworked by no one, the Leafs can only move up in the standings. Improved (and hopefully consistent) goaltending, better goal scoring (much better, actually), and a much, much better environment in which to play, will lead to a much improved record.

You don't even mention them.

I agree the Leafs are going to move up from where they were last season, the East is so loaded right now that I do not see them as contenders yet, however, give it another year and add a few key pieces to the defense and they will be a force. Not tongue in cheek, I truly believe that. That wretched defense is the only thing holding the team back, they ahve kid forwards everywhere, a great coach, a front office with a vision and the goalie situation is likely solved. If they had a top pair 25 minute a night defensive grouping I would see them bordering on a playoff team. It will happen, I just do not think it is this year.

[WordsOfWisdom]

On 7/17/2016 at 6:09 PM, yave1964 said:

MORTAL LOCKS TO CONTEND: Florida

 

 

(The only choice of yours that I disagree with.)

[yave1964]

12 hours ago, WordsOfWisdom said:

 

 

(The only choice of yours that I disagree with.)

This Aint your parents, Panthers, lol, as much as it hurts to say I really believe they are for real.

 They won the division last year which nobody could have predicted then landed Yandle to replace Campbell (upgrade) Pysyk is a puck mover who came from Buffalo, Matheson is coming from the AHL, another blue line puckmover. The kid forwards have finally found their game at the NHL level, they got deeper in net, and signed the whole damn team, everyone worth having it seems to a four or five year extension. Best offseason in the history of the franchise. The power shift is towards Florida within the division, between the Cats and the Bolts and throw in your Leafs and in a few years the rest of us are going to be fighting for one or at most two playoff spots within the division/wildcard standings. As for the Panthers, not kidding, I do not see a hole on the team.

[flyercanuck]

On 7/18/2016 at 8:22 AM, BluPuk said:

@yave1964: I think you are undervaluing the Leafs. By the end of the season last year, they were a force to be reckoned with and only got much better in the off-season. With Babcock's guidance and system in effect for a full year and the Leafs getting outworked by no one, the Leafs can only move up in the standings. Improved (and hopefully consistent) goaltending, better goal scoring (much better, actually), and a much, much better environment in which to play, will lead to a much improved record.

You don't even mention them.

 

 

i'm with yave here....the Leafs are finally building something. But until they find some D (yes Reilly is good so there's one) and until their elite forwards are old enough to drink there's going to have to be a bit more patience. 

[WordsOfWisdom]

10 hours ago, flyercanuck said:

 

 

i'm with yave here....the Leafs are finally building something. But until they find some D (yes Reilly is good so there's one) and until their elite forwards are old enough to drink there's going to have to be a bit more patience. 

 

Their elite forwards currently are/were Kadri, Van Riemsdyk, Bozak, Komarov, and Parenteau. None of the rookies are going to supplant any of those guys in year one. It would be nice just to see them finally playing in the NHL.

 

[WordsOfWisdom]

11 hours ago, yave1964 said:

This Aint your parents, Panthers, lol, as much as it hurts to say I really believe they are for real.

 They won the division last year which nobody could have predicted then landed Yandle to replace Campbell (upgrade) Pysyk is a puck mover who came from Buffalo, Matheson is coming from the AHL, another blue line puckmover. The kid forwards have finally found their game at the NHL level, they got deeper in net, and signed the whole damn team, everyone worth having it seems to a four or five year extension. Best offseason in the history of the franchise. The power shift is towards Florida within the division, between the Cats and the Bolts and throw in your Leafs and in a few years the rest of us are going to be fighting for one or at most two playoff spots within the division/wildcard standings. As for the Panthers, not kidding, I do not see a hole on the team.

 

Perhaps. I'm taking a wait and see approach with that franchise. They have been awful for so long that I need to see them accomplish something in the playoffs before I can really believe it.

 

[flyercanuck]

11 hours ago, WordsOfWisdom said:

 

Their elite forwards currently are/were Kadri, Van Riemsdyk, Bozak, Komarov, and Parenteau. None of the rookies are going to supplant any of those guys in year one. It would be nice just to see them finally playing in the NHL.

 

 

Kadri is a decent player. He'd be the Flyers 3rd line centre...and they're barely a playoff team. JVR has elite skill, and no drive to win. That's why he was traded. Bozak plays centre behind Kadri...what's that say. He'll likely play behind Mathews as well. Komorov and Parenteau are both 3rd liners on good teams.

 

Their elite forwards are Mathews, Marner and Nylander. When they're older.

[WordsOfWisdom]

4 hours ago, flyercanuck said:

 

Kadri is a decent player. He'd be the Flyers 3rd line centre...and they're barely a playoff team. JVR has elite skill, and no drive to win. That's why he was traded. Bozak plays centre behind Kadri...what's that say. He'll likely play behind Mathews as well. Komorov and Parenteau are both 3rd liners on good teams.

 

Their elite forwards are will hopefully be Mathews, Marner and Nylander. When they're older.

 

Fixed.  

 

Also, the key is "when they're older". Today, only Nylander has shown that he can play at the NHL level. We haven't even seen Marner yet and he was drafted the same year as McDavid and Eichel. I'm starting to wonder if he's ever going to play a game for the Leafs. 

 

Bozak and Kadri are roughly equivalent. I don't know that one is any better than the other. Both of them would be #2 centers on most teams but in Toronto (due to the lack of a #1 center) they have taken turns being #1. I can't imagine the Flyers have two centers better than both Kadri and Bozak. Pittsburgh yes, Philly no.  

 

In any event, we can clearly see why Toronto was 30th last season. They're essentially missing a top forward line, a top defensive unit, and they didn't have a genuine starting goalie in Bernier. The Leafs probably had the weakest TOP 6 in the NHL.  

[OccamsRazor]

On 7/26/2016 at 7:18 AM, yave1964 said:

This Aint your parents, Panthers, lol, as much as it hurts to say I really believe they are for real.

 They won the division last year which nobody could have predicted then landed Yandle to replace Campbell (upgrade) Pysyk is a puck mover who came from Buffalo, Matheson is coming from the AHL, another blue line puckmover. The kid forwards have finally found their game at the NHL level, they got deeper in net, and signed the whole damn team, everyone worth having it seems to a four or five year extension. Best offseason in the history of the franchise. The power shift is towards Florida within the division, between the Cats and the Bolts and throw in your Leafs and in a few years the rest of us are going to be fighting for one or at most two playoff spots within the division/wildcard standings. As for the Panthers, not kidding, I do not see a hole on the team.

 

 

Yes let's not forget they added Jason Demers to the blueline as well....

 

...a nice offseason retooling has added some much needed juice to the team i think...i guess we'll see...this team is no longer a push over.

[flyercanuck]

8 hours ago, WordsOfWisdom said:

 

Fixed.  

 

Also, the key is "when they're older". Today, only Nylander has shown that he can play at the NHL level. We haven't even seen Marner yet and he was drafted the same year as McDavid and Eichel. I'm starting to wonder if he's ever going to play a game for the Leafs. 

 

Bozak and Kadri are roughly equivalent. I don't know that one is any better than the other. Both of them would be #2 centers on most teams but in Toronto (due to the lack of a #1 center) they have taken turns being #1. I can't imagine the Flyers have two centers better than both Kadri and Bozak. Pittsburgh yes, Philly no.  

 

In any event, we can clearly see why Toronto was 30th last season. They're essentially missing a top forward line, a top defensive unit, and they didn't have a genuine starting goalie in Bernier. The Leafs probably had the weakest TOP 6 in the NHL.  

 

I agree what you're saying about prospects...but Mathews is a can't miss IMO. Nylander looks to be good. Marner needs to bulk up a bit...the skill is all there.

 

Giroux is easily better than anything the Leafs have at centre. Couturier put up basically the same ppg as either Kadri or Bozak, while getting some of the toughest zone starts in the entire league. If he can put up the same points and play great defensive hockey...ya, he's better.

 

Totally agree with ya on the last paragraph. Help is on it's way though.

[WordsOfWisdom]

1 hour ago, flyercanuck said:

 

I agree what you're saying about prospects...but Mathews is a can't miss IMO. Nylander looks to be good. Marner needs to bulk up a bit...the skill is all there.

 

Giroux is easily better than anything the Leafs have at centre. Couturier put up basically the same ppg as either Kadri or Bozak, while getting some of the toughest zone starts in the entire league. If he can put up the same points and play great defensive hockey...ya, he's better.

 

Totally agree with ya on the last paragraph. Help is on it's way though.