For years now, the Western teams have combined to make up the superior conference in the NHL, both in the regular season and in the playoffs. Western teams have taken home the Stanley Cup for three straight seasons, and six of the last 10, and the Chicago Blackhawks are three wins away from keeping that consecutive streak alive. Why is it just so much better than the East?
Compete level
It seems the compete level is much higher in the Western Conference. You have more teams with depth who are imitating the style or type of play of teams like the Chicago Blackhawks and Anaheim Ducks. Teams are focusing more on developing stronger, bigger and faster players in order to match the skill set and size of opponents.
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There are fewer “easy” games in the West, which means each night teams have to come to play. There’s more travel involved too, maybe making these players more accustomed to playing fatigued.
Look at the East. What teams are truly frightening? I used to say only the Boston Bruins and Pittsburgh Penguins, but even my thoughts on those two teams have changed in recent years. I still think they are very good, even though Boston had a rough go of it this season, but not as good as they were a few years ago.
Aside from those two teams, the New York Rangers and Montreal Canadiens have been proving they have talent and can be a threat to others, and Tampa has had a great outing this season. But that’s really it. I will also say that the addition of the Detroit Red Wings has made the conference more competitive.
At the end of this season six of the bottom 10 teams in the League standings hailed from the Eastern Conference. That’s crazy. Four of those teams were part of the Metropolitan Division (no wonder the Rangers easily won the division).
"In 2013, St. Louis Blues coach Ken Hitchcock told NHL.com: “When you have the same conference win the Cup two years in a row your whole focus is on, ‘How do we beat those guys?”Just keeping pace is a major struggle. Everybody’s focus is having to keep up in the West, never mind beating the East. That stuff goes in cycles, but I’ve always found the cycle always follows who wins the Cup.”"
Simply put the Western teams are just trying to survive against their own and that is a much harder feat for them than it is for Eastern Conference teams. And when you win against the harder conference in the regular season, it is no wonder you are better prepared for the playoffs.
Structure
Anaheim Ducks defenseman James Wisniewski once pointed out, when he was on the Columbus Blue Jackets, that the West is structured and that style of play is the biggest difference between the two conferences.
“It felt like there was a lot of run and gun, a lot of trading chances. In the West it’s more about that big grinding, dump and chase, grind it out. The East is go, go, go. The West is structured.”
It is also noted by many coaches and NHL aficionados that the West is better defensively; it is better in one-goal games and more coaches focus on the defensive game rather than offensive.
"“The West teams are built on good checking and good defences. Chicago and St. Louis come to mind as two of the best defences in the league.” —Detroit Red Winds GM Ken Holland told Sportsnet.ca"
Could this cause the disparity? Possibly. I am sure both of these are factors, but it’s not as if eastern teams never beat western teams; they just haven’t taken home the Cup in a couple of years.
Hope for the East
The East is by no means a lost cause. A lot of great hockey comes out of the conference, and it is natural for teams to rise and fall over the years. While the Penguins and Bruins have faltered a bit, younger Eastern teams have risen to the occasion.
It is nice to see teams like the Florida Panthers and Columbus Blue Jackets continue to improve. While neither team made the postseason, they both were close—much closer than in seasons past. Buffalo is also racking up the talent, and will soon add phenom Jack Eichel to the mix.
So, Eastern teams have the pieces to improve the conference and I have faith that it will one day shake off the reputation of being worse than the West; it may just take some time.
Hopefully sooner than later we will see more balance between the conferences. The East has some of the League’s top players and it has the potential to get out from under the shadow of the West.
I don’t know about you, but I am tired of watching the Western Conference take home the League’s prized hardware. I have nothing against the Blackhawks (they are one of the teams in the West I truly enjoy watching), but it would be nice to see the East come out on top, if for no other reason than to help change the perception so many people have about it.
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