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How would you rank the NHL divisions in terms of skill and difficulty.........or lack thereof


vcr1970

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The divisions are:

Atlantic

Northeast

Southeast

Central

Northwest

Pacific

I would rank them as follows from weakest to strongest:

Southeast

Northwest

Pacific

Northeast

Central

Atlantic

The Canucks truly do benefit from an easy schedule given how many times they play their weaker opponents.

I wonder if the dogfights that happen in the Atlantic prepare them better for the playoffs?

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Hardest to Easiest..

Atlantic

Pacific

Central

Northeast

Southeast

Northwest

Why?

Atlantic - For years, they've had two extremely talented teams and two borderline good teams. Now, they have 3 amazing calibre teams and one that is bordering either very good, or subpar hockey but still can win games. The past five seasons, we've seen three teams reach the Stanley Cup Finals, one team twice. New Jersey, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh x2. Especially when you have Crosby and Malkin in your division, it's tough to play in.

Pacific - It used to be a division ran by the Sharks. Now, you've got the recently crowned champions Kings, Sharks, Coyotes who seemed to turn it around after Tippett got hired, and the Ducks, who are extremely tough to play against, depending on which Corey Perry or Ryan Getzlaf you get..

Central - With Detroit slowly crawling down to being a middle of the pack team, teams like Chicago, Nashville, and St. Louis have the chance to dominate the division after Detroit was dominating the division for a number of years.. Every team, aside from Columbus, is very tough to play against and it's only a matter of time before one of these teams emerge as the true catalyst for that division. My guess? St. Louis.

Northeast - Yea, this division has the Leafs and the struggling Habs, but also take into fact that both these teams are tough SOBs to play against as well. Habs not so much but it's not an easy win when they have Carey Price in net. Bruins are a really tough team to knock off and the Sabres and Sens are starting to become a team to watch out for.

Southeast - Used to be dominated by Washington. Now, it's tough to call. Washington's struggles from last season continued onto this season and their record, 3-8-2 is showing it. Florida somehow got lucky last year but I don't believe they'll make the playoffs this year. Tampa Bay is off to a good start but they'll start slowing down because their goaltending is still an issue even though they have Lindback. Winnipeg is a couple of players away from being a legit team to fear and Carolina still needs defense in order to succeed. There's no clear cut winner from this division but I'm going to guess Carolina or Winnipeg will be the team(s) that dominate this division soon.

Northwest - Last but not least, the Northwest division, where the Canucks have feasted on for nearly half a decade, well, possibly an entire decade too. Since the Canucks have fully took control of this division since the 06-07 division, we've gone 70-22-9 against our divisional opponents. Right now, even though teams like Edmonton, Colorado, and Minnesota seems to have/are improved(ing), if anything, this season at the moment is showing why those same teams are still a couple of pieces away from being a top team in the league. Even though the Canucks aren't playing at their best right now, although tonight's game showed otherwise, we're still on top of the division even though we're playing at around 80-90% at best.

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An interesting question may be if you were the Edmonton Oilers, and you have the emerging talent that they have, where would Edmonton want to play? Do you think they would want to stay here? I doubt it, Northeast or Southeast would be easier then Northwest if you look at it from their point of you. I guess it is all just relative.

I think the Canucks would dominate Atlantic. If you look at the Goaltending / Defense of the atlantic teams, we could easily shut them down and light up their back end. Although we seem to do just fine where we are.

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Atlantic: 501 combined points

Northeast: 441 combined points

Southeast: 436 combined points

Central: 481 combined points

Northwest: 444 combined points

Pacific: 457 combined points

According to last years standings, the divisions from most competitive to least competitive:

Atlantic Division

Central Division

Pacific Division

Northwest Division

Northeast Division

Southeast Division

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Currently:

Atlantic (NJ, Pitts, Philly, NYR are all really good teams on their day and NYI can play a decent game as well)

Central (Chi, Det, Nas at the moment are really doing well St.Lo will come back and CBJ might turn around with a new GM, but honestly this is the best division in the West)

Pacific (SJ, Ana, LA are all very good teams, Pho just ride Smith all game and Dallas are still rebuilding in my mind)

Northeast (Bos is the best team by far in this division, but the way Tor and Ott have been playing is really good for the division, Mtl will come back they have a good squad and Buff should do the same)

Northwest (Van is the strongest side, but if Edm could string a few good games together with their talented young squad we could be in trouble, Min if they can get their offence in order they could be dangerous, Col it sucks that they've been hit by the injury bug and O'Reilly staying in Russia because they can be competitive on their day and Cal just get rid of iginla and kipper it's horrible watching them crash and burn)

Southeast (All pretty horrible at the moment and I have no idea who will win the division it's a massive toss up, Was look nothing like the powerhouse that they usually are, TB sure they're scoring but you have to keep them out too, how's the Lindback trade looking now, Fla are pretty bad, and I haven't really noticed Winn so far this season but i believe they aren't doing to well)

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