Comments on: Which team has the toughest post-All-Star schedule?

By: dougcan

dougcan — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 23:33:36 +0000

Hard to believe in the current NHL scoring system that the SE division almost has 3 teams under 500 hockey tho i hope the jets can bounce off the 500 mark i have my doubts.

Boston indeed is in a soft division like the Nucks – NE Div has two teams under 500 every other division has only one team failing to make even 500 hockey.

In the case of wins by the 4 other teams in the NW and NE – they total 91 between them in both divisions – so there are indeed great similarities between the relative weakness of both Boston and the Canucks divisions right now.

Like elvis said tho I recall not too many seasons ago that the NW division was largely viewed as the toughest in the NHL – over time everything evens out for now its the Canucks who have time to make hay while the sun shines.

By: elvispocomo

elvispocomo — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 23:02:44 +0000

You could argue the Bruins have a similar quality of division but their schedule isn’t quite so forgiving as they’ve played less games in the first half. The Canucks played more games in the first half, and more on the road, which helps their schedule in the second half as much or more than the quality of competition.

By: elvispocomo

elvispocomo — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 22:56:21 +0000

It wasn’t always that way, the NW used to be the toughest around when Colorado, Edmonton, Calgary and Minnesota were all much better. At that time the Central was weak, with Chicago not very good, Nashville not having a dominant defensive pairing, St Louis struggling, and Columbus being, well, Columbus.

Detroit had it easier then, and now Vancouver does somewhat, although they played the tougher part of their schedule in the first half when Minnesota, Colorado and even Edmonton to a point were playing much better hockey to start the year.

By: velocirapist

velocirapist — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 21:29:42 +0000

The joys of the Northwest Division!

By: elvispocomo

elvispocomo — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 20:40:26 +0000

Vancouver has a chance to improve and let any new players mesh in while doing it with an easier schedule than their first half. Not bad for one of the top teams in the NHL and possibly the others fall off a bit if they try and improve with tougher schedules.