East Conference Catching Up

Over the years I have often written about how much better the West Conference is than the East Conference.  When we look at the head-to-head record, the West Conference has had a much better record.  So far this season the West Conference has had a better inter-conference record.  They have a 92-89 record with 26 regulation tie points.  This makes the conferences much closer than they had been in the past.

In the past, I explained the difference as being due to the difference in travel between the conferences.  The West Conference has significantly more travel over a season than the East Conference does as the West has teams in four different time zones and the East is entirely in the eastern time zone.  This makes East Conference records better than they otherwise would be and it makes West Conference records worse.  This makes West Conference teams better able to get early draft picks and thus draft better players.  East players tend to put up better numbers as they have life easier.  This leads to them getting bigger contracts and in a salary capped NHL this limits your team?s spending ability.

Source: http://www.kuklaskorner.com/index.php/psh/comments/east_conference_catching_up/

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