In every sport you usually have that one division. As a fan you hate to be in this division, the toughest division in the league.
In the NFL it’s probably the NFC east, maybe not the toughest but the most competitive given how good the teams actually are. In the NBA the southwest division has really good teams fighting for the top. In baseball you have the NL central where three teams made the playoffs and were World Series contenders.
This is no different in hockey. The central division is the best in the league by far. You look up and down that division and you fear every team when they play your club. Right now, the date being the 30th of October 2015 six of the seven teams in the central division have double digit points, the only division that can claim that. Five of the top ten teams in the league are from the central. And six of the top ten teams in the west are from the central division.
The eastern conference doesn’t have to worry about this division right now. If an eastern conference team loses to a central team, yes it doesn’t feel good and there is two points that are gone but it’s just two points, it doesn’t effect you to much like if you were playing an eastern conference rival.
The pacific division should look at this division and fear for their playoff lives. If your a team in the Pac7 you have to look at making the playoffs in the top three of your division because the central division is taking five of the eight spots. The central division will get their top three division spots and they’ll take the two wild card spots too.
If teams in the pacific division don’t fear the central teams maybe they should know these numbers. So far this NHL season pacific teams have played central teams 20 times, they have won just 4 times. The central division is 16-4 against the pacific.
The only team that has held their own against the central division is the Los Angeles Kings having won three of those four games.
The defending Stanley Cup Champions are in this division, sure they have quite the turnover from last season but as of right now the Blackhawks are 6th in a 7 team division. The Blackhawks are still a very good team but they are going to have a heck of a battle to just make the playoffs.
You can honestly say that six of those seven teams are Stanley Cup material. You can’t even come close to that in other division. I think the closest you come is 3 in a couple divisions. If this pace continues you could see two or maybe three teams saying that they built their teams really really well and didn’t even make the playoffs. That’s insane.
Right now if you’re in any other division in the NHL and you see a central division team coming to play your team, you better fear for your odds of winning that game. The central division is where the big boys play and they are going to be a tough division all year long.
