NE Division has Half of EC likely Playoff Teams

[Dave Dryden]

Very interesting. So the Capitals have all non-playoff teams in its Division, while every team in the Sabres division makes the playoffs except TO. I wonder what is cause and effect on this? Is the NE Division good, or do the Caps help make the SE Division look bad. I guess we will get some indicator next four games, as the Sabres play the SE Division. On its face, it makes the Sabres look better because they seemingly play in a better division.

[deluca67]

At one point the Leafs were making it close to making it all five teams holding a playoff spot. I mentioned a bit earlier that the Eastern Conference overall seems to be the weaker Conference. There are only 4 teams in the West with losing records against the East while the East has 10 teams with losing records against the West. Luckily for Sabre fans they have the best record against the West with a 10-8 record. The only team in the East with 10 wins against the West. The West currently has 7 teams with 10+ wins against the East.

[Stoner]

At one point the Leafs were making it close to making it all five teams holding a playoff spot. I mentioned a bit earlier that the Eastern Conference overall seems to be the weaker Conference. There are only 4 teams in the West with losing records against the East while the East has 10 teams with losing records against the West. Luckily for Sabre fans they have the best record against the West with a 10-8 record. The only team in the East with 10 wins against the West. The West currently has 7 teams with 10+ wins against the East.

 

Didn't the Sabres start 7-0 or something against the West?

[Stoner]

Didn't the Sabres start 7-0 or something against the West?

 

8-0-1 actually.

[carpandean]

Washington definitely gets a little benefit from playing against the SE. They are 12-3-0 within their division. They do have slightly lower, but still respectable records against the other two divisions, though: 12-3-3 and 10-4-3. So, it's not all from playing the SE.

 

The four SE teams have mediocre to bad records against the other divisions. The only exceptions are Florida at 9-4-5 (still losing 50%, but getting a lot of points) against the Atlantic and Carolina at 8-5-1 against the NE.

 

I don't have time to take out the Washington games from other teams' "VS SE" records, but the Sabres are 1-3-0 against the Caps and 6-3-1 against the rest of the SE.

 

So, I'd say it's a mix. In another division, Washington would probably still be in first, but likely would be closer to 90 than 100 points.

[Dave Dryden]

At one point the Leafs were making it close to making it all five teams holding a playoff spot. I mentioned a bit earlier that the Eastern Conference overall seems to be the weaker Conference. There are only 4 teams in the West with losing records against the East while the East has 10 teams with losing records against the West. Luckily for Sabre fans they have the best record against the West with a 10-8 record. The only team in the East with 10 wins against the West. The West currently has 7 teams with 10+ wins against the East.

It is intersting the Sabres have 23 points out of 36 against the West, and only 15 out of 28 aginst the SE. Appears to illustrate the team's inconsistency--they can beat anyone and lose to anyone. If these guys ever stay focused, they could be dangerous.