Maybe I misjudged the West to some degree, especially depending on what part of the year you focus on, but the East, flat-out, is not as tight (especially in the middle) as it was last season.

I agree. I was only pointing out from my perspective out here in Colorado the west was all goose necked most of the year if not all of it. The whole east coast thing being more spread out is a different point completely.

I need coffee.....why do children wake up an hour earlier on Saturday? Ugh.

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It's interesting how the East standings have glutted up:

#1 - #4 have 38-40 points
--6 point gap---
#5 - #8 are all tied at 33 points
--7 point gap--
#9 - #13 have 24-26 points
--6 point gap--

and in the basement...
Devils
Islanders

WHILE IN THE WEST...

All teams are tied at 30 points.

Just kidding...but believeable, isn't it?

Actually....
#3 - #12 have 29-31 points.

Holy crap, I hadnt looked at the west in a while, Anaheim could jump from 12th to 7th with a win, what a crazy logjam going on over there.

Odd but interesting development in the league standings:

The top 4 and bottom 4 teams are all in the East.

In the West, there are 12 points seperating #1 & #15. FIVE teams are tied at 30. TWO points seperate #3 from #12.

I think the extensive protocol for tiebreakers when teams have the same point total were invented for the West.

I don't think the best 4 teams are in the East. Detroit is clearly the best team as they have the highest percentage of points earned in games played, and that is very important.

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