The NHL season's now past the quarter pole, so we can actually put some credibility into all these power rankings as we've, theoretically, seen enough out of teams to at least half a half assed (which describes some of these rankings quite aptly) idea as to who's a contender and who may soon be looking for employment elsewhere.
For the last decade or so the West has been the dominant conference with Chicago and Los Angeles taking home five Stanley Cups between them, along with Anaheim and Detroit (pre-realignment). While Chicago and to a seemingly lesser extend LA remain contenders it's because they've adapted. The more physical brand of hockey played in the conference was said to translate better to the tighter checking, more rugged style of play employed in the post season and well, it did. These teams seemed to over match their Eastern rivals and since this is the NHL and not a MENSA meeting everyone else started to follow suit. However, like all trends this one seems to have run it course.
The Pittsburgh Penguins hoisted Lord Stanley's mug last year and did so employing tremendous speed, skill, solid goaltending and tight checking. This isn't to say they weren't capable of being physical, but they over matched their opponents with quick puck movement and pursuit.
The Power Rankings top 10 this season are predominantly comprised of Eastern teams, Montreal, New York Rangers, Pittsburgh, Washington, Ottawa, Tampa (Pre-Stamkos injury) among them. Theses teams are similar in that they've all gotten solid, or at least above average goaltending and employ a lot of pace in their game. Ironically Washington is the largest team in the league but employ a ton of high end skill in their vaunted attack. Even the teams that find themselves at the top in the West (Edmonton, Chicago, St. Louis) are teams that move the puck well and play with pace. The defending conference champs in San Jose are a great mix of skill and size exemplified by their star defenceman Brent Burns and 'Jumbo' Joe Thornton. The game has gotten younger and faster and if you can't keep up, you'd better invest in a lot of red light bulbs.
Shows like Hockey Central at Noon and others have discussed why this pattern has developed and what lead to it. Is it just a shift in balance of power that occurs every so often? Perhaps, but as mentioned its a copycat league and teams like Anaheim loaded up on big bodies to try and compete with rival LA and win the war of attrition that is the Stanley Cup playoffs. While the West won numerous cups in this fashion, the league was becoming faster and many didn't adjust accordingly. Smaller or more gifted players with finesses and speed are finding their place and those who have tailored their roster to this new breed have found success. That's not to say everyone will be playing like Team North America at the World Cup. They don't possess the overall speed and skill throughout their line ups, and there's a little thing called the salary cap to boot. Physically over matching your opponent is still vital, but its hard to hit what you can't catch. There's more of a premium placed on speed in today's game and the eastern teams seem to have found a better mix of size, speed and skill to this point. Of course, for the time being, this is just a trend...
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