General Hockey Blogs

Team Blogs

Anaheim Ducks
Battle of California
Duck's Blog (OC Register)

Atlanta Thrashers
Southeast Shootout
Bird Watcher's Anonymous
Blueland Blog

Boston Bruins
Wicked Bruins Fan's Blog
The Bruin's Blog
Bruin's Blog (Boston Globe)

Buffalo Sabres
Die By the Blade
Bflo Blog

Calgary Flames
Open Ice Hits
The Battle of Alberta
Flames Insider (Calgary Herald)

Carolina Hurricanes
Canes Country
Carolina on Ice
Red and Black Hockey

Chicago Blackhawks
HELP WANTED

Colorado Avalanche
All Things Avs (Denver Post)
Jerseys and Hockey Love
Avs Talk

Columbus Blue Jackets
Bethany's Hockey Rants
Light the Lamp
The Neutral Zone Trap
Puck Rakers

Dallas Stars
Razor With An Edge
Andrew's Dallas Stars Blog

Detroit Red Wings
Abel to Yzerman
On the Wings
Winging it in Motown

Edmonton Oilers
Battle of Alberta
Lowetide
Hot Oil

Florida Panthers
On Frozen Blog (Miami Herald)
Litter Box Cats
Florida Panthers (Sun Sentinel)

Los Angeles Kings
Life in Hockeywood
Frozen Royalty
Battle of California

Minnesota Wild
Wild Puck Banter
Deuce by Definition
Hitting the Post

Montreal Canadiens
Flying Frenchmen
All Habs
Habs Eyes on the Prize

Nashville Predators
What the Puck
The View From 111
Preds on the Glass

New Jersey Devils
Interchangeable Parts
In Lou We Trust
The Beast of the East

New York Islanders
The View From Section 317
The Battle of New York

New York Rangers
The Battle of New York
The Hockey Rodent
Blueshirt Bulletin

Ottawa Senators
Scarlett Ice
SENShobo
Battle of Ontario

Philadelphia Flyers
Ronnybrook
Flyer Flies

Phoenix Coyotes
Hip Shot Blog
Ice Chips (Arizona Republic)
Five for Howling

Pittsburgh Pengiuns
The Sidney Crosby Show
Pensblog
The Confluence

San Jose Sharks
Battle of California
Sharkspage
Mike Chen's Hockey Blog

St. Louis Blues
St. Louis Game Time
The Hockey Chick

Tampa Bay Lightning
Raw Charge
Bolts Blog
Lightning Strikes

Toronto Maple Leafs
Pension Plan Puppets
Battle of Ontario
Raking Leafs

Vancouver Canucks
Canuck's Corner
Canucks & Beyond
The Crazy Canucks

Washington Capitals
Japer's Rink
Puckhead's Thoughts
On Frozen Blog

Blue Jackets Links

Schedules unchanged, and draft picks going East.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Word comes from a variety of media outlets that the NHL schedule will, in fact, not be changing for the coming year. In the end, it looks like Gary Bettman decided to ride the fence and be noncommittal to either side of the issue, in effect giving power brokers in the league such as Devils' General Manager Lou Lamoriello what they wanted by exerting their influence: less travel to save themselves time and money.

Talk about selfish. This isn't what the fans want, and the league has known this for quite some time. And the issue about Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin only making the full rounds through the Western Conference over the span of three seasons is just part of it, too; it's about seeing other teams. Even if the schedule had reverted to the pre-lockout format, I would have been content. Why? Because at the least I could catch games the Blue Jackets' played away on the television, and see teams I am not used to seeing play my team one way or another.

Anyway, that's just part of the issue. Curiosity struck me this evening as I watched the All Star red carpet festivities over NHL.com while they streamed them, and I went to good ol' Wikipedia to see if my sudden inquiry as to the NHL draft was true. The inquiry, you ask? Just how many first round draft picks has the Eastern Conference had as of late, anyway?

It's not pretty, if you're a Westerner.

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

21 years, 4 picks. Less than a quarter of the top draft picks in rather recent history have gone to the Western Conference.

Now no one in particular is to blame for this, really. It's just a product of each conference's skill level, as well as the teams in each one. Even so, it causes one to quirk a brow in mild irritation at the balance of top picks (or unbalance) between the conferences. True ... trades, realignment and team relocation, as well as other variables can be factored in. But the fact of the matter is that the East, for the most part, has been able to get its hands on most every top pick for who knows how long.

And considering that the Philadelphia Flyers are a whole 11 points behind the next worst team (who happens to be Los Angeles in the West), it doesn't look like this pattern is about to change, if the draft lottery doesn't change anything.

Ah well. What can you do, right? In the end, this only happens to have become an issue because of the fact that the two most electrical players in the sport right now are both in the East. And at this rate, it may continue to be an issue as more top picks get snatched up by an Eastern Conference whose lower rung teams are just flat out pathetic.

Labels: , ,

1 Comments:
  • At 9:26 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Expand your view to the top 4 or 5 in each draft and see what you get.

     
Post a Comment << Home

Jackets Media


"Rick" Roll
Created by Skraut

About Me


Name: Michael
Home: San Tan Valley, Arizona, United States
About Me: A mid-20s male who feels much too old even before he's 30. Has a degree in Sport Management and after branching out and trying a few other things in the job market, has finally decided to go back to his first love of hockey and hope he can break in with a team, big or small, somehow.
See my complete profile

Previous Post

Archives

Personal Links