The East/West Discrepancy

It’s no secret that the NHL has an unbalanced schedule. Those who support it say that it’s necessary to deal with travel costs, time zone changes and player fatigue. Those who oppose it point to all teams not having the opportunity for all fans to get equal access to the game’s stars.

It’s not secret that many Western fans feel that they are unfairly treated when it comes to not seeing the NHL’s young elite. And now, a simple analysis of the top two picks of the past 15 years tends to bear that out. Of the 30 total players taken either first or second since the 1994 draft a whopping 22 were drafted by Eastern Conference teams. Simply on volume that would seem to indicate a distinct advantage. But consider this: 12 of the last 15 first overall selections were made by Eastern Conference clubs.

So what does this all mean? It means the best young talent is not playing game in and game out in the Western Conference. At best, once a year the top young talent in the league plays in your arena if you happen cheer for a team that plays in either the Pacific, Northwest or Central Divisions…that is, unless you happen to meet in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Major League Baseball has an easy remedy in their entry draft given that the two leagues are split with only limited interaction between clubs during the regular season (sound familiar?). They alternate between the American League and the National League. The team with the worst record overall drafts first and then the team from the opposing league with the worst record drafts next. And they carry on from there. IF that had been the case things may be drastically different for some teams. Consider that Evgeny Malkin would most likely play for the Chicago Blackhawks, Eric Staal may be captain of the Columbus Blue Jackets, Jason Spezza may have been skating with Anaheim, and Dany Heatley could have been plying his trade in Minnesota. Sure this is all speculation, but that is the level of talent that could have been in the Western Conference with a fair and equitable distribution of talent.

Here’s the full draft list of first and second overall picks. First overall picks are bolded.

East:

John Tavares (NYI - 2009)
Victor Hedman (TB - 2009)
Steven Stamkos (TB - 2008)
James Van Riemsdyk (PHI – 2007)
Jordan Staal (PIT – 2006)
Sydney Crosby (PIT – 2005)
Alex Ovechkin (WAS – 2004)
Evgeny Malkin (PIT – 2004)
M-A Fleury (PIT – 2003)
Eric Staal (CAR – 2003)
Kari Lehtonen (ATL - 2002)
Ilya Kovalchuk (ATL – 2001)
Jason Spezza (OTT – 2001)
Rick Dipietro (NYI – 2000)
Dany Heatley (ATL – 2000)
Patrik Stefan (ATL – 1999)
Vincent Lecavalier (TB – 1998)
Joe Thornton (BOS – 1997)
Chris Phillips (OTT – 1996)
Bryan Berard (OTT – 1995)
Wade Redden (NYI – 1995)
Ed Jovanovski (FLA – 1994)

West:

Drew Doughty (LA - 2008)
Patrick Kane (CHI – 2007)
Erik Johnson (STL – 2006)
Bobby Ryan (ANH – 2005)
Rick Nash (CLB – 2002)
Daniel Sedin (VAN -1999)
David Legwand (NAS – 1998)
Patrick Marleau (SJ – 1997)
Andrei Zyuzin (SJ – 1996)
Oleg Tverdovsky (ANH – 1995)