Western vs Eastern Conference

[Kazmarov]

In the old NHL before the game changes, Eastern Conference and Western Conference hockey was much different, with the Western Conference being very low-scoring and the Eastern Conference having very high-scoring games. Do you think that the two conferences are still different with the rule changes and the salary cap?

 

[Forbidden]

I no longer see much of a difference between them, you could say that one conference may be more physical than another, but both have certain teams who have a lot of tough players, so I think it's about even again.

 

[Kazmarov]

The one thing that I notice is the talent gap. If you look at the first round of the playoffs, the East had seeds 1-4 winning, while the West has seeds 4-8. This seems to tell me that the top 8 Western teams play essentially on equal ground, while the East now has the powerhouses after years of Detroit, Dallas, Colorado, and St. Louis ruling the West.

 

[Forbidden]

That is true, it showed that one conference continued to dominate, and in the other some other teams were able to pull off some upsets.

 

[Kazmarov]

However I will agree that while the strength of teams is different, play style and scoring has become much more uniform in the NHL over the last year.