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Originally Posted by moon
I felt the opposite. Trying to come up with 8 teams to make the play-offs was tough with the garbage that is in the East. I ended up saying the last couple of teams make it because they aren't quite as bad as the other teams.
If you had a straight 30 team league with the top 16 making the play-offs I would expect about 10/11 teams currently in West and 5/6 in East make the play-offs and think that Chicago, LA, St. Louis and SJ at least as good if not better than the top team/s (Boston/Pitts) in the East.
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The East was tricky for me as well. Columbus was fighting hard for a playoff spot in the West last year so I really do think they will be in the race to make the playoffs in the East this year but a lot of people are writing them off as a bottom feeder in the Metro division. I think Columbus will be the real gauge as to just how tough the East is compared to the West.
Carolina and Tampa Bay should be competitive as long as their goalie situations work out (Ward stays healthy and Bishop/Lindback platoon well). Neither team should have been tanking the way that they were last season and now that they have added another strong prospect both should be fighting for a playoff spot instead of a draft pick.
A lot of the teams in the East seem to be on an "upswing". The Red Wings are one of the few teams on a downswing but even with their aging vets I believe they can stay a playoff team.