NHL's Western Conference is wide open, so where are the trades?
A week before the trade deadline, all is relatively quiet on the NHL's western front. The St. Louis Blues dealt Vladimir Tarasenko to the New York Rangers and Ryan O’Reilly to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Chicago's Patrick Kane and San Jose's Timo Meier could end up in the Eastern Conference, too.
But the Western Conference is wide open for the taking and no teams have made big moves yet.
By points percentage, the top six teams play in the Eastern Conference: Boston, Carolina, New Jersey, Toronto, Tampa Bay and New York. After them, the next eight are in the West, led by the Vegas Golden Knights and Dallas Stars. If there was a year for a Western team to go all in, this is it.
The Eastern Conference playoffs are going to be brutal, with multiple top teams not getting out of the first round.
By the time the Stanley Cup Final rolls around, the representative of the East will be battered and bruised, having fought through a gauntlet.
On a recent episode of the "32 Thoughts" podcast, Jeff Marek called the Eastern Conference "The Eastern Octagon." The road to the Cup in the West will be much easier.
The Los Angeles Kings have been linked to Arizona defenseman Jakob Chychrun, and the Edmonton Oilers are rumored to be on a collision course with San Jose defenseman Erik Karlsson, but neither team has made a move yet. The Golden Knights seem to always be in on every big name, but they’ve been quiet as well.
It’s an arms race in the East, but the teams that should really be stocking up – the ones in the West – have been silent in a year that is anyone’s for the taking.
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