Weak Northwest Division Could Benefit Blackhawks

Vancouver is the heavy favorite heading into the 2011 NHL playoffs to win the Stanley Cup.  Their Northwest Division foes can vouch for that.

 The Vancouver Canucks, who won the President’s Trophy by a landslide-ten points over the East’s Washington Capitals, posted an impressive 54-19-9 record for a league-leading 117 points in the regular season.  Obviously, the Canucks head into the Quarterfinal Series as the top seed in the Western Conference where they will meet the eighth-seeded Chicago Blackhawks.  But how much did Vancouver playing in the Northwest Division help bloat their point total?

The Northwest Division, which features the Canucks, Calgary Flames, Minnesota Wild, Colorado Avalanche and Edmonton Oilers, saw only one of its teams make the playoffs.  This is the only division in the NHL to do so.

The Canucks had a whopping 18-4-2 record against their Northwest Division foes.  With a record like that, it is easy to see how the Canucks can steamroll through parts of the regular season.  Still impressive?  Yes, very much so.  Anytime a team can dominate in their own division usually means that team will be a top-seed in the playoffs.  But what if Vancouver played in a better division?

Let’s say Vancouver goes .500 against the Northwest Division (12-12-0).  Their record drops down to 48-27-7 and they post 103 points.  While these are still very respectable numbers, that drops them to the third seed (keep in mind that they would still hold onto the division title), and puts them just six points ahead of their current playoff matchup, the Chicago Blackhawks.

Chicago also had an impressive record against their division (15-7-2 against the Central).  When factoring in these numbers, the Blackhawks may not look like a much lower seed.  Chicago put up a very impressive record against a division that is seeing three teams head to the playoffs (Detroit and Nashville being the other two), and one team just ten points out of the playoffs (St. Louis). 

Vancouver gets the edge in the season series (2-1-1), but Chicago outscored the Canucks 12-9, including a 7-1 blowout victory on November 20.   Chicago played current-starting goaltender Corey Crawford in that game, stopping 27 of 28 shots in his only meeting with Vancouver this season.  Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo did post a shutout against the Hawks on December 3, stopping all 25 Blackhawk shots.

The history obviously goes in Chicago’s favor, beating Vancouver in six games in the last two playoff years.  Last season the Blackhawks did it en route to win the 2010 Stanley Cup.

Looking at the records on paper, the Canucks have the obvious edge.  But they also played in a very weak division that they absolutely dominated.  Chicago has found ways to beat Vancouver in the past; they could make it three years in a row.

This has potential to be the most interesting matchup of the first round.