Ever wondered about the extent of divisional imbalance in the NHL? We know that the southeast division isn't very good, but how bad is it? Here's the Corsi% (even-strength shots only) with the score tied every year since the lockout:
2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | Total | |
atl | 50.6 | 47.6 | 50.5 | 50.4 | 51.4 | 50.2 |
ne | 50.2 | 50.1 | 49.3 | 49.5 | 51.3 | 50.1 |
se | 48.6 | 50.4 | 49.6 | 48.6 | 47.4 | 48.8 |
cen | 50.2 | 50.4 | 53.5 | 52.9 | 53.7 | 52.3 |
nw | 49.3 | 48.8 | 46.6 | 47.7 | 46.0 | 47.6 |
pac | 51.2 | 52.9 | 50.5 | 50.9 | 49.8 | 51.0 |
The southeast division is indeed bad, but the northwest is even worse. How much of that is having to play more games against the much stronger teams in the central and pacific divisions?
atl | ne | se | cen | nw | pac | |
atl | 49.5 | 51.2 | 50.1 | 50.6 | 48.4 | |
ne | 50.5 | 50.5 | 47.0 | 50.3 | 49.1 | |
se | 48.8 | 49.5 | 45.7 | 50.9 | 47.1 | |
cen | 49.9 | 53.0 | 54.3 | 53.4 | 51.1 | |
nw | 49.4 | 49.7 | 49.1 | 46.6 | 47.4 | |
pac | 51.6 | 50.9 | 52.9 | 48.9 | 52.6 |
The NW division is slightly better than the SE division against all shared opponents. But SE division teams outshot NW teams in head-to-head games. The difference between the two divisions is negligible, though the NW's stronger showing against the pacific and central suggests that it's just a little bit better than the SE.