Robin Lehner's injury further widens the skill gap between conferences

PUBLICATION

Joshua Deeds
August 11, 2022 (10:06 PM)

SHARE THIS STORY

It's been reported, after the turmoil of last season with Peter DeBoer and Robin Lehner, there is another issue that Lehner has to deal with, hip surgery. Lehner is slated to be out for the entire 2022-2023 season.

Last season the Eastern Conference was the far better conference and with the announcement of Robin Lehner's injury, that gap further widened. Although the West has some really great teams, the Eastern Conference remains the tougher conference.

NHL Standings 2021-2022

After the Colorado Avalanche's 119-point season, there's a big drop-off in the Central Division.

Minnesota and St. Louis trailed behind the Stanley Cup champs, by 6 and 10 points.

The Eastern Conference has a better record overall than the Western Conference. The East also only has two teams with losing records against the West (Tampa Bay and Boston), and the West has seven teams with a losing record against the East (Dallas, Winnipeg, Colorado, Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver, and Arizona).

Even in the Pacific, no teams matched up with the standings in the Atlantic and Metropolitan, as even Calgary would be ranked 3rd in the tougher Atlantic, with Boston, Florida, and Toronto.

This goes to show, that with Laurent Brossoit and Robin Lehner injured the Vegas Golden Knights are going to continue to trend downward. Logan Thompson has big shoes to fill, and the Pacific other than Calgary, Edmonton, and Los Angeles are in a weak division.