Ranking the Divisions of the NHL for 2011-2012

Now that just one representative remains for each conference, it's time to rank the six different divisions of the league and see how they did this year.

The cup will either belong to the Pacific Division or the Atlantic Division when everything is said and done, but that doesn't necessarily mean that either of those divisions is the strongest overall.

We'll go through each division in order and then reveal the strongest of the six in the last slide.

Atlantic Division: Eastern Conference

First up, the Atlantic Division, which includes the New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Atlantic Division ended up being one of the two that had four of its five teams make the playoffs, and even had two of its teams—New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers—battle for the Eastern Conference title. Now, the New Jersey Devils will represent the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference in the Stanley Cup Finals.

In total, the five teams of the division racked up 501 points, 1,203 goals for and 1,104 goals against.

The Rangers took the No. 1 seed going into the playoffs, with the Penguins, Flyers and Devils taking fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively. If the division winners were not guaranteed a top-three finish in the conference, then the Eastern Conference would have seen the Atlantic division taking the first, second, third and fifth seeds.

In the past 20 seasons in which the cup was awarded, the Atlantic Division has taken home seven of them: New Jersey and Pittsburgh with three each and the New York Rangers with one.

Overall, the Atlantic division was hands-down one of the more dominant in the 2011-2012 season. It's hard to ignore a division that sends four of its five teams to the playoffs and has one team knocking on the door of another cup win.

Northeast Division: Eastern Conference

Next in the Eastern Conference is the Northeast Division, which includes the Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres, Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs.

The Northeast Division only had two of its teams make the postseason this year: the defending champion Boston Bruins and the Ottawa Senators. The Buffalo Sabres battled up until the final day of the season but ultimately fell short, and the Maple Leafs and Canadiens had disappointing years that resulted in several staff changes, most notably in Montreal. However, both the Bruins and Senators were knocked out in the first round by the Capitals and Rangers, respectively.

In total, the five teams of the division gathered 441 points, 1,179 goals for and 1,162 goals against.

Because they won the Northeast Division and finished with more points than the Southeast Division champion Florida Panthers, the Bruins took the second seed going into the playoffs. The Ottawa Senators held on in the back end of the season and wound up losing the tie-breaker with the Capitals, taking the eighth seed.

In the last 20 seasons that the cup was handed out, the Northeast division has only claimed two of them: the Montreal Canadiens won it in 1993 and the Boston Bruins won it in 2011.

Overall, this conference did not live up to par. The Maple Leafs hold the longest streak of not making the playoffs, the Sabres proved to be another margin team that found themselves on the outside looking in and the Canadiens fell apart and finished in the cellar of the Eastern Conference. The Bruins finished with a strong second seed and the Senators surprised by making the playoffs; however, both were eliminated in the first round.

Southeast Division: Eastern Conference

Rounding out the Eastern Conference is the Southeast Division, which includes the Carolina Hurricanes, Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Washington Capitals and Winnipeg Jets.

Like the Northeast Division, the Southeast only sent two of its teams to the playoffs. What was most surprising about this division was that the Washington Capitals found themselves battling to make the playoffs instead of sitting in the top three with the division title. Instead, that privilege belonged to none other than the Florida Panthers, who won the division for the first time in franchise history.

In total, the Southeast Division amassed 436 points, 1098 goals for and 1227 goals against. This division swept the triple crown of futility in the Eastern Conference, finishing with the least points, least goals for and most goals against.

Again, if the playoffs were not set up to guarantee the three top seeds to the division winners, then the Southeast Division would have claimed just the sixth and seventh seeds. Dave Tallon, Florida's general manager, deserves a lot of credit for his work last offseason that led to the franchise's first division title, but he can not expect to repeat that with only 94 points again.

In the past 20 presentations of the Stanley Cup, the Southeast Division has two: the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2004 and the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006.

There is still a lot of work for this division to get done. Both of its last two cup winners have fallen since they won, and the only team that really shows any consistency is the Washington Capitals, and even they stumbled a good deal this year. Hats off to the Winnipeg Jets for cleaning up Atlanta's mess and still almost making the playoffs in their first year back as a team. Look for them to build on that and make a stronger push next season.

Central Division: Western Conference

Moving on to the Western Conference... first up, the Central Division, which includes the Chicago Blackhawks, Columbus Blue Jackets, Detroit Red Wings, Nashville Predators and St. Louis Blues.

This division shares some similarities with the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. One of which was that the Central Division also sent four of its five teams to the playoffs with the St. Louis Blues, Nashville Predators, Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks finishing second, fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively. Also, only eight points separated first from fourth in this division, which seems to be the case every year in this highly competitive division.

Together, the five teams of the Central Division put up 481 points, 1,175 goals for and 1,078 goals against.

This conference also took half of the playoff positions in the Western Conference. Ignoring the division leaders getting the top three spots, the Central division would have claimed second, third, fourth and fifth, finishing behind only the Presidents' Trophy-winning Vancouver Canucks of the Northwest Division. Also, all four of the teams that made the playoffs finished with more than 100 points.

In the past 20 seasons, the Central Division has claimed five Stanley Cups: the Detroit Red Wings with four and the Chicago Blackhawks with one.

A strong case can be made for this being the strongest division in the past couple of seasons, mainly because of the consistency of the teams. The Blackhawks and Red Wings are usually the two battling it out for the division title, but the Blues and Predators have been constantly improving and the Blues even took the title this year.

Northwest Division: Western Conference

Next up for the Western Conference, the division with great expectations year after year: the Northwest, which includes the Calgary Flames, Colorado Avalanche, Edmonton Oilers, Minnesota Wild and Vancouver Canucks. 

The Northwest Division, for a second straight year, brought home the Presidents' Trophy thanks to the Vancouver Canucks. However, once again the Canucks finished with the most points but were still the only team from the division to make the playoffs.

Needless to say, there is still a lot of work to be done within this division. The Wild have made some key trades to acquire Dany Heatley and Devin Setoguchi and the Edmonton Oilers will have their third-straight No. 1 pick in the upcoming draft. The Avalanche have also seen an increase in performance as they were in the hunt for a playoff spot for most of the season.

All together, the teams of the Northwest Division had 444 points, 1,160 goals for and 1,109 goals against.

Not much to discuss in terms of order in the playoffs, as the Canucks were the only team to make it and they took the No. 1 seed again. They saw much different results from the previous season, though. In the 2010-2011 campaign, they came within a win of bringing Stanley to Canada, but fell to the Bruins. This season, they fell fifteen wins short as they only won one game against the eventual Western Conference champion, the Los Angeles Kings.

In the past 20 seasons, the Northwest Division has won two cups: the Edmonton Oilers in 1990 and the Colorado Avalanche in 2001.

Although this division made an improvement compared to its final results in 2010-2011, there is still a lot of work to be done before this division is considered a powerhouse. Look for the Oilers to make more of a run at a playoff spot next season with its third consecutive No. 1 pick and the Wild and Avalanche to start forming some more chemistry.

Pacific Division: Western Conference

Finally, we have the Pacific Division of the Western Conference, which includes the Anaheim Ducks, Dallas Stars, Los Angeles Kings, Phoenix Coyotes and San Jose Sharks.

The 2011-2012 was not a bad season for the Pacific teams. Three of them made the playoffs and a fourth was not too far off in the Dallas Stars. Phoenix took home its first division crown this year and finished third in the conference, while San Jose and Los Angeles finished seventh and eighth, respectively. Anaheim made an impressive turnaround when Bruce Boudreau was brought in to clean up after Randy Carlyle, but the deficit was too great to overcome.

As a whole, the Pacific Division amassed 457 points, 1,053 goals for and 1,046 goals against. They finished with the league's fewest amount of goals against, in large part to the play of Los Angeles goaltender Jonathan Quick, whose play carried the Kings to the Stanley Cup Finals.

The Phoenix Coyotes finished in at third, the San Jose Sharks at seventh and the Los Angeles Kings at eighth. The Pacific Division saw multiple leader changes during the last few weeks of the regular season, where every team enjoyed sitting on top, minus the Anaheim Ducks. In the end, Phoenix won with 97 points, San Jose came in second with 96 and Los Angeles in third with 95. Phoenix and Los Angeles have enjoyed unexpected results, and, like the Atlantic Conference, sent two of its teams to fight for the Western Conference title. The Kings made "Quick" work of the Coyotes and are now preparing to take on the Devils for the cup.

The Pacific Division has had two teams to call champions in the past 20 seasons: the Dallas Stars in 1999 and the Anaheim Ducks in 2007.

Although not for high seeds in the playoffs, the Pacific Division had the tightest race down the final stretch of the season with three teams finishing one point behind the next. What is most surprising about this division, though, is the success that two of its team had. The Coyotes showed perseverance through all the ownership problems, and the Kings, being an eighth seed, are 12-2 after having ousted the first, second and third seed.

Strongest Division of 2011-2012: Atlantic Division

Ultimately, this decision came down to two divisions, the Atlantic and the Central.

The Atlantic finished with 501 points overall and the Central finished with 481. The Atlantic scored more goals while the Central gave up fewer. Both sent four teams to the playoffs, but the Atlantic has one competing for the cup whereas the Central does not.

Division leaders getting the first three seeds aside, the Atlantic would have claimed four of the first five spots and the Central would have done the same; however, the Atlantic would have gotten the first, second, third and fifth whereas the Central would have gotten the second, third, fourth and fifth.

Seven points separated the first seed in the Atlantic Division from the fourth, and eight points separated the first from the fourth in the Central Division.

These two divisions were so equally dominant this year, it came down to who received the higher playoff seeds and who still had a team competing in the playoffs. With the New Jersey Devils still alive and sitting atop the Eastern Conference, the edge went to the Atlantic Conference.