What's Wrong With The Western Conference?
The West used to be known as the speed and high scoring conference, the birth place of Gretzky and Kurri, Bure, Yzerman, Selanne, Fleury, Denis Savard, even the Maple Leafs teams of the 80’s had the GREAT Rick Vaive, who had 3 consecutive 50 goal seasons.
But this season Western Conference is being Dominated by the East. The West only has 6 players in the top 30 for points, and only 1 player in the top 17 Igninla, Thornton, Marleau, Pronger, Frolov and Selanne… The West have only 1 player in the top 10 for goals with Ryan Smyth sitting in #8 with 15 goals, and they have 9 total in the top 30, Iginla, Marleau, Naslund, Rolston, Sykora, Kuntiz (Hello) Frolov and Selanne….In Shots they have again only 9 total in the top 30, 1 player in the top 14 in spot #8 with Rolston who has 88 shots, with Blake, Zetterberg, Hejduk, Svatos, Iginla and Selanne rounding out the top 30.
Only Jerome Iginla and Teemu Selanne are the players in top 30 in each category (Points, Goals, Shots)
The West has 3 players in the top 10 in assists with #3 Pronger (23), #7 Henrik Sedin (21) and #8 Teemu Selanne (20), but then only have 3 more in the top 30 for a total of 6 players in the top 30 in assists, Kopitar, Kariya and Tanguay.
The only player in the Western Conference to be in the top 4 in all categories for Points, Asssits, Goals and shots is Teemu Selanne!!! WAY TO GO TEEMU.
So is Teemu Selanne the best offensive player in the Western Conference??? The stats say he is the best all around (and he’s only making $3.75 million) and he was dynamite last year when he came in the top 30 in all 4 categories last season. He is #7 overall for points in the NHL and leading the Western Conference in that category.
So is Teemu the best in the West??