Parity in the NHL, 'Canes and Oilers making the point

Last year the Stanley Cup playoff's featured the Carolina Hurricanes and the Edmonton Oilers. The Oilers appearance in the final marked the first time an eight seed made it all the way through. So much for the good news.

With the Oilers recent trade of Marc-Andre Bergeron to the NY Islanders one has to wonder if the Oilers have thrown in the towel this season. If that is the case, and Darren Dreger of TSN reports that Kevin Lowe is insisting that the Oilers are still contending, it marks one heck of a drop in the Oilers fortunes. From cock of the walk to just a bunch of .... well, you get the point.

Even more surprising is that the Carolina Hurricanes are in 7th spot in the East by only 1 point. More worrisome there are 5 teams in the East separated by only 3 points fighting for the last 3 playoff spots. Atlanta, Carolina, NYI, Montreal and Toronto are all in the hunt.

So, let's look forward about 20 games, what happens if both Edmonton and Carolina miss the playoff's? In my memory this would be the first time that the two teams that played in the Stanley Cup final have missed the playoff's in the following year. I can remember individual teams, can anyone say Tampa Bay? But as far as I can determine this is the first time that BOTH teams go from top to bottom in the NHL.

It looks like parity has truly come to the NHL. Somehow I doubt that the Oilers and Hurricanes are very fond of it.

In BlindSight: The Emery vs Biron fight on Thursday has brought about some serious interest in Goalie fights. Tyler over at the 'NHL Digest' asked the question about the best goalie fight ever and mentioned my personal favorite Potvin vs Hextall. Today he put up another good contender, Byron Dafoe vs Patrick Lalime. Good fight, check it out.