Southeastern Shortfalls?

We've got about a quarter of this shortened season left and one thing that's jumped out is how the different divisions have performed. The chart below shows the average points per division and it's clear that the Southeast Division is under scoring compared to the others. Looking at the overall league (at time of writing, you know how quickly it changes) there isn't a Southeast team in the top 10. The Eastern Conference is being dominated by the Northeast Division with 4 of the 8 playoff places currently going to Northeast teams. Only Buffalo are currently looking at an extended post season break. Today we're going to look at a two different ideas. 

Location, Location, Location

This one is easy, Florida isn't known for its ice. If you want a game of football, soccer or baseball, you need a field. Plenty of those in the South east. Not so much ice. Hockey was first played on natural ice, that's how the sport evolved in the frozen north. When Gary Refrigerator (maybe) invented a way to keep cold things cold, ice rinks appeared. This not only allowed the season to be extended but also for the sport to make its way south. Ice rinks didn't appear in Florida until the 70s, by this time Mike Babcock was already at school. I make this point to highlight the fact that the sport is simply less established there and doesn't have the same sort of traditions or history.

Money

These figures are taken from Forbes' 2012 values for each team.

Washington Capitals - $250 Million

Winnipeg Jets - $200 Million

Tampa Bay Lightning - $174 Million

Florida Panthers - $160 Million

Carolina Hurricanes - $162 Million

  

Now compare those numbers to the Toronto Maple Leafs who are worth $1000 Million (yeah - a Billion!) or the New York Rangers who are worth $750 Million. Of course it would be naive to think that money purely buys success but the Southeast consistently has the lowest player payroll costs. Now the debate as to whether big salaries bring success or not will continue as long as sport exists, but there's no argument that the best players command the best wages and the Southeast doesn't seem to be spending. 

Future?

The realignment plan is going to throw a huge spanner into the Southeast works with the division effectively being disbanded. This means that the intradivision game structure will change, with potentially more games being played against tougher (or at least more established) opposition. Will this push the teams to change how they work or will they become the whipping boys, sat at the bottom of the divisions or will they flourish and bring home more titles to the area?  What about the two new teams?* How will this affect the divisions? Anything is possible I suppose. One thing is guaranteed, next season will be awesome for the neutral fans. 

*Nothing is confirmed, but with the new divisions 'A' and 'B' having less teams than 'C' and 'D', it's likely that we will soon see 2 new franchises. 

Random fact. Alexander Semin drinks tea between periods and likes his Gatorade to be at room temperature.