Most or Least Parity Season Ever?

[callitwhatyouwant]

The Blues this season happen to be in the division with the 3 biggest wagons in the NHL all in one with the Avs, Stars, Mild. It made me do a little digging on a topic I did a few years ago around the holidays that pointed out goal differentials. Typically in a standard season, you will finish the year with 16 or 17 positive goal differential teams. Currently we have 10 with 2 at 0. (there are numerous hanging out -1 to -5) That to me signals that a lot of teams haven't made "their move" yet to turn it on. Is this just a case of teams ramping it up until the Olympics? Has the Olympics being brought back on the back of the 4nations preoccupied the minds of of some of the NHL rosters?

What are some of the most dominant seasons where a cup contender, say top 3 teams or so in the league were easily identifiable?

What are some of the most parity ridden years where it was hard to identify who that team was and they came out of left field?


I'd like to hear some thoughts on whether or not people remember a time where you could tell XYZ from the West and XYZ from the East are destined to be in the Cup finals or vice versa.