With the 2017 NHL postseason just weeks away, an interesting imbalance has crept up among the league's top clubs.

In both conferences, offenses have turned out to be significantly lopsided, with the top three playoff-bound clubs from one division outscoring all three teams from the other.

Just take a look at the West. On one side, the Chicago Blackhawks, Minnesota Wild, and Nashville Predators - the Central Division's top three - all have at least 212 goals, while not even the top scorer in the Pacific Division has reached that minimum mark:

The same goes for the East, where the Metropolitan Division's Washington Capitals, Columbus Blue Jackets, and Pittsburgh Penguins have outscored the offensive class of the Atlantic Division.

This isn't simply an annual occurrence given how the league is set up. Last season, the offensive production was far more mixed - the top team in the Atlantic would have ranked third among Metropolitan goal-scorers, while two of the Pacific's top three teams outscored two of the Central's. The 2014-15 campaign shows a similarly mixed output within each conference.

It seems 2016-17 has just been a strange one.

Needless to say, that discrepancy doesn't bode well for the playoff hopefuls from the Pacific and Atlantic divisions. They'll be spared in the first two rounds, as none of these top-three clubs will face their counterparts from their conference's other division (the second- and third-ranked teams will face each other, while the division champ will get a wild-card opponent).

But things should get interesting come conference finals time.

For example, whoever emerges from the pile of Washington versus their wild-card draw, and Pittsburgh versus Columbus, will match up against the best of Montreal, Ottawa, Boston, and the other wild-card club - a daunting task to say the least.

However, interestingly, this divisional discrepancy could favor one wild card team in particular.

(Photo courtesy: Action Images)

The New York Rangers hold the first eastern wild card spot, and - in seemingly typical Metro fashion - have crushed the Atlantic's wild-card team (the Toronto Maple Leafs) by netting 15 more goals. In fact, New York's 231 goals rank higher than even Washington or Columbus.

If the playoffs started today, the Rangers would enter the mix on the Atlantic's side of things, giving Montreal a taste of the Metro's offensive prowess as early as Round 1 - potentially an easier postseason path for New York.

There are certainly no guarantees, and it takes far more than prolific goal-scoring to march through the playoffs, but it's clear this season's lopsided offense should throw an interesting wrench into the postseason.

And the two divisions on the lower end of this goal-scoring imbalance won't have much ground to stand on in terms of hoping those highly offensive clubs are lacking in defensive play.

A quick look at the starting netminders for the top Metropolitan and Central teams should do away with that thought fairly quickly - all but one of them (Nashville's Pekka Rinne) boast save percentages ranking in the league's top 10.

Good luck.

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