First-place vote from a GM: “(Zdeno) Chara and (Patrice) Bergeron set the standard that the team has been held to.”
First-place vote from a GM: “Year in and year out, they’ve been at the top of the league since (GM Don Sweeney) took over.”
Second-place vote from an assistant GM: “It’s a longstanding thing. They probably don’t get enough credit for what they’ve done with the market they’re in.”
Third-place vote from a senior adviser to the GM: “Have done well to keep a strong core, signed solid contracts and even though they fired (ex-coach Bruce) Cassidy, (got a) solid replacement in (Jim) Montgomery. Big year for him behind the bench.”
Fourth-place vote from a GM: “Always in the mix all the time. They’ve never had the high draft picks and always in the playoffs.”
Fourth-place vote from a senior adviser to the GM: “Stable, demanding ownership. Only two GMs since 2006. Have arguably created the best team culture in the NHL over the past 15 seasons. Consistently competitive and well-managed. Made playoffs 15 of past 17 seasons (with) three Cup appearances and one win.”
Fifth-place vote from an assistant GM: “Boston is sort of like the Atlanta Braves. They probably should have won more Stanley Cups than they did during that window, but they’ve always been competitive.”
Fifth-place vote from a senior adviser to the GM: “The consistency they’ve had to be one of the top teams — I look at the overall consistency despite the cap.”
Fifth-place vote from an assistant GM: “It’s probably the length of what they’ve done and the consistency to retool. They’ve had some good contracts.”