Comparing the 2022-2023 Bruins (133 points) and the 1976-1977 Canadiens (132 points)

[GMR]

The playoffs back then you only had to win 12 games as oppsed to 16 now, the top teams got a bye the 1st round. That time period the league was dominated by the talented teams that could attract players, the rest were fledging teams that were beat up on. That Habs team would never be built today, it was like an all star team and the bottom teams were basically AHL calibre at best.

That was only true for the higher seeds. The rest had to play a preliminary round. No doubt Montreal would breeze through that round if they were playing.

I pointed out how the league wasn't as competitive then.

 

[TheGreenTBer]

I love how on HFB it is simultaneously held that the 77 Habs were better for playing in that era, but Bobby Orr was not as good as (insert player name here) because he played in that era.

The tortured, pretzel logic people will use to degrade anything not to their liking.

What moron would discredit Bobby Orr?

...

Actually you're right, this site is full of f***ing morons. Never mind.

 

[Score8]

There's no comparison. Boston would have 11 less points if it was back in 1976.

The Montreal season & only 8 losses is far more impressive.

And what would the bruins have done if they played in the 77 season against the same competition?

 

[GMR]

And what would the bruins have done if they played in the 77 season against the same competition?

Using 1970's equipment and assuming Bruins players are partying like rock stars every night?

The 2023 Red Wings win the Cup in 1977 using modern equipment, training, and strategy. That argument proves nothing.

 

[HockeyGuy1964]

Thing is about the Habs record it was tilted to them by a few advantages not seen today. They were playing in a post expansion era, most bottom teams were brutal, no salary cap. No way the Cleveland Barons which just moved there from California (Golden Seals) or any of those struggling non established teams could afford to compete with no TV deals or media. They could not field a good team or attract good players. The Kansas City scouts moved to become the Colorado Rockies the same year. Montreal was still enjoying the fruits in the past of protected territory of players they could chose from. They held rights to all players from Quebec and parts of western Canada, they had players from that period on the team. No way they build that team nowadays, it was unusual. Still they were a great team but a different time. They did feed on those bottom dwellers like Washington, these teams were so badly run that the league shelved ideas of further expansion to of all places Seattle the next year, the 1977/78 season.

I'm not discrediting what the Bruins did this year so no sense trying to discredit what the Habs did in 1977. Not sure if you're trying to claim Boston didn't play some pretty sh**ty teams this year too but, if you are, just stop it.
Losing only 8 games all year is just more impressive to me. End of story.

And what would the bruins have done if they played in the 77 season against the same competition?

We'll never know but , fun fact, Boston had a pretty good team back then too & 3 of their 8 losses were to Boston.

 

[tabness]

1995-1996 Wings better than both... team at the tail end of the true golden era which didn't have massive parity disparity of the seventies and didn't have the benefits of today's points system and general powderpuffness

 

[Zalos]

I still don't really understand how THIS Bruins team achieved such a feat. There have been better Bruins teams in the past 10 years.

As for the 70s Habs, they were filled with Hall of Famers. Put these same players in today's league with everything that came along with the modernization of the sport and they would destroy the league.

 

[Devonator]

Even though I dislike the Habs very much, that 76/77 team was one of the greatest ever......they would not have a problem beating this Bruins squad and I don't say that to be dismissive of Boston....only in relation to how great that Habs team was.......

 

[VainGretzky]

There were no bonus points in 76/77 Bruins record would be 53-12-16 122 points

 

[Score8]

The achievement of each of these teams is judged on the level of competition faced when the records were set. Each record was an amazing accomplishment in the context of the era/season they played in to set the record.

 

[Shocker]

I value the Bruins achievement more than the Habs one, loser points or not, but that's just me.

The parity of the league weighs heavily on my scale.

 

[burstnbloom]

I value the Bruins achievement more than the Habs one, loser points or not, but that's just me.

The parity of the league weighs heavily on my scale.

I believe any person who disagrees with this is doing so to discredit a franchise they don't like. Dying on the OT points argument given the myriad advantages the Habs had against their competition in the 70s is myopic to the point where no other conclusion can be drawn.

To win 64 (maybe 65?) out of 82 games in the salary cap era, especially in the 3rd year of the covid cap, is a massively impressive accomplishment that we likely won't see again. The league is just not set up to have this happen. It's been a magical season for bruins fans. They team has needed to be excellent, get great goaltending and get extremely fortunate to have it all happen this way. It's a shockingly rare and exciting accomplishment and the inconsistent logic of the hater cant take that away.

On to the Islanders (or Cats).

 

[CDN24]

Thing is about the Habs record it was tilted to them by a few advantages not seen today. They were playing in a post expansion era, most bottom teams were brutal, no salary cap. No way the Cleveland Barons which just moved there from California (Golden Seals) or any of those struggling non established teams could afford to compete with no TV deals or media. They could not field a good team or attract good players. The Kansas City scouts moved to become the Colorado Rockies the same year. Montreal was still enjoying the fruits in the past of protected territory of players they could chose from. They held rights to all players from Quebec and parts of western Canada, they had players from that period on the team. No way they build that team nowadays, it was unusual. Still they were a great team but a different time. They did feed on those bottom dwellers like Washington, these teams were so badly run that the league shelved ideas of further expansion to of all places Seattle the next year, the 1977/78 season.

Up until the institution of the draft (1963) the same rules applied to all. Montreal took advantage by sponsoring a lot of amateur and Junior teams in their backyard that gave them access to a lot of Quebec born players. The institution of the draft in 63 changed that. However the first few years of the draft there was not much available as most good players were already property of NHL clubs.
Using Bobby Orr has an example the Bruins had long ago sponsored his Jr team and got his signature on C form committing him to the bruins. otherwise he would have been eligible for the draft in 1965.
As compensation for giving up their massive sponsorship base Habs got the option to choose 2 playes from Quebec 1st in early years of draft. up to 1969. The only players of any significance acquired this way were Marc Tardif and Rejean Houle.

The habs built the great teams of the 70s (including 76-77) through the draft. They quickly realized the power of the draft after getting past the 1st few years and took advantage of expansion teams by trading current year picks for picks a few years in future. How was that 76-77 team built

Guy Lafleur - drafted no1 overall with Pick from Golden Seals (habs traded seals a 1970 1st rounder to get seals 71 1st rounder)
Shutt drafted no 4 overall in 72 with a Kings pick that they acquired 4 yrs earlier in 68.
Robinson drafted no 20 overall in 71 with another Kings pick
Lapointe, lemaire, cournyour & Savard- left over from old sponsorship days acquired same method bruins got Orr
Mahovolich - acquired by trade
Risebrough picked 7 overall in 74 with a pick acquired from St louis
Lambert claimed off waivers from Red wings
Rejean Houle- The quebec advantage - only guy on the roster - wasn't worth it considering the damage he would later do as GM
Tremblay 12th overall 74 draft with a pick acquired from the Kings
Gainey 8th overall in 73 a st louis pick that habs acquired by flipping the 5th pick previously acquired from atlanta in a series of trades (11 picks with 6 of them 1st rounders changed hands in those 2 trades)
Jarvis -acquired by trade from Toronto
wilson drafted 11 overall in 1971 with Habs on pick (one of the few they had not traded away to an expansion team for a future hopefully better pick)
Dryden - via trade from Boston.

so top 16 guys on that team
4 left over from old system c- form sponsorship etc (Lapointe, lemaire, cournyour & Savard)
6 Drafted with picks acquired from other teams (Lafleur, shutt,Robinson.risebrough,tremblay, Gainey)
1 drafted with their own pick - Wilson
3 via trade Dryden, Mahvolich, Jarvis
1 waivers- lambert
1 from the Qc advantage - Houle

The habs of the 70's were built by taking advantage of expansion teams willingness to trade future draft picks.

 

[Video Nasty]

The Bruins need to finish the job to make this a real debate.

But as it stands now, I’ve begun to understand the “no overtime and no shootout losses” crowd a little less.

People have already covered a lot of the points, but consider the following.

1. Montreal played in an 18 team league where 12 teams made the playoffs.

2. After getting a first round bye, they played the worst remaining team, St. Louis, who were a sparkling 32-39-9.

A top seed in that time period had to only win 4 games against a likely bad team to find themselves just one round away from the Stanley Cup Finals.

I think if the Bruins finish the job, which I personally don’t think they will due to meeting the Oilers in the SCF, they would more than balance out the quibbling about OT/SOL providing extra Wins and Points.

 

[HockeyGuy1964]

I believe any person who disagrees with this is doing so to discredit a franchise they don't like. Dying on the OT points argument given the myriad advantages the Habs had against their competition in the 70s is myopic to the point where no other conclusion can be drawn.

To win 64 (maybe 65?) out of 82 games in the salary cap era, especially in the 3rd year of the covid cap, is a massively impressive accomplishment that we likely won't see again. The league is just not set up to have this happen. It's been a magical season for bruins fans. They team has needed to be excellent, get great goaltending and get extremely fortunate to have it all happen this way. It's a shockingly rare and exciting accomplishment and the inconsistent logic of the hater cant take that away.

On to the Islanders (or Cats).

Oh, the old "if you don't agree you must be a hater" argument? Cool.

Maybe some of us were alive & watching hockey in the 70's & have the ability to form an opinion.

Nah, must be haters.

The most impressive part of the Bruins season to me is they did it with goaltending that scared absolutely nobody before the season started & performed well above anybody's realistic expectations from game 1 to 82 while everybody was more than comfortable saying there were no questions about Montreal's goalie & defense in 1976.

 

[HockeyMomx2]

Like you said at the end, it’s hard not to wonder to what degree “tanking for Bedard” has had an effect on the amount of “easy” wins this year compared to other years.

Not sure there are too many teams "tanking for Bedard" on the Bruins schedule other than the Habs and we just played them for a 2nd time a couple weeks ago and have our 3rd and last game against them tonight. So, there's potentially 3 "easy" wins against teams "tanking for Bedard". Who else?

 

[HockeyMomx2]

I could care less which team was better but one thing I was wondering the other day, did the Bruins beat each of the other 31 teams they played at least once? That'd be kind of cool.

Yes, they have beaten all 31 other teams in the league. It was one of the earlier records they made

 

[Drij]

Montreal played less games and had lost less games and have no shootout or loser points. They are still the all time best team.

 

[John Mandalorian]

Not sure there are too many teams "tanking for Bedard" on the Bruins schedule other than the Habs and we just played them for a 2nd time a couple weeks ago and have our 3rd and last game against them tonight. So, there's potentially 3 "easy" wins against teams "tanking for Bedard". Who else?

Every team plays every other team at least twice.

 

[HockeyMomx2]

Every team plays every other team at least twice.

Every team plays every other team at least twice.

Oh mylanta. Exactly. So where's the advantage of beating up on all these tanking teams you are trying to claim is what gives the Bruins their record? Every other team had just as many opportunities to beat them. The only "tanking" team they played more than 2x is the Habs and the 3rd game is tonight.

 

[John Mandalorian]

Oh mylanta. Exactly. So where's the advantage of beating up on all these tanking teams you are trying to claim is what gives the Bruins their record? Every other team had just as many opportunities to beat them. The only "tanking" team they played more than 2x is the Habs and the 3rd game is tonight.

It's relevant when comparing teams from other years (the 2019 Lightning for example).

 

[HockeyMomx2]

It's relevant when comparing teams from other years (the 2019 Lightning for example).

Of course. Bless your heart. Have a good day.

 

[barbu]

Can we have a recount?

 

[pabst blue ribbon]

The collective opposition against the '77 Canadiens finished with a 8-60-12 record (28 points) while the collective opposition for the '23 Bruins has a 17-53-11 record (45 points).

 

[Rockomax]

As a habs fan, this season with my favorite team being horrible, it allowed me to appreciate more the Bruins season to the point that I will probably go to Boston during the playoffs to experience what it's like at that of the year with such a strong team. Of course, I won't wear any Montreal gear, I want to live.