Could this be the year the Bruins finally miss the playoffs?

[NyQuil]

I don't know if it's an Ottawa thing or a Boston thing, but Boston was completely dominated in their barn last night.

Not getting a shot on net in the 3rd period. Wow. I'm sure the Boston papers have dug up an answer on how long it's been since that happened.

Edit: gotta love AI engines. December 21, 2006.

Apparently it was 24 minutes of game time without a shot on goal.

Naturally Ottawa gave up two goals in 15 seconds earlier in the game to make it interesting.

 

[bobmottoutica]

Looking at their cap real quick. Why isn’t the possibility of Marchand not re-signing/being moved a bigger topic?

They don’t have much coming off the books next season and I can’t see them moving a bunch of guys they just signed/have NMC.

They really need some futures considering their prospect pool is basically bottom of the league. Moving on from him would net something.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

They are leaving the door open but so far nobody wants to walk through, they have been a 500 team all year up to this point but they are still hanging in there.

That speaks to their resiliency but it also speaks to how mediocre most of the east has been up to this point.

Boston
Buffalo
Philadelphia
Ottawa
NYI
Pittsburgh

All 500 or below, hell Pittsburgh is 3 games below 500 and somehow they are 2 points out of a wildcard spot.

I don't know that I've ever seen the east be quite this mediocre

 

[TheBeastCoast]

They are leaving the door open but so far nobody wants to walk through, they have been a 500 team all year up to this point but they are still hanging in there.

That speaks to their resiliency but it also speaks to how mediocre most of the east has been up to this point.

Boston
Buffalo
Philadelphia
Ottawa
NYI
Pittsburgh

All 500 or below, hell Pittsburgh is 3 games below 500 and somehow they are 2 points out of a wildcard spot.

I don't know that I've ever seen the east be quite this mediocre

Feel like you can almost confidently lock in 6 maybe even 7 playoff spots in the East already. Florida, Toronto, Jersey, New York, Carolina, and Washington feel like locks. Tampa probably should be included as well which leaves one wildcard spot for the group of teams sitting in and around .500 that you listed.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

Feel like you can almost confidently lock in 6 maybe even 7 playoff spots in the East already. Florida, Toronto, Jersey, New York, Carolina, and Washington feel like locks. Tampa probably should be included as well which leaves one wildcard spot for the group of teams sitting in and around .500 that you listed.

I agree I think 6 spots are spoken for.

I'm not quite ready to call Tampa a lock yet because it wasn't that long ago they were in that group.

But they are close if they can come out of their next 7 games 4-3 or better I think they are in.

The next 7 are

Pittsburgh
Columbus
Dallas
Colorado
Washington
Nashville
Toronto

I'm never going to say a team with Crosby on it can't win because It's Crosby and even at 37 he can go off on any given night. But Tampa should win that.

Then It's Columbus and again Tampa should win that.

Then you get to Dallas they are really good that's going to be tough.

Washington has been good all season.

Colorado is starting to get healthy It SHOULD be harder to beat them this time.

Nashville for some reasons sucks but they are loaded with talent.

Toronto and Tampa are almost ALWAYS good games.

As long as they don't stumble in the next 7 I think they get in.

Although last time I checked Point was injured, not sure if he's back yet or not

 

[Fatass]

They are leaving the door open but so far nobody wants to walk through, they have been a 500 team all year up to this point but they are still hanging in there.

That speaks to their resiliency but it also speaks to how mediocre most of the east has been up to this point.

Boston
Buffalo
Philadelphia
Ottawa
NYI
Pittsburgh

All 500 or below, hell Pittsburgh is 3 games below 500 and somehow they are 2 points out of a wildcard spot.

I don't know that I've ever seen the east be quite this mediocre

In two years the Bruins have fallen off a lot. They’re on pace for 82 points and that group with Detroit, Buffalo, and Ottawa. (The islanders will push from their division too.) One of these teams will end up improving and get 88-92 points and sneak in as the last playoff club. The Bruins look old and slow compared to teams like Buffalo, Detroit, and Ottawa though. So this could be the year one of those three sneak in over the Bruins. The Bruins sure have fallen hard though.

 

[Shroud of Orrin]

Since the start of the 1999-00 season the Bruins have the most wins in the NHL during the regular season this century. I just needed to do this.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

Since the start of the 1999-00 season the Bruins have the most wins in the NHL during the regular season this century. I just needed to do this.

View attachment 931829

Not sure what that has to do with this year.

 

[Uncle Scrooge]

Starting to feel very similar to the 22-23 Blues, team that had expectations and lost to the eventual cup champs in the playoffs. 5 vs 5 analytics through 19 games very much the same, overall feel of lack of juice, blowouts and getting outshot in games you wouldn't expect. ROR was producing very little similar to Coyle. Some injuries started to happen couple months in (Hampus Lindholm just got hurt).

Blues highest pts % of the season was 54% - 41 games in. Just was never able to fully get it going.

The only saving grace might be that the East have let a wild card team with relatively mediocre record sneak in to the playoffs the last couple years.

 

[Mick Riddleton]

About time they get a shot a decent draft pick, might as well intentionally tank. Seems to work for some teams. No use finishing in middle of the pack purgatory, spinning wheels at mediocrity.

 

[bobmottoutica]

Since the start of the 1999-00 season the Bruins have the most wins in the NHL during the regular season this century. I just needed to do this.

View attachment 931829

Unless you're a Canadiens fan, the Bruins didn't really come on anyone's radar til around 2009/10/11. I've been watching since the 90s, and the Bruins were almost Blue Jackets level of irrelevant for a long time, and the attendance showed that.

 

[Michel Beauchamp]

Looking at their cap real quick. Why isn’t the possibility of Marchand not re-signing/being moved a bigger topic?

They don’t have much coming off the books next season and I can’t see them moving a bunch of guys they just signed/have NMC.

They really need some futures considering their prospect pool is basically bottom of the league. Moving on from him would net something.

Even with the cap going to at least $92.5M and possible as high as $95-97M ?

 

[bobmottoutica]

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They're right up against the cap and have seven UFAs (most of which make peanuts) and all of their RFAs are arbitration eligible.

Marchand would probably look to max out on his next deal considering how much less he made before, no?

I can't imagine them moving on from contracts they just signed either.

How do they fit a Marchand extension?

 

[Shroud of Orrin]

Not sure what that has to do with this year.

8 of those 1028 wins happened this year so its 100% relevant. Every win matters.

 

[Bjornar Moxnes]

In two years the Bruins have fallen off a lot. They’re on pace for 82 points and that group with Detroit, Buffalo, and Ottawa. (The islanders will push from their division too.) One of these teams will end up improving and get 88-92 points and sneak in as the last playoff club. The Bruins look old and slow compared to teams like Buffalo, Detroit, and Ottawa though. So this could be the year one of those three sneak in over the Bruins. The Bruins sure have fallen hard though.

The Red Wings look terrible as well. It's really up to see if the Sabres prospect depth or the Sens more complete roster takes it over the Bruins this year.

 

[Fatass]

The Red Wings look terrible as well. It's really up to see if the Sabres prospect depth or the Sens more complete roster takes it over the Bruins this year.

The Bruins do have (imo) the best forward, d man, and goalie in the group of clubs. And those three players are still younger, so can be retooled around.

 

[Bjornar Moxnes]

The Bruins do have (imo) the best forward, d man, and goalie in the group of clubs. And those three players are still younger, so can be retooled around.

Their best forward isn't a centre though, which does impact things. Thompson and Stützle have more impact on the ice as a result. Do they really have the best Dman with how poorly McAvoy has played and the potential of the Sabres and Sens bluelines? Both Swayman and Ullmark have been outplayed by Korpisalo of all goalies this year for some reason.