The last regular-season power rankings have arrived. The next time these national outlets order teams, there will be just 16 teams still skating. The Bruins will obviously be among them. Their return to consistency has kept them close to the top of the rankings.
To keep power ranking lists from becoming repetitive, the different outlets usually include a different side angle for each team too. Some are a little more original than others.
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Here’s where the Bruins landed on the lists and what the different sites said about them:
Rank: 6
This week The Athletic gave every team a trophy. They gave Boston the Billy Beane Award for the team that does the best job at recreating an irreplaceable star and wrote:
“A big part of “Moneyball” was tracking the Oakland Athletics’ attempt to deal with the loss of Jason Giambi, an MVP-caliber talent who’d left as a free agent. The Bruins were faced with a similar challenge this season when Patrice Bergeron retired. A one-for-one replacement wasn’t going to work, and Boston still doesn’t have a true No. 1 center, but they’re on track to win the Atlantic Division again anyway — and their top two centers, Charlie Coyle and Pavel Zacha, are both going to hit the 60-point mark.”
Rank: 5
ESPN wrote about each team did compared to preseason expectations:
“The retirement of Patrice Bergeron tempered expectations for the B’s, but they have proven skeptics wrong by blowing past their predicted pace to sit among the league’s top teams. It’s the Bruins’ consistency that makes them a perennial threat, and after the sting of last season’s first-round playoff loss, Boston is poised to turn up the heat this postseason.”
Rank: 4
NHL.com wasn’t giving fake trophies like the Athletic, but instead talked about chances are real ones:
“One year ago, the Bruins were in line for a slew of awards. Linus Ullmark won the Vezina. Jim Montgomery won the Jack Adams. Bergeron won his sixth Selke. David Pastrnak finished second in the Hart voting. This season? Not so much. The Bruins have been a very good team all season but have not had anyone likely to rise to the award-level. Will Pastrnak get some votes for the Hart? Yes. Should Montgomery get some votes for the Jack Adams after a season when he’s likely been a better coach than last year? Also, yes. And if the combination of Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman were eligible for the Vezina, they could collect some too. It’s possible that Don Sweeney could garner some support as GM of the Year, but in the end, I think the Bruins would be more than happy to make it deeper into the playoffs and forgo the awards this season that they won last season.”
Rank: 4
Canada’s SportsNet wrote about the top story of the season for each team and once again Patrice Bergeron gets mentioned.
“David Pastrnak has 41 more points (107) than the next closest Bruin (66 by Brad Marchand). A 41-point season is a decent year for a middle-six forward. His ongoing brilliance in the absence of the retired Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci is the story of the year in Boston. Also, what could be more Bruin than the near-identical stat lines of their foundational goalie tandem: Jeremy Swayman has a .915 save percentage and 2.56 goals-against average in 43 games, while Linus Ullmark has a .916 SP and 2.55 GAA in 38 outings.”
Rank: 4
“The Bruins are getting hot at the right time with four consecutive wins, including a massive overtime victory against the Panthers over the weekend. David Pastrnak continues to thrive with five points in his last four games.”
