PHILADELPHIA — With one more game before the All-Star break, the Bruins will be comfortably atop the Eastern Conference whether they win or lose at Philadelphia on Saturday.
Where do they stand among the best teams in the NHL and Stanley Cup contenders? Four national (North American?) media outlets had the Bruins near the top of their power rankings. To keep power ranking lists from becoming repetitive, the different outlets usually include a different side angle for each team too.
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Here’s where the Bruins landed on the lists and what the different sites said about them:
The Athletic
Rank: 3
The Athletic has the Bruins third behind Vancouver and Winnipeg as their list leans heavily toward Western Conference teams at the top. Their rankings also included which player from each team would “best represent their franchise in an All-32 Skills Olympics,” a hypothetical play on the skills competition. Here’s what they wrote:
“Just three players other than (David) Pastrnak have 10.0 in multiple categories, and none of them stacked perfect scores in one-timers and shooting accuracy. He’ll have a chance to stack enough points in those two categories to advance. Easily.”
ESPN
Rank: 2.
The Bruins moved up from No. 3 to 2 on the ESPN rankings. For each team on this list, ESPN chose to pick one roster mistake each team made going into this year. For the Bruins, they chose not signing Swayman to a long-term deal.
“Perhaps this would be considered a “good problem to have.” Boston has red-hot netminder (and pending RFA) Jeremy Swayman up for another contract negotiation this summer — and the way he’s playing, Swayman’s going to demand even more than he did a year ago. The Bruins might regret not getting something longer-term done with Swayman when they had the chance, prior to his leveling up again in 2023-24.”
NHL.com
Rank: 1
NHL.com has the Bruins at No. 1, the only site to have Boston ahead of Vancouver. Seven of their 13 writers voting had them at No. 1.
This week’s power rankings featured players, who aren’t All-Stars but could have been on the top 16 teams. The Bruins have several options for that, but the site picked Charlie Coyle. Amalie Benjamin wrote:
“I’m sticking with Charlie Coyle. With the Bruins already sending David Pastrnak and Jeremy Swayman (and coach Jim Montgomery) to the All-Star Game, I think Coyle is equally deserving. The center has helped negate the losses of Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci and is on pace for a new NHL career-high 68 points. I’d give him the nod as much for what he’s done for the Bruins, solidifying his position as their No. 1 center, as his offensive production.”
SportsNet Canada
Rank: 2.
The Canadian all-sports network has the Bruins second. Their accompanying list was a pleasant surprise for each team. They chose David Pastrnak for Boston and wrote:
“We knew David Pastrnak was a stud, but the fact he could surpass last year’s 113 points without the two centres — Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci — he’s been riding shotgun with for his entire career is remarkable.”
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