NHL 2022-2023 Standings Watch - Updated 4/11

[Fenway]

Here we are a month into the season and the 2 best teams are the ones that fired and hired Bruce Cassidy.

In the East - New Jersey stating at 11-3 is astonishing, Torts has the Flyers playing well and Ottawa is in trouble. In any event, we could see teams that made the playoffs last year be DNQ this season, Washington and Pittsburgh especially.

The Bruins will hit a rough patch and they can't burn Linus out

Bruce Cassidy has developed a plan for VGK that so far is working and what leaps out to me is they are 8-1 on the road.

The West has 2 teams that were constructed to tank but this morning Arizona would make the playoffs and Chicago is playing better than expected as is Seattle.

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[BruinDust]

Every season it seems now you end up with several teams who are a lot better than expected, while some of the presumed contenders take a step back or fall off altogether.

The scary part for me about Vegas is Cassidy has the perfect D-corps to bring over the Bruins old system of defending in their own zone. Big and mobile. And Jack Eichel appears to be back to being the player people always expected him to be.

Right now the Atlantic is basically the Bruins and a bunch of .500 teams. That is going to change and those .500 teams will improve while the Bruins won't be winning 8 or 9 out of 10 the rest of the way.

The Western Conference this year is shockingly bad. Maybe the worst it's been in the Salary Cap era.

 

[MarchysNoseKnows]

5 East teams negative goal differential. 4 of them -5 or better.

5 West teams positive goal differential. Only four of the negatives at -5 or better.

It won’t stay like this but right now it’s an ass whooping.

 

[smithformeragent]

Tampa will find its footing.

Pittsburgh and Washington, go rot in hockey purgatory.

 

[Caper Bruins fan]

Tampa will find its footing.

Pittsburgh and Washington, go rot in hockey purgatory.

Tampa and Toronto will likely finish ahead of the Bruins when the dust settles. I’m okay with the Bruins finishing in a wild card spot.

 

[Blowfish]

Tampa and Toronto will likely finish ahead of the Bruins when the dust settles. I’m okay with the Bruins finishing in a wild card spot.

 

[Caper Bruins fan]

That doesn’t mean I actually think the Leafs are better I just think they will string a lot of regular season wins together soon and the Bruins will eventually come back down to earth . If they meet in the playoffs it’s probably a toss up .

 

[goldnblack]

That doesn’t mean I actually think the Leafs are better I just think they will string a lot of regular season wins together soon and the Bruins will eventually come back down to earth . If they meet in the playoffs it’s probably a toss up .

I really disagree. The Bruins are winning on very little puck luck or run hot. They're winning on just really fundamental hockey. Let's also face it, most teams don't get Bergeron + Krejci level talent injected into a lineup for like 5M (or whatever they both add up to). We're just more talented right now than most NHL clubs top to bottom. Lindholm was a robbery, Foligno is much better than last year showed, Coyle's knee is right and he's a totally different player, Debrusk looks like he'd be top 10 in a redo of that draft year, Ullmark is as good as we thought he was (and is a massive man in nets).

There's too much compete and veteran leadership here for this to be a fluke. I think there's not a tighter group of guys in the league, or a more motivated one. That's scary. Only injuries can stop the train now. Touch wood they don't.

 

[Caper Bruins fan]

I really disagree. The Bruins are winning on very little puck luck or run hot. They're winning on just really fundamental hockey. Let's also face it, most teams don't get Bergeron + Krejci level talent injected into a lineup for like 5M (or whatever they both add up to). We're just more talented right now than most NHL clubs top to bottom. Lindholm was a robbery, Foligno is much better than last year showed, Coyle's knee is right and he's a totally different player, Debrusk looks like he'd be top 10 in a redo of that draft year, Ullmark is as good as we thought he was (and is a massive man in nets).

There's too much compete and veteran leadership here for this to be a fluke. I think there's not a tighter group of guys in the league, or a more motivated one. That's scary. Only injuries can stop the train now. Touch wood they don't.

I obviously hope you are right.

 

[ODAAT]

That doesn’t mean I actually think the Leafs are better I just think they will string a lot of regular season wins together soon and the Bruins will eventually come back down to earth . If they meet in the playoffs it’s probably a toss up .

where I think you are a bit off is that while the season is filled with ebbs and flows, some teams are better equipped to limit/manage the stretches where they aren`t playing great hockey and the losses come. Where I think the B`s will be in better shape come end of year standings is that they (B`s) overall attention to detail on the back end and a forward crew who are willing to pay attention to details in their own zone

Watch a Leafs game, I`ll wager a half dozen times or so a game when in their own zone, you will see a Leafs player release from their own zone as they try to stretch out the D and they do so too often without being 100% a teammate actually has full possession of the puck and transition is all but guaranteed

Watch the B`s system, Monty has them doing, from what I`m seeing is a soft collapse, the two wingers initially are a touch higher in the D zone initially and the longer the puck stays in their end, they drop lower to offer defensive help and when an opponent maintains their possession, the B`s aren`t out manned because one of their forwards has broken the zone thinking they`d get a stretch pass

Leafs have now, for years, all but forgotten/ignored the importance of playing D and that will forever be their downfall, like goaltending in Philly

 

[wintersej]

I really disagree. The Bruins are winning on very little puck luck or run hot. They're winning on just really fundamental hockey. Let's also face it, most teams don't get Bergeron + Krejci level talent injected into a lineup for like 5M (or whatever they both add up to). We're just more talented right now than most NHL clubs top to bottom. Lindholm was a robbery, Foligno is much better than last year showed, Coyle's knee is right and he's a totally different player, Debrusk looks like he'd be top 10 in a redo of that draft year, Ullmark is as good as we thought he was (and is a massive man in nets).

There's too much compete and veteran leadership here for this to be a fluke. I think there's not a tighter group of guys in the league, or a more motivated one. That's scary. Only injuries can stop the train now. Touch wood they don't.

You touch on an important point here with Bergeron and Krejci’s salaries.

To be a top contender in todays NHL you really need some guys that are killing it on ELC deals.

Bruins don’t have that. But instead they have Bergeron and Krejci playing on these ridiculous below market deals.

 

[Fenway]

The schedule from now to New Years is certainly manageable with the only back to backs sandwiched around the Christmas break.

To fully appreciate what the Bruins have done so far - if they play pure .500 hockey the rest of the way they would end with 94 points.

 

[Caper Bruins fan]

Tampa and Toronto will likely finish ahead of the Bruins when the dust settles. I’m okay with the Bruins finishing in a wild card spot

Tampa and Toronto will likely finish ahead of the Bruins when the dust settles. I’m okay with the Bruins finishing in a wild card spot.

Well I don’t know about you StonedZboril but regular season success doesn’t impress me all that much . Just want the Bruins to make it . If you think the Bruins would be favoured in a series vs Tampa I don’t think that’s the case .

 

[Ladyfan]

I don't usually watch the standings until later in the season but now I look daily.

Maybe because I have more time (retired) OR maybe because it is kind of fun to see the Bs at the top

 

[Fenway]

Some takeaways

If the Bruins play pure 500 the rest of the way they finish with 97 points which is staggering for November. New Jersey is even a bigger surprise than Boston.

Detroit looks like a playoff team so if this continues 2 of last years teams in the East will not make it. The Islanders look like they have a good chance.

Ottawa is a big dissapointment as is Buffalo and Johnny Gaudreau has to be having second thoughts about Columbus.

The West the surprise is Seattle so far and a team that could suprise is Arizona that still has 37 home games left.

 

[Fenway]

Toronto is playing very well and Tampa Bay seems to be back on track.

Over in the Metro Pittsburgh is no longer treading water.

It does appear the Wild Card slots could go down to the end.

Out West

 

[quietbruinfan]

I think you have your standings in the East. Toronto might pass us, and the Rangers will probably pass the Isles. Detroit is the only team that might challenge, and they are too streaky. Same in the West, except it is because the bottom third of the West is putrid.

 

[Fenway]

I think you have your standings in the East. Toronto might pass us, and the Rangers will probably pass the Isles. Detroit is the only team that might challenge, and they are too streaky. Same in the West, except it is because the bottom third of the West is putrid.

@quietbruinfan

The Bruins need to hold onto the A1 slot and then let Tampa and Toronto fight it out at A2 and A3. A very good team will die in the A2-A3 matchup in Round 1 and I would prefer the Bruins to take their chances against the wild card slot.

 

[quietbruinfan]

@quietbruinfan

The Bruins need to hold onto the A1 slot and then let Tampa and Toronto fight it out at A2 and A3. A very good team will die in the A2-A3 matchup in Round 1 and I would prefer the Bruins to take their chances against the wild card slot.

Agreed. Need to look no further than Toronto's matchups the last four years.

 

[Fenway]

Agreed. Need to look no further than Toronto's matchups the last four years.

Florida as of now is in danger of a DNQ - Detroit is a work in progress but at worst should be A4

Ottawa is DOA, Poutineville you can't discard yet and the same applies to Buffalo.

 

[quietbruinfan]

Florida as of now is in danger of a DNQ - Detroit is a work in progress but at worst should be A4

Ottawa is DOA, Poutineville you can't discard yet and the same applies to Buffalo.

I am not sure about Buffalo. I could see then hit a very hot stretch if not for their goaltending.

 

[McGarnagle]

Crazy that with the borderline historic start to the season the Bruins have had, they have not only New Jersey but also Toronto right on their tails. We do have 2 games in hand on the Leafs but still, to be destroying the competition and only having 3 points of cushion in the division is crazy.

Florida is what everyone thought the Bruins would be when Marchand and McAvoy were supposed to be out until December - Good team but have significant injuries to their defense which will put them into a hole where they have to leap 2 or 3 really good teams to get back into the wild card. I think Washington's reign of terror is finally over, they look like they're going to miss the playoffs for the first time in a long time, while Detroit is going to make it for the first time in a long time.

 

[Bruinswillwin77]

Toronto had a 4 game losing streak at the beginning of the season otherwise they'd be tied if not ahead of the Bruins right now, although I think they did get 2 points out of the 4 games (ot).
I hate playing the 'what-if' game but I was looking at their schedule last night and it caught my eye.

 

[Bruinaura]

Toronto also has 6 loser points to our 1

 

[smithformeragent]

f*** Pittsburgh and Washington.

I hope the bottom falls out of those two franchises for the next decade.