Respect for putting your team as the SC champs

On a side note, do you think this is confirmed last dance for the Bruins?

It really hinges on Bergeron/Krejci coming back- if the Bruins fall just short I think Bergy might come back for one more try at the cup, not sure about Krejci. They still won't be near as good as this year because they're so up against the cap- they don't really have a shot at bringing back guys like Orlov and Bertuzzi. They'll still be a playoff team but this is their last legit shot at the cup in my opinion.

Fair, if there was 1 team to beat the Bruins, who do you think it might be and why?

I realize that you weren't addressing me, but I noticed something interesting while perusing Boston's regular season record: the have a winning record against every single Eastern team but have a winning record against only 11 of the 16 Western teams. Two of the Western teams made the playoffs: Edmonton and Seattle. Boston was 6-8 goals v Seattle and 5-5 goals v Edmonton.

Among playoff teams, Edmonton and Seattle were the only teams to beat Boston in regulation in their own arena even once.

If I were Boston, Edmonton would be the least favorable matchup in the finals, especially if they're healthy.

They won't have to worry about that.

there is something called nhl.com/bracket right?

There's so many good teams in the East, anyone could upset us including Florida. I highly doubt the Bruins will walk all over Florida as some people believe they will- I think it will be a tight series that goes at least 6 games. If they win that, I really think the Leafs are the next best team in the East, and they played us well in the regular season. I had Bruins in a very competitive 6-game series, but I had like 4 of those games going to OT and I think a couple bounces could be all it takes to turn that series. That said, they'll have their hands full and more with Tampa, and that series is pretty much a toss-up in my opinion. I'm not as scared of the Lightning in terms of their roster, but history says I should be. If we were to make it past the first 2 rounds, the Rangers could easily steal a series from us if Shesterkin gets hot. I'm not as frightened of anyone in the west (I don't think there's anyone as good as Toronto/Tampa/NYR/New Jersey), but I also think the Stars and Avalanche are solid contenders from the west.

Seattle's scrappy, but there's no way they're making it past 2 round when they have to play the Avalanche and Stars. Oilers-Bruins would be a hella entertaining series, but Edmonton has so many weakness and the Bruins have so many ways to exploit weaknesses.

Seattle likely doesn't get that far, but they were 2-0-1 against the Avalanche in the regular season and 1-1-1 vs the Stars. They aren't pushovers.

And I'd love to hear about all of Edmonton's "so many weakness" (sic). They were the best team in the league down the stretch so I don't know what you're seeing.

(Because I like the Leafs and have to cheer for them), I have the Leafs upsetting the Bruins in 7 with a ton of overtimes too lol. I figured that if the Leafs get by R1, they might as well conquer all their demons and Boston's one of them... That being said, fair point with those 7 teams

They're too top-heavy- not that it's a terrible thing to rely on McDavid because he's certainly a reliable player, but behind McDavid/Draisaitl/RNH they don't have much scoring. They're also vulnerable on defense, and have an unproven goalie. They also rely a ton on their power play for offense

Incorrect. The Oilers have thirteen 10-goal scorers this year. Boston has 11, Colorado has 11, New Jersey has 10, Toronto has 9. The Oilers have the best depth scoring in the league.


Since they traded for Ekholm, Edmonton has the best record in the league. Defense is much improved, they have probably the biggest, most mobile defense corps in the league.


True, but irrelevant. Everyone is unproven at first. Before this week Ullmark (0-2) and Geoegiev (0-1) had just 2 playoff GP, Samsonov had 8 (1-6), Brossiot just 1 (nd) and Vanecek had 3 (1-1). Pretending Edmonton is at a disadvantage here is intellectually dishonest.


Since the halfway point in the season (Jan 10) Edmonton was 1st in the league in 5v5 goals/60. That was a significant contributing factor for the fact that they were #1 in the league in points percentage.

Also, Edmonton scored more shorthanded goals than any other team by some margin.

Any other myths you'd like busted?

They look awfully vulnerable right now lol. Extremely lucky to be tied with LA

Among all playoff teams Edmonton has posted the best SF% and the 2nd best xGF%. "Extremely lucky"? Its the Bruins who are the lucky ones: 62.50 GF% on just 48.66 xGF%. The vaunted Boston team is being outplayed by a Panthers team that just barely scraped into the playoffs.

alright mr analytics. We'll let time be the decider

So you can't defend your idiotic comment. Got it.

Alright sure, the advanced numbers favor your side right now. Doesn't mean you're right. Last year, I was like you and made predictions almost entirely based off of advanced stats like the ones you're bringing up. The result was an embarrassing failure that saw me predict the Flames and Hurricanes to play in the Final, the Avalanche and Lightning to lose in the second round and the Oilers and Rangers to lose in the first round. The moral is that analytics are good but they don't tell the full story. When I see the Oilers I see a solid playoff team but not a true cup contender

《PAST TENSE》

《FUTURE TENSE》



Moving the goalposts doesn't make you look any smarter. You were plain wrong when you stated the Oilers were lucky to be tied with LA, now you're shifting the argument to "predictions". Notice I didn't predict anything?