leave your thoughts

I'm biased, but I'd go with Boston. They took Ottawa to 6 games (could have won the series) and they were missing half of their defense + their #2C. While they didn't land any big names via FA/Trade they'll have McAvoy/Carlo both in the line-up. Bjork should see a top 6 role this year as could former 1st rounder Jake DeBrusk. Again I'm probably biased because I have more knowledge of the B's than I do the Sens, but I like Boston between these two.

Ottawa. Boston's D is a problem.

And Boston's D is a problem why, pray tell?

Boston's forwards and #1 goalie is better but Ottawa's the better overall team. And RAIF is right Boston's D is a giant problem. Krug and McAvoy are fine, but the rest is terrible.

Forwards:

Ottawa has the better depth (Smith, Ryan, Dzingel, Pyatt, Burrows > Beleskey, Spooner, Nash, Vatrano), but Boston has the better top-end guys (Bergeron, Marchand, Pastrnak, Krejci, Backes > Turris, Stone, Hoffman, Brassard, Pageau).

Defense:

In this case, Ottawa has the bona fide number one defenseman advantage over Boston (Karlsson > whoever they consider their number one defenseman). But Boston has the depth advantage (Krug, Carlo, Chara, Miller, McQuaid > Phaneuf, Ceci, Claesson, Wideman, Borowiecki). McAvoy looks to be the future number one guy for Boston, but we still need to see how he performs over a full season. Chabot will also get a good look this season in Ottawa. I still think Sweeney made a piss poor decision in not protecting Colin Miller.

Goaltending:

This one's pretty easy: Rask > Anderson

The two teams are much closer than people probably think. But I'd have to give the advantage to Boston, simply because I think they have the better back end.

I would rate Chabot almost close to mccavoy. I think Mccavoy will be the better player but not by far at all especially if Chabot plays with karlsson

carlo?

If 16 points and 59 PIMs isn't bad, IDK what is.

only a 20 year old. Lots of upside. We could say the same about nurse

Im not expected a (somewhat) defensive defensman to rack up the points. The penalties will come from playing with chara. Only 20 years old as well

Probably add in prospect depth as well. Again I don't know the Sens system as well as Boston, but right now Boston has more potential prospects to make the jump than the do spots available.

20yr old rookie playing top pairing minutes and you just want to look at PTS/PIM to make your analysis? WOW!

Ottawa has had this trend recent years where they follow up a good season with a bad season, and then have a good season the next year. Last year was clearly a good season, so this year they should struggle. Anderson was awesome for them all year, I doubt he can replicate that trend. They'll be missing Brassard for a while to start the year, and Karlsson may not start the year either. All things are pointing down for Ottawa this year. Boston on the other hand basically added McAvoy this year, and I truly think he'll be a top pairing defenseman right away. As long as Pastrnak gets signed, Boston should be better than Ottawa. I don't see either team making the playoffs, but Boston has the upper hand.

Adding in higher-end prospects:

Boston:
McAvoy
Bjork
Forsbacka-Karlsson
Senyshyn
Zboril
DeBrusk

Ottawa:
Chabot
White
Brown
Hogberg
Harpur

Not too familiar with the ins and outs of each team's prospect pool, but from what I can tell, advantage Boston.

He's 20 for crying out loud. He will be our Chara for the next 20 Years!!!!! People here just don't understand Defense!!!! It's there to "DEFEND" not to score goals. If they happen to help out offensively, great!!!!!! Typical Hab fan....clueless

Ottawa cuz Karlsson

This just in............1 guy doesn't make a hockey team!!!

Anderson missed half of last season for a personal reason (wife had cancer)

What the heck does "The penalties will come from playing with chara." mean? It's not like you assist on penalties or anything.

Yes but when he did play he was great for them....