The Boston Bruins haven’t just topped 100 points this NHL season, they’re already well beyond 125! In clinching the 2022-23 Presidents’ Trophy, they are the effective “regular season” champions of sorts.
Of course, what really matters, when all is said and done, is lifting Lord Stanley’s Cup. With all due respect to the concept of being the best team in the regular season, you know it’s true
Obviously, the Boston Bruins are the hands down favorites. While there is a difference between FanDuel and DraftKings, such as states where each is legal and features each bookie offers, the odds that they are both offering on the Bruins winning the Stanley Cup (and other bookies too for that matter) are very similar. Obviously, having shattered the franchise record for single season points, they enter the postseason with a mentality of win it all or bust.
And bust is definitely something that can happen in the Stanley Cup playoffs, as we’ve seen it before, time and time again. The overall No. 1 seed, even when there is a ton of distance between them and the rest of the pack, often crashes out early. Sometimes it comes at the hands of a run-of-a-mill .500 record mediocre team.
Five Thirty Eight gives the Bruins only a 50% chance of making the final, and only a 31% probability of etching their names into the Stanley Cup, winning it all like they have six times previously. So who could upset the Boston Bruins and send them into the offseason early?
Keep an eye on the New York Rangers, as the Patrick Kane acquisition might be enough to put them over the top. One of the better players on the Chicago Blackhawks teams that won three Cups during the 2010s, he could be the determining x-factor to get the NYR over the hump.
He’s one of the better pure scorers in Blackhawks history, and he does his best work in the postseason. Kaner could make the difference as a role player, and if it is the Rangers who upset the Bruins (if any team indeed does) well, you know what we’ll have there.
Yet another spectacular chapter, in the epic history of the sports rivalry between New York City and Boston.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He’s written for numerous publications, including the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. He regularly appears on NTD News and WGN News Now. Follow the website on Twitter and Instagram.