The 2022/23 NHL season is proving to be monstrously competitive in just about every area of the standings, with a couple of Original Six exceptions. While the Montréal Canadiens were basement dwellers at the 54-game mark at second-last in the Eastern Conference, the Habs were only 12 points back of the nearest wild-card spot.
Sure, it’d require a winning streak not seen by this beaten-up Canadiens side, but a late run in the last 28 games wasn’t out of the question with the way that league has ebbed and flowed this season. For the most part, though, the viable Stanley Cup competitors have already laid down the gauntlet, with three of them not only being Eastern Conference rivals but also rivals from the days of the Original Six. While the NHL has become much, much more competitive since its early days, especially since the salary cap came into play, Original Six teams make up the glut of champions. Of 106 Stanley Cups competed for, 64 or 60.4 percent have gone to Original Six teams – with the Habs, naturally, atop that wins chart. The franchises have a history of going far, and in 2023, the first of this exclusive club since the 2015 Chicago Blackhawks looks primed to win it all.
Original Six teams amongst the favourites
As you’d expect following the team’s 40-8-5 run to a mighty .802-point percentage rate, the Boston Bruins are the favourites to win the Stanley Cup. However, as the NHL playoffs are notoriously fraught with upsets, the B’s aren’t found at short odds with Canadian bookmakers.
Of the top betting sites in Ontario, per Canadian-sports-betting.com, the two that have long focussed on the Canadian market, Bet99 and Sports Interaction, have the Bruins at +460 and +481, respectively. This is despite Boston being seven points clear of the second-placed Carolina Hurricanes at the time of writing while on the same number of games played.
Looking at the other teams atop the odds rankings, you can see why the Bruins aren’t running clear yet. Fellow Original Six members Toronto and the New York Rangers are hot on their heels and are coming in from the Eastern Conference. At +900 and +924 for the Buds and +1300 and +1309 for NYR, they’re not being counted out yet.
Assessing the credentials of Boston, NYR, and Toronto
The Boston Bruins have reached the peak of the NHL through a tremendously consistent team effort. With 40 wins in the bag, it’s remarkable that Thehockeynews.com found that only one of their players sat in the top 50 for scoring. It demonstrates how well all lines are playing for the B’s and emphasizes the role of the goaltenders.
Linus Ullmark held an absurd 1.90 GAA and .937 SV% by his 27th win, while Jeremy Swayman also pulled his weight to record a 12-4-4- record with a .914 SV%. Boston’s success in the postseason, as most teams find, will come down to their goaltenders staying hot. Still, like the record-setting 2018/19 Lightning and their 128-point regular season, there’s always a chance that the Bruins will capitulate and bow out in the First Round.
Set to avoid the Bruins in the First Round, the Maple Leafs will hope to finally break past the opening series of the playoffs for the first time since 2003/04. That includes their current six-season streak of immediate expulsion from the postseason. Thehockeywriters.com report that Tyler Bertuzzi would be an ideal addition to one of the strongest teams in the conference as he’d deliver high-impact play and grit for the battles ahead.
Surging on a six-game winning streak, the New York Rangers look set to secure their place in the Metropolitan Division’s spots following a superb bit of dealing before the trade window started to heat up. Acquiring Vladimir Tarasenko from the St. Louis Blues before they put up the fire sale sign was excellent business, reinforcing an already deep, star-studded roster that’s backed by the reigning Vezina Trophy winner.
While Habs fans won’t like the Bruins running away atop the standings, Montréal can take solace in the fact that regular-season success doesn’t guarantee postseason triumphs. So far this season, Boston has defeated the Rangers twice in two games and is 2-1 against the Maple Leafs. Again, though, everything changes in the playoffs.