Boston Vs Florida - Who's the better team?

[tom leafers]

i have a feeling the entire division wont be settled until the final week of the season. Boston, Tampa and Toronto could all be battling for first with Florida battling for 2nd/3rd/4th.

Florida will go with Luongo though.

 

[RiverbottomChuck]

As a lifelong B's fan that grew up literally in the shadow of Bank Atlantic/BB&T, currently the Bruins in all aspects but this could be the year Florida takes a step forward and challenges for the number 3 spot in the Atlantic. Though I'm not sure how deep Florida is compared to Boston which is probably our best strength.

 

[Dr Pepper]

Yikes.

Boston's still better.

 

[EON]

Bruins but the Panthers will be very close. Their top 6 is so good.

 

[Beezeral]

Boston should be the favorite but it's possible the Panthers finish ahead

 

[letsgrowcactus]

Another Panthers fan; pretty much agree with everyone above. We might be able to finish ahead if everything goes well but right now Boston is the correct answer.

 

[b in vancouver]

Reminds me of the “who finishes 3rd in Atlantic” poll from last year that left out Toronto.

That's exactly what I thought. Still one of my favourite threads from last year.
I love how Toronto is suddenly some unstoppable juggernaut while the 112 point Bruins are going to suddenly regress a tonne, despite being one of the most consistent teams in the league for over a decade

That's in no way a slight against Florida. I actually think they'll come in third. Just not the Bruins or Lightning that they'll be finishing ahead of.

 

[Hatter of the Beach]

This is shaping up to be the biggest question in the Atlantic this year - the 4th spot, after all, is not guaranteed a playoff spot, and with the Metro being a far more competitive division there's always the chance they take both wildcards. Toronto and Tampa seem to be considered the top 2 teams in the division, but predicting which one of Boston and Florida is better: who you got?

In response to the bolded, if anything I think that means they may send less Wildcards. The Atlantic has a much weaker bottom half, so the good Atlantic teams will likely be able to feast on playing Ottawa, Montreal, and Detroit so often.

As to answer the main point of the thread, I think Florida will surprise a lot of people. I think both of them make the playoffs, but with Florida as the divisional seed and Boston as a WC. Boston's top talent is sick, and they've got a decent amount of quality youth, but some of their most important pieces are still a year older, and they lost some depth. Florida on the other hand got stronger on paper and, if anything, benefit from another year of experience.

 

[Foppberg]

Boston..

TB
Boston
Toronto
Florida

 

[BHD]

Boston. The Panthers have a formidable core, but the Bruins are the better team when you look past top lines.

 

[PuckItUp27]

Pretty easily Bruins.

Bruins will fight Tampa for 1st place. Toronto will probably be 3rd.

 

[Oilers Propagandist]

Bruins until the Panthers show otherwise.

Panthers will be great and a powerhouse sooner than later but the bruins drafting has kept them in the upper echelon of teams for a hot minute.

 

[Gary Nylund]

lol

A year ago we had the same garbage and Boston had massive injury problems and still almost won the division. Moneypuck has Boston as the best team in the NHL.

I'd never heard of this moneypuck before so I looked it up and it has WSH ranked 15th. Perhaps you should look to other sources to confirm your biases as that place seems like a joke.

That's exactly what I thought. Still one of my favourite threads from last year.
I love how Toronto is suddenly some unstoppable juggernaut while the 112 point Bruins are going to suddenly regress a tonne, despite being one of the most consistent teams in the league for over a decade

That's in no way a slight against Florida. I actually think they'll come in third. Just not the Bruins or Lightning that they'll be finishing ahead of.

Are people really saying that? If they are then I'd be curious to hear their reasoning, I'm a Leaf fan and I think TB, BOS and the Leafs are all really good, wouldn't be a surprise to see any of them win the division.

So my answer is BOS>FLA.

 

[Nizdizzle]

I'd never heard of this moneypuck before so I looked it up and it has WSH ranked 15th. Perhaps you should look to other sources to confirm your biases as that place seems like a joke.



Are people really saying that? If they are then I'd be curious to hear their reasoning, I'm a Leaf fan and I think TB, BOS and the Leafs are all really good, wouldn't be a surprise to see any of them win the division.

So my answer is BOS>FLA.

No one is saying that. Just hyperbole from the usual suspects because they don't know how to formulate a sentence without adding "Toronto bad" somehow.

 

[Gary Nylund]

No one is saying that. Just hyperbole from the usual suspects because they don't know how to formulate a sentence without adding "Toronto bad" somehow.

LOL fair enough.

 

[Morbo]

Pretty comfortable stating Boston is better than Florida. I like Florida to grab a spot this year as well.

 

[absolute garbage]

Boston is not as good as people think and Florida is better than people think.

Agree. Florida had almost 100 points last season (usually enough for playoffs) and that was with a new coach and early struggles. They added Hoffman and things are looking up for them. It's a matter of how their goaltending and defense holds, but they could do some damage.

With Boston Krejci and Chara are not just getting up there but actually are already up there. Not sure how they will hold on this season. Good team still, but I could see Florida taking the #3 spot.

 

[GodEmperor]

Boston is overrated AF for some reason, they barely got through the Leafs who made major blunders in the series, disappearances from Andersen, Matthews, Nylander, God awful coaching decisions from Babcock and Naz being Naz and getting suspended, still needed the final 10 minutes of game 7 to close it out. They then got rekt by Tampa.

Would not be surprised if Florida surpassed them this year, Boston is not in the Toronto or Tampa tier anymore, both teams got better and Boston is relying on a 42 year old to anchor their D and yes Boston has good young players and a stud in Mac, but that's not enough to compete with the primed-prime talent in Toronto and Tampa while they only have effectively one line that can really produce for them.

 

[Knies iT]

Agree. Florida had almost 100 points last season (usually enough for playoffs) and that was with a new coach and early struggles. They added Hoffman and things are looking up for them. It's a matter of how their goaltending and defense holds, but they could do some damage.

With Boston Krejci and Chara are not just getting up there but actually are already up there. Not sure how they will hold on this season. Good team still, but I could see Florida taking the #3 spot.

Backes, Rask, Bergeron, Marchand, Krecji are all 30-34 years old. Like you mentioned, Chara is 41 years old now...we saw Carlo take a significant step back last season, and they traded McQuaid for futures to get him in to the lineup this year.

They also lost Rick Nash, Tim Schaller and Riley Nash to free agency.

We're looking at sophomore seasons from McAvoy, Debrusk, Heinen, etc. Could they slump or stagnate like many do in their 2nd season? Potentially.

Let's not forget they had very little hype going in to last season and surprised almost everyone with an unpredictably hot second half. The season before that they were unspectacular, and the two years before that, they missed the playoffs consecutively with this core.

 

[roflstomper]

Backes, Rask, Bergeron, Marchand, Krecji are all 30-34 years old. Like you mentioned, Chara is 41 years old now...we saw Carlo take a significant step back last season, and they traded McQuaid for futures to get him in to the lineup this year.

They also lost Rick Nash, Tim Schaller and Riley Nash to free agency.

We're looking at sophomore seasons from McAvoy, Debrusk, Heinen, etc. Could they slump or stagnate like many do in their 2nd season? Potentially.

Let's not forget they had very little hype going in to last season and surprised almost everyone with an unpredictably hot second half. The season before that they were unspectacular, and the two years before that, they missed the playoffs consecutively with this core.

Are these things actually negatives when discussing how they will finish THIS year.

 

[Bonzo111]

Bruins, panthers can't seem to take the next step, plus goal tending. Great young team on the rise tho

 

[PlamsUnlimited]

Boston

 

[wintersej]

No one is saying that. Just hyperbole from the usual suspects because they don't know how to formulate a sentence without adding "Toronto bad" somehow.

Boston is overrated AF for some reason, they barely got through the Leafs who made major blunders in the series, disappearances from Andersen, Matthews, Nylander, God awful coaching decisions from Babcock and Naz being Naz and getting suspended, still needed the final 10 minutes of game 7 to close it out. They then got rekt by Tampa.

Would not be surprised if Florida surpassed them this year, Boston is not in the Toronto or Tampa tier anymore, both teams got better and Boston is relying on a 42 year old to anchor their D and yes Boston has good young players and a stud in Mac, but that's not enough to compete with the primed-prime talent in Toronto and Tampa while they only have effectively one line that can really produce for them.

Backes, Rask, Bergeron, Marchand, Krecji are all 30-34 years old. Like you mentioned, Chara is 41 years old now...we saw Carlo take a significant step back last season, and they traded McQuaid for futures to get him in to the lineup this year.

They also lost Rick Nash, Tim Schaller and Riley Nash to free agency.

We're looking at sophomore seasons from McAvoy, Debrusk, Heinen, etc. Could they slump or stagnate like many do in their 2nd season? Potentially.

Let's not forget they had very little hype going in to last season and surprised almost everyone with an unpredictably hot second half. The season before that they were unspectacular, and the two years before that, they missed the playoffs consecutively with this core.

I love that right after your post @Nizdizzle these two show up.

 

[Nizdizzle]

I love that right after your post @Nizdizzle these two show up.

I actually can't see any other quotes in your post besides mine, so maybe some folks on my block list are going to town.

 

[Kamiccolo]

Boston lost their #3 C and have no good bottom 6 C's. Bergeron already missed games last year and missed games this year already. Krejci has been declining for a few years now. Tampa and Toronto are unquestionably better teams this year, so I think it's a fair question.

I take florida here. They have a better top 6 IMO (younger and Barkov => Bergeron) and defense is a wash. I take Rask over the Panthers goaltending but with that said it's not such a massive difference that Boston will be higher than them.

Interesting thread OP.