Bruins Are Best in the Salary Cap Era

Now that the 2022-2023 regular season is complete, we can safely say the Boston Bruins are the top regular season team in the salary cap era after a historic season. Sure, there are many (probably most) that will say the only thing that matters is the Stanley Cup.

That may be true.

However, to sustain success in a salary cap era, you have to manage your roster and the Bruins, at least on paper have done that. One could make the argument that they underachieved in the playoffs based on their regular season success and you wouldn’t get much of a debate from me.

As fans, all you can reasonably ask for is to be competitive. To expect a Stanley Cup every year and anything else false short is just not reasonable. To do it in a salary cap world, impossible.

The Montreal Canadiens, the most successful team with their 23 Stanley Cups in NHL history have the 23^rd best record of the 30 teams around since the salary cap began in the 2005-2006 season. Yet, with all the success they’ve had throughout their history, their young fan base hasn’t had that much to cheer about in the cap era except a small blip on the radar screen during the COVID Bubble.

It hasn’t been all roses for the Bruins. They missed the playoffs in 2014-2015 despite having 96 points (most points to miss the playoffs in NHL history), a distinction since equaled by the 2017-2018 Florida Panthers and 2018-2019 Montreal Canadiens. The Bruins would miss the following playoffs by a tie-breaker.

The NHL playoffs begin tomorrow and the Bruins are the overwhelming favorites to bring home Lord Stanley. Anything less will be deemed a failure. But there is no denying this team has been a treat to watch through this run. How long can they keep it up? They’ve got their work cut out for them in the offseason.

Here’s a look at team records since the implementation of the salary cap. Note that the Atlanta Thrashers and Winnipeg Jets are combined as Winnipeg and all the variations of the Coyotes as Arizona.

RK	TEAM	GP	W	L	OL	PTS
1	Boston Bruins	1403	792	444	167	1751
2	Pittsburgh Penguins	1402	789	463	150	1728
3	Washington Capitals	1403	768	467	168	1704
4	Nashville Predators	1403	756	490	157	1669
5	New York Rangers	1404	755	503	146	1656
6	San Jose Sharks	1404	742	497	165	1649
7	Tampa Bay Lightning	1404	754	513	137	1645
8	Minnesota Wild	1403	735	514	154	1624
9	Dallas Stars	1403	730	510	163	1623
10	St Louis Blues	1405	727	511	167	1621
11	Anaheim Ducks	1405	706	518	181	1593
12	Carolina Hurricanes	1402	706	525	171	1583
13	Detroit Red Wings	1405	697	521	187	1581
14	Calgary Flames	1404	711	534	159	1581
15	Colorado Avalanche	1404	714	555	135	1563
16	Vancouver Canucks	1403	703	546	154	1560
17	Chicago Blackhawks	1404	690	544	170	1550
18	Toronto Maple Leafs	1404	686	544	174	1546
19	Los Angeles Kings	1404	684	560	160	1528
20	Winnipeg Jets	1405	689	569	147	1525
21	New Jersey Devils	1403	679	558	166	1524
22	Philadelphia Flyers	1403	667	548	188	1522
23	Montreal Canadiens	1405	677	562	166	1520
24	Florida Panthers	1403	667	550	186	1520
25	New York Islanders	1402	663	568	171	1497
26	Ottawa Senators	1405	660	581	164	1484
27	Columbus Blue Jackets	1404	636	611	157	1429
28	Buffalo Sabres	1403	622	614	167	1411
29	Edmonton Oilers	1405	628	624	153	1409
30	Arizona Coyotes	1404	601	640	163	1365

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