BHN Podcast
BHN Podcast: Bruins Not In Same Stratosphere As 70’s Canadiens
The 2022-23 Boston Bruins are having an historic season and could still finish with the most wins and points in NHL history.
No one can argue that.
As longtime Boston Globe and Hockey Hall of Fame scribe Kevin Paul Dupont noted on the most recent edition of the Boston Hockey Now Podcast, there is also no doubt that the team they still could surpass for the most points in a season, the 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens (134 pts), are in a whole other stratosphere that this current Bruins team isn’t and never will be close to. In fact, all of those seventies Canadiens teams are in a league of their own.
“It’s so hard to make this comparison from generation to generation, or decade upon decade,” Dupont pointed out. “However, I will say this, obviously it’s a 32-team league now, it wasn’t then. There was hardly any Europeans. No Russians at all, the Russians didn’t come in until the late eighties. Didn’t see the Czechs, didn’t see Scandinavians really. It was arguably a Canadian ‘Ole Boys’ Club really, and the Canadiens were stacked.
The Bruins had great teams. The Bruins went to the finals there in the middle with them, in the late seventies repeatedly. Or semis, couple of finals. Came up short in that whole run of 1943-1988 where they couldn’t get past the Canadiens in the playoffs. Not every year, but it did span those 45 or 46 years. For me it’s impossible to draw straight on comparisons. That ’71 team that lost early to the Canadiens and Ken Dryden. If you go back and look at the names, and the buildings also were a factor because the buildings weren’t all 85 by 200. The Garden had that small neutral zone
So there are all these sort of quirks and niches of the era that I don’t really think you can make a comparison, and you have lineups that are stacked that deep with players in the hall of fame. So start there.”
For more on what Dupont had to say on that as well as how he thinks Montgomery can keep his team sharp down the stretch, watch below or at the National Hockey Now YouTube channel.
Haggs: Felt Like Old Rivalry Times Between Boston Bruins, Habs
Bruins Daily: Bruins-Habs Got Real; No Pride For Staals
Talking Points: Bertuzzi Scores First Bruins Goal in Win
Marchand Jumps Pitlick After Headshot On Bergeron
Game 71: Bruins Vs Canadiens, Betting Lines, Preview
Boston Bruins’ Ullmark Can’t Resist Taking Dig At Buffalo
Bruins Daily: Bruins; Forbort; Drouin; Sabres Sign Levi
Bruins Daily: Chara; Frederic; Reimer Fallout; Penguins Sinking
Forbort Out Vs Wild; Likely Sunday Vs Sabres Too
I don’t think anybody really believes this team is on the same level relative to the teams in the league as the Habs teams were relative to the teams in the late 70’s. Like everything else these days it’s just something to talk about. This is a good team and could do well in the playoffs but also could be done after two weeks. Their offense seems to really go in waves and if it is on a downward trend they are very beatable.
They need to get out of this tailspin and fast. Something like this can carry over in the playoffs if they can’t beat lowly Red Wings or the worst team in the nhl The blackhawks. How on this planet are they going to beat the jets?!? chalk up another loss. Oh back to the original question at large, no they will never break the record. it’s not just the losses to Edmonton, Detroit and the hapless Hawks. It’s the way they lost disoriented, bad passes, looking like they were out for family skate. Not confident in this club at all.… Read more »
It’s amazing to me how Bruin fans (and the press) can’t be impressed with their own team when they are literally having the best season to this point of ANY NHL TEAM IN THE HISTORY OF LEAGUE! They are the odds on (by a healthy margin) favorites to lift the Cup. Anyone who has watched hockey seriously, know that there are ebbs and flows to any season. It’s also amazing to me that going 1-3-0 in the last 4 games constitutes a “slump” in the eyes of the Boston press. This city doesn’t deserve this team and what they have… Read more »
Lol.. Just a month ago n all season before, they were historically great.. The headlines, all about who n what n such.. Now all the hypocrites are asking, What’s wrong with the Bruins..?! Fk off.. Go B’s
Jeff, just because we state a fact that statistically and to the eye of most hockey experts, the 2022-23 Bruins are not as good as the 70’s Canadiens, doesn’t mean we’re insulting the Bruins. Just facts man. Chillax.