Pretty good week for the Waffle Watch--
The Maple Leafs managed just one win in three, while the New Jersey Devils gained some ground, winning three and pulling to within eight points of Toronto. If only the Devils hadn't tanked so badly after Jacques Lemaire's arrival, losing seven of eight in late Dec./early Jan. to fall deep into the cellar. They're now just one point behind Edmonton and two behind the Islanders...playing themselves out of that top overall pick.
The Florida Panthers are four points ahead of the Leafs for the sixth draft position, and Buffalo has a three-win lead. The bad news is that the Ottawa Senators look like they are solidly in the tank, along with Edmonton. The chances of Ottawa finishing higher than Toronto seem to be right where the New York Jets visions of a Super Bowl parade this year are- not happening.
As for the Islanders, they put in a claim for goaltender Evgeni Nabokov after the Detroit Red Wings signed him, but the Russian veteran has refused to report. Nabokov on Long Island likely would have helped them gain some points in the standings, but it appears that ship has sailed. As a side note, Nabokov's lack of professionalism almost makes you hope he never plays another NHL game again. Yes, he signed to play with Detroit, but he handled the situation about as poorly as anyone could, refusing to take Islanders GM Garth Snow's calls yet trumpeting his intentions to sit out to media sources who tracked him down. Weak. Sauce.
So that means that in all likelihood, the best Boston can hope for is the 5th overall selection, which will probably put them square in the running for defensemen Dougie Hamilton or Ryan Murphy, or power forward Brandon Saad. If they want to get Gabriel Landeskog, they'll need to win the lottery or make a trade up a few spots to get the Kitchener captain.
Worst case is the Bruins falling to 7th or 8th, but Toronto would need to go on a heck of a run to catch the teams ahead of them. Possible, but harder to do for them to gain that kind of ground with the team they have.
We shall see.
1st Round
5th overall- Toronto (43 points; 19-23-5)- Completes Phil Kessel trade.
25th overall- Boston (61 points; 27-14-7) (Boston moves to 25th by virtue of third seed- Northeast Division lead with fewest points of division leaders even though technically lower than other teams in standings)
2nd Round
43rd overall- Minnesota (53 points;24-19-5)- Completes Chuck Kobasew trade.
55th overall- Boston
3rd Round
78th overall- Phoenix (57 points; 24-16-9) - Completes Derek Morris trade.
Boston pick traded to Florida; Completes Nathan Horton deal
4th Round
115th overall- Boston
5th Round
145th overall- Boston
6th Round
175th overall- Boston
7th Round
186th overall- Florida (conditional 36 pts; 17-17-2)- Jeff LoVecchio, Jordan Knackstedt to Panthers for Sean Zimmerman, cond. 7th
Boston pick traded to Chicago (Zach Trotman)
*(Not affiliated with the Boston Bruins or the New England Hockey Journal)
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