The Bruins Sit Alone At The Top Of NHL.com’s Initial Power Rankings

Feb 25, 2012; Ottawa, ON, CAN; Boston Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask (40) prior to game a against the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Place. Mandatory Credit: Marc DesRosiers-USA TODAY Sports

A single game hasn’t even been played yet, but many experts and analysts have begun to crank out their power rankings for teams headed into the 2013 NHL season.

The Boston Bruins have many opinions being formed about them, and their chances of becoming the next Stanley Cup champion.

The B’s can be found within many experts top-10’s, if they’re not in the top-5 of those very same rankings. However, NHL.com released their initial power rankings early this morning and they had the Bruins in the most interesting of spots.

They had the B’s in the #1 spot, you heard that right, NHL.com has the B’s as the team to beat in the NHL headed into this shortened season. This is quite the compliment when you think about some of the talent out there in Pittsburgh, New York, St. Louis, Los Angeles and many other hockey towns in North America.

Here is what NHL.com had to say about the Bruins:

"“There’s a lot to like about the 2011 champions heading into this season. Tyler Seguin, 20, has the potential to blossom into a point-per-game player after jumping from 22 points as a rookie to 67 points last season. Nathan Horton, a lock for 20 goals (pro-rated) when healthy, is back from a concussion. Tuukka Rask has Vezina potential playing behind one of the game’s best blue lines.”"

Interestingly enough, they had the Pittsburgh Penguins ranked #2 and the New York Rangers at #3. I say interestingly enough because we’ll get to see just how good NHL.com is at ranking teams when the Rangers square off against the B’s this Saturday night in their season opener and then fly home to play the Penguins at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.

Now, I know they’re just initial rankings and these games will be a very small sample size, but still, it’s going to be a lot of fun to see how this weekend plays out. That said, LET’S GO BRU-INS!