At the end of another fantastic regular season, and it concluded with the defending champion Boston Bruins asserting themselves as the team to beat entering the playoffs. They finish the season atop the OCTR rankings, edging out previous #1 Detroit. Two time President's Trophy winners in Vancouver finished #3, with a newly healthy Pittsburgh and stingy St. Louis rounding out the top five. The #1 seed in the East will be the New York Rangers, who rank sixth. Boston's top ranking was buoyed by their proficient goal scoring (tied for second at 3.17 per game), being the best faceoff team, having the most even strength goals (193) and an outstanding 11-4 record in overtime. Detroit meanwhile had the best ratio of 5-on-5 goals for and against (1.44) and a +5 shot differential per game. Interesting to note that just like last year, only one team that is playoff bound was not also within the top-16 in OCTR, and that team this year is the Southeast Division winners in Florida (20th). They finished the season with a negative shot differential, negative goal differential, and negatives also showing in 5-on-5 and overall even strength. Columbus finished last again, almost holding that spot from start to finish this season, while the rest of the bottom three went unchanged (the Islanders 29th, and Minnesota 28th). The highest riser this month was Los Angeles, jumping six spots from 19th to 13th; the biggest drop was made by Ottawa and Dallas, who each dropped five spots. As always, the rankings are derived from the OCTR (click here for more details). All stats and information include all games played through April 8, 2012.
RankTeam NameOCTR TotalLast MonthChange
1Boston Bruins142.7505+4
2Detroit Red Wings140.0411-1
3Vancouver Canucks137.9763--
4Pittsburgh Penguins137.0466+2
5St. Louis Blues134.6142-3
6New York Rangers125.1624-2
7Philadelphia Flyers122.7728+1
8San Jose Sharks118.4489+1
9Chicago Blackhawks113.68013+4
10Phoenix Coyotes113.6597-3
11Nashville Predators112.04411--
12New Jersey Devils109.35215+3
13Los Angeles Kings104.62819+6
14Washington Capitals101.06317+3
15Ottawa Senators98.19810-5
16Buffalo Sabres97.71120+4
17Colorado Avalanche88.94112-5
18Winnipeg Jets86.24118--
19Dallas Stars85.34014-5
20Florida Panthers84.45416-4
21Tampa Bay Lightning83.43722+1
22Calgary Flames80.86123+1
23Montreal Canadiens79.31425+2
24Anaheim Ducks75.90721-3
25Carolina Hurricanes74.77424-1
26Edmonton Oilers71.67527-1
27Toronto Maple Leafs69.08426-1
28Minnesota Wild64.28428--
29New York Islanders60.66729--
30Columbus Blue Jackets58.04130--
Nick is the NHL Feature Writer of RealGM. You can reach him by email nick.obergan@realgm.com or on twitter @NickObergan