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    All-Centennial Team

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    Stanley Cup Champs

    Numbers show 48-game season is perfect for Claude

    Bruins head coach Claude Julien has experienced overall success in his five seasons here in Boston.
    From totaling the third most points in franchise history in '08-09, to winning the Stanley Cup in '10-11.

    But those seasons were all full 82-game schedules where he had the luxury of feeling out his team by trying new things midseason like messing with the power play or increasing the fourth line's ice time. This season there will have to be more of a "win now" mentality than ever before.

    This year Julien has a new challenge, tackling the first 48-game season in the NHL since '94-95. In case your wondering, Peter Bondra lead the league in goals that year with 34, and oh, video game graphics were sick.

    Across the league, fans and even ownerships aren't really sure what to expect from their teams out of the gate. This hopefully provides a little bit of insight into the Bruins chances of catching fire early.

    First 48 games of the season under Claude:

    BOS '07-08: 24-19-5= 53 PTS
    BOS '08-09: 35-8-5= 75 PTS
    BOS '09-10: 23-17-8= 54 PTS
    BOS '10-11: 27-14-7= 61 PTS
    BOS '11-12: 32-14-2= 66 PTS

    '07-12 totals: 141-72-27= 309 PTS
    '07-12 average: 28.2-14.4-5.4= 61.8 PTS
    64.4% of possible points= 105.6 point pace in 82-game season (would have been the 2-seed last season)

    Final 34 games of the season under Claude:

    BOS '07-08: 17-10-7= 41 PTS
    BOS '08-09: 18-11-5= 41 PTS
    BOS '09-10: 16-13-5= 37 PTS
    BOS '10-11: 19-11-4= 42 PTS
    BOS '11-12: 17-15-2= 36 PTS

    '07-12 totals: 87-60-23= 197 PTS
    '07-12 average: 17.4-12-4.6= 39.4 PTS
    57.9% of possible points= 95.0 point pace in 82-game season (would have been the 7-seed last season)

    So with the expectation of only two new players in the starting lineup added with a coach who historically has had success getting his teams to pile up wins early, this season should a very entertaining one in Beantown.

    P.S. puck drops in t-minus 5 hours, 4 minutes

    Follow Matt on Twitter - @Matthew_Dyer