The Atlantic Division standings from last season may look straightforward on the surface, but the way the year unfolded suggests a tougher question underneath: did the Olympic schedule shape the race in a way that didn’t hit every team the same?
That’s the issue worth sitting with before anyone treats those final numbers as a clean snapshot of the division’s pecking order. Buffalo finished first with 109 points.
Tampa Bay and Montreal both landed at 106. Boston closed at 100.
Toronto and Florida missed the postseason. Those gaps weren’t massive, which means the small stuff mattered - one more win here, one more injury there, one stretch of fatigue that didn’t quite shake off.
And the composition of those teams matters too.
Tampa Bay, Boston, and Toronto leaned heavily on veteran stars and elite players, the kind of talent that usually drives a team but also the kind of talent that tends to get pulled into Olympic competition. Buffalo and Montreal, by contrast, were younger, faster, and more able to distribute minutes across four lines. That doesn’t make one build better in a vacuum, but it could make a difference in a season where recovery mattered almost as much as skill.
The Olympic roster counts tell the story clearly. Buffalo had two players in the Games: Rasmus Dahlin (RD) - Sweden and Tage Thompson (C) - United States.
Montreal had four: Oliver Kapanen (C) - Finland; Juraj Slafkovský (LW) - Slovakia; Nick Suzuki (C) - Canada; and Alexandre Texier (RW) - France. Those are younger pieces, by and large.
Now stack that against the heavier Olympic footprint from the other end of the division.
Boston sent seven players: Henri Jokiharju (D) - Finland; Joonas Korpisalo (G) - Finland; Elias Lindholm (C) - Sweden; Hampus Lindholm (D) - Sweden; Charlie McAvoy (RD) - United States; David Pastrnak (RW) - Czechia; Jeremy Swayman (G) - United States.
Florida had 10: Uvis Balinsksis (RD) - Latvia; Sam Bennett (C) - Canada; Gustav Forsling (LD) - Sweden; Anton Lundell (C) - Finland; Eetu Luostarinen (LW) - Finland; Brad Marchand (W) - Canada; Niko Mikkola (LD) - Finland; Sam Reinhart (RW) - Canada; Matthew Tkachuk (W) - United States; Sandis Vilmanis (W) - Latvia.
Tampa Bay had eight: Oliver Bjorkstrand (LW) - Denmark; Erik Černák (RD) - Slovakia; Jake Guentzel (LW) - United States; Zemgus Girgensons (LW) - Latvia; Brandon Hagel (LW) - Canada; Victor Hedman (LD) - Sweden; Pontus Holmberg (RW) - Sweden; JJ Moser (LD) - Switzerland.
Toronto, technically, had three.
The point isn’t that every club played a different schedule. They didn’t.
On paper, everyone dealt with the same compressed calendar. But that doesn’t mean everyone lived through it the same way.
Age, conditioning, injury history, and the demands placed on top-end players all change the experience.
That’s why the idea that the Olympics may have favored younger, deeper teams isn’t far-fetched. It’s also why last season’s standings shouldn’t be treated as automatic proof of where the Atlantic really stands right now.
Maybe Buffalo and Montreal are rising. Their young cores have certainly given them reason for optimism. But it’s just as possible that Tampa Bay, Boston, Florida, and Toronto were asked to carry a heavier load than the teams that finished ahead of them.
The Olympics almost certainly affected the NHL season. The bigger question is how much they mattered in the Atlantic Division, and whether they helped tilt a tight race toward teams built to absorb the strain. Before anyone assumes the division will sort itself out the same way again, that’s the question worth remembering.