Here are my NHL power rankings for this week. It is still early in the season, but the good and bad teams are starting to show themselves. Where does your team rank?
Winnipeg Jets
The Jets couple their high-octane offense with a rock-solid defense and a brick wall in the net. They are the league’s best-performing team so far and figure to be at or near the top for the rest of the season.
Dallas Stars
The Stars seem to have everything going for them currently. Jake Oettinger has been outstanding in net, their defense is doing a great job of preventing shots and their offense has been devastatingly explosive. Perhaps most impressive is the depth of their arsenal, as their second line has been even better than the first, and the third line features the likes of Jamie Benn and Logan Stankhoven, who could easily play top six on any other team. Star-studded indeed.
Carolina Hurricanes
Under new management, the Hurricanes have taken the league by storm, firing the most shots per game on their opponents. Number 88, in particular, has been a revelation offensively this year, as Necas somehow already has 11 goals (tied with the likes of Kaprizov) and 12 power-play points (tied for second in the league with Makar). Carolina’s defense has been excellent as well, and Kochetkov has performed admirably in the crease. They have what it takes to stay at the top of their division.
Florida Panthers
The defending champs have started the season off right and are ranked first in their division. While their goaltending could stand to improve, the Panthers more than makeup for it with their offensive prowess. Their stacked squad is fortunately fully healthy to start the season and it’s all systems go for Florida as they look for a repeat this season.
New York Rangers
New York combines good offense with great defense and outstanding goaltending. The combination of Shesterkin and Quick in net is the best 1-2 goalkeeping punch in the NHL. The key to New York truly contending this year will be finding ways to continue to spark their offense and support the efforts of superstar Artemi Panarin.
Colorado Avalanche
Colorado’s goalie situation was a nightmare to start the season and while Alexander Georgiev was an absolute sieve in the net for their first handful of games, he’s started to come around lately. With MacKinnon at the top of his game, key offensive pieces like Nichushkin and Lehkonen healthy and back in their top six, and the best offensive defenseman in the game still doing his thing, look for Colorado to ascend in the standings.
Toronto Maple Leafs
The Leafs sit second in their division despite Auston Matthews being essentially absent compared to the presence he normally provides on their offense (and literally absent recently due to injury). Toronto’s defensemen have been solid but Stolarz has been the real key to their success defensively. With a green but talented keeper in Woll to back him up, Toronto has a great situation in the crease and the personnel all around to make some serious noise.
Washington Capitals
The Washington Capitals are in the discussion for the hottest team in the league right now. Ovechkin has turned back the clock, and their top six has been superb, with young upriser Connor McMichael coming seemingly out of nowhere to spark the second line. The Capitals actually have the most goals on a per-game basis, and they aren’t showing any signs of slowing down… though they do have a league-high shooting percentage by a wide margin.
Minnesota Wild
Minnesota fans have to be ecstatic about their start to the season, and what a wild start it’s been. Kirill Kaprizov has been the best player in the NHL, and the rest of the team has risen around him. A big part of their success thus far has been Gustavsson in the net, as the team has allowed the second-fewest goals per game in no small part due to his play. Now, they just have to keep it up.
Tampa Bay Lightning
Superstar Nikita Kucherov leads the way as usual and with Victor Hedman at the top of his game and Andrei Vasilevskiy back to good health and looking like his old self, the Lightning will be a force to be reckoned with this year.
Vegas Golden Knights
The top team in the Pacific Division, the Knights have a deep roster with important production coming from virtually all lines, offensively and defensively. Their goaltending has probably been the biggest chink in their armor, but top tender Adin Hill has looked a lot better of late. Crucial to their success will be the continued peripheral production of players like Karlsson and Eichel, as well as a return to good health for Stone and Samsonov.
Edmonton Oilers
While the Oilers are sitting mid-pack right now, both in the league statistically and within their division, it is important to note that Connor McDavid has only just begun to look like himself over the past few games. Edmonton still has serious issues defensively, but it won’t be long before their high-octane offense is firing on all cylinders.
New Jersey Devils
The Devils have a well-rounded squad with good depth. Offensively, young star Jack Hughes has been absolutely peppering opposing nets and has a whopping 71 shots already. With his much-anticipated breakout now happening, a great defensive corps, and newly acquired Jacob Markstrom holding the net down, New Jersey is an excellent bet to make the playoffs again.
Vancouver Canucks
Vancouver doesn’t do anything exceptionally (except maybe laying the boom, thanks to the one-man wrecking machine that is Kiefer Sherwood), but they do everything pretty well. They also have yet to get Thatcher Demko back, so that should only help to fortify their defense when their number one keeper returns.
Los Angeles Kings
While the Kings have not had top defender Drew Doughty to start the season and will now have to deal with Darcy Kuemper’s absence, they are second in their division, thanks to the depth of their roster. Young players like Laferriere and Clarke have stepped up in a big way, as well as their top defensive pairing. They will need to continue to fight adversity to prevent falling in the standings.
Boston Bruins
The Bruins have looked like a shell of their former selves thus far. From top to bottom, both offensively and defensively, Boston’s roster has been underperforming. On paper, they have the skill to right the ship, but they better figure it out sooner rather than later.
Ottawa Senators
With a formidable top six and great offensive production coming additionally from defenders Sanderson and Chabot, it’s easy to understand why the Senators rank third in shots per game. Whether or not newly acquired starting goaltender Linus Ullmark can find a way to improve his game will play a big role in determining how Ottawa ultimately ends up doing this year.
Buffalo Sabres
While the Sabres rank 12th in goals per game, they also rank 7th in goals allowed per game. They have some impressive pieces, and Thompson in particular is having an incredible year so far, but the holes in Buffalo’s defense are taking most of the wind out of the team’s sails.
Utah Hockey Club
The Hockey Club started off the season sizzling hot but has since cooled off. Utah has an exciting group of young players, but as one might expect, there is still a lot of growing to do before they can really be competitive.
Nashville Predators
The Predators have been one of the biggest surprises of the season so far with how poorly they’ve performed, as they currently rank 2nd to last in the Central Division. They have enough talent on their roster, and Saros remains one of the best goalies in the league statistically, but Nashville only has 15 points in their 19 games to show for it. Their league-worst shooting percentage suggests they’ve gotten pretty unlucky so far, but bad luck doesn’t account for all of it.
Philadelphia Flyers
If Travis Konecny wasn’t making his best impression of Superman on ice, the Flyers would be much lower than mid-pack in their division. That said, the whole team has started to heat up around him, including the dynamic 19-year-old Michkov who is a key ingredient to their power play. Ersson reinjuring his lower body hurts, but his backup, Fedotov has looked better of late, and at least the Flyers seem to be righting the ship and gaining some momentum.
New York Islanders
Third last in the Metropolitan division, the Islanders will get a significant bump whenever Barzal returns, but they really need to solve their woes on both sides of the power play. They currently rank 2nd to last in power play percentage and 4th worst in penalty killing. Sorokin, at least is a rock for them in goal.
Calgary Flames
When defensemen Weegar and Andersson have provided about as much offense as any of the team’s offensive players, that suggests that either those two have been shockingly good offensively or the rest of the team’s attacking forces have been sub par. While it’s a bit of the former, unfortunately for Calgary it’s mostly the latter.
Seattle Kraken
Not much to report here. Deep down in the ranks of the Pacific division, the Kraken sit. Not at the bottom, but not far off. On the bright side, McCann has been quite good, and the loss of Eberle is only temporary. Also, the number one goalie, Joey Accord, has been excellent.
Pittsburgh Penguins
Pittsburgh has allowed the most goals in the NHL and has the most losses in their division. Their goaltending situation has been a mess, and their defense hasn’t been much better. Crosby and Malkin still have some fuel left in their tanks, but it simply hasn’t been enough to help the back-sliding Penguins.
St. Louis Blues
Outside of Jordan Kyrou’s play and the occasional Parayko bomb, there isn’t much to get excited about with the Blues offense. To make matters worse, the Blues don’t have the best defense either. St Louis is ranked 6th worst in both goals scored and goals allowed per game.
Detroit Red Wings
The Red Wings currently sit second to last in their division despite the decent goaltending Talbot and Lyon have provided. This is most likely due to the fact that their offense is 5th to last in goals per game while their defense is allowing the fourth most shots per game. Guys like Kane and Tarasenko will have to step it up if Detroit hopes to do much of anything this year.
Columbus Blue Jackets
The Monahan/Marchenko connection was an exciting spark to the Blue Jackets offense to start the season, but it’s looking more like a flash in the pan now as Columbus finds themselves at the bottom of their division regardless. It’s tough to keep your chin up on offense when your team ranks fourth worst in goals allowed per game, despite the commendable efforts of top defenseman Zach Werenski. One step forward, two steps back.
San Jose Sharks
Projected by many to be the worst team in the NHL this year, the Sharks certainly looked the part to start the season. They now have a bit more bite to them with their first line in particular stepping it up offensively, but unfortunately, the same cannot be said about their defense. Make no mistake: this is still one of the weakest teams in the league.
Montreal Canadiens
Montreal’s defense is terrible, and their offense is middling at best. They’ve allowed the second most goals in the league so far and will be without their big offseason acquisition- forward Patrick Laine- for at least the first couple of months.
Anaheim Ducks
Unfortunately, the Ducks are anything but mighty this year. If not for Lucas Dostal’s outstanding goaltending behind a defense that is allowing the most shots per game, the Ducks would likely be doing even worse (and they are already near the bottom of the league).
Chicago Blackhawks
The Blackhawks have scored the least amount of goals so far of any team and are only doing marginally better defensively. Aside from star forward Connor Bedard, there’s really nothing to be excited about here. Oh, and Seth Jones, their quarterback on defense, just injured his foot on a blocked shot. It’s not a good time to be a Chicago fan.