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Welcome back to The Hockey News’ NHL power rankings. Every Wednesday, we’ll rank all 32 teams based on their weekly performance.
The Winnipeg Jets’ perfect record was smashed on the first day of Week 4, and while they retain the top spot in this week’s NHL power rankings, it’s getting tight at the top.
With American Thanksgiving approaching, which often serves as the unofficial cutoff line for the playoffs, a few teams have already separated themselves at the top. That includes the defending champion Florida Panthers in the Atlantic, the Vegas Golden Knights in the Pacific, the current top four teams in the Metro and the top three teams in the Central. The race in the Atlantic, in particular, will be fun to watch, with the second-place Tampa Bay Lightning and the last-place Boston Bruins separated by just three points.
Which team will join that group in the coming days? The Nashville Predators and Edmonton Oilers came into the season with considerable hype, but they’ve been disappointing so far this season and rank 24th and 22nd, respectively, this week. Can they catch fire at the right time?
1. Winnipeg Jets (8-1-0, +18. Last week: 1)
We all should’ve seen it coming. Since Mark Scheifele’s fateful words in 2021 about how nothing’s better than beating the Leafs, the Jets have now lost six straight against them. It’s the Jets’ only blemish so far this season, and they retain the No. 1 spot for at least another week.
2. Dallas Stars (7-2-0, +12. Last week: 3)
The Stars’ schedule hasn’t exactly been challenging, though they will end up travelling the most miles by the end of the season. The second leg of the Global Series will be a stiff test against the defending champions, but from top to bottom, they might have the most balanced lineup in the NHL.
3. Carolina Hurricanes (6-2-0, +8). Last week: 5)
I certainly am impressed. Despite losing a few key pieces during the off-season, the Hurricanes still look very much like a contender and concluded their six-game road trip with a 5-1-0 record, with the lone loss coming in St. Louis by a one-goal margin. The bad news is Frederik Andersen is hurt yet again.
Related: Doubters, Take Note: The Carolina Hurricanes Still Look Like Stanley Cup Contenders
4. Minnesota Wild (6-1-2, +10. Last week: 4)
I’m willing to let that 7-5 loss to the Flyers slide with a 1 p.m. local start time, and the Wild did outplay them for long stretches. Otherwise, I’m still very bullish on the Wild. If we’re voting for the Hart right now, Kirill Kaprizov would be a finalist.
5. Florida Panthers (7-3-1, +3. Last week: 6)
Getting Aleksander Barkov back is huge, and Anton Lundell showed that he’s very capable of being a No. 2 center. A big win against the Rangers after a rough start puts them back on track for a title defense, and their lineup is healthy, which is most important.
6. Washington Capitals (6-2-0, +7. Last week: 11)
Even the potential loss of Jakob Chychrun in Tuesday’s game against the Rangers cannot dampen how impressive the Caps have looked. They’re easily the biggest surprise this season and actually look like a legitimate playoff team, unlike the one last season that finished with a minus-37 goal differential.
7. New York Rangers (6-2-1, +16. Last week: 2)
Losses to the Panthers and Capitals knock the Rangers down a few spots, but there’s little separating the elite teams from each other. One underrated storyline for the Rangers this year has been the play of Filip Chytil, with seven points in nine games on an excellent third line, the depth down the middle will allow them to better compete against future playoff opponents such as the Panthers.
8. Vegas Golden Knights (7-2-1, +19. Last week: 9)
The Knights are still winless on the road, but they’ve been a buzzsaw at home with a 7-0-0 record and averaging a league-best 4.70 goals per game. Who cares how good your goaltending is when you’re providing that kind of goal support? The Knights seem to have figured it out – winger depth isn’t nearly as important as depth at center and defense.
9. Tampa Bay Lightning (6-3-0, +8. Last week: 8)
The Lightning just make things work, even if they don’t look particularly strong on paper, and that’s a huge credit to Jon Cooper. (He’s yet to win a Jack Adams, by the way). It goes without saying Andrei Vasilevskiy is vital to their success, and it’s still early in the season, but you do wonder if his numbers are dipping a little. Dating back to last season, Vasilevskiy’s .908 SP at 5-on-5 (min. 1,000 TOI) ranks 44th out of 63 goalies, per naturalstattrick.com.
10. Toronto Maple Leafs (5-4-1, even. Last week: 7)
So very, very typical of the Leafs to go 0-2-1, including two ugly losses where they lost by a combined 11-3 score, and then topple the best team in the league. This team should be good, but too often, we’re left scratching our heads.
11. Vancouver Canucks (4-1-3, +2. Last week: 13)
The good news it the Canucks seemed to have settled on Kevin Lankinen as their starter. The bad news is their starter is Lankinen, who has a career .906 save percentage and 3.03 goals-against average. He’s been fantastic with perhaps more highlight-reel stops than anybody so far this season, but one thing about the Canucks has always been sustainability. Can Lankinen be a No. 1 for a full season? Can they sustain last season’s surprising pace? Can Elias Pettersson play like a superstar every night?
12. Colorado Avalanche (5-5-0, -5. Last week: 16)
With five straight wins – never mind the soft schedule – the Avalanche seem to be finding their footing. Then Alexandar Georgiev loses to the Hawks and Ross Colton suffers an injury. The Avalanche have been fighting through injury after injury, but at least Artturi Lehkonen and Jonathan Drouin are close to returning. It’s worrisome, but the Avs need only worry about having a healthy lineup in April when the playoffs start.
13. New Jersey Devils (6-4-2, +5. Last week: 12)
They may be first in the Metro, but based on points percentage, they’re a distant fourth. What’s most concerning about the Devils so far is that four of the five teams (Capitals excluded) they’ve beaten so far have a combined 17-17-4 record. The good news is they play eight of their next 11 games on the road, where they’ve been better than at home.
14. Ottawa Senators (5-4-0, +7. Last week: 15)
One thing that’s abundantly clear: This team can score. The Sens ranked 20th in goals-for per game and 23rd in power-play percentage last season but now rank third in scoring and second in power-play percentage. Their second line has combined for 31 points, while Tim Stutzle and Brady Tkachuk have 27.
15. Columbus Blue Jackets (4-3-1, +8. Last week: 21)
I feel like Vader in The Empire Strikes Back when Luke escapes the carbon-freezing chamber trap when I say the Jackets have been “impressive… most impressive.” According to moneypuck.com, the Jackets’ line of Sean Monahan between Kirill Marchenko and Yegor Chinakhov has the best expected goals percentage in the entire NHL. Yes, better than Draisaitl-McDavid-Hyman, whom they beat 6-1.
Related: Sean Monahan Is The Feel-Good Hockey Story We All Need
16. Calgary Flames (5-3-1, even. Last week: 10)
I noted last week that we needed to see the Flames against stiffer competition before they moved higher in the power rankings, and they ended up losing three straight and were outscored 14-5. Ryan Huska has thrown his lines into a blender, but I dare say this is more like the Flames we all expected.
17. St. Louis Blues (5-5-0, -7. Last week: 14)
The Blues started off great, but their past two performances have been awful, losing by a combined score of 13-3. And absolutely *no one* was surprised Jordan Binnington was looking to pick a fight in a blowout loss.
18. Los Angeles Kings (5-3-2, -3. Last week: 19)
Winning games seem to be really hard for the Kings lately. They won by just one goal against the Sharks and Utah and then lost to the Sharks in a rematch just five days later. These are the types of matchups the Kings should be dominating. Quinton Byfield has zero goals in 10 games, and Kevin Fiala was benched for missing a team meeting.
19. Seattle Kraken (5-4-1, +6. Last week: 22)
The good news is the Kraken can score goals now, even if their hat tricks come from a defenseman. They’ve been streaky, winning three straight and losing three straight, but at least they’ve finally come to their senses and realize Joey Daccord should be their full-time starter going forward.
20. Buffalo Sabres (4-5-1, -4. Last week: 26)
The three-game winning streak was incredibly encouraging, and so has the play of Tage Thompson. They’re shaping up to be an extremely streaky team and I maintain that their odds of winning are exponentially higher when they wear the black goathead jerseys.
21. Boston Bruins (4-5-1, -7. Last week: 18)
Granted, other than the Panthers and Lightning, the mid-Atlantic has looked like the worst division, but it can’t feel good waking up Wednesday morning to see yourself sitting at the bottom. They’ve been shut out twice in their past four games and most recently by the Flyers on Tuesday, who were allowing a league-worst 4.44 goals per game coming into the game.
22. Edmonton Oilers (4-5-1, -13. Last week: 20)
Even worse than the 6-1 loss to the Jackets was the loss of Connor McDavid, who was sent home early during the Oilers’ four-game road trip following an apparent lower-body injury. The Oilers could barely cobble two scoring lines with him in the lineup and now need Leon Draisaitl to earn every penny of that $112-million contract.
Related: McDavid’s Injury Puts Oilers In Tough Play-It-Safe Position
23. Detroit Red Wings (4-4-1, -3. Last week: 25)
Trading Olli Maatta to Utah to clear his $3-million cap hit and open up a space for Albert Johansson to become a regular was an astute move, but there’s still plenty of questions about the roster. Clearly, Steve Yzerman isn’t done tinkering with his roster. But how long is too long as the Wings remain stuck at .500? They’re 3-1-1 in the past five, but does anyone really think that 1-0 win against the Isles was anything more than bizarre good fortune?
24. Nashville Predators (3-5-1, -8. Last week: 27)
Finally, things are perking up a little bit, going 3-0-1 following their five-game losing streak to start the season. It is encouraging, however, that the Preds are ranked third in Corsi-for percentage at 5-on-5, per naturalstattrick.com, though six other top 10 teams – Oilers, Kings, Utah, Isles, Leafs and Sabres – haven’t fared very well so far this season, either.
25. Utah Hockey Club (4-4-2, -8. Last week: 17)
It’s tough to compete when half your defense is missing, but Utah is now 1-4-2 after winning its first three games and has not won a game in regulation since its season opener. They can be wildly entertaining to watch, but their offense has dried up, and we’re reminded that this is just another Coyotes team that’s wearing different colors.
26. Anaheim Ducks (4-4-1, -4. Last week: 29)
The bar was set very low, but like last season, the Ducks have exceeded expectations early on. It wasn’t until mid-November that the Ducks hit an eight-game skid, and this season, they’ve managed to lose two games in regulation in a row just once so far. The main reason? Lukas Dostal, who leads all goalies with 7.99 goals-saved above average, per naturalstattrick.com.
27. New York Islanders (3-4-2, -5. Last week: 23)
They have one win in regulation this season, and that was against a banged-up Avalanche squad with Alexandar Georgiev in net. They’ve been shut out three times already this season and rank 30th in goals-for per game and 28th on the power play. They’re trying hard, but they just don’t have enough scoring talent, no matter how Patrick Roy mixes up his top two lines.
28. Montreal Canadiens (4-5-1, -12. Last week: 30)
Wins against the Blues and Flyers were encouraging, but there have just been too many blowout losses. Sam Montembeault was inching closer to making Canada’s 4 Nations roster, but he’s fallen back on hard times. You can’t help but feel that the Martin St-Louis’ seat is starting to get a little warmer.
29. Philadelphia Flyers (3-6-1, -11. Last week: 28)
The Flyers really put themselves in a hole, but things are looking up. The line juggling will probably keep going – that’s just John Tortorella for ya – but the key is goaltending, with Samuel Ersson playing better and Aleksei Kolosov looking like an improvement over Ivan Fedotov. Also worth noting: Emil Andrae looks good, and don’t be surprised if he sparks their power play.
30. Pittsburgh Penguins (3-7-1, -15. Last week: 24)
They’re 0-5-1 in their past six, and something has to give. Either Kyle Dubas makes a big move with the roster or behind the bench because hoping Tristan Jarry finds his game in two weeks is a hope and a prayer.
Related: The Pittsburgh Penguins Must Draw The Line Somewhere With Coach Mike Sullivan
31. Chicago Blackhawks (3-6-1, -6. Last week: 31)
Their schedule has been tough lately, but props for a win in Colorado. They even miraculously managed to get Ilya Mikheyev his first goal of the season… on an empty-netter.
32. San Jose Sharks (2-7-2, -18. Last week: 32)
They won two games in a row. Two! And they didn’t even have to wait until the first week of November to do so.
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