NHL Power Rankings: First Week Edition

We are so back.

After a brief hiatus from doing these rankings, it’s time to get back in the saddle and let the speculation commence. The first week of the regular season took the preseason expectations and jumbled them around. Sure, some expected contenders and bottom-feeders looked the part, but the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers look like they have their records flipped around. Meanwhile, the Utah Hockey Club is proving that your team doesn’t need a name to be arguably the most fun to watch in the early going, while someone may want to wake up the Colorado Avalanche and Nashville Predators to tell them the season’s under way.

Now, it’s important to acknowledge these rankings are done with a small sample size. The real hierarchy likely won’t make itself apparent until next month. That said, some teams are building a strong foundation for success, and we have seen teams ride strong starts out to the postseason plenty of times before. Also, there can be signs of sustainability or lack thereof that emerge from the first few games, giving the casual fan a peek into whether a team can be trusted this early or not.

So how does the league shake out in the early going? Let’s find out.

1. Dallas Stars: Three straight wins and back-to-back shutouts at home to start the year? Whatever concerns there are about the underlying numbers balanced themselves out right and quick, and I would imagine those stabilize later on. After two straight Conference Finals exits, the Stars are hungry to finally get over the hump.

2. Vegas Golden Knights: The Knights certainly understood the assignment going into the year, sweeping a three-game homestand to start. That top line of Jack Eichel, Mark Stone, and Ivan Barbashev could be terrifying if they can keep the early momentum going.

3. New York Rangers: The overtime loss to Utah could look better (or worse) with time, but the Rangers continue to look the part of an early contender. There is a sign of concern in the future with Igor Shesterkin’s increasing contract demands, but that’s a worry for another time.

4. New Jersey Devils: Jacob Markstrom has fortunately been as advertised for the Devils, who parlayed a strong showing in Prague against the Sabres into a 3-1 record to start the year. Barring another injury wave, the Devils should be dueling the Rangers for the top spot in the Metropolitan Division all season long.

5. Toronto Maple Leafs: Craig Berube’s hire has paid immediate dividends, with the blueline looking much improved and the depth starting to emerge. If the Core Four start to get rolling, the Leafs could start to look even more dangerous than they do now.

6. Winnipeg Jets: While the Jets have seen hot starts only to taper off later on before, they can enjoy Connor Hellebuyck regaining Vezina form and Mark Scheifele playing up to his contract. If the Jets are continuing to play the right way as the season wears on, then maybe they will get some more consideration as a legitimate threat.

7. Florida Panthers: The record does not look particularly promising, but they are playing without Aleksander Barkov and with a less than 100 percent Matthew Tkachuk. I’m willing to chalk this up as a Stanley Cup hangover and let it slide, even if that excuse becomes a little less valid if the Panthers continue to struggle.

8. Utah Hockey Club: Utah was actually one of my favorite surprise picks to make the playoffs, and they have looked the part so far. Clayton Keller and Dylan Guenther have led the charge so far, and there is no question that they have been exciting to watch thus far. All of Arizona is seething with rage right about now.

9. Tampa Bay Lightning: The effects of Hurricane Milton leave the Lightning with only one game played this week, but they looked impressive in that particular game against Carolina. If Nikita Kucherov and Jake Guentzel have the type of instant chemistry they showed in their opener all season long, the Lightning’s window might be open for a bit longer than anticipated.

10. Boston Bruins: The Bruins certainly made their fans sweat it out, but Jeremy Swayman is signed and holding it down in net for the foreseeable future. It’s probably a good thing they got the deal done when they did; with how rough Joonas Korpisalo looked in the opener against Florida, Swayman could have held out for an even larger payday.

11. Carolina Hurricanes: On the opposite side of the Lightning, the Hurricanes looked just a bit off in their season opener. With an interesting clash against the Devils headlining a somewhat more pleasant week, Carolina will know where it stands in the Metro relatively quick.

12. Calgary Flames: The spirit of Johnny Gaudreau is hard at work, as his former team has been one of the great surprises of this early part of the season. Unsustainable? Probably. Fun to watch? Absolutely.

13. Vancouver Canucks: Blowing a three goal lead to Calgary and losing to Philadelphia in regulation is not a good look for the Canucks to start the year. They should be fine, but they will need to be more consistent and put together sixty-minute efforts to be more than just playoff fodder.

14. Edmonton Oilers: The Oilers lost 15-3 in their three games this week (including an embarrassing loss to their provincial rival at home), Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl have yet to really get it going, and goaltending and defense look like sore spots once again. Still, the last time the Oilers got off to a slow start, they were one win away from hoisting the Stanley Cup. No need to break the glass on the emergency button just yet.

15. Montreal Canadiens: Martin St. Louis needed some positive results to really cement his job security, and the Canadiens have delivered thus far. Sam Montembeault has been the clear MVP early, shutting out Toronto and letting only one get past him against Pittsburgh. If he can continue to steal some wins, the Canadiens could stay in the thick of the playoff race all season long.

16. Nashville Predators: The Predators hype train has yet to be completely derailed, but a losing effort against Dallas and being shut out by Detroit is certainly going to stall it for a bit. A four-game homestand should get them trending in the right direction, but the chemistry is going to have to develop quickly with the fast start some of their Central Division rivals have enjoyed.

17. St. Louis Blues: Maybe I’m a bit more bullish on the Blues than most people, but they put together three strong efforts this week, coming from behind against Seattle and San Jose before being stonewalled by Vegas. Is this the sign of a confident group that should improve as the season wears on, or an indication that their style of play won’t cut it against the NHL’s elite?

18. Colorado Avalanche: Sure, a core of Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, and Cale Makar means the Avalanche will likely never be completely out of the picture. That said, the concerns surrounding them (terrible goaltending, unreliable penalty kill, an impending cap crunch when Gabriel Landeskog and Valeri Nichushkin return) are much more impactful than other slow starters. Will these issues prevent Colorado from playing up to their potential?

19. Minnesota Wild: Matt Boldy’s emergence has been nice to see, but everyone else is still waiting for a reason to consider Minnesota anything more than a minor nuisance. The injury to Joel Eriksson Ek is hopefully not long-term, but the Wild cannot just rely on a few players.

20. Los Angeles Kings: Anze Kopitar and Quinton Byfield look good to start, but the Kings simply need more out of their depth. The void left by Drew Doughty’s injury has yet to be filled, which is far from ideal for a team that needs to get out of first-round purgatory.

21. Ottawa Senators: There are still some issues that needed to be sorted out with the Senators, but Linus Ullmark and Tim Stutzle were impressive against Florida in their opener. Good goaltending and strong play from star players tend to mask quite a few faults, after all.

22. New York Islanders: The start is not the reason I have concerns about the Islanders so far, more than it is on their decisions in net. Is Ilya Sorokin hurt, or does Patrick Roy have some favoritism towards Semyon Varlamov from their days in Colorado? There’s no way Lou Lamoriello gave an eight-year deal to someone their coach considers a backup…right?

23. Chicago Blackhawks: Beating the Oilers was nice, but it has been the only bright spot for the Blackhawks thus far. It looks like Connor Bedard’s in for another year of heavy lifting, folks. Be very afraid.

24. Detroit Red Wings: Cam Talbot may have wrestled the starting goaltender spot for Detroit, which is good. For a team that hasn’t looked good otherwise, Steve Yzerman might be sweating it out a little more than in past seasons.

25. Seattle Kraken: The Kraken have looked a bit sluggish out of the gates, but maybe that’s just the new additions needing time to jell together and the NHL mainstays getting to figure out Dan Bylsma’s system. Congratulations to Jessica Campbell for becoming the first woman to land a coaching job in the NHL, though.

26. Columbus Blue Jackets: The post-game donkey hat being handed out to honor Johnny Gaudreau is a nice touch, and longtime teammate Sean Monahan being the first to receive it was nothing short of heartwarming. It will likely be another long season in Columbus, but any positive development will be a relief from the nightmare the past couple of months have been.

27. Washington Capitals: It’s only one game (granted, they didn’t look particularly convincing), and having to play a streaking Vegas team next is not going to make life any easier. Still, the start doesn’t erase the good work done this offseason, and the Capitals stand as the team most likely to rise out of this low spot and push for respectability.

28. Philadelphia Flyers: Matvei Michkov getting his first NHL point was nice, but the rest of the Flyers have been relatively nondescript so far. No one’s going to have high expectations as the team is still in the throes of a rebuild, but the Flyers are going to need to figure out if this core is going to get them anywhere.

29. Buffalo Sabres: Beating a shorthanded Florida team was a positive touch, but two straight stompings in Europe and being single-handedly bested by Anze Kopitar is not. The yearly pessimism towards the Sabres is back like it never left, and that postseason drought already looks like it will increase by one.

30. Pittsburgh Penguins: The likes of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, and Erik Karlsson are really going to have to go through this in the twilight of their careers? That is sound enough rationale to put this team this low and possibly even lower.

31. Anaheim Ducks: A win against the Sharks is the only reason the Ducks are not languishing at the bottom of these rankings. They did not look good against either the Sharks or Knights, and that will likely be the case all season barring a drastic turnaround.

32. San Jose Sharks: Macklin Celebrini looked good in the Sharks’ first game, and then promptly landed on injured reserve. Even when they might look somewhat watchable, the team just can’t have nice things.