NHL Power Rankings: A New No. 1 Team Emerges, Avalanche Begin To Slide

The defending champion Hurricanes are the top team in the league by default, and they rank first in this week’s power rankings, but it feels like there are a lot of teams in the mix this season for the Stanley Cup. 

It's still early in the season so the standings are cramped – the top eight teams are separated by just three points – but there are no shortage of teams that could really be considered contenders.

The Vegas Golden Knights and Edmonton Oilers have an easy path through the Pacific; the Central will be overrepresented with the Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, Minnesota Wild, and Utah Mammoth; and the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers are still the two best teams in the Atlantic. 

Over the past two weeks, three teams (Carolina Hurricanes, Oilers, Lightning) lost only once in either regulation or overtime, and one (Boston Bruins) did not lose at all in regulation. 

The upstarts so far this season are the Boston Bruins and the New York Rangers, and we shall see if they're true contenders or just riding early-season hot streaks. The Rangers, in particular, are still perfect 6-0-0 at home even without Igor Shesterkin. 

Here’s this week's power rankings. 

A loss to the Flames aside – their second game of a back-to-back on the road – the Hurricanes are again the epitome of consistency despite missing several key players. They have not lost consecutive games in regulation since January of last season, both regular season and playoffs combined. 

A 6-2 blowout loss to the Lightning on Tuesday has been their only real blemish so far, and it’s a matchup the Knights have struggled with for a while. Since the 2023-24 season, the Knights are 1-5-1 with a minus-10 goal differential against the Lightning. 

If there's any player who can score 200 points this season, it's Connor McDavid. 

They played a great two-game series against the Oilers but the Mammoth fell short against a healthy Edmonton squad. Goaltending has been an issue; Karel Vejmelka and Sebastian Cossa have a combined .866 SP. 

The most frightening thought is Nikita Kucherov and Andrei Vasilevskiy are just getting warmed up. Kucherov has 'only' 13 points in nine games. 

Just one regulation loss for the Wild this season while playing some really tough opponents, and a big test against the Oilers got away from them after a too many men bench minor led to Evan Bouchard's overtime winner. 

The Avalanche made it close in a loss to the Devils after they were outshot 32-13 in the first two periods before dominating the shots 21-9 in the third period. Poor starts are costing them; they've scored just nine goals with a minus-2 goal differential in their first periods.  

The Bruins have not lost in regulation in two weeks and Marco Sturm is the early favorite for the Jack Adams. Jeremy Swayman is also the early favorite for the Vezina – funny how the best coaches always seem to also have the best goalies – and the Bruins have kept opponents to three goals or less in eight of 10 games this season. 

A 7-1 drubbing in New Jersey and then a shutout loss in Columbus was not a good look but managed to stay perfect at home (6-0-0) against the Ducks. Of course, they're still vastly improved; they didn't get their first home win last season until Nov. 10. 

Of course Linus Ullmark's first loss this season was against the winless Flyers. Their Wednesday night matchup against the Panthers with Brady Tkachuk's homecoming will be must-watch TV.

The competition wasn't tough – Columbus, Vancouver, Seattle – but they were dominant wins. Don't be surprised if the Panthers keep clawing their way back to the top with a pretty easy upcoming schedule even without starter Jacob Markstrom. But, first, Brady Tkachuk’s much-anticipated homecoming Wednesday in Ottawa. 

So much for the improved offense Glen Gulutzan promised. The Stars' calling card this season might be their incredibly stingy defense, allowing a league-best 1.50 goals per game and second-best 22.6 shots per game. 

An ill-advised interference penalty by Jakub Dobes in overtime directly led to the loss to the Sharks – why give Macklin Celebrini a chance to end the game on the power play in overtime? It's also worth noting everyone's favorite pick to become a contender this season has only one regulation win so far. 

The Sabres have trailed in all three of their most recent games but stole two points in two games against the Canadiens and scored three unanswered goals in a comeback win against the Maple Leafs. That kind of resilience is a very good sign for a young team off to an uneven start. Question: How much will it cost to acquire Connor Hellebuyck and will it stabilize their goaltending?

Their 1-1-1 record over the past week doesn't look bad, but then you realize they allowed eight goals in Florida and nearly blew a 3-0 lead to the Red Wings. 

A changing of the guard? Ryan Leonard has been the Capitals' most dangerous goal-scorer this season while Alex Ovechkin ranks second-last in even-strength ice time per game among forwards on his team. 

It was a bit of a shaky start but the Islanders are 4-1-1 since the first week of the season despite missing some key players. A reminder Peter DeBoer has taken four of the five teams he’s coached to the conference final in his first full season with his new team. 

The offense has suddenly come alive with 16 goals scored in their past three wins. When healthy, the Devils have arguably the deepest crop of forwards in the league. 

The Maple Leafs are proving to be an up-and-down, streaky team this season. If their aging defense and goaltending is already a concern, imagine what it could look like a few months from now. 

Philip Broberg looks like a legitimate No. 1 defenseman and signed to a very team-friendly $8 million cap hit per season. There's always lots of talk about how the Hurricanes manage the cap, but the Blues deserve an honorable mention. 

Four of their five losses have been by one goal, and they've allowed three goals or less in six of their nine games. Didn't think that would happen with a tandem of Stuart Skinner and Clay Stevenson going into the season. 

Yaroslav Askarov is in a contract year but not really playing like it. Is Alex Nedeljkovic (.920 SP, 2.20 GAA) really the answer or will the Sharks have to look elsewhere for a solution. Winnipeg, perhaps? Fun fact: Despite ranking 16th in the league in points, the Sharks are the only team that has yet to win in regulation. 

A brilliant 4-1-0 start for the Ducks has all been undone by a 0-4-0 slide where they've allowed 16 goals and never scored more than two in each game. The goaltending's not helping, so if they're not scoring a ton of goals they can't win.  

Difficult to get a good read on this Predators team, but one thing's for sure: they'll live and die with Juuse Saros' play. He's got a .944 SP and 1.67 GAA in wins but .855 SP and 4.06 GAA in losses this season. 

A comeback win against the Flyers, a comeback win against the Sharks in a shootout, and nearly came back to win against the Kraken. The Red Wings are getting points, but off-ice distractions aside, they’re making it really difficult on themselves, too. 

They're now 2-1-0 with Connor Bedard back in the lineup with the only loss coming against the stingy Stars, but they’re getting buried in possession (31st in 5-on-5 CF%, per naturalstattrick.com). They had a decent start to the season last year (5-4-2 at the end of October), too, but by mid-December started to slide. We’ll see if they can avoid that this season. 

So much for revenge. Kirill Marchenko scored a power-play goal in his return to Columbus in a 6-2 loss to the Maple Leafs. The Blue Jackets have one regulation win this season. 

Tough road trip with stops in Colorado, Vegas and Utah, but after a 2-0-0 start the Penguins are now 1-6-1 with their only win coming via shootout. Last season was a mirage; the rebuild may have to start in earnest this season. 

Even if the Flames don't win many games this season, Devin Cooley's interviews will keep us interested. 

Wait, the Flyers actually won? Against the Avs?! Matvei Michkov and Porter Martone combined for four points in those wins despite averaging just 14 minutes per game. It's almost as if they should play them more or something. 

The Kings finally won a game, snapping their worst start since 1984. Their offense has either been feast or famine; three games with at least four goals scored and four games with only one goal scored. 

The Canucks are the only team without a win over the past two weeks. 

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