NHL Sour Rankings: Flames And Flyers Among Floundering Teams To Open The Season

The NHL season is just a few weeks old but we already have a few teams that have started as if the pursuit of the first-overall pick next June is the only thing that matters to them. The reality is that no team wants to be winless to start the season and even when teams are intentionally rebuilding, the losing is tough. 

The 2027 NHL Draft is headlined by University of Michigan defender Landon Dupont. The calm, cool and collected blueliner is one of the most advanced thinkers we've seen come through the draft in years.

The forward crop lacks the elite talent but players like Jonah Neuenschwander, Brock England, and Carter Meyer could easily push their way into elite status as the season goes on. 

Let's take an early look at the bottom of the NHL's standings, specifically at the teams under .500, and try and determine whether they will stick around at the bottom or reach a higher standard.

There might not be a team that has been as lifeless to start the season as the Philadelphia Flyers.

They are winless through eight games and they don't have a single player who has reached four points on the year. They've collectively scored just 10 goals with Matvei Michkov and Christian Dvorak each leading the way with two a piece. Head coach Rick Tocchet looks frustrated each and every night with his team at both ends of the ice. 

The Flyers were looking to compete for a divisional spot in the Metropolitan playoff picture but now they are going to have to turn things around quickly in order to get back into the wild card. They are about 10 percent into their season and they haven't found a win. That's a tough way to get going.

Unfortunately, I think the Flyers might be in the Sour Rankings for more of the season than they expected. 

It's no secret that the Flames are a team looking to build for the future.

They’ve struggled mightily to start the year, going winless in their first five games while scoring just eight goals in that span. They picked up their first win over the Anaheim Ducks during the Frozen Frenzy this week but they remain a team that seems destined for the bottom of the standings this year. 

They need their young players like Zayne Parekh, Matt Coronato, and Aydar Suniev to step up and begin taking on bigger roles offensively. They need Dustin Wolf to stand on his head, something that's difficult to do when the team is struggling to defend in their own end.

It's going to be a long year but it was expected. The hope for Flames fans is that the young players make it at least entertaining to watch in the last season at the Saddledome. 

Winless through five games, the Kings might not be in quite the same boat as the Flyers but things don't look much better. Their first year without Anze Kopitar seems to be a bit of a struggle.

Beyond Quinton Byfield, their center depth is questionable. Artemi Panarin is the only player on the team with more than a single goal. On the backend, Brandt Clarke is showing the promise we all saw in him.

Unfortunately, new captain Drew Doughty is showing his age and the lineup lacks the youth to fill the void of the aging core that is halfway into retirement. Their goalie tandem is looking lackluster and the team might finally be falling off the ledge.

They likely won't stay this low in the standings, but the Kings look like a team that is destined to be hoping for good lottery luck at the end of the season.

It hasn't been pretty early on but Chicago has a chance to get out of the basement, even if making the playoffs is a long shot.

New captain Connor Bedard returned to action this week and looked good his season debut. Rookie Anton Frondell is leading the team in points with six in seven games. Fellow rookie Roman Kantserov leads the team with three goals. 

There are still holes in the roster, especially on the defensive end, but this is a team that's beginning to turn around. They have some excellent young talent and they could easily compete to a wild card spot, especially if Bedard gets back to the level of play that he was at to start last year. 

Coming into the season, there might not have been a team that was more openly vying for the top pick in the draft than Vancouver.

They were hoping for a resurgent Elias Pettersson and they've gotten exactly that as their top paid player has put up nine points in eight games to start the year. That alone is a gift from the hockey gods, but they've been fun to watch in general and have still managed to be a bottom-five team. 

This is the dream start for Canucks fans who have finally accepted that a rebuild the what their teams needs best. They are the only team under .500 who has scored more than 17 goals, potting 26 already this season.

If they can keep being fun to watch, if Pettersson can show his return to form isn't a mirage, and players like Marco Rossi, Zeev Buium, and Liam Ohgren can continue developing, this should be a good season for Vancouver, even if it ends up being a painful one. 

What is going on in the Motor City? Detroit has been dealing with the trade request of captain and hometown kid Dylan Larkin since the start of the off-season and now they can't seem to find common ground with RFA Simon Edvinsson.

On top of all of that, they are still looking for a full-time GM after firing Steve Yzerman. Interim GM Shawn Horcoff was able to get a long-term deal done with Alex DeBrincat, but this team still has so much to do. 

Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond are excellent building blocks. Simon Edvinsson could be part of that core but with rumors swirling that he wants a trade after the relationship broke down, there are questions about that as well.

Detroit has been losing for some time now and if they can't figure out how to turn that around, they might end up having to start the rebuild over again. 

Columbus made a big trade to open the season, moving on from Kirill Marchenko in a deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs that saw them acquire Matthew Knies and Emil Andrae.

Knies has been an excellent fit with the team and it helped the team get younger while moving on from a player who wanted out. He brings power and skill to the lineup, making him a great fit alongside top center Adam Fantilli. 

However, the Blue Jackets still have multiple issues with how their roster is constructed. They need their young players to step up. They need Jet Greaves to get his game back on track. They need to figure out the right mix on the back end. Quite frankly, they need a lot to go right.

For that reason, they aren't likely to get out of the bottom third of the league this season. 

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