NHL Power Rankings: Western Conference Teams Rise

Call it the revenge of the West. After the Eastern Conference dominated the NHL power rankings for much of the past few weeks, a few notable teams – including four from the embattled Pacific Division – are making a late-season charge.

Meanwhile, the Leafs lost one of their key acquisitions in Ryan O’Reilly due to a broken finger, the Devils look a little discombobulated after making a big splash for Timo Meier, and the Lightning, well, let’s just say they deserve the benefit of the doubt and have been able to flip the switch by the time the playoffs rolled around.

Here’s this week’s THN power rankings.

(All fancy stats are 5-on-5 and courtesy naturalstattrick.com. CF% stands for Corsi For Percentage and xGF% represents Expected Goals For Percentage.)

1. Boston Bruins (49-8-5, +105. CF% league rank: 19, xGF% league rank: 7)

What more can you say about arguably the best team in history? Also, consider this: the current record in an 82-game schedule is 131 points, set by the 1995-96 Red Wings, which had seven Hall of Famers. It’s still much too early to say, but how many future Hall of Famers does this Bruins team have? Two? Four, at the most?

2. Carolina Hurricanes (42-12-8, +58. CF%: 1, xGF%: 1)

After the loss to Vegas, the Canes won their next three games by a combined score of 15-4. The highlight was an emphatic 6-0 win over the Lightning, where they held them to just 14 shots, including zero in the second period. A week after I said the Canes can’t possibly think they can go into the post-season with Jesperi Kotkaniemi as their No. 2 center, he puts up five points against the Lightning. Sorry for ever doubting you, KK.

3. Toronto Maple Leafs (39-17-8, +45. CF%: 12, xGF%: 5)

It was a shaky week for the Leafs, going 3-2-0 on their road trip, but they won the game that really mattered most in a showdown against the Devils, even without Ryan O’Reilly and John Tavares in the lineup.

4. Vegas Golden Knights (38-20-6, +25. CF%: 21, xGF%: 12)

To say Adin Hill has filled in admirably would be a massive understatement. Despite the loss Tuesday to the Panthers, Hill stopped 40 of 42 shots and improved his save percentage to .931, seventh-best in the league since Feb. 1 among goalies with at least five starts. Not bad for someone who’s never been more than a backup with the Coyotes and Sharks.

5. New Jersey Devils (41-16-6, +52. CF%: 4, xGF%: 2)

It’s always a little concerning when a young team is called out by their coach for lackadaisical play. It usually means they’re getting ahead of themselves and forgetting what made them successful in the first place, or maybe fatigue is starting to creep in. Neither is good.

6. Dallas Stars (34-17-13, +44. CF%: 11, xGF%: 13)

Just when things were starting to look really bleak with five straight losses, the Stars suddenly remember the DeBoer bump is real and won four of their next six, including a 7-3 triumph over the defending champs just to prove that they had the means to beat teams better than, y’know, Arizona and Chicago.

7. Minnesota Wild (36-21-7, +13. CF%: 16, xGF%: 15)

If there was a Vezina for the second half of the season, it would go to Filip Gustavsson, who is the league leader in save percentage (.948) and GAA (1.54) in 2023. Also worth noting that during the same span, only two Wild forwards have scored more than five goals: Kirill Kaprizov (19) and Joel Eriksson Ek (10). Talk about the stars doing all the heavy lifting.

8. Los Angeles Kings (37-20-8, +5. CF%: 6, xGF%: 8)

The Kings make their first appearance in the top 10 after going 3-0-0 over the past week, and since the All-Star Game have gone 9-2-1. And they’re doing this with a Pheonix Copley-Joonas Korpisalo tandem, the most unlikely team-up since Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe.

9. New York Rangers (35-19-9, +30. CF%: 15, xGF%: 20)

The Rangers continue their dip, narrowly beating the Flyers last Wednesday and then losing two in a row. Is there enough to go around on such a stacked roster? How does Artemi Panarin choose who to give the last slice of pizza to between close friend Vladimir Tarasenko and former and current liney Patrick Kane?

10. Seattle Kraken (37-21-6, +23. CF%: 5, xGF%: 19)

They lose a lot, win a lot. Repeat it a few times, and you’ve pretty much summed up the Kraken’s season. They’ve won five in a row with surprisingly good performances from Philipp Grubauer. It’s as if he was actually good at one point.

11. Edmonton Oilers (35-22-8, +33. CF%: 7, xGF%: 6)

Lose by one to Boston, beat the Leafs and then split two games with the Jets but not before scoring 11 goals. That’s pretty darn good, and, let’s be honest, anyone who doesn’t think Connor McDavid should be the unanimous Hart Trophy-winner needs to get their vote taken away.

12. Colorado Avalanche (35-21-6, +27. CF%: 13, xGF%: 17)

The two Cup finalists took a tumble this week, with the Avs going 0-2-1 and allowing 17 (!) goals before outshooting the Sharks by 30 and pummelling them 6-0. The Sharks are 2-10-1 against the Avs since defeating them in the second round of the 2019 playoffs.

13. Tampa Bay Lightning (38-21-5, +27. CF%: 14, xGF%: 11)

The Lightning deserve the benefit of the doubt, but it’s alarming to see them lose eight of their past 11 games and watching Jon Cooper pull out drastic measures by benching his top three players for an entire period. They will still beat the Leafs in the first round, right?

14. Winnipeg Jets (36-25-3, +20. CF%: 17, xGF%: 18)

The Jets had a tough schedule, but you can’t go 2-6-2 and not make a huge slide down the rankings after being a borderline top-five team for most of the winter. Not only has Connor Hellebuyck’s play been a little worrisome, they’re 26th in goals-for per games played and 21st on the power play during that time.

15. New York Islanders (33-25-8, +12. CF%: 23, xGF%: 22)

They’re holding on to the first wild card, but it’s a precarious hold, having played a league-high 66 games and a one-point cushion against the division rival Pens. The Isles have lost only three times in regulation over the past month, but they have to be nearly flawless to make the cut.

16. Florida Panthers (32-27-6, +3. CF%: 3, xGF%: 4)

Winning four of their past six and sitting three points out of a wild-card spot… it’s doable, but it will be very difficult. For once, it’s not Sergei Bobrovsky’s fault, who has not allowed more than three goals in seven straight games.

17. Pittsburgh Penguins (32-22-9, +3. CF%: 8, xGF%: 9)

What a comeback win against the Jackets, scoring five unanswered goals to go 5-1-0 over the past two weeks. Consecutive wins against the Lightning were impressive, but so has Casey DeSmith’s play, who had been playing stopping pucks was optional.

18. Ottawa Senators (32-27-4, +1. CF%: 10, xGF%: 14)

Everyone’s rooting for the Sens, right? Winning five straight brought a ton of optimism, especially after Pierre Dorion managed to get Jakob Chychrun for nickels on the dollar, but then, they lose 5-0 to the Hawks. Dumbfounded, I tell ya.

19. Calgary Flames (29-23-13, even. CF%: 2, xGF%: 3)

Yes, yes… maybe? After a five-game losing streak, the Flames won two straight for just the third (!) time in 2023. Both were one-goal wins, and for a team that grades out as excellent as the Flames do in analytics, having an even goal differential still doesn’t make much sense.

20. Buffalo Sabres (32-27-4, +9. CF%: 9, xGF%: 23)

That’s four losses in their past five, including an inexplicable loss to the Jackets at home, where they’ve struggled all season, and then a key road game against the Isles, who are also vying for a wild-card spot. It’s going to be a tough week with two home games and then a roadie on Monday against the Leafs.

21. Washington Capitals (31-28-6, +5. CF%: 18, xGF%: 16)

It’s pretty amazing what a team can do when there’s no pressure and they can just play free. (See Vancouver below as well). But Rasmus Sandin deserves a special mention because he might end up being one of the best trades at the deadline as their new PP QB.

22. Vancouver Canucks (26-32-5, -33. CF%: 24, xGF%: 24)

The Canucks… look good? They’ve won five of their past eight, and Thatcher Demko has been fantastic. The funniest thing about this franchise? They can be so insecure about their own status that playing the Leafs in a late-season low-stakes game is like a “playoff game,” though it did produce this gem of a nine-year-old who roasted them better than any Elias Pettersson shorthanded goal ever could.

23. Nashville Predators (31-23-7, -2. CF%: 22, xGF%: 21)

The difference between the Preds and the Canucks winning games late in the season is the Preds have gutted a significant portion of their roster and have collected a bounty of draft picks already. Win or lose, they’re going to get multiple players in one of the deepest draft classes ever.

24. Detroit Red Wings (28-26-9, -20. CF%: 28, xGF%: 26)

They’ve lost six straight and scored two goals or less in five of them. The consecutive losses against the Sens effectively killed their playoff chances, and Steve Yzerman was smart enough to recognize that. We believe in the Yzerplan.

25. Arizona Coyotes (22-32-10, -52. CF%: 30, xGF%: 30)

The Coyotes get blown out a lot, but like their namesake, they’re pretty good at picking apart dead carcasses, most recently the Blues.

26. St. Louis Blues (27-31-5, -40. CF%: 26, xGF%: 27)

Craig Berube sounded like he needed a memory eraser from Men in Black to forget that 6-2 loss to the Coyotes. They’ve lost eight of their past nine, and they can’t score at even strength or on the power play. Gloria! feels like a lifetime ago.

27. Anaheim Ducks (21-35-8, -99. CF%: 31, xGF%: 32)

Trevor Zegras is worth the price of admission alone most nights, but the bad part is having to watch the minor-league caliber team he plays for.

28. Chicago Blackhawks (22-36-5, -67. CF%: 32, xGF%: 31)

A surprising 5-0 win against the Sens stopped a four-game losing streak, but there’s no doubt where this team’s headed. It rhymes with pottery.

29. Philadelphia Flyers (24-29-11, -43. CF%: 25, xGF%: 25)

Corey Perry was being a thorn in the Flyers’ side all night, so Tony DeAngelo decided the best way to get back at him was to spear him in the crotch, which is a) not that surprising, and b) somehow manages to encapsulate the careers of both players.

30. San Jose Sharks (19-34-12, -59. CF%: 20, xGF%: 10)

The Sharks honored the California Golden Seals with their Reverse Retro jersey even though the Sharks have never really acknowledged the Seals’ history, but the common denominator now is that they’re both dead teams.

31. Montreal Canadiens (26-33-5, -53. CF%: 27, xGF%: 29)

When you play Denis Gurianov on your top line, it’s probably not going to be a good time. He was benched by their fourth game and replaced by Jesse Ylonen, who already has one fewer point than Gurianov, even though he’s played 25 fewer games.

32. Columbus Blue Jackets (20-37-7, -72. CF%: 29, xGF%: 28)

Pain.