Canadian NHL teams are on the rise in our first NHL power rankings of the New Year, led by the Jets and Canucks. The Hurricanes and Kraken are on the rise as well.

The Hockey News' NHL power rankings are back following a brief holiday break, and it’s the Canadian teams who lead the way to start 2024.

The Winnipeg Jets take the top spot with a league-best 27 wins and 58 points, thanks to a seven-game winning streak, knocking the Vancouver Canucks off the top perch.

With the Edmonton Oilers coming in at No. 4, tied with the Florida Panthers with a league-best eight-game winning streak, there are three Canadian teams in the top five with the Toronto Maple Leafs coming in at No. 10.

The Oilers are one of the biggest risers this week, beating their opponents by an average of 2.5 goals per contest. Even though they sit in second place in the wild-card race, they’re one of the league’s most feared teams with Connor McDavid scoring at the third-highest pace in the league.

The Carolina Hurricanes are also big risers thanks to a healthy Andrei Svechnikov and strong performances from Pyotr Kochetkov, putting any worries about goaltending at ease. At least for now.

The Seattle Kraken also rise from the depths and in a similar fashion need to thank their goaltender, Joey Daccord, who became the first goalie to post a shutout at a Winter Classic. He’s been arguably the league’s best goalie since Dec. 1, and the Kraken are right back in the playoff race.

The big fallers are the Los Angeles Kings, who’ve lost six straight, and the Minnesota Wild, who’ve lost five of their last six. The issues plaguing the two are similar – they can’t score – because the Kings have a $8.5-million black hole in their lineup while the Wild have a $9-million player on IR.

(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. Winnipeg Jets (27-9-4, +43. CF%: 9, xGF%: 8)

Most points in the league, best points percentage in the league and a seven-game winning streak. You can’t argue with that.

2. Vancouver Canucks (27-11-3, +53. CF%: 17, xGF%: 17)

The PDO train keeps on chugging. Tied with the Jets with a league-best 27 wins, the Canucks fall out of the top spot because they’ve been really, really good compared to the Jets’ recent run of perfection.

3. Florida Panthers (26-12-2, +28. CF%: 3, xGF%: 5)

They share the league’s longest active winning streak at eight games, and Sam Reinhart’s incredible run continues. His 27.4 shooting percentage is the highest in the cap era among players who scored at least 20 goals, just edging Andrei Kuzmenko’s 27.3 shooting percentage from the previous season.

4. Edmonton Oilers (21-15-1, +19. CF%: 4, xGF%: 1)

They’re 20th in the league in points and 12th in points percentage, but nobody would begrudge the Oilers being ranked this high. Tied with the Panthers for the longest active winning streak, the Oilers have beaten their opponents by an average of 2.5 goals per game. The big showdown is next Tuesday against the Leafs.

5. New York Rangers (26-11-2, +20. CF%: 18, xGF%: 18)

Defensively, they haven’t been good, and their goaltending also hasn’t been good enough to bail them out. The Rangers are 1-2-1 to start the new year, and they’ve allowed 13 goals at 5-on-5 since Jan. 1, second most in the league.

6. Colorado Avalanche (26-12-3, +22. CF%: 7, xGF%: 9)

Only the Avs have been worse than the Rangers, allowing 14 goals at 5-on-5 since Jan. 1. The difference is an offense led by Nathan MacKinnon, who is making a strong case to win his first-ever Hart Trophy.

7. Boston Bruins (24-8-8, +27. CF%: 22, xGF%: 21)

After hitting a bit of a rut in late December, the Bruins turned it around and went 5-1-2, with all three losses by just one goal. The really bad news: Linus Ullmark looked very hurt and was helped off the ice Tuesday night in Arizona.

8. Dallas Stars (23-11-5, +22. CF%: 6, xGF%: 4)

A 4-0 shutout win for (the other) Matt Murray’s season debut was nice, but the great news is Jake Oettinger is back. It couldn’t come at a better time; veteran backup Scott Wedgewood held down the fort, but the workload was getting to him, and he lost three straight with 13 goals allowed.

9. Vegas Golden Knights (23-12-5, +21. CF%: 20, xGF%: 11)

You could argue the Knights should be a lot lower on the list. Since Dec. 15, they’re 2-7-0 and scored more than three goals just three times. A showdown looms Wednesday against the Avs; it’s a matchup between a team that can’t stop scoring and a team that’s missing their top two-way center and a big chunk of their defense.

10. Toronto Maple Leafs (21-10-7, +19. CF%: 14, xGF%: 16)

I'm not sure if you’ve heard, but apparently, William Nylander secured the bag. The Leafs were gifted a cream-puff schedule to start the year – thank you, San Jose – and now the big test begins with the Avs on Saturday and then a road trip through Western Canada. Is Martin Jones really the man?

11. Los Angeles Kings (20-10-7, +30. CF%: 2, xGF%: 2)

It’s been a horrendous stretch for the once-great Kings, going 0-3-3 and having not won a game since Dec. 27 against San Jose. (I’m sensing a theme here). The offense just isn’t there, with no help from Pierre-Luc Dubois, who has the second-highest cap hit after Anze Kopitar and scored 20 fewer points.

12. Carolina Hurricanes (22-13-5, +15. CF%: 1, xGF%: 3)

This is more like it, right?! Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov and Pyotr Kochetkov lead the way as the Hurricanes have yet to lose in regulation since Dec. 23. The average margin of victory was three (!) goals during their five-game winning streak. Once they got their goaltending in order, the wins rolled in.

13. New Jersey Devils (21-15-2, -1. CF%: 5, xGF%: 6)

Despite their positive recent record – 5-2-0 – it’s hard to feel super excited in the marsh these days. It’s with some relief that Jack Hughes will be week-to-week with an upper-body injury, but this just hasn’t been a banner season for one of the most hyped teams.

14. Tampa Bay Lightning (20-17-5, -8. CF%: 11, xGF%: 20)

Jon Cooper became the 29th coach in NHL history to reach 500 wins, which might be the big highlight of a trying season. Can you believe this guy has never won a Jack Adams? Anyway, the Lightning have been unsurprisingly underwhelming this season, but no point was lower than the leak of their horrendous third jersey.

15. Arizona Coyotes (20-17-2, +1. CF%: 24, xGF%: 23)

The Coyotes went from being competitive with inconsistent results to being competitive with streaky results. They won four in a row before losing four of their next six and needed overtime to stop a three-game slide.

16. Seattle Kraken (17-14-9, -6. CF%: 10, xGF%: 13)

Joey Daccord has been their MVP, and I don’t think it’s close. Since Dec. 1, Daccord is 8-2-3 with a .948 save percentage and minuscule 1.61 goals-against-average, including the first-ever shutout at a Winter Classic. They can win a lot of games as long as they can keep their goals against low since their goal-scoring still isn’t particularly good.

17. Washington Capitals (19-13-6, -23. CF%: 29, xGF%: 30)

They’ve lost five of their past seven since Christmas, and they nearly blew a 4-0 lead in one of their wins. Alex Ovechkin remains on pace for a career-low 17 goals.

18. Pittsburgh Penguins (20-15-4, +15. CF%: 8, xGF%: 7)

Counting on a Tristan Jarry-Alex Nedeljkovic tandem was not one of the ways I had envisioned the Pens would make the playoffs. It helps that Rickard Rakell’s has turned it around; after scoring zero goals in his first 17 games of the season, he’s scored five times in 10 games.

19. Philadelphia Flyers (20-14-6, +4. CF%: 19, xGF%: 12)

They’ve lost seven of their past nine, but the bigger story lately has been the Cutter Gauthier saga. Adding Jamie Drysdale surely means more changes are afoot with a logjam on the blueline, and it’ll be interesting to see which path the Flyers take as they remain in playoff contention.

20. New York Islanders (18-12-10, -12. CF%: 30, xGF%: 22)

Since Dec. 15, the Isles are 25th in points percentage with 3.67 goals against per game, seventh-highest in the league. Maybe the fan base doesn’t want to hear this, but the Isles are only this high in the standings and the power rankings because of the loser point.

21. Detroit Red Wings (20-16-4, +8. CF%: 28, xGF%: 25)

Aside from a five-game winning streak to start the season and a six-game stretch in late November, the Wings have not been able to maintain much momentum. Their goaltending continues to be suspect; though Alex Lyon is 4-1-0 in his past five, his .906 SP ranks 28th during that span.

22. Calgary Flames (18-18-5, -7. CF%: 12, xGF%: 15)

The good news and bad news in one sentence is Jonathan Huberdeau is scoring, but the Flames still aren’t winning many games. They’re better now with a 7-4-0 record since mid-December, and Noah Hanifin has gone from trade bait to potential long-term building block, so you get the sense the Flames will just keep dragging this “to rebuild or not to rebuild” question until someone cries uncle.

23. Nashville Predators (22-18-1, -1. CF%: 16, xGF%: 10)

Juuse Saros went from arguably the most reliable goalie in the league to being a reliable source of ulcers for a fantasy hockey manager. The biggest surprise, however, is the veteran Filip Forsberg-Ryan O’Reilly-Gustav Nyquist line, which ranks ninth in the league in expected goals, per moneypuck.com, and first in expected old man strength.

24. Minnesota Wild (17-18-4, -11. CF%: 15, xGF%: 14)

The Wild are in such dire straits that they’re looking forward to Jesper Wallstedt’s debut, hoping he can maybe spark a run to save their season after the new coach bump from John Hynes faded. They’re 1-5-0 and have yet to win a game in regulation in 2024.

25. St. Louis Blues (20-18-1, -15. CF%: 27, xGF%: 29)

Are the Blues low-key waving the white flag? Nothing against Joel Hofer – he’ll be their starter someday – but they’ve split the starts pretty evenly since late December.

26. Buffalo Sabres (17-20-4, -17. CF%: 13, xGF%: 19)

You’re never quite sure which version of the Sabres will show up each night. That’s a problem Don Granato has yet to fix, and maybe it's just their heartbreaking franchise history, but the Sabres are going to be a really good team one day… right? Right?! RIGHT?!

27. Montreal Canadiens (17-17-5, -26. CF%: 26, xGF%: 27)

I’d like to think the Habs are the most impressive mid-team in the league. They can be fun to watch even without an elite player – sorry, Cole Caufield, you’re not there yet – but no matter how hard they try, they’re stuck at .500 and just cannot seem to win three games in a row.

28. Anaheim Ducks (14-25-1, -31. CF%: 23, xGF%: 24)

They started off with so much promise, but since Nov. 15 they are a league-worst 5-19-1 with a .220 points percentage. That’s even worse than whatever the Sharks are doing now.

29. Columbus Blue Jackets (13-20-9, -29. CF%: 25, xGF%: 28)

At this rate, Adam Fantilli will run out of sticks to break, and we may see Elvis Merzlikins again sometime in 2025.

30. Ottawa Senators (14-22-0, -12. CF%: 21, xGF%: 26)

In some ways, the Senators resemble their nation’s white-collar bureaucratic capital city. Nobody works after 5 p.m.

31. Chicago Blackhawks (12-27-2, -58. CF%: 31, xGF%: 31)

There are 146 players who have scored more points than Philipp Kurashev, the Hawks’ leading scorer.

32. San Jose Sharks (9-29-3, -90. CF%: 32, xGF%: 32)

Even Jaws 4 was more entertaining than this.