Jason Chen recaps the final NHL power rankings of the season, with the full list at THN.com. Tyler Myers and Mika Zibanejad [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MjA1ODA4OTU0NjI0NzE0NjIz/usatsi_21765613.jpg] Tyler Myers and Mika Zibanejad This is it. It's the final week of the 2023-24 regular season and also the last edition of the NHL power rankings before the real fun begins. It’s been a wild season with plenty of storylines, from Connor Bedard’s rookie campaign to the Coyotes moving to Utah to the ridiculously close finishes for both teams vying for a playoff spot and players trying to win some hardware. The final version of each season’s NHL power rankings has reflected the 16 teams that make the playoffs fairly accurately before they were determined. Last week, the Islanders were ranked 17th, and they promptly clinched the seventh playoff spot in the East, and the 18th-ranked Capitals clinched the final spot Tuesday night. To cap off the season, this week’s NHL power rankings will grade each team’s season from A-plus to F. Thankfully, there are none of those. Yes, not even for the Sharks. You’ll see. Thanks for following all season. We will see you back next season. (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. New York Rangers (55-23-4, +53 goal differential. CF% league rank: 19, xGF% league rank: 21) Grade: A-plus. Despite not having a single player with a realistic chance of winning a major individual trophy, one of Peter Laviolette’s most successful seasons as the winningest American-born head coach in history saw the Rangers win the Presidents’ Trophy in their best season ever in the cap era. 2. Dallas Stars (51-21-9, +63. CF%: 5, xGF%: 3) Grade: A-plus. This is the fourth straight season the Stars’ points percentage has improved. Given that the Stars made the Stanley Cup final five seasons ago, they just keep raising the ceiling of what they can do. 3. Carolina Hurricanes (52-23-7, +63. CF%: 1, xGF%: 2) Grade: A. The Canes dominating the regular season was not surprising at all, with their third straight 50-win season. But sustained success can be very difficult to achieve, and they deserve credit for that. It’s a heck of a job by Rod Brind’Amour, whose three-year contract expires this summer, and all eyes will be on their playoff run to ultimately decide if their season was a success or not. 4. Winnipeg Jets (51-24-6, +58. CF%: 13, xGF%: 12) Grade: A-plus. They traded Pierre-Luc Dubois, once believed to be a potential core player, and saw their poor attendance become a big story. But with solid coaching, more well-rounded depth and a potential unanimous Vezina winner in Connor Hellebuyck, they became an impenetrable shield with their best GA/GP mark in the cap era. 5. Vancouver Canucks (50-22-9, +58. CF%: 10, xGF%: 8) Grade: A-plus. They were seen as a playoff hopeful, at best, but instead turned into an offensive juggernaut behind Quinn Hughes’ Norris-caliber season. Despite calls for their imminent regression from their underlying numbers – they did regress, but not by much, and improved in other areas – the Canucks nonetheless clinched their first Pacific Division title since 2012-13. 6. Boston Bruins (47-20-15, +43. CF%: 24, xGF%: 18) Grade: B-plus. There was no way in hell the Bruins were going to repeat last season’s ridiculous 65-win, 135-point season. Their normally stalwart defense and goaltending weren’t trademarks anymore; their goals and shots against per game and PK numbers were some of the lowest in the past 10 seasons. 7. Florida Panthers (52-24-6, +68. CF%: 2, xGF%: 4) Grade: A-plus. This is the Panthers’ second 50-win in three seasons and they managed to clinch the division by a hair following a comeback win against the Leafs on Tuesday. The reigning Eastern Conference champs had every excuse – injuries, fatigue, lack of ‘D’ depth and good luck that had dried up – but never caved, and even saw their first 50-goal scorer since Pavel Bure. 8. Edmonton Oilers (49-25-6, +64. CF%: 3, xGF%: 1) Grade: B-plus. It was a tale of two seasons for the Oilers, who started off very poorly, and it may have cost them the division title. They faced immense pressure, especially after Jack Campbell’s poor play, but they still delivered and Connor McDavid had one of his finest seasons ever. Anytime McDavid can re-write history books, it’s a win for the Oilers, the league and the sport. 9. Colorado Avalanche (49-25-7, +46. CF%: 6, xGF%: 9) Grade: B. The Avs deserve a ton of credit for dominating much of the regular season despite a pile of uncertainty regarding the quality and depth of their roster, and also righting the ship quickly when the Ryan Johansen experiment was a complete bust. But it also left a lot to be desired, and both their mediocre road performances and poor goaltending were constant headaches. 10. Toronto Maple Leafs (46-25-10, +42. CF%: 15, xGF%: 11) Grade: B. The Leafs put together another solid season even though it was their lowest points percentage in four seasons. The goaltending tandem nearly imploded before it finally came together, and re-signing Auston Matthews was key to keeping their young core together, ensuring no major interruptions immediately following the post-Kyle Dubas era. 11. Vegas Golden Knights (45-28-8, +25. CF%: 22, xGF%: 15) Grade: B-minus. It was an up-and-down season for the reigning champions, missing key players for long stretches and then dogging another year of accusations that the league is too lenient on the Knights’ liberal use of LTIR. The Knights have set the bar so high that they’re sometimes the victim of their own success, and finishing anywhere except at the top of the Pacific Division feels a little empty. 12. Tampa Bay Lightning (44-29-8, +21. CF%: 17, xGF%: 22) Grade: B. The Lightning went from a C-grade for most of the season, with no help from a back injury that kept Andrei Vasilevskiy out for two months, to at least a solid B-grade by the end of the season during their impressive run to make the playoffs even without Mikhail Sergachev. 13. Nashville Predators (47-30-5, +21. CF%: 9, xGF%: 6) Grade: A-plus. How can you not give the Preds a pass with flying colors even though most had them pegged as a non-playoff, rebuilding team? The execution by first-time GM Barry Trotz was excellent, changing the way the Preds were constructed and how they played and seeing it bear fruit right away. 14. Los Angeles Kings (43-27-11, +40. CF%: 4, xGF%: 5) Grade: B-minus. They were who we thought they were: an excellent defensive team that had just enough scoring talent to be a threat and a goalie just good enough to get by. But that trade for Pierre-Luc Dubois hasn’t looked very good. They took a home-run swing and ended up with a double… even when Dubois actually plays well. 15. New York Islanders (38-27-16, -18. CF%: 25, xGF%: 19) Grade: B-minus. They got in the playoffs by the skin of their teeth and with huge thanks to the loser point. It was a mixed bag with Lane Lambert getting fired midway through the season and the Isles never truly looked good at any point this season, but the they deserve a passing grade for just making the playoffs. 16. Washington Capitals (40-31-11, -37. CF%: 26, xGF%: 25) Grade: B-plus. Relative to expectations, the Caps pulled off an impressive season. You could argue they backdoored their way into the playoffs, but at least they won the games that mattered most down the stretch, and Alex Ovechkin was a beast in the second half. 17. Detroit Red Wings (41-32-9, +4. CF%: 28, xGF%: 29) Grade: B. Playing meaningful games in April means something, but you also wished the Wings were a little better and a little more consistent. It would’ve at least saved themselves from two chaotic comeback wins against the Habs just to stay in the race. At times, their losing streaks just went on for far too long. 18. Pittsburgh Penguins (38-31-12, +5. CF%: 12, xGF%: 13) Grade: C-minus. The big gamble on Erik Karlsson didn’t pan out, and it put the Pens in a really tough position, especially in regards to their immediate future. They’re forced to make win-now moves without any equity to make them. The Pens have an interesting summer ahead of them. 19. St. Louis Blues (43-33-5, -10. CF%: 30, xGF%: 30) Grade: B-minus. It was a very mixed bag. Robert Thomas was the standout player, but for most of the season, the Blues were treading water. They saw slight improvements from the previous season and remained in playoff contention until the final couple of weeks but again fell short and failed to qualify for the playoffs for the second straight season. 20. Buffalo Sabres (39-37-6, +2. CF%: 16, xGF%: 24) Grade: C-minus. It wasn’t a complete disaster, but it was disappointing enough that Don Granato was dismissed Tuesday morning. The Sabres came into the season with plenty of hype, but poor starts, inconsistency and stale special teams sank what was a surprisingly good season from Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. 21. Philadelphia Flyers (38-33-11, -26. CF%: 8, xGF%: 7) Grade: A. The Flyers ranked much higher in the NHL power rankings until the final stretch, when they were stonewalled by a string of backup goalies despite outshooting and outplaying their opposition on many nights. Even though they missed the playoffs, this was an excellent season amid very low expectations; they showcased some intriguing young talent, John Tortorella was must-watch TV and, most importantly, the Flyers are relevant again. 22. Minnesota Wild (39-33-9, -11. CF%: 20, xGF%: 14) Grade: C. The Wild’s win total dropped for the third straight season, and their four-year streak of making the post-season (if you count the 2020 play-in) was snapped, overshadowing a brilliant rookie season from Brock Faber. The Wild lacked consistent goaltending and quality depth. Could the grade be a little lower? Probably, but we also knew that with the cap penalties, the Wild were playing the game with one hand tied behind their back. 23. New Jersey Devils (38-39-5, -19. CF%: 7, xGF%: 10) Grade: D. Perhaps no team was more disappointing than the Devils, which fired Lindy Ruff, failed to get the new coach bump from Travis Green and suffered a litany of injuries and issues with consistency. We got flashes of what this team could be, but flashes of hope aren’t good enough anymore. 24. Calgary Flames (37-39-5, -22. CF%: 14, xGF%: 17) Grade: C. The Flames neither surprised nor disappointed, and expectations were set even lower following the summer trade of Tyler Toffoli. Without making significant changes to the roster, they weren’t going to have any real chance of making the playoffs, barring a bounce-back season from Jonathan Huberdeau, which they didn’t get. 25. Arizona Coyotes (35-41-5, -21. CF%: 21, xGF%: 23) Grade: B-plus. For a stretch, the Coyotes were genuinely exciting. They had a great young core, a coach who got them to play hard and a winning record to show for it. Then came the 14-game losing streak, but over the final month-and-half, they managed to get back on track. The Coyotes would be in solid A-plus territory had they made the playoffs. 26. Ottawa Senators (37-41-4, -26. CF%: 18, xGF%: 20) Grade: C-minus. Like the Sabres, the Sens were supposed to take a big leap forward this season but instead fell backward. New ownership has yet to really put their stamp on the team, but the rub is the Sens have shown very little significant growth over the past few seasons. They’re constantly underperforming below their talent level. 27. Montreal Canadiens (30-36-16, -53. CF%: 29, xGF%: 26) Grade: B. The thing with the Habs is they’re constantly improving, even if it’s little by little. You can see the growth under Martin St-Louis, and Nick Suzuki has blossomed into a bona fide No. 1 center. Expectations will be even higher next season, though it’s still early stages in their long-term plan. 28. Seattle Kraken (33-35-13, -20. CF%: 11, xGF%: 16) Grade: C-minus. They went from knocking off the defending champs last season to winning 13 fewer games this season. To be fair, we knew a regression was coming, but on many nights, they looked about as good as they did in their inaugural season. Their defense has improved, but they still lack a game-breaking forward to push them higher. At some point, Ron Francis’ patience will be seen as paralysis. 29. Chicago Blackhawks (23-53-5, -110. CF%: 31, xGF%: 31) Grade: B-minus. The worst part was Connor Bedard’s highly anticipated rookie season being interrupted by a significant injury. Did we expect the Hawks to be good? No. Were they worse than last season? For some stretches, yes. But did they manage to put butts in the seats? Yes – that was the whole point, and they even got the Winter Classic again. 30. Columbus Blue Jackets (27-43-12, -63. CF%: 23, xGF%: 27) Grade: D. It was a disaster even before the season began. From the Mike Babcock debacle, Jarmo Kekalainen overextending his stay, young players not really developing and Adam Fantilli’s season-ending injury, not much went right for the Jackets. 31. Anaheim Ducks (26-50-5, -94. CF%: 27, xGF%: 28) Grade: C. What’s most concerning is the lack of improvement in certain areas, and with numerous injuries to numerous key young players, it was hard for the Ducks to find any kind of rhythm. Expectations weren’t high to begin with, but the players you expected big things from – Trevor Zegras, Mason McTavish, Leo Carlsson, among others – never quite delivered. 32. San Jose Sharks (19-53-9, -146. CF%: 32, xGF%: 32) Grade: A. You think I’m kidding. But when tank commanders David Quinn and Mike Grier lock up a 25.5 percent chance of drafting Macklin Celebrini in what was going to be a complete teardown and rebuild anyway, they did what they were supposed to do.
