Florida has opened the season with a 3-3-0 record through its first six games

The 2023-24 NHL season is into its third week, which felt like a good time to take a peek at some league-wide power rankings.

On Wednesday, The Hockey News put out its weekly power rankings.

The top and the bottom are exactly what you'd expect, with the undefeated Vegas Golden Knights leading the way and the winless San Jose Sharks staring up at everyone else.

Considering the Florida Panthers opened the season with consecutive losses and have been without several key players, they really aren't in that bad of a spot on this week's list.

Florida comes in at No. 13, which sounds about right for a team that stumbled out of the gate the way the Panthers did.

Having to start the season without top defenseman Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour, who are both recovering from offseason shoulder surgery, as well as top six center Sam Bennett after he suffered a lower-body injury during the preseason, has made things challenging for the defending Eastern Conference Champions.

Still, the Panthers have played well enough to win three of their past four games, and greener pastures are on the horizon.

Bennett is expected to resume practicing with his teammates this week and could make his season debut as soon as Saturday when Florida hosts the Seattle Kraken.

Shifting focus back to the rest of the rankings, the only relative surprise in the top ten is the Detroit DeBrincats, err, Detroit Red Wings (sorry about that). They've jumped out to a 5-1-1 start, led by star forward Alex DeBrincat. He's racked up 9 goals and 13 points so far this season.

The bottom ten features a few more eyebrow-raisers.

There's a pair of Pacific Division playoff teams from last year, the 1-4-1 Edmonton Oilers and the 2-4-1 Seattle Kraken, coming in at No. 24 and No. 25, respectively.

Improved play from Jonathan Huberdeau and Jacob Markstrom hasn't been enough to save the 2-4-1 Calgary Flames, who come in at No. 28.

You know who isn't in the bottom ten?

The 3-2-1 Columbus Blue Jackets are just outside at No. 22, and one spot ahead of them at No. 21 are the 3-3-0 Arizona Coyotes.

Looking ahead, the Panthers have only one more game this week when they host the Seattle Kraken on Saturday. Afterwards, Florida heads out on a three-game road trip that includes a back-to-back in Boston and Detroit on Monday and Tuesday before things wrap up in Chicago the following Saturday.

We'll check in with THN's power rankings again in the near future to see how the Panthers, and others, are stacking up as the season progresses. 

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