Welcome back to The Hockey News' NHL power rankings, where we rank all 32 teams based on their weekly performance.
We’ve got our second NHL playoff clinch with the Winnipeg Jets, which defeated the Washington Capitals in overtime on Tuesday.
The San Jose Sharks and Chicago Blackhawks were
the first to be eliminated, while the Nashville Predators avoided being the third team
with a win against the Carolina Hurricanes.
The Buffalo Sabres, Philadelphia Flyers and Seattle Kraken are next on the chopping block
unless they can win their next couple of games, with the Anaheim Ducks, Pittsburgh Penguins and Boston Bruins likely to follow. Should the Bruins get eliminated, their eight-season
post-season streak – tied with the Toronto Maple Leafs for the longest current streak –
will end.
Who gets in, however, will likely be determined in the final
day of the regular season. This season has been wildly unpredictable, and as
many as five teams from last year’s playoffs – Predators, Vancouver Canucks, New York Islanders, New York Rangers and Bruins – might miss the cut. Most egregious of all are Presidents’
Trophy Rangers, and also the Canucks and Bruins, both of which finished in the top
four in their conferences.
1. Winnipeg Jets (49-19-4, +77. Previous: 2)
The Jets take back the top spot after beating the Caps in
overtime after Nikolaj Ehlers was sprung on a breakaway during an untimely line
change by the Caps. Ehlers is scoring at a point-per-game pace this season, and
one wonders how many more points he could score if he was averaging more than
16 minutes per game.
2. Washington Capitals (47-15-9, +75. Previous: 1)
Tuesday’s loss to the Jets was only the Caps’ third loss in
March with a power play that converted on less than 10 percent of its chances.
That’s pretty wild considering who’s on their top unit, though it didn’t stop
Alex Ovechkin from getting one goal closer to Gretzky’s record.
3. Colorado Avalanche (44-25-3, +38. Previous: 4)
The Avalanche have lost only once in regulation in March, making
them the best team this month. A slight cause for concern is Mackenzie Blackwood’s recent play – entering Tuesday’s game against the Red Wings,
Blackwood had a .895 SP in March.
4. Carolina Hurricanes (43-24-4, +37. Previous: 3)
Impressive wins against the Jets and Tampa Bay Lightning by a combined
8-3 score were undone by losses to the Los Angeles Kings and Preds by a combined 10-3
score. There’s just always something about the Hurricanes that holds them back from
being considered a serious Cup contender.
5. Dallas Stars (45-21-4, +55. Previous: 5)
When the Stars made the trade for Mikko Rantanen, it
effectively put a huge target on their backs… or is a target on their face,
considering how many of them have been hit by pucks? The Stars have just two
regulation wins over the past two weeks, but no one’s panicking.
6. Los Angeles Kings (40-21-9, +28. Previous: 9)
Darcy Kuemper is quietly having a really solid season, and
the Kings have risen from the dead following a five-game losing streak to go
9-1-0. Claiming second place in the Pacific in a first-round matchup against
the Edmonton Oilers would be huge because neither team is particularly good on the road,
especially the Kings, who are 14-18-5.
7. Vegas Golden Knights (43-20-8, +51. Previous: 10)
The Knights have won four in a row averaging five goals per
game, pushing them from sixth to fourth in goals-for per game. They’re a
perennially good team, but it’s easy to forget that their offense isn’t usually
this good, and it’s even more surprising considering the talent they lost over
the past few seasons. The last time the Knights finished the season with a
top-five offense was in the 2020-21 shortened campaign. Before that was in 2017-18 when they made the final.
8. Edmonton Oilers (41-24-5, +26. Previous: 8)
It’s going to be a tough week without Connor McDavid and
Leon Draisaitl, and they face a tough test Wednesday against the Stars. After a
tough stretch where they lost five in a row in late February, the Oilers went
7-3-1 and lost only one game by more than one goal… to the Ducks, surprisingly
enough.
Can The Oilers Prove They Are More Than A Two-Man Team? This Is Their ChanceOver the next couple of games at least, the Edmonton Oilers have a real shot at proving they are a lot more than just Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
9. Tampa Bay Lightning (41-25-5, +59. Previous: 7)
Connor Hellebuyck could be a unanimous winner for the
Vezina, but note Andrei Vasilevskiy is the only other goalie with a save
percentage above .920 with at least 20 starts. The Lightning are 34-19-3 when
he’s in net and 7-6-2 when he’s not.
10. Florida Panthers (43-25-3, +36. Previous: 6)
A tough road trip for the Panthers, which went 2-4-0 with only
one regulation win, though at least it was in a key battle against a divisional
rival. It’s worth mentioning again just how important it is to win the
Atlantic, avoiding a first-round matchup against the Leafs or Lightning and
facing a wild-card team instead.
11. Toronto Maple Leafs (43-25-3, +21. Previous: 13)
The good news is the Leafs bounced back after a horrible
loss to the Preds with a 7-2 win against the Flyers. The bad news is they have a
pretty tough path to clinch the division with a road trip to California,
playing seven of their remaining 11 games on the road and facing the Panthers
two more times.
Maple Leafs' Bobby McMann Succeeded Where Many Undrafted College Free Agents FailedToronto Maple Leafs left winger Bobby McMann's accomplishments stand out at this time of year.
12. St. Louis Blues (38-28-7, +15. Previous: 15)
Shades of 2019? The Blues have a ton of momentum with
seven straight wins and now sit four points clear in the second wild-card spot,
breezing through the easiest part of their remaining schedule. They have one
more road game in Nashville on Thursday before it gets tough, facing the Avs
twice and the Jets one more time before the end of the season.
13. Montreal Canadiens (33-28-9, -23. Previous: 11)
Their confidence may be high and their offense excellent,
but remain incredibly streaky. After going 3-0-1 with wins over the Panthers
and Sens, they go 0-1-2 with 15 (!) goals allowed. They have to start getting
better on the road – they’ve only had one road trip where they’ve won more than
they’ve lost, and started their four-game road trip with a 6-1 loss to the
Blues on Tuesday.
14. Ottawa Senators (37-28-5, +1. Previous: 12)
The 5-1 loss to the Avalanche showed just how far away the Senators are from really competing, but as long as their recent 1-3-0 slide doesn’t
continue, I foresee playoffs in the Sens’ future. They’ve overcome a
fascinating up-and-down season from Linus Ullmark, who can be brilliant in one
stretch but disastrous in the next. He went 7-0-1 in December with only eight
(!) even-strength goals allowed to 0-4-0 in February with a 4.35 GAA and then
back on track with a 7-2-1 record in March.
15. Minnesota Wild (40-27-5, -8. Previous: 16)
No matter what happens to the Wild, the big positive is
they’re playing with house money because no one expected them to be this good.
We were robbed of a potentially extraordinary season from Kirill Kaprizov, and
the Wild offense has suffered immensely, ranking 17th in goals prior to
Kaprizov’s last game and 32nd since.
16. Calgary Flames (34-25-11, -20. Previous: 19)
What a show of resilience by the Flames, who have won four
straight – all comeback wins. For a team that had a hard time scoring, they’re
not having much trouble now with Nazem Kadri at the heart of it, scoring
consecutive overtime-winners against the Isles and Kraken.
17. New Jersey Devils (37-28-7, +24. Previous: 14)
Sheldon Keefe sounded so frustrated in his press conference, he might’ve driven the bus that ran over Johnathan Kovacevic. They’ve lost four
of their last five, though they’re not in danger of missing the playoffs with a
seven-point cushion over the Islanders. Stranger things have happened, and
there’s no jinx here, but Jacob Markstrom is now 1-5-1 with a .843 SP in March.
18. Utah Hockey Club (32-28-11, -13. Previous: 17)
Utah squandered Monday’s game against the Wings even though
the two teams were trending in different directions, putting Utah three points
behind the Canucks. They’ll need to come away with at least two wins in their
upcoming road trip to stay in the race, which means they must win one game
against the Panthers and Lightning in their upcoming back-to-back with only one goalie they trust.
19. New York Rangers (34-32-6, -2. Previous: 20)
Saturday’s win against the Canucks was such a misnomer
because they were thoroughly outplayed by a tired, banged-up team playing a
road game at 10 a.m. in their home time zone. Otherwise, it would be five
straight losses and nine in their last 11 games. Without Igor Shesterkin, this
is a lottery team.
20. Vancouver Canucks (33-26-12, -16. Previous: 18)
The injury to center Elias Pettersson couldn’t come at a more
inopportune time as the Canucks fight for their playoff lives. Quinn Hughes is
superhuman, but even he cannot accomplish this alone. Thatcher Demko’s return
provided a spark in a 4-3 shootout win against the Devils, but they have three
more road games on their six-game trip and sit five back from the red-hot
Blues.
21. Columbus Blue Jackets (32-29-9, -8. Previous: 21)
Sean Monahan notched two assists in his return to play, and
it was not a coincidence the Jackets also managed to stop their six-game losing
streak. They needed some luck (and help from the referees) to beat the Islanders,
and it’s kept their playoff hopes alive. They host the Canucks on Friday in a
key game for both teams with major playoff (and power rankings) implications.
22. New York Islanders (32-28-10, -16. Previous: 22)
The Isles are giving up valuable extra points losing in
overtime to the Flames and in a shootout to the Blue Jackets. Those two extra points
had they won would’ve put them in a wild-card spot, a situation hardly
imaginable for a team that can barely win three games in a row. Ilya Sorokin
deserves a lot of credit – since Semyon Varlamov’s last game on Nov. 29, Sorokin, Shesterkin and Vasilevskiy are tied with 38 starts apiece, and no goalie has faced more
shots than Sorokin.
23. Detroit Red Wings (33-32-6, -22. Previous: 23)
Since their seven-game winning streak, the Wings are 5-11-1
with the second-worst (!) points percentage in the NHL. Their play has
dropped off so much that they went from holding a wild-card spot to being last among
the five teams vying for that spot. Their goaltending is again a mess with
trade-deadline acquisition Petr Mrazek suffering an injury.
24. Buffalo Sabres (29-35-6, -26. Previous: 27)
Impressive win over the Jets, and they ruined Dylan Cozens’
homecoming in a 3-2 win, but at this point, who cares, right? The Sabres are
going to miss the playoffs for the 14th straight season, and since their last
playoff appearance in 2011, they have the league’s worst points percentage and the
fewest goals-for per game.
25. Pittsburgh Penguins (29-33-11, -53. Previous: 25)
Well, I see we’re back to Tristan Jarry’s old ways! Not that
the Pens had much of a chance of making the playoffs anyway, but there was a
glimmer of hope during his four-game winning streak. He was pulled Tuesday in a
6-1 loss to the Lightning, and Alex Nedeljkovic didn’t fare any better.
26. Seattle Kraken (30-36-6, -20. Previous: 24)
Fatigue must be a factor again for Joey Daccord, who passed last season’s career high in starts (46) and has a .877 SP in March,
the second straight month where his save percentage has dipped significantly.
He did something similar last season when his save percentages peaked in
December and January and kept dropping over the final few months of the
season.
27. Anaheim Ducks (30-32-8, -33. Previous: 26)
The Ducks looked like they were trending up in February but
have now lost seven of their last 11, including two games where they allowed
seven goals. They are, however, on pace to post their best points percentage in
six seasons.
28. Nashville Predators (27-36-8, -47. Previous: 29)
Two surprising wins against the Leafs and Hurricanes overshadow
the bad news that Roman Josi will not return this season. They’re on pace for
their fourth-worst points percentage in an 82-game season and the highest goals
against per game in franchise history.
29. San Jose Sharks (19-42-9, -77. Previous: 31)
For a team that loses more games than anyone else, there’s
still a lot of positive vibes. The latest is Luca Cagnoni, who earned an NHL
call-up during an outstanding rookie season in the AHL as an undersized
offense-first defenseman, the type that’s been all the rage following Quinn
Hughes and Lane Hutson’s success.
30. Boston Bruins (30-33-9, -46. Previous: 28)
How did we get here? With a six-game losing streak and
Jeremy Swayman doing his best Jordan Binnington impersonation – he really does
live rent-free in Boston, doesn’t he – in an embarrassing 7-2 loss to the
Kings, the Bruins have to really think about where this team’s headed next
season and beyond. Their eight-season post-season streak is in real danger.
31. Chicago Blackhawks (21-41-9, -61. Previous: 32)
A 7-4 win against the Flyers saves the Hawks from being at
the bottom again. It’s still kind of amazing to me the Hawks have managed to
win three consecutive games just once this season.
32. Philadelphia Flyers (28-36-9, -52. Previous: 30)
Zero regulation wins in March. Zero. They have three more
chances to avoid that dubious honor with a three-game homestand, but who’s
hopeful? They’ve allowed 14 goals in their last two games and a goaltending
tandem that – wait, they have goalies?!
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