It's a few weeks into the regular season and the cream is beginning to rise to the top with the Predators, Lightning and Winnipeg Jets pushing toward the top of the rankings. The Preds and Lightning have lost only once in regulation and the Maple Leafs continue to look like the best offense in the entire NHL.
The other end of the spectrum is equally interesting as the Sharks, Kings and Golden Knights – playoff teams with high hopes this season – are all rounding out in the bottom third of the league. It’s still early yet for both ends to meet somewhere in the middle, but it’s not going to be too early much more with Thanksgiving about a month away.
At that point, things in the standings will begin to cement a little bit, so there are just a few more weeks for underachieving teams to get things in gear.
Anyway, without further ado here are this week’s power rankings:
1. Nashville Predators (7-1-0, rank last week: 3)
Boston Bruins
2. Tampa Bay Lightning (5-1-1, LW: 15) – The Lightning are on a roll now with four players scoring at a point-per-game clip and the offense averaging four goals per game.
3. Colorado Avalanche (5-1-2, LW: 7) – Nathan MacKinnon off to a torrid start for the Avs, who look like they’re finally ready to take that step to a legitimate contender this season. The eight goals and 14 points in eight games are pretty darn good.
4. New Jersey Devils (4-2-0, LW: 6) – Taylor Hall is putting up points, but he’s also got just one goal and is a minus player in six games thus far this season. The Devils are winning so it doesn’t matter right now, but it’s not a gold standard start for the reigning Hart Trophy winner.
5. Toronto Maple Leafs (6-3-0, LW: 1) – The Leafs lead the entire NHL with 34 goals scored thus far this season, but they’re also allowing over three goals per game at the same time. That’s a formula that may not play well late into the season, and postseason, if it doesn’t change.
6. Anaheim Ducks (5-3-1, LW: 5) – The Ducks are off to a strong start despite some injuries, and they’ve also managed to sign wayward RFA Nick Ritchie to a new contract as well. Everything is coming up Milhouse for the Ducks.
7. Winnipeg Jets (5-2-1, LW: 13) – The Jets are off to a decent start and somehow Josh Morrissey is leading the Jets in points right now. I did not see that one coming.
8. Pittsburgh Penguins (3-1-2, LW: 8) – The Penguins have allowed as many goals as they’ve scored this season. That’s going to need to change if Pittsburgh is truly going to get their house in order.
9. Chicago Blackhawks (4-2-2, LW: 2) – Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat have combined for 14 goals in eight games for the Blackhawks this season. That is some serious offensive firepower.
10. Carolina Hurricanes (4-3-1, LW: 10) – Considering that Scott Darling hasn’t even played a game for the Canes this season, the start is pretty good thanks to some brilliant young players in front of the goaltenders.
11. Montreal Canadiens (4-1-2, LW: 21) – Tomas Tatar and Paul Byron are setting the pace for the Canadiens offensively. You have to wonder how long that’s going to last, but credit where it’s due that they’re better than expected.
12. Calgary Flames (5-3-0, LW: 14) – The Flames are off to a pretty good start led by Johnny Gaudreau, who looks like he might even be taking his game to another level.
13. Boston Bruins (4-2-2, LW: 4) –
14. Ottawa Senators (4-2-1, LW: 22) – Chris Tierney has nine points in seven games for the Senators. It’s a great story so far, but we’ll have to see how long it lasts for a Sens team that can never seem to get it together for too long.
15. Washington Capitals (3-2-2, LW: 11) – The Capitals are scoring goals like crazy, but Braden Holtby is slow out of the gate this season. That’s going to need to turn around for the reigning Cup champions.
16. Minnesota Wild (4-2-2, LW: 17) – Young guys like Joel Eriksson Ek and Joel Greenway are off to slow starts for Minny, who again look like they’re going to be just good enough to get their fan base excited.
17. Columbus Blue Jackets (4-3-0, LW: 12) – Cam Atkinson and Nick Foligno have finally started joining the offensive party for the Blue Jackets along with the Artist already known as the Bread Man.
18. San Jose Sharks (4-3-1, LW: 20) – Zero points, four assists and a minus-4 rating in eight games for Erik Karlsson thus far. Well, that certainly is pretty underwhelming.
19. Edmonton Oilers (3-3-0, LW: 27) – After a tough start, the Oilers have kind of righted the ship after finally getting home to Edmonton. Now we see what this talented hockey team is truly made of.
20. Vancouver Canucks (4-3-0, LW: 18) – Brock Boeser, Bo Horvat and Elias Pettersson continue to power the Canucks through an early-season surprise with Boeser and Horvat teaming to take down the B’s last weekend.
21. Buffalo Sabres (5-4-0, LW: 16) – A decent start for Rasmus Dahlin and a decent start for the Sabres as well, so they have that going for them… which is nice.
22. Philadelphia Flyers (4-4-0, LW: 25) – High-end offensive players and mediocre-to-bad goaltending? Same old Flyers.
23. Vegas Golden Knights (4-4-0, LW: 24) – One goal and a minus-4 in eight games for Max Pacioretty is just part of the difficult climb for the Golden Knights in year two of their NHL existence.
24. Dallas Stars (3-4-0, LW: 19) –
25. St. Louis Blues (2-3-2, LW: 26) – The Blues only have two players on their roster with a positive plus/minus rating right now. That’s a tough way to win the NHL.
26. New York Islanders (3-4-0, LW: 23) – If Robin Lehner can keep playing close to his current level this season, the Isles could be better than anybody thought. They could use something, anything from Jordan Eberle, though.
27. Los Angeles Kings (2-5-1, LW: 19) – The Kings rank no higher than 23rd in the NHL in any major team category, and that tells you exactly the brand of mediocre hockey that they’re playing right now.
28. Arizona Coyotes (2-5-0, LW: 28) – Clayton Keller is picking up the offensive pace for the Coyotes a bit, but the rest of that roster is looking pretty light on the offensive side of things right now.
29. New York Rangers (2-5-1, LW: 29) – The Rangers continue to try to get by with guys like Mats Zuccarello, Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad as the best players on their team and that continues to qualify as a full-out rebuild.
30. Florida Panthers (1-2-3, LW: 31) – A team thrown into a turmoil due to one injury to Roberto Luongo may not be as good of a hockey team as we thought they were. A tough start for the Panthers.
31. Detroit Red Wings (1-5-2, LW: 30) – Anthony Mantha is already a minus-11 just a couple of weeks into the NHL season. How the heck does that even happen?
- MORE HAGGERTY - A Hagg Bagg full of a lot of moving parts
Click here to download the new MyTeams App by NBC Sports! Receive comprehensive coverage of your teams and stream the Celtics easily on your device.