Another week means another Power Rankings from your favorite Power Rankers. This is a perfect list of teams in perfect order.
We’re two weeks from the finish line, and that means the questions around the NHL are piling up. Who will win the scoring race? Does anyone want a wild-card spot in the East? How much lower can the Calgary Flames sink? We don’t have all the answers, but we can talk about it the same way we always do — snarkily, with some math sprinkled in. That’s the Rankings Boys guarantee.
Enjoy this one, because before you know it, your Friday mornings will be filled with sunshine instead of random hockey thoughts from us. Who wants that?
Last week: 2
Sean’s ranking: 1
Dom’s ranking: 1
That’s now eight straight wins for Our Dallas Stars with the last one being the most impressive — a 5-0 romp over the Edmonton Oilers. The Stars quietly lead the league in goal differential and are really starting to look like the class of the West with a real shot at the Presidents’ Trophy.
The big story, though, is that Jake Oettinger is starting to heat up at the right time. After being pulled against the Devils in mid-March, Oettinger has posted six straight games with an above-.900 save percentage. That’s his longest streak all season, and he allowed just seven goals in those six games thanks to a .955 save percentage. Back-to-back shutouts this week certainly help with that.
The Stars have been elite all season, but it’s no shock they look at their best now with Oettinger looking at his best. If this is what Dallas can expect from him in the playoffs, the Stars may just be the team to beat.
Last week: 3
Sean’s ranking: 2
Dom’s ranking: 2
“Team-building exercise” aside, it’s been a status quo week for the Rangers. They stomped out the Devils’ playoff hopes a few days after failing to do the same against Pittsburgh, and they’re still first in the league in points. Friday’s game against Detroit might determine whether they stay put.
In the meantime, were you aware that Adam Fox is ninth in points since the All-Star break with 19? Because he is. That’s more than Roman Josi, Quinn Hughes and every other defenseman in the league. Two of them came against the Devils in 29:49 of ice time. Standard stuff from Fox, who’s fifth among defensemen in points/60 overall.
Last week: 4
Sean’s ranking: 3
Dom’s ranking: 3
Not to spark a goalie controversy for one of the league’s best teams a few weeks before the playoffs start, but …
This season, Alexandar Georgiev has a .901 save percentage and has saved 0.1 goals above expected per game. Justus Annunen, on the other hand, has a .928 save percentage and has saved 0.8 goals above expected per game. We’re not saying anything here, and it’s not exactly an apples-to-apples comparison given workloads and opponents faced.
But!
That’s a much larger-than-expected chasm between starter and backup, one that should make Avalanche fans just a little nervous. Annunen was brilliant against the Wild on Thursday night, stopping 44 of 46 shots, only adding to the disparity.
Last week: 7
Sean’s ranking: 4
Dom’s ranking: 5
It’s tough not to like Boston’s goalies. This week, Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman have both posted huge wins (Ullmark’s shutout against Nashville, Swayman’s 28-save game against Carolina). The playoff net still feels like it’ll be Ullmark’s to lose — he’s fourth in the league in save percentage since the trade deadline (.950) and fifth in GSAx — but Swayman’s last couple of starts were a welcome return to form.
Most importantly, Ullmark pulled into a tie with Swayman in the scoring race. Both have one assist.
Is it time to worry about Andrei Svechnikov? (Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
5. Carolina Hurricanes, 47-22-7
Last week: 1
Sean’s ranking: 5
Dom’s ranking: 4
It might be time for some light concern over Andrei Svechnikov. Since March 12, he has three points in 12 games and the worst expected goals share on the Hurricanes (40 percent), and Carolina has been outscored 8-1 with him on the ice. Is it worth reuniting him with Sebastian Aho at the cost of Aho’s chemistry with Jake Guentzel? We’ll see.
The cherry on top: In that 12-game span, Svechnikov is tied with Darnell Nurse for the league lead in penalties with eight, including a double-minor in an ugly Thursday night loss to Boston.
Last week: 8
Sean’s ranking: 6
Dom’s ranking: 6
It’s been nice to see Conor Garland get a chance in Vancouver’s top six over the last few weeks — first with Elias Pettersson and now with J.T. Miller. Over that stretch, Garland has been on the ice for 64 percent of the expected goals, outscoring teams 7-2. Both are among the team leaders.
Garland has been a strong play-driver going back to his days in Arizona, so it’s been odd seeing him often relegated to the middle six since joining the Canucks. Or worse, being offered up as trade bait. He’s been excellent this season, and it’s great to see him rewarded for that.
7. Edmonton Oilers, 45-24-5
Last week: 5
Sean’s ranking: 7
Dom’s ranking: 7
The last time Connor McDavid didn’t have a point in a game, he followed up with three. The time before that, he followed up with six. In other words, Colorado should probably expect to have him hit the 100-assist mark against them on Saturday night. It’s simple math. He’s at 97 on the season, by the way. It’s a big deal, as Sean McIndoe covered.
Last week: 6
Sean’s ranking: 8
Dom’s ranking: 8
Turn off the concern-o-meter, the Panthers are going to be OK. Sometimes all it takes is a date with one of the league’s worst teams to get things back in motion. The Panthers ran over the Senators on Thursday to the tune of a 6-0 scoreline, the kind of decisive win that can get a team back on track.
That was an especially big game for Sergei Bobrovsky — a nice bounce-back shutout after getting pulled in his last game against the Leafs. He’s been ice-cold lately, which only exacerbated the issues in front of him.
Last week: 12
Sean’s ranking: 9
Dom’s ranking: 9
Remember when it seriously looked like the Lightning might miss the playoffs? These days, they’re looking like a first-round nightmare. Tampa Bay is 24-9-2 over its last 35 games, good for the fourth-best points percentage in the league during the timeframe. Spooky!
One thing to note: Matt Dumba hasn’t looked a whole lot better on a stronger team in a reduced role. In 11 games, his 42 percent expected goal rate is five percentage points worse than what it was with the Coyotes and he’s also been outscored by a 7-3 margin. The rest of the team might be cooking, but his addition on the blue line has been a net negative.
One other thing to note — this time on the positive side: Nikita Kucherov had another multi-point night (shocker) to add to his scoring lead, and the two assists he had gave him 90 on the season. He could feasibly hit 100 assists himself. After not happening in over three decades, it might happen twice in the same season. Wild.
Last week: 9
Sean’s ranking: 11
Dom’s ranking: 10
A light week plus a loss to the team chasing them has put the Leafs a little closer to a wild-card spot. Mitch Marner’s return for the stretch run will help, though it’s worth wondering whether he should immediately link back up with Auston Matthews.
Matthews, as you’d expect from an MVP-caliber player, has worked well with Max Domi and Tyler Bertuzzi. Keeping Domi on Matthews’ left wing, though, would open up a hole at 3C … unless Sheldon Keefe does something wild.
Last week: 11
Sean’s ranking: 10
Dom’s ranking: 11
Jonathan Marchessault has scored in his last two games, giving him 41 goals on the season and nine since the All-Star break, tied for 10th in the league. His production is part of the reason they can afford to wait on Tomáš Hertl, who won’t play on Friday despite some mid-week rumblings. When he does make his debut, it’s hard to imagine it coming at the cost of the Ivan Barbashev–Jack Eichel-Marchessault line.
The Barbashev–Eichel–Marchessault line is in playoff form.
That’s bad news for the rest of the Western Conference.
— Jesse Granger (@JesseGranger_) April 3, 2024
Last week: 13
Sean’s ranking: 13
Dom’s ranking: 12
The Jets seem to have put the train back on the tracks, winning twice after a six-game skid and clinching a playoff spot on Thursday. The funny part about the losing streak is that it probably had zero effect on Connor Hellebuyck’s Vezina stranglehold. He still leads full-time starters in save percentage (.920) with the fifth-most GSAx in five seasons (35.9), and his workload is as impressive as ever; four starts in Winnipeg’s last six will put him at 60.
Coach Andrew Brunette has made the Predators into one of this season’s big surprises. (Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
13. Nashville Predators, 44-28-4
Last week: 10
Sean’s ranking: 12
Dom’s ranking: 13
We were preparing to plan a U2 concert to cancel for the Predators. Things were looking rough after three straight losses, but a 6-3 win against the Blues is enough to set things straight.
That lets us focus back on the underlying trend: These Predators are still a wagon. Since the trade deadline, they’re the league’s best five-on-five team, earning 60 percent of the expected goals and 62 percent of the actual goals. Go back further to the All-Star break, and Nashville is still top five. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again — Andrew Brunette deserves all the credit in the world for how this season is going. This team is significantly better than anyone could have imagined.
Last week: 14
Sean’s ranking: 14
Dom’s ranking: 14
Is Pierre-Luc Dubois finally starting to come around? His three-assist performance against Seattle on Wednesday was his first three-point game all season and gives him nine points in his last 10 games. The Kings’ path to contention goes through their immense depth, and Dubois was supposed to be the big piece. If he figures things out in time, the Kings are going to be a daunting first-round opponent.
15. St. Louis Blues, 40-32-4
Last week: 15
Sean’s ranking: 15
Dom’s ranking: 15
A 6-3 loss to Nashville on Thursday feels like one last bucket of water on the Blues’ playoff hopes. Before that, they’d been on an 8-2-1 run. One bit of good news for St. Louis: Jordan Kyrou has now posted seven straight positive Game Scores (eight points, 80 percent goal share, 61 percent expected goal share). A strong, consistent finish to his season would be huge.
Last week: 21
Sean’s ranking: 16
Dom’s ranking: 16
They’re probably not getting as much pub as some of their competition in the East, but the Islanders are effectively going about their business. They scored the final two goals against Columbus on Thursday, winning 4-2 — their fifth victory in seven games — and putting themselves in the second wild-card spot.
On March 21, of course, they’d lost six straight. In a normal season, in a normal division, that would’ve been enough to take them out of the picture. Now, though, thanks to timely production from their best players (Bo Horvat, Mathew Barzal, Noah Dobson) and some solid goaltending, they’re in the driver’s seat.
17. Pittsburgh Penguins, 35-30-11
Last week: 22
Sean’s ranking: 17
Dom’s ranking: 17
Just when everybody decided to give up on the Penguins for good, they sucked us back in. Thursday’s win in Washington gives the Penguins points in seven straight games, five of those being wins.
Just imagine if they didn’t lose 10 of their previous 13 games. Or if they spent any time fixing their power play. Or if they added any scoring to a bottom six full of cardio merchants. Or if they were able to hold even a few of the multitude of multi-goal leads they blew in third periods. Hell, imagine if they didn’t have to trade Jake Guentzel because of all that. Woof. Thanks to how bad everyone else is, they still have a shot. And boy, would it be something to see them have to face off against Guentzel’s Canes in the first round. Still, it’s hard not to have a feeling that we know what happens next — exactly what’s happened to this team all season.
Last week: 17
Sean’s ranking: 19
Dom’s ranking: 19
In their last five games, all losses, the Flyers have been outscored 23-11 and are dead last in goals percentage (34.12). There’s stuff to like about their five-on-five play — they’re sixth in expected goals share in that span — but the actual goals aren’t coming in any capacity, the goaltending has been shaky and they’re on the verge of slipping out of a playoff spot.
You also may be wondering which players are currently annoying John Tortorella. In an overtime loss to the Islanders on Thursday, according to Kevin Kurz, “Travis Konecny was benched for the first seven minutes of the third period, while Joel Farabee, who started on the fourth line, sat for a long stretch in the second.” Plan accordingly.
Last week: 16
Sean’s ranking: 18
Dom’s ranking: 20
Just when we were ready to believe that a team as bad as the Capitals might actually make the playoffs, they went ahead and showed that they might be as bad as we thought. That’s four straight losses now, three decisively so, and the last against the rival Penguins chasing them in the standings. The vibes right now simply could not be worse. But if we’ve learned anything about the East playoff race, we know the door is still wide open. The Capitals’ four-game losing streak will probably be someone else’s next week.
20. Detroit Red Wings, 37-30-8
Last week: 20
Sean’s ranking: 20
Dom’s ranking: 18
The Red Wings are playing meaningful games in April. That in and of itself marks this season as one they can build on — no matter what happens next. They’re still hanging in the playoff race and have as good a shot as any of the other teams competing for a spot.
The Red Wings just need more efforts like the one they had in Tampa Bay. At five-on-five, it was the first time they won the expected goal battle against a playoff team since doing so against Tampa Bay on Jan. 21, a streak of 13 straight games.
21. Minnesota Wild, 36-30-9
Last week: 19
Sean’s ranking: 21
Dom’s ranking: 21
When the Wild’s playoff hopes meet their mathematical end, it’ll be for a fairly simple reason: They can’t beat teams that are actually good. Thursday’s loss to Colorado was their ninth in their last 10 games against teams ahead of them in the standings (via Michael Russo). If you’re expecting to make up ground under those conditions, good luck. Bright side? If they drop two more spots, they’ll have a shot at winning the No. 1 pick.
22. New Jersey Devils, 36-36-4
Last week: 18
Sean’s ranking: 22
Dom’s ranking: 22
Whatever shot the Devils had is completely gone now. Blowing a 3-1 third-period lead to the Penguins and getting completely dominated by the Rangers will do that.
It’s a depressing end for the season’s most disappointing team — one that nearly everyone in the hockey world seemed to think was next up in the contender’s circle. Instead, they delivered an absolute dud and really only have themselves to blame. With some internal growth, the return of Dougie Hamilton and maybe even a new coach, the team can get right back on track. But that doesn’t change what an incredible missed opportunity this season was. Even the best cores only get so many chances to contend, and the Devils just wasted one.
Last week: 23
Sean’s ranking: 23
Dom’s ranking: 23
With three big-time left-handed defenders, the Sabres have some long-term decisions to make regarding how best to deploy Rasmus Dahlin, Owen Power and Bowen Byram. Getting all three their minutes means someone likely playing on their off-side. That started with a Dahlin-Byram pairing, but the Sabres have since shifted to Dahlin-Power. And folks, it looks pretty damn good. The Sabres experimented with the idea a bit last season, but the depth behind them wasn’t there. Byram changes that. It’s only three games, but in that time, Dahlin and Power have earned 70 percent of the expected goals.
24. Seattle Kraken, 31-31-13
Last week: 24
Sean’s ranking: 25
Dom’s ranking: 24
The Kraken were eliminated from playoff contention on Wednesday night. That’s not much of a surprise; some amount of regression from last season was inevitable. Still, it’s worth noting just how hard they’ve been hit. Jared McCann (19 shooting percentage to 14), Matty Beniers (16.2 to 10.7), Eeli Tolvanen 16.5 to 10.9) and Andrei Burakovsky (12.4 to 7.9) have all gotten burned particularly bad.
Last week: 27
Sean’s ranking: 24
Dom’s ranking: 25
With 13 points in his last 12 games, Juraj Slafkovsky is blossoming into the impact player Montreal expected. He’s been excellent in the season’s second half and an even bigger breakout is possible next season.
Slafkovsky is eligible for an extension on July 1, and while the Jack Hughes deal ($64 million over eight years) may seem outlandish to some, it’s not far off where his current market value lies during the timeframe. He’s not an $8 million player yet, but he’s only going to get better, and the cap is only going to rise.
26. Calgary Flames, 34-36-5
Last week: 25
Sean’s ranking: 26
Dom’s ranking: 26
The Flames have lost 10 of 13, but their great tank battle is about to hit some speed bumps. Calgary closes the season with two games against the Sharks, one against the Ducks and one against the Coyotes. If they keep falling down the standings, they’ll have earned it.
27. Ottawa Senators, 33-38-4
Last week: 26
Sean’s ranking: 27
Dom’s ranking: 27
Dom and Shayna just went deep on the Sens’ problems, so there’s no need to belabor the point, but it must be noted that Joonas Korpisalo has struck again. He’s the single biggest reason Ottawa has fallen so dramatically short of expectations, and he turned in another stinker on Thursday night. Florida scored four times on their 13 shots, and Korpisalo didn’t make it out of the first period. He’ll be at 20 goals allowed above expected before long.
A hearty “welcome back” to Dylan Guenther. (Gregory Shamus / Getty Images)
28. Arizona Coyotes, 31-39-5
Last week: 28
Sean’s ranking: 28
Dom’s ranking: 28
The Coyotes have gone 12-25-3 since the calendar flipped. You’re excused if you’ve stopped paying attention — and you’ve also missed some strong play from Dylan Guenther in his return to the NHL. The No. 9 pick in 2021, recalled on Jan. 6, has 25 points (13G, 12A) in his first 38 games and is hovering around the 50 percent mark in both actual and expected goal share. He turns 21 next week.
29. Columbus Blue Jackets, 25-39-12
Last week: 29
Sean’s ranking: 29
Dom’s ranking: 29
With an assist on Thursday night, Zach Werenski hit a career high with his 49th point, one away from 50. That’s a nice milestone for a great defenseman, one he would’ve hit a few times already if not for injuries always getting in the way. It’s a real shame the Blue Jackets have had such a difficult time finding success over the past few years, because they have a really good one back there in Werenski. Who knows what his point peak could be with some actual talent around him?
30. Anaheim Ducks, 25-47-4
Last week: 30
Sean’s ranking: 30
Dom’s ranking: 30
There haven’t been many reasons for optimism this year in Anaheim, but Olen Zellweger putting up a three-point night earlier this week certainly qualifies. Anaheim’s biggest problem for the past few seasons has been its back end, and while Zellweger doesn’t immediately solve things, his being a difference-maker would certainly help. That game against Calgary offered a small glimmer of hope that things might get better next season. “Small” and “might” are the key words there.
Last week: 31
Sean’s ranking: 31
Dom’s ranking: 31
In these parts, we rarely talk about Blackhawks other than Connor Bedard. That’s by design — but it’s probably time to point out the production they’re getting from Philipp Kurashev. It comes with some asterisks: Somebody has to play with Bedard, and their defensive impacts together have been generally horrific. Still, offensive chemistry with the franchise player (50 points, 18 in his last 15) counts for something.
32. San Jose Sharks, 17-50-8
Last week: 32
Sean’s ranking: 32
Dom’s ranking: 32
If you’re curious about what San Jose’s top line is looking like these days, it’s Mikael Granlund centering Fabian Zetterlund and Klim Kostin. It doesn’t get grimmer than that, but to their credit, they are putting up numbers since the trade deadline. Granlund has 13 points in 12 games, Zetterlund has nine and Kostin has eight. It’s an especially nice story for Kostin considering he had only four points in his previous 33 games with the Red Wings.
(Photo of Jake Oettinger: Tim Nwachukwu / Getty Images)
