NHL power rankings: Swayman, Pastrnak elevate Bruins into the top 10
With Scott Maxwell
With another week of games in the books, we’re finally starting to see a bit of separation between the top and bottom teams in the NHL, whether it’s in the standings, on the ice, or, most importantly, in our power rankings.
Sure, Scott and I are no closer to forming a consensus on how we evaluate these 32 clubs, but that’s probably for the best — otherwise, this whole exercise would probably be rather dull. As usual, the two of us have merged our own lists into one, with his statistics and my wits combining nicely to create a high-resolution snap shot of the current goings-on around the league.
Who’s hot? Who’s not? Let’s find out … together.
1. Carolina Hurricanes
Record: 7-2-1, +12
Last Week: 1st (0)
Mike’s Rank: 2nd
Scott’s Rank: 1st
Scott: After an 0-1-1 start, the Canes fired off seven wins in a row to reposition themselves back amongst the league. But that win streak ended on Sunday, and to the Flames of all teams. It’s a classic example of how anyone can beat anyone in hockey, and honestly just a funny way for that win streak to end. I guess they really needed Mark Jankowski, who is tied for the team lead in goals – he missed Sunday’s game with an injury.
Mike: Not even the Hurricanes can contain Yegor Sharangovich and Morgan Frost.
2. Vegas Golden Knights
Record: 8-2-0, +18
Last Week: 2nd (0)
Mike’s Rank: 1st
Scott’s Rank: 3rd
Mike: I couldn’t, in good conscience, give Carolina my first-place vote after they lost to the Flames. But I had no trouble giving it to Vegas instead. Jack Eichel already has 18 points in 10 games this year, and better yet, Adin Hill is back to looking like a bona fide NHL goaltender. This Knights team has depth for days and I really like their chances to come out of the West again. They toyed with the Predators, Flames, and Penguins this week — as any contender should.
Scott: I can’t believe you’re talking about voting with a good conscience for the team that has Carter Hart on it. What’s next, you’re high on the team with Alex Formenton on it too?
3. Minnesota Wild
Record: 6-2-1, +7
Last Week: 8th (+5)
Mike’s Rank: 4th
Scott’s Rank: 4th
Scott: I had my doubts about Minnesota as a true Stanley Cup contender going into the season. But based on their play thus far, they’re certainly knocking on the door. Sure, a lot of their success right now is special teams-driven (especially on the power play). But the 5v5 play is almost there too. They’ve dispatched some pretty good teams like Florida and Vegas so far as well, but it will be interesting to see how they do against the other beasts in the Central like Colorado, Dallas and Utah.
4. Tampa Bay Lightning
Record: 6-2-0, +4
Last Week: 5th (+1)
Mike’s Rank: 5th
Scott’s Rank: 5th
Scott: The Lightning remain one of the league’s strongest teams, but they’ve struggled on the power play. They’re scoring at a 10.7 percent clip, far away from the lethal unit that we’re used to seeing with this group, and they’ve just looked slow on the ice. Then again, Brandon Hagel is the lone player on that unit who is under the age of 30, so maybe it’s starting to show in their game (although the power play is usually the last thing to go).
5. Utah Mammoth
Record: 6-3-0, +6
Last Week: 4th (-1)
Mike’s Rank: 8th
Scott’s Rank: 2nd
Mike: Utah is a likeable young team with a strong core, but I thought some of their weaknesses were really exposed in their 6-2 loss to Edmonton on Saturday — and on home ice, no less. I just don’t know if I see a star on this Mammoth group who can truly go toe-to-toe with someone like Connor McDavid when the chips are down. Nevertheless, their underlyings are rock solid and they have some very good depth players, with Barrett Hayton in particular standing out to me in a highly positive way to start the season.
6. Edmonton Oilers
Record: 6-1-1, +13
Last Week: 3rd (-3)
Mike’s Rank: 3rd
Scott’s Rank: 9th
Mike: Like, I personally have the Oilers quite a ways ahead of the Mammoth, depth issues be damned. Yes, I know the Oilers only have four players with more than, uh, four points this season. But … man, that top end really is something else. (Since when am I the one going to bat for Edmonton in this column?) That being said, I think Oilers fans were a little hasty to declare Ryan Shea and especially Shakir Mukhamadullin clear upgrades over Darnell Nurse. Same goes for Jake Walman, whose contract almost — almost! — looks worse than Nurse’s at this point.
Scott: Edmonton’s defense has been much improved this season under Babcock, but it has come at the expense of their ability to create chances beyond the top line. Thankfully for them, McDavid is tracking to break Wayne Gretzky’s single-season points record, as his 23 points in eight games puts him on a 241-point pace. The extra two games helps that number, but imagine if McDavid can keep this up for most of the season?
7. Colorado Avalanche
Record: 5-2-1, +12
Last Week: 6th (-1)
Mike’s Rank: 6th
Scott’s Rank: 8th
Scott: The Avs bounced back from a slow second week with a more consistent third week, as they got points in all three games, including three of four in their double header with the Stars. That was a solid way to heat up that rivalry, highlighted by Nathan MacKinnon’s tilt with Roope Hintz. That said, is Jared Bednar going to step in at some point and tell Nate to cool down just a tad? I know he’s wired as tightly as he is, but I bet the last thing Colorado wants is their star forward getting injured in a fight.
8. Florida Panthers
Record: 5-2-2, +5
Last Week: 12th (+4)
Mike’s Rank: 10th
Scott’s Rank: 6th
Scott: Welp, I guess we have to retire all of our Brady Tkachuk jokes for now. He proved all the haters wrong with back-to-back natural hat tricks to start the week, with four of the six goals being assisted by his brother Matthew. The Panthers have needed Brady’s A-game in the wake of their injuries, so it’s nice to see him up to the task. Oh, and then the Panthers got another natural hat trick from Sam Bennett on Saturday. This team must really want fans to buy new hats.
Mike: I never thought I’d see the day that Boko Imama became an NHL regular, but it appears to be happening in Florida. We live in fascinating times.
Scott: Imama will somehow be a key factor in the Panthers’ Stanley Cup run this year.
9. Dallas Stars
Record: 4-3-1, +7
Last Week: 10th (+1)
Mike’s Rank: 11th
Scott’s Rank: 7th
Scott: As I mentioned before, the Stars and Avalanche had that extremely entertaining home-and-home last week, which Dallas technically lost by virtue of requiring overtime for their win. They followed it up with a 4-0 win over the Blackhawks, and have started to pick up their game overall after a slow start. That said, their offense is still a concern: they’re tied for 27th in goals per game with 2.38, and tied for 21st in 5v5 expected goals per 60 minutes with 2.41. That’s a far cry from the offense we usually expect from the Stars, but maybe that’s a product of how much their depth has been picked apart over the past few seasons.
10. Boston Bruins
Record: 7-2-0, +15
Last Week: 16th (+6)
Mike’s Rank: 7th
Scott’s Rank: 12th
Scott: The Bruins continue to have some even-strength concerns, but even I’m becoming more bullish on this team, especially as David Pastrnak and Jeremy Swayman are just so overwhelming for opponents. Charlie McAvoy is also back in the lineup, and on top of getting two points in those games, the Bruins also won all three since his return. More importantly though is that McAvoy’s defensive game has looked solid so far. That was an aspect of his game that had fallen off in recent seasons, so it’s nice to see it look better early on.
Mike: Swayman has to be one of the early Vezina Trophy frontrunners. It was a little concerning to see Nikita Zadorov be made a healthy scratch the other night, but it appears it was Marco Sturm’s way of sending him a message for taking too many penalties.
Scott: Who could have foreseen that contract aging poorly? Certainly not me.
11. New York Rangers
Record: 6-3-1, +6
Last Week: 9th (-2)
Mike’s Rank: 13th
Scott’s Rank: 10th
Scott: No Igor Shesterkin, no problem for the Rangers, as they’ve continued to carry on since their star goaltender got hurt and announced as out for the season (aside from the 7-1 loss to the Devils but that was just everything going wrong at once). Part of that is because Dylan Garand has looked solid as the starter thus far with a .927 save percentage and 1.89 5v5 goals saved above expected, but Alexis Lafreniere deserves plenty of credit for stepping up and starting to live up to his first-overall pedigree. And Adam Fox of course. Adam Fox always deserves credit, right Bill Guerin?
Mike: The Rangers need way, way more from Pavel Dorofeyev if they’re going to keep this up. He’s come in way below expectations so far.
Scott: He is shooting 7.7 percent below his career average so I’d imagine we’ll see a bounce back from him in short order.
12. New York Islanders
Record: 4-3-1, +6
Last Week: 19th (+7)
Mike’s Rank: 15th
Scott’s Rank: 11th
Scott: I’ve loved what I’ve seen from the Islanders defensively this season, a part of their game which had escaped them ever since Barry Trotz left. It’s nice to see Peter DeBoer put a priority on that, and potentially transform them back into the annoyingly stifling team from the early 2020s. That said, their offense continues to be a concern. They just aren’t generating a ton of chances. Yes, Mathew Barzal is hurt, but should they really be leaning on him that much for offense? It will be interesting to see how they adjust that over the course of the season.
13. Ottawa Senators
Record: 6-3-0, +1
Last Week: 11th (-2)
Mike’s Rank: 9th
Scott’s Rank: 20th
Mike: Linus Ullmark’s play has been one of the biggest stories in the entire NHL in the early goings of the new season. The big Swede has picked up where he left off in last year’s playoffs, posting a 6-1-0 record with a .945 save percentage in his first seven appearances. If not for Ullmark and Tim Stützle, the Sens probably wouldn’t be anywhere near the top of the Atlantic Division through nine games, but they’re just two points back of the Bruins so far.
Scott: Yeah, the Sens’ creation ability has been almost non-existent early on, and their defensive structure is not at the elite level that it was last season to compensate for it. Stutzle and Ullmark have been significantly carrying the load for this group.
14. Winnipeg Jets
Record: 4-2-2, -1
Last Week: 15th (+1)
Mike’s Rank: 14th
Scott’s Rank: 15th
Mike: Connor Hellebuyck is apparently eligible to return from his team-imposed suspension on Friday, just two days before the Jets head outdoors to face the Canadiens in the Heritage Classic. I would hazard a guess that Hellebuyck won’t be playing in that one. Who knows exactly how the Jets will navigate all this nonsense, but they’ve been doing a decent job of keeping their heads above water. They came oh-so-close to beating the Hurricanes on Saturday.
15. Anaheim Ducks
Record: 4-3-0, +1
Last Week: 7th (-8)
Mike’s Rank: 16th
Scott’s Rank: 14th
Mike: The Ducks have dropped back-to-back 4-2 decisions on home ice against the Bruins (fine, whatever) and the Flames (yikes), putting them just one game above .500 through their first seven-game segment. Their depth just isn’t good enough to get them where they need to be. They’ll probably still be competitive in the pitifully weak Pacific Division, but they have a long way to go to become a true contender in my eyes.
16. Washington Capitals
Record: 5-3-0, +4
Last Week: 14th (-2)
Mike’s Rank: 12th
Scott’s Rank: 21st
Mike: Ryan Leonard scored one of the nicest goals of the young season to help lift the Capitals to a 4-2 win over the Devils on Saturday. One standout figure on this roster: Vincent Desharnais, signed to a surprisingly hefty four-year deal as a UFA on July 1, has a plus-10 rating through eight games. No one else on the roster is even close to that, but it’s mostly a product of his on-ice shooting and save percentages, which are north of 20 and 95, respectively. Sheesh!
17. Seattle Kraken
Record: 5-3-1, +4
Last Week: 13th (-4)
Mike’s Rank: 17th
Scott’s Rank: 17th
Mike: Unfortunately, the Kraken are learning in real time that it’s a lot more difficult to win games when you don’t always get to play the Flames, Flyers, and Red Wings. They lost a heartbreaker to the Lightning on Thursday before getting their clocks cleaned by the Panthers on Saturday. Upcoming games against the Mammoth and Wild loom large for these Kraken, but there’s good news as well: Detroit and Calgary are both on tap again before the month is up.
18. Montreal Canadiens
Record: 4-3-1, -3
Last Week: 25th (+7)
Mike’s Rank: 18th
Scott’s Rank: 16th
Mike: The Canadiens needed extra time both times to beat the Sabres twice this past week, falling to the Capitals in between. After all that extra hockey, they have a relatively light schedule ahead, with a stretch of just two games against the Sharks and Blackhawks in seven days leading up to the Heritage Classic in Winnipeg. The Habs are due for a big performance from Juraj Slafkovsky, who has just one goal through eight games.
19. New Jersey Devils
Record: 4-4-0, -2
Last Week: 20th (+1)
Mike’s Rank: 21st
Scott’s Rank: 13th
Mike: The Devils put up a touchdown on the Rangers on Thursday before losing 4-2 in D.C. two nights later, prompting their official website to run this 100 percent real headline: “Capital Punishment.” Uh, alrighty then. I’m starting to think this will probably be the final season for Nico Daws in a Devils sweater — and when will David Rittich get the call? He’s 2-0-0 with a .933 save percentage through two games with AHL Utica.
20. Detroit Red Wings
Record: 3-3-2, -4
Last Week: 21st (+1)
Mike’s Rank: 22nd
Scott’s Rank: 18th
Scott: This might be the first week in a while where the Red Wings mostly stayed out of the headlines. Sure, people talked about them. It’s hard for them to not be a topic on daily talk shows until the Dylan Larkin and Simon Edvinsson situations get resolved. But it felt like there was no significantly back-breaking news revealed this week involving Detroit. For that, it’s a step up for them. On the ice? It’s a bit more meh.
Mike: I, for one, am here for what we’ve seen from Michael Brandsegg-Nygård in the opening stages of the season. I always thought Yzerman did well getting him, and the early returns have been highly positive: MBN has six points in eight games this year.
21. Buffalo Sabres
Record: 4-3-2, -7
Last Week: 24th (+3)
Mike’s Rank: 19th
Scott’s Rank: 24th
Mike: The Sabres are expected to get Rasmus Dahlin back from his upper-body injury very soon, but they’ve still managed to pick up four of a possible six points in his absence. Owen Power has stepped up in a big way to start the new season, averaging a career-high 26:45 of ice time through nine games while posting absolutely sterling possession metrics. Their record might not be exactly where they want to be, but I’m pretty sure these Sabres will be just fine.
Scott: I’ve loved what I’ve seen from Power this season. He’s finally living up to the first-overall billing, and if he was on most other teams, he’d probably get the playing time all season. Unfortunately, he plays behind Dahlin, but Buffalo certainly won’t complain about a guaranteed 45-50 minutes a game with either of those two on the ice.
22. St. Louis Blues
Record: 3-4-1, -1
Last Week: 18th (-4)
Mike’s Rank: 24th
Scott’s Rank: 19th
Mike: With nine points so far, Mason McTavish has undoubtedly been a bright spot in what has otherwise been a rather dull start to the season for these Blues. Through three games, Jordan Binnington is, uh, 1-2-0 with a 4.68 goals-against average and an .831 save percentage, so it should come as no surprise that he’s largely ceded control of the crease to Joel Hofer.
Scott: Binnington is still going to be this team’s All-Star representative though, because it’s an international format this year and apparently we’re legally not allowed to have a Team Canada without him in net now.
23. Nashville Predators
Record: 3-2-3, -1
Last Week: 26th (+3)
Mike’s Rank: 25th
Scott’s Rank: 22nd
Scott: The Predators had one of those weeks where everything just kinda happened as expected. In a matchup against a significantly tougher opponent in Vegas, they lost 5-2. Against more level opponents, they lost in a close one in the shootout to San Jose and then won 5-2 over St. Louis. It also means there just isn’t anything interesting coming out of Nashville, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
24. San Jose Sharks
Record: 4-3-1, -7
Last Week: 27th (+3)
Mike’s Rank: 20th
Scott’s Rank: 28th
Scott: I have to apologize to Luca Cagnoni, as I may have jinxed his great opportunity by pointing out his role on the top power play on Wednesday. He has since been dropped from that role, and was also a healthy scratch on Saturday. It’s been one of many disappointing elements of this Sharks team, although it hasn’t quite shown in their record as much because of some great play from Alex Nedeljkovic. But I have them ranked as low as I do for a reason: under the hood, they just aren’t generating or defending well at any game state.
Mike: How many games will it take for Barclay Goodrow to score his first point of the season? I’ll say … 24.
Scott: Bold of you to assume he even makes it to 24 NHL games this season.
25. Toronto Maple Leafs
Record: 3-4-2, -3
Last Week: 22nd (-3)
Mike’s Rank: 23rd
Scott’s Rank: 25th
Scott: It’s not often I get to be petty early on in the season, but I saw a couple comments from Leafs fans about us ranking a .500 team in 22nd (you know, amongst the tier of .500 teams where they belonged). Anyways, the hockey gods looked down on Mike and I, because Toronto played some sloppy hockey over the last week and continue to justify a placement in the mid 20s in our rankings. It’s been wonderful to see Auston Matthews look like his old self, and Kirill Marchenko is starting to see his hard work show up on the score sheet, but there’s plenty of concerns with this club, highlighted by a lot of the offseason additions.
26. Pittsburgh Penguins
Record: 3-5-1, -4
Last Week: 17th (-9)
Mike’s Rank: 27th
Scott’s Rank: 23rd
Mike: The Penguins collected exactly zero points from the three games they played last week, falling by a combined 16-7 score against Vegas, Colorado, and … Chicago? Oh, dear. It might be time to start talking about what the future holds for Rickard Rakell, who is signed for one more year after this one and has zero goals and two assists through nine games despite averaging … good god, 19:46 of ice time per night, the most of any Penguins forward? What in the world is going on in Pittsburgh?
Scott: Not to worry, Ryan Johnson will save the day.
27. Columbus Blue Jackets
Record: 3-4-0, -5
Last Week: 23rd (-4)
Mike’s Rank: 26th
Scott’s Rank: 27th
Scott: I remember when the Blue Jackets had promising underlying numbers and looked like a solid defensive squad after Rick Bowness was hired last season. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been close to the case this season, as Columbus has been one of the worst play-driving teams in the league, highlighted by them generating a paltry 0.62 expected goals at 5-on-5 in their 2-1 loss to the Wild on Sunday. Bowness has pinned the blame on the work ethic of his team, but maybe it should be a concern about him consdering how often he has to call that out with the teams he’s coached for. Maybe he just doesn’t have that ability to get his teams to run through a wall.
28. Calgary Flames
Record: 2-6-0, -20
Last Week: 32nd (+4)
Mike’s Rank: 29th
Scott’s Rank: 26th
Mike: We had to bump the Flames up a few spots after they beat the Hurricanes and Ducks this past week. It’s been nice to see them finally string a few goals together, with all three of the ones they scored against Carolina on Sunday being of the highlight-reel variety. One largely unsung addition to these Flames is Jonathan Castagna, who came over from Utah in the MacKenzie Weegar trade and is well on his way towards establishing himself as a strong bottom-six center on this team.
Scott: Somehow this Flames team is the fourth-best in the league at generating expected goals. It’s clearly a product of small sample size, but what’s going to regress: the chance creation or the poor shooting? Considering the talent of this squad, probably the latter.
Mike: Two words: score effects.
Scott: Eight words: I’m looking at the score effects-adjusted numbers.
29. Chicago Blackhawks
Record: 3-6-0, -15
Last Week: 30th (+1)
Mike’s Rank: 28th
Scott’s Rank: 31st
Mike: Connor Bedard is back and the Blackhawks actually look decent … well, by their standards. Sure, they lost 4-0 to Dallas on home ice on Saturday, but they actually beat the Penguins and Jets before that! Patrick Kane’s return is looking like an absolute disaster in the making, though. He has one goal in nine games, and his minus-11 rating pairs well with his sub-40 expected goals percentage at 5-on-5.
Scott: I swear to god Mike, if you use plus-minus in the year 2026 one more time, I’m going to pull a Jim Hiller and “forget” to play you in the third period.
Mike: In the extremes, plus-minus can be a highly useful analogue for a player’s morale. If it’s especially low, it can feel like nothing’s going right; if it’s high, they’re probably as happy as a clam. Of course, it must be deployed in statistical discussions with great caution.
30. Los Angeles Kings
Record: 0-4-2, -13
Last Week: 28th (-2)
Mike’s Rank: 31st
Scott’s Rank: 29th
Scott: If there’s any good news out of the Kings’ horrendous start, it’s that they continue to be an elite defensive squad. Unfortunately, that isn’t even apparent to the average fan, because Darcy Kuemper and Anton Forsberg have been so bad that the Kings still allow a ton of goals on the few chances they have let by. Their offense has been horrendous, which is expected with how old the team is. It really puts into perspective how bad this team is when they can’t even ride the wave that Peter Laviolette gives his teams in his first season behind the bench. Perhaps that’s a sign that, like his old team that Ken Holland gave him, he’s also lost a step.
Mike: If I had to watch 84 games of these Kings, I think I’d take up knitting — especially to keep me occupied during the power plays. I cannot fathom why Connor Hellebuyck supposedly wants to play for this team.
Scott: Maybe he just wants to play easy minutes to ride out his career and face almost no chances against… unlike most of his Jets career.
31. Vancouver Canucks
Record: 2-7-1, -15
Last Week: 29th (-2)
Mike’s Rank: 30th
Scott’s Rank: 32nd
Scott: Canucks fans have to be happy with how this team has played so far. They’ve been bad, which is exactly what Vancouver wants as they start a true rebuild, but they haven’t been boring or depressing to watch like last year’s squad. There’s a bit more juice with this squad, and they at least keep most of the games close, even against tough opponents like Florida and Tampa Bay last week. Maybe their hard work will be rewarded with good karma in the lottery draft this time around.
32. Philadelphia Flyers
Record: 1-6-3, -20
Last Week: 31st (-1)
Mike’s Rank: 32nd
Scott’s Rank: 30th
Mike: The Flyers finally picked up their first win of the season in Ottawa on Saturday, which came as more of an indictment against the Sens’ play-driving abilities than an endorsement of the Flyers. It’s hard to know what to say about this group. They shouldn’t be this bad, and it really feels like they need a new voice behind the bench to turn things around. Somebody please save Porter Martone.
Scott: If Porter Martone is the one who needs saving, then he’s the kid getting attention from the parent while Matvei Michkov is drowning like in that one meme.
Mike: Fine. They both need saving.
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