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NHL power rankings: Reigning Cup-winning Hurricanes back on top

Mike Gould
Oct 12, 2026, 08:40 EDT

Carolina Hurricanes right wing Andrei Svechnikov (37) celebrates his goal with right wing Jackson Blake (53) center Sebastian Aho (20) and defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere (4) against the Vancouver Canucks during the first period at Lenovo Center.
Credit: Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-Imagn Images

With Scott Maxwell

We’ve got our first full week of the regular season done, and even though it’s just been 13 days, it hasn’t been short of interesting storylines. Whether it’s continued trade request drama, significant injuries or surprising starts, early-season hockey is as chaotic as it’s always been.

Scott and I navigate through the season with another year of our co-op power rankings. Scott has his same old system in which he aggregates six stats (points %, 5v5 goal differential, 5v5 xGF/60, 5v5 xGA/60, power play xGF/60, and shorthanded xGA/60, all coming courtesy of Natural Stat Trick) to come up with a list that eliminates biases. Additionally, no team can be above a team that’s more than five points ahead of them in the standings, regardless of where the aggregate places them (a rule that has already been required courtesy of the Calgary Flames and Montreal Canadiens). On the other hand, I go off my own intellect (some of it stats-based as well) and pure vibes, and together we find a way to combine it and meet in the middle.

1. Carolina Hurricanes

Record: 5-1-1, +10
Last Week: 8th (+7)
Mike’s Rank: 1st
Scott’s Rank: 1st

Scott: Surprise, surprise, it took only one week for the Hurricanes to return to normalcy and climb back up to the top spot. A league-leading record and a five-game winning streak will certainly do that, and under the hood, they’re driving play like we all expect them to. Right now the only concern is the early play of Brandon Bussi, who was a big factor in one of the two losses to start the season (albeit he was also a big reason why the Canes were in the season opener), and he also struggled in the 6-4 win over Montreal. It’s a minor nitpick, but something of note to start the year.

Mike: Hear me out: Connor Hellebuyck and Braeden Schneider to Carolina, a ton of picks and prospects to Winnipeg, and Alex Nikishin and Bussi to the Rangers.

Scott: I think the last thing the Rangers need right now is another okay goalie beyond Igor Shesterkin blocking Dylan Garand from playing time.

2. Vegas Golden Knights

Record: 5-1-0, +9
Last Week: 5th (+3)
Mike’s Rank: 2nd
Scott’s Rank: 4th

Mike: Jack Eichel is off to one heck of a start in this new season, putting up three goals and 12 points in just six games as the Golden Knights lead the Pacific Division with a 5-1-0 record and 10 points. But I remain somewhat concerned about Rasmus Andersson, who has but one assist and a minus-6 rating on a Vegas team with a plus-9 goal differential. I think the Flames did a mighty fine job getting Zach Whitecloud and a hefty pile of futures out of that deal. Nevertheless, the Golden Knights are the best of the West until proven otherwise.

Scott: To really nail home Mike’s point about Andersson without using a useless stat like plus/minus, that -6 rating is all at even strength too. Extremely shocking Vegas decided to commit to him after how horrendously he played in the playoffs last year.

3. Edmonton Oilers

Record: 4-0-1, +8
Last Week: 7th (+4)
Mike’s Rank: 4th
Scott’s Rank: 3rd

Scott: Edmonton’s play at 5v5 compared to their special teams has been a polar opposite in the early going. Their 5v5 chance generation? Mediocre. Their power play? Clicking as usual, even without Zach Hyman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. The Oilers’ 5v5 defense? Elite. Their penalty kill? Horrendous. They have a few kinks to work out, but it has to be encouraging for fans to see them off to their best start in years, and to see Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard dominating as usual.

Mike: Vasily Podkolzin was such a steal for these Oilers. Such a great way to pivot after losing Dylan Holloway for peanuts.

4. Utah Mammoth

Record: 4-2-0, +7
Last Week: 4th (0)
Mike’s Rank: 7th
Scott’s Rank: 2nd

Scott: Getting blown out 6-1 by the Bruins on Thursday was a tough look, but beyond that result, the Mammoth continue to churn out some encouraging results so far this season. Heck, even in the blowout loss, they managed a 64.44% 5v5 expected goal share after accounting for score effects. They’ve been the best team at generating chances, and they’re even top five at preventing them. I’m certainly curious to see if they keep this up as the season drags along, but we may already see them taking another step forward in their development from last year.

Mike: I’m really intrigued to see if the Utes dangle Tij Iginla for more win-now pieces this year. Iginla has just one assist through his first four games with AHL Tucson and has been slotted surprisingly low in their lineup.

5. Tampa Bay Lightning

Record: 4-1-0, +4
Last Week: 13th (+8)
Mike’s Rank: 3rd
Scott’s Rank: 8th

Mike: The Bolts have won four straight games since dropping their 2026-27 season opener. Brandon Hagel continues to be one of this team’s driving forces, having paced the Bolts with a hat trick and an assist in their 5-3 win over the Islanders on Saturday. But the most fascinating aspect of this Lightning season so far has been Victor Hedman’s deployment. Through five games, he’s essentially being used as Tampa’s sixth defenseman, averaging exactly 14 minutes per night. Hedman will be 36 in December and is still under contract at $8 million a year through 2029, but his days as the Lightning’s top ‘D’ appear to be over.

Scott: I’m not surprised considering he was their worst defenseman defensively last season and also wasn’t their strongest offensive defenseman either. There might be a case that he actually is their sixth-best defenseman these days, considering how deep their blueline is.

6. Colorado Avalanche

Record: 3-2-0, +9
Last Week: 2nd (-4)
Mike’s Rank: 5th
Scott’s Rank: 7th

Scott: The Avalanche had an inconsistent week to say the least. After Mackenzie Blackwood allowed three goals on 19 shots in a 3-2 loss to the Jets (while Stuart Skinner stopped 32 of 34 at the other end of the ice), Colorado at least won the game they were supposed to against the Flames with a 7-3 rout. But to close off the week, poor goaltending struck again, as Blackwood allowed five goals on 22 shots in a 6-3 loss to the Leafs. Obviously there isn’t a ton the team can do when Blackwood is performing so poorly, but the Avalanche didn’t exactly help him either by allowing the fourth-most 5v5 xG against per 60 minutes. In a week where they were playing three teams who aren’t even strong playoff contenders, it was a very underwhelming performance.

7. Anaheim Ducks

Record: 4-1-0, +5
Last Week: 10th (+3)
Mike’s Rank: 9th
Scott’s Rank: 5th

Mike: The Ducks kept the good times rolling on Saturday by beating the Flames 4-2, which isn’t much of an accomplishment but is still vastly preferable to the alternative. Unfortunately, Cutter Gauthier and Ryan Poehling departed the game with injuries, making the Ducks’ already thin forward group look downright emaciated. Don’t be surprised if Roger McQueen, fresh off scoring three goals in his first four AHL games, gets the call to Anaheim if Gauthier and Poehling miss any length of time.

8. Minnesota Wild

Record: 3-1-1, +6
Last Week: 1st (-7)
Mike’s Rank: 6th
Scott’s Rank: 10th

Scott: After taking the top spot last week, the Wild essentially swapped spots with the Canes, and now sit in eighth after an inconsistent week. Minnesota saw their perfect record end in the third game of the season thanks to a 3-2 overtime loss to the Sabres, and then it took them a game longer to get their first regulation loss of the season to the Lightning. However, they bounced back with a strong 4-1 win over the Panthers, led by the dynamic duo of Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy. Their depth was a bit too thin for me to consider them as the best team in the league like they wound up last week for us, but they’re still an excellent squad.

9. New York Rangers

Record: 5-2-0, +10
Last Week: 9th (0)
Mike’s Rank: 10th
Scott’s Rank: 9th

Scott: The Rangers have held steady in our top 10 so far, but their biggest concern was the fact that, like past New York teams during this current core’s window, they were a bad 5v5 team riding hot special teams and elite goaltending. Well, they’re already going to be without that elite goaltending for the rest of the season, as Igor Shesterkin is out for the rest of the season, so we’ll see how much longer they last here before reality sets in. Thank god the Rangers didn’t lose Dylan Garand to waivers at the start of the season, because he should be expected to steer the ship for the rest of the year. He’s been excellent in his first three games, so maybe New York doesn’t need to hit the panic button just yet.

Also, what’s with the city of New York and losing pivotal star athletes to leg injuries? First Aaron Judge with the Yankees, then Jaxon Dart with the Giants, now Shesterkin. Was this the price the city had to pay for a Knicks championship?

10. Dallas Stars

Record: 2-2-1, +3
Last Week: 21st (+11)
Mike’s Rank: 13th
Scott’s Rank: 6th

Mike: The Stars shut out the Sharks and Sabres this week before falling 2-1 in a shootout to the Penguins on Saturday. Mikko Rantanen is having a nice start to the season, with six points in his first five games, but the rest of the Stars’ attack has been somewhat inert. It was good to see Tyler Seguin finally score his first goal (and point) of the season against Pittsburgh — the Stars badly need him to provide some additional scoring depth going forward, especially as they embark upon a challenging home-and-home against Colorado on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Scott: Dallas also needs offense from Seguin considering his $9.85-million cap hit is a large reason their depth has been decimated over the past few years.

11. Ottawa Senators

Record: 4-1-0, +4
Last Week: 11th (0)
Mike’s Rank: 8th
Scott’s Rank: 12th

Scott: The Senators just can’t catch a break on the injury front. Artem Zub has been out since the start of the season. Then they lose Jake Sanderson in the first game of the season. Then new addition William Eklund is out for an extended period of time. Props to the rest of the team for holding down the fort despite all the injuries, especially Tim Stützle, who has been a new man to start the season. If he keeps up this level of play, the Senators certainly won’t miss Brady Tkachuk.

MIke: Stützle levelling up and becoming a top-five center in the wake of Tkachuk’s departure is the kind of character development I’m here for. Same goes for the Linus Ullmark renaissance — he’s 4-0-0 with a .942 save percentage through four games.

12. Florida Panthers

Record: 2-1-2, -3
Last Week: 6th (-6)
Mike’s Rank: 11th
Scott’s Rank: 14th

Mike: It’s difficult to shake the feeling that these Panthers might just be too old and broken at this point to contend for much of anything. Aleksander Barkov and Brad Marchand are already injured again, a 37-year-old Lars Eller is tied for second in team scoring, and a 36-year-old Jacob Markstrom between the pipes has been arguably the Panthers’ biggest saving grace. Meanwhile, Sam Reinhart has zero points in five games, as does prized offseason addition Brady Tkachuk. They’ll probably be fine in the end, but these Panthers aren’t off to a terrific start by any means.

13. Seattle Kraken

Record: 4-2-0, +9
Last Week: 17th (+4)
Mike’s Rank: 16th
Scott’s Rank: 11th

Scott: It feels weird to have the notoriously mediocre Kraken even this high up on the list, but so far this season, they haven’t looked half bad. They’ve had a surprisingly strong offense, with nine players already at the five-point mark, and they’ve gotten reliable goaltending from Joey Daccord and Philipp Grubauer to boot. They haven’t exactly beaten tough competition so far (the best team of their four wins is a slow-starting Caps squad), so I’m not sold on them yet, but you can only play the games in front of you.

Mike: The Kraken have a good record, but it’s skewed by the fact that they beat the Flames twice. They’re not great.

14. Washington Capitals

Record: 3-2-0, +3
Last Week: 14th (0)
Mike’s Rank: 14th
Scott’s Rank: 13th

Mike: Alex Ovechkin scored his first goal of the 2026-27 season (and the 930th of his career) in Washington’s 5-3 loss to Seattle on Sunday. The game also featured the first Capitals goal for Jordan Kyrou, who has gotten off to a disappointing start in his new locale. The Caps are ridiculously deep up front, but they don’t necessarily have the true elite talent that some of their main rivals do, and that’s been reflected in their early scoring distribution: Tom Wilson currently leads the team with five points in five games.

15. Winnipeg Jets

Record: 3-1-1, -2
Last Week: 20th (+5)
Mike’s Rank: 15th
Scott’s Rank: 16th

Mike: Stuart Skinner has been absolutely fantastic in his first three outings with the Jets, going 2-0-1 with a .920 SV% and just eight goals against. Meanwhile, Kyle Connor is doing everything he can to show that American players aren’t naturally allergic to playing in Winnipeg. He’s been fantastic in the early stages, scoring six goals in five games and establishing himself as a true leader for this group. I’m rooting for these Jets to show they don’t need Connor Hellebuyck to be successful, and the early results are highly promising.

16. Boston Bruins

Record: 4-2-0, +7
Last Week: 19th (+3)
Mike’s Rank: 12th
Scott’s Rank: 20th

Scott: Much like last week, we’re still looking at the same Bruins team from last year. Their play has been fine (actually, it’s an improvement from last year), but otherwise they’ve been carried by elite goaltending from Jeremy Swayman (he’s second in 5v5 goals saved above expected with 6.38 behind the now-injured Shesterkin) and David Pastrnak’s seven points. Charlie McAvoy is back in the lineup on Tuesday after his six-game suspension, so hopefully that will help elevate the rest of their roster to the level of their two stars.

17. Pittsburgh Penguins

Record: 3-2-1, +5
Last Week: 3rd (-14)
Mike’s Rank: 17th
Scott’s Rank: 18th

Mike: The Penguins have taken back-to-back games to the shootout, losing in Columbus on Friday before winning against Dallas on Saturday. It’s a minor miracle that the Pens still have a winning record despite Sidney Crosby playing some of the worst hockey of his career, with just two points and a minus-4 record through six games. Thank goodness for Erik Karlsson, who still looks like a true No. 1 defenseman at age 36.

Scott: Crosby has had slow starts in the past, but even for a player of his talent, 39 is pretty old by NHL standards. Ovechkin started to show signs of slowing down at 38, by comparison (although he bounced back during his age-39 season). I’m not calling the morgue about Crosby’s career just yet, but you do have to wonder when Father Time comes for Sid the Kid.

18. St. Louis Blues

Record: 2-2-1, -2
Last Week: 25th (+7)
Mike’s Rank: 19th
Scott’s Rank: 17th

Scott: I’m a bit surprised that my system spit out the Blues nearly 10 spots higher than last week after going 1-1-1, but they at least managed strong underlying numbers, especially in the two losses. That said, I would take these results with a grain of salt, as they came against three middling-at-best teams in the Blackhawks, Sharks and Blue Jackets. I’ll need to see how they play against much better teams before I make up my mind with this squad.

19. New York Islanders

Record: 2-3-0, +3
Last Week: 16th (-3)
Mike’s Rank: 18th
Scott’s Rank: 19th

Scott: The Isles have had an inconsistent start to the season, but one thing that has been apparent through five games is how much their offense needs Mathew Barzal. Bo Horvat and Matthew Schaefer are on an island right now in the offensive zone (no pun intended, I swear), and with so many of the veterans struggling, they need Barzal’s speed and vision if they want to keep up in the playoff race as the season goes along. Logan Stanley is tied for third in scoring, for Pete’s sake! That’s not a good look at all!

Mike: Random stat of the day: Ondrej Palat has a 66.36% 5v5 xGF% through five games, via Natural Stat Trick. That’s 10 percentage points higher than any other Islanders player — and in the exact same sample of games. How is that even possible?

20. New Jersey Devils

Record: 2-2-0, -4
Last Week: 23rd (+3)
Mike’s Rank: 20th
Scott’s Rank: 21st

Mike: The Devils have only played in four games, but they’re coming off a reasonably convincing win over the Canucks on Saturday that should give them a much-needed momentum boost entering a busy week ahead. Unfortunately, they’re still looking for contributions from Anthony Mantha, Evan Rodrigues, and Dawson Mercer, who don’t have a single point between them to date. Mantha and Rodrigues were two of Sunny Mehta’s biggest offseason additions, while Mercer is a three-time 20-goal scorer whose ice time is way down this season.

Scott: To be fair, Rodrigues has contributed… on the penalty sheet. That high stick was a nasty one, and for Rodrigues, it’s a “welcome to playing for any team that isn’t the Panthers” moment, as he learns that not every team gets away with that kind of stuff as much as Florida did.

21. Detroit Red Wings

Record: 1-3-1, -5
Last Week: 28th (+7)
Mike’s Rank: 27th
Scott’s Rank: 15th

Scott: If we were going off of their off-ice shenanigans, the Red Wings would be an easy bottom-five team. But on the ice, they’re surprisingly okay. They’re currently ninth in 5v5 xGF% at 54.5%, and if not for some horrendous goaltending, they’d probably have more than just the one win on the season. Even if he’s not long for Detroit, Dylan Larkin has been great since his return and really made a difference with the team. If they can figure something out with Simon Edvinsson, maybe the Wings can make a run at a playoff spot when they were written off to start the year.

Mike: Larkin’s current play reminds me of Matt Duchene’s farewell run with the Avalanche at the start of the 2017-18 season. When you badly want a trade, the best way to get one is by showing up and giving your absolute best every night until it comes. Looking at you, Hellebuyck.

Scott: To be fair to Hellebuyck, it sounds like his and his family’s safety was a notable part of his reasoning for not playing in Winnipeg this season. It’s not the most effective way to get out, but I don’t entirely blame him for not sticking around either.

22. Toronto Maple Leafs

Record: 3-2-1, +2
Last Week: 24th (+2)
Mike’s Rank: 21st
Scott’s Rank: 24th

Mike: It was a bit of a shock to see the Leafs trounce the Avalanche by a 6-3 score on Saturday, but that’s what happens when your stars come to play. William Nylander had five points, Auston Matthews scored a pair of goals, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 30 saves in the win. Unfortunately, Chris Tanev had to leave the game early with an apparent injury, and as we saw last season, the Leafs aren’t always equipped to make do without their top shutdown defender. At the very least, expect to see Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s average ice time jump way up.

Scott: Nylander is tied for fourth in scoring and Matthews is tied for sixth with Nathan MacKinnon. It’s nice to see the Leafs’ elite players back in the scoring race (although Matthews is still lagging behind a tad in the goal-scoring department). It’s also been nice to see Gavin McKenna already find his stride in the league. After so much ink spilled about his quiet first three games, he’s already tied for the lead in rookie scoring. Considering the slow starts from his fellow Calder frontrunners in Porter Martone and Ivar Stenberg, this is a promising start for McKenna in the awards race.

23. Columbus Blue Jackets

Record: 2-2-0, -1
Last Week: 22nd (-1)
Mike’s Rank: 23rd
Scott’s Rank: 23rd

Scott: I feel like I haven’t heard a thing out of Columbus after their season-opening win when new-addition Matthew Knies started off hot with two goals and three points. So I’m not all that surprised to not only see that they’ve only played four games to start the year and have also been just okay in those few games. It’s nice to see them using Kent Johnson again, so hopefully that’s a sign of them leaning on their youth more this year after how things went last year with Dean Evason and Rick Bowness.

Mike: On another Columbus-related note, I’ve liked what I’ve seen from Cayden Lindstrom in the early goings of his second NCAA season at Michigan State. Rooting for him to have a big bounce-back year.

24. Buffalo Sabres

Record: 2-3-0, -8
Last Week: 15th (-9)
Mike’s Rank: 24th
Scott’s Rank: 22nd

Mike: The Sabres aren’t off to a great start. They capped off their week with back-to-back losses at home against Dallas and Utah, putting them below .500 with a minus-8 goal differential. Konsta Helenius, Josh Norris, Ryan McLeod, and Zach Benson each have one point through the Sabres’ first five games; Josh Doan has zero. If there’s any consolation here, it’s that Owen Power is playing some fantastic hockey, averaging north of 26 minutes per night and tying for the team scoring lead with five points.

25. Montreal Canadiens

Record: 2-2-1, -4
Last Week: 12th (-13)
Mike’s Rank: 22nd
Scott’s Rank: 27th

Scott: I see it took Mike all of two weeks to give up on the Canadiens. But in his defense, even as the person who is the most bearish on the Habs, I wasn’t expecting them to look this sloppy to start the year. Their two wins so far this season were against a Leafs team with numerous new players playing their first regular season game together and a Red Wings team on the second half of a back-to-back, and even then, neither win was an overwhelming performance. We’re not at a high level of concern for Montreal yet, but they certainly don’t inspire confidence for everyone anointing them Stanley Cup champions before the start of the year.

Mike: I think the Habs will be fine, but it’s tough to rank them much higher than this after their lukewarm start to the season. They need a lot more from Juraj Slafkovsky, who has just one point in his first five games.

26. Nashville Predators

Record: 2-1-2, 0
Last Week: 27th (+1)
Mike’s Rank: 26th
Scott’s Rank: 26th

Scott: The Preds’ road trip through Eastern Canada was a chaotic one, as they blew a 3-0 lead to the Maple Leafs to drop that game in overtime, came back from down 2-0 to the Canadiens to win 5-2, and then blew another multi-goal lead to the Senators, this time a 2-0 lead to lose 3-2 in a shootout. There are plenty of inconsistencies with this Predators team, which shouldn’t be a surprise when they’ve barely improved on the rosters of the past two years.

27. San Jose Sharks

Record: 3-2-0, -4
Last Week: 18th (-9)
Mike’s Rank: 25th
Scott’s Rank: 28th

Scott: If the Sharks were hoping their offseason moves would help them take that next step in their rebuild, we haven’t seen it in the early going. Their offense has struggled to generate chances when Macklin Celebrini isn’t on the ice, their defense has been horrific, and their goaltending hasn’t been much better. They have a winning record for now, but they’ll need to see some significant improvements if they want to continue to move forward.

Mike: I think the Sharks’ underlyings will normalize to a degree, but they’re still very much a work in progress. I did enjoy seeing Darnell Nurse score the OT winner against the Blues on Thursday, though. Sure, he’s rocking a 5v5 xGF% of, uh, 28.57%, but you’ve got to take the positives when they come.

28. Los Angeles Kings

Record: 0-2-2, -7
Last Week: 26th (-2)
Mike’s Rank: 29th
Scott’s Rank: 25th

Mike: The Kings haven’t won a game yet, although they’ve only played four of them so far. They’re a very, very old team without many redeeming qualities. Anze Kopitar isn’t there anymore. Only one player on the entire team has more than one goal, and it’s Artemi Panarin with three. Their goaltending is pretty bad. I don’t know what else I expected — after all, they’re the Kings — but it isn’t going very well.

Scott: I figured the Kings would at least mediocrely drift around playoff contention again, but I’m not stunned that they’ve fallen flat out of the gate like they have.

29. Vancouver Canucks

Record: 2-5-0, -11
Last Week: 29th (0)
Mike’s Rank: 28th
Scott’s Rank: 32nd

Mike: For the first time in a long time, the Canucks are kinda fun. At the very least, Elias Pettersson seems to be having fun again, and that’s all that matters. The only thing preventing this Canucks team from being higher in the standings is their goaltending — Kevin Lankinen has been absurdly awful, posting a .786 save percentage in six games en route to a 1-5-0 record. If Thatcher Demko were healthy, these Canucks might actually be able to string a few wins together. But as it stands … welp.

30. Chicago Blackhawks

Record: 1-5-0, -14
Last Week: 32nd (+2)
Mike’s Rank: 30th
Scott’s Rank: 31st

Mike: This team is awful. As surprising as it may seem (to some), Patrick Kane wasn’t the answer for these Blackhawks — he has just two points through six games and is a minus-8. Neither was Bowen Byram, who is also a minus-8 and has no points at all. Chicago was never going to win a ton of games without Connor Bedard, but it’s downright inexcusable that their supporting cast is still as weak as it is. Might be time for a new GM.

Scott: They don’t have a single player above 45% in 5v5 xGF% so far. And their closest candidate, Frank Nazar with 44.92%, is currently serving a two-game suspension. That is horrendous. At least it sounds like Bedard may be back at some point during this road trip.

31. Philadelphia Flyers

Record: 0-5-2, -20
Last Week: 30th (-1)
Mike’s Rank: 31st
Scott’s Rank: 30th

Mike: Yikes, what a mess. The Flyers can’t score, Dan Vladar isn’t giving them any saves, and their head coach appears to have zero appetite to play the likes of Porter Martone, Denver Barkey, and Alex Bump. Remember when Martone was the runaway Calder Trophy frontrunner? Here we are, seven games into the season, and he has exactly one point while averaging 13:35 of ice time per night. The only silver lining for these Flyers is that they haven’t been shut out since opening night, but just barely — they’ve scored exactly one goal in each of their last four games.

32. Calgary Flames

Record: 0-5-0, -19
Last Week: 31st (-1)
Mike’s Rank: 32nd
Scott’s Rank: 29th

Mike: Five games, five regulation losses. There’s not much more to say than that. Matt Coronato looks pretty good, I guess? Dustin Wolf certainly doesn’t, nor does Devin Cooley. The Flames probably deserve at least a couple wins by now — their underlying numbers are actually pretty decent — but it’s awfully difficult to stop the bleeding when you can’t finish to save your life. My question, Scott, is why you don’t have the league’s only zero-point team in last?

Scott: Their fourth-ranked 5v5 XGF/60 and second-ranked PK xGA/60 is doing a ton of heavy lifting with this team.

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