NHL power rankings: MacKinnon already in Hart Trophy form as Avalanche take top spot

Oct 20, 2025, 09:27 EDT

NHL power rankings: MacKinnon already in Hart Trophy form as Avalanche take top spot

Credit: Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon (29) celebrates his goal during the first period against the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center. Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images

Week 2 has come and gone, but we still aren’t any closer to figuring out most teams to start the season. While some teams like the Avalanche, Hurricanes and Sharks are performing as expected, the Red Wings and Kraken have gotten off to surprising starts, while the Lightning and Senators have disappointed thus far. What’s real life? What’s fantasy? We can’t escape the reality of the new season just yet.

Hunter and I begin to navigate through the results so far this season with another year of our co-op power rankings. I have my same old system in which I aggregate six stats (points %, 5-on-5 goal differential, 5-on-5 xGF/60, 5-on-5 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 my own biases, along with a rule that 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. On the other hand, Hunter goes off his own intellect and pure vibes, and together we find a way to combine it and meet in the middle.

And be warned: the chaotic nature of the start of the season will result in some interesting rankings to start the season, particularly in the numbers on my end. While I’d like to think Hunter’s rankings, still based on expectations and mine, based on the scattered reality so far, clash in a way that best sums up the season, people definitely won’t be happy.

1. Colorado Avalanche

Record: 5-0-1, +11
Last Week: 5th (+4)
Hunter’s Rank: 1st
Scott’s Rank: 2nd

Hunter: Last week, I waxed poetic over Nathan MacKinnon and Martin Necas going beastmode and helping each other: A) Win the MacKinnon the Hart Trophy, and B) Earn Necas a massive contract. So far, that prediction is coming true, with both players already at the 10-point mark and Cale Makar not far behind. Even Gabriel Landeskog, who has two assists so far, is back to barking at teammates and opponents both on the ice and bench, bringing a presence that’s been missing in Colorado since 2022.

2. Carolina Hurricanes

Record: 5-0-0, +12
Last Week: 4th (+2)
Hunter’s Rank: 3rd
Scott’s Rank: 1st

Scott: Very rarely is the team with the best record so early on also the best team, but this is the case with the Canes. They’ve been cruising to wins so far this year, and there does feel like a different vibe to them so far, but It’s Early™ and their real test is the postseason. But the East is wide open this year, so it could be Their Year™. It’s impressive that they’ve started off so hot while Nikolaj Ehlers and Andrei Svechnikov are the only players to play all five games and not get a point.

Hunter: Do our bosses take something out of your salary to pay for using those trademarks, or are they happy to pay it themselves? You know Hockey Cliches Ltd. ® have the same lawyers as Disney.

3. Vegas Golden Knights

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

Scott: I know Vegas is known for their circuses, but the Golden Knights didn’t need to bring such a massive elephant into the room. There were a lot of good vibes so far this season, and while the on-ice play has been strong, it’s hard to give this team a ton of credit when they’ve disrupted those good vibes for absolutely no reason by signing Carter Hart. While he was found not guilty of his alleged crimes, it’s alienated a good portion of the fanbase, all for a goalie with *checks notes* a career .906 save percentage. At least with the Ducks and Quenneville, there was a resume worth the PR disaster and enough time removed from the incident where there could have been some reflection and growth. Hopefully Hart plays terribly (like you would expect a mediocre goaltender having not played for almost two years to play like) and never even gets a contract, but if he does, the team deserves all bad things coming their way. Of course, the world is cruel, so Vegas will win the Cup again this year. Yuck.

4. Washington Capitals

Record: 4-2-0, +5
Last Week: 6th (+2)
Hunter’s Rank: 6th
Scott’s Rank: 4th

Scott: I don’t really have a lot to say about the Capitals early on, because they’re performing exactly as I would have expected. They were never going to maintain their offense from last season and have seen a few players like Alex Ovechkin, Connor McMichael and Pierre-Luc Dubois start off slow;y in regression, although the likes of Tom Wilson, Dylan Strome and Aliaksei Protas are still holding strong. With a 4-2-0 record, they aren’t red hot, but they’re still in playoff contention.

Hunter: Has Ovechkin scored No. 900 yet? No? Well jeez, dude. Hurry up. In all seriousness, one thing I wanted to point out was that Jakob Chychrun looks like a beast so far and is on my shortlist for “players who will break their career highs in 2025-26,” which is funny because he set his own career high in goals and points last season. Can he hit 50 points this year? I say yes.

5. New Jersey Devils

Record: 4-1-0, +4
Last Week: 11th (+6)
Hunter’s Rank: 5th
Scott’s Rank: 11th

Hunter: Jack Hughes, Jesper Bratt and Nico Hischier are holding up their end of the bargain in terms of production, but it’s Dawson Mercer who has seen a pep in his step through the first two weeks. After recording 27 goals and 56 points in 2022-23, just his second year in the league, he took a step backward in the next two seasons and had some wondering if the 2020 first-round pick would be able to get back to early form. So far, he’s got three goals and five points through five games, along with a 2.1 xG, ranking third on the team. If he can be a weapon for the Devils, they could be right there with the Hurricanes in the Metropolitan Division.

6. Dallas Stars

Record: 3-2-0, +1
Last Week: 2nd (-4)
Hunter’s Rank: 7th
Scott’s Rank: 10th

Hunter: While the Stars are only 3-2-0 through their first five games, their stars are playing like stars. Mikko Rantanen, Jason Robertson and Wyatt Johnston are producing. Roope Hintz is making passes that make you laugh out loud. Both Thomas Harley and Miko Heiskanen are generating offense from the blueline. It’s too early to really make declarative statements (unless it’s the Sharks) but the Stars already look close to mid-season form.

7. Utah Mammoth

Record: 4-2-0, +4
Last Week: 24th (+17)
Hunter’s Rank: 13th
Scott’s Rank: 5th

Hunter: Don’t look now, but the Mammoth have won three straight and the beast known as Clayton Keller has awoken. Coming off a career-high 90-point season in 2024-25, Keller started the year with one assist through his first four games. But after a four-point effort against the Sharks, he capped off the week with a two-point performance in a 4-2 win over the Bruins on Sunday. The Mammoth will face good tests in Colorado, St. Louis, Minnesota and Winnipeg this week.

Scott: It’s rare that a team makes or breaks their season so early in the year, but this week’s stretch will certainly give us a better feel for where this Mammoth team is at. But I agree with Hunter, this team looks wicked to start the year and is poised to be a strong threat this year.

8. Montreal Canadiens

Record: 4-2-0, +3
Last Week: 8th (0)
Hunter’s Rank: 12th
Scott’s Rank: 9th

Hunter: Cole Caufield may have had the best week of anyone in the league. Not only did he have back-to-back two-goal performances against the Kraken and Predators, but he had back-to-back game-winning goals in overtime. After finishing with a career-high of 37 last season, Caufield is on pace to become the Canadiens’ first 40-goal scorer since Vincent Damphousse achieved the feat in 1993-94. Also: the vibes in Montreal right now? Immaculate.

9. Winnipeg Jets

Record: 4-1-0, +9
Last Week: 16th (+7)
Hunter’s Rank: 4th
Scott’s Rank: 18th

Hunter: I can already tell the “The Jets are frauds” narrative is going to stick around in these parts of the woods. That’s fine, their playoff results and the performance of their future Hall of Fame netminder dictate that. But there’s no arguing their regular-season success. This past week, Winnipeg won three straight and saw bursts from Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor and Nino Niederreiter, all of whom recorded points in all three games. There’s plenty of time to overanalyze and agonise and criticize, but let’s rationalise: the Jets are good.

Scott: I mean, I wouldn’t call the team ranked last in xGF/60 a good team. They should be a good team, but that is not a good performance even if you want to chalk it up to a small sample size. It does impress me how Scheifele and Connor have managed to maintain almost no play-driving ability in their careers up to this point.

10. Detroit Red Wings

Record: 5-1-0, +6
Last Week: 22nd (+12)
Hunter’s Rank: 16th
Scott’s Rank: 7th

Scott: Detroit certainly doesn’t look horrible early on. Even with Lucas Raymond out, Dylan Larkin has been red hot to start the season, and Cam Talbot has already stolen the starting job that seemed like John Gibson’s to lose. The Red Wings certainly have holes on their blueline, but it’s still the deepest they’ve had in years, which in turn means Moritz Seider isn’t facing the toughest competition in the league (right after I wrote about exactly that, no less). And most importantly, they learned their lesson with Travis Hamonic really quickly. I still want to wait and see how this team keeps playing, but their record is a bit more legitimate than one might think.

Hunter: All the credit to the Red Wings, they’ve looked really good through the first few weeks. Even Sunday, they were outhustling the Oilers on puck battles and generating high-quality chances on an Edmonton team desperate for a win. With the Senators dealing with a massive injury up front (more on that later), there just might be some space for Detroit to compete for a playoff spot in March and April.

11. Edmonton Oilers

Record: 2-3-1, -3
Last Week: 3rd (-8)
Hunter’s Rank: 9th
Scott’s Rank: 15th

Hunter: I’m writing this now to remind everyone to refill their salbutamol inhaler prescriptions and take deep breaths: Connor McDavid is the best player in the world, and him not scoring a goal through the first six games of the season doesn’t change that. The Oilers are famous for their slow starts, and I’m willing to give the benefit of the doubt to a team that made it to two consecutive Stanley Cup Final appearances. If McDavid hasn’t scored by NEXT Sunday … then we’ll talk.

12. New York Rangers

Record: 3-3-1, +3
Last Week: 9th (-3)
Hunter’s Rank: 19th
Scott’s Rank: 6th

Scott: If you want to buy some Rangers stock, now is exactly the time to do it. While they can’t seem to figure out how to score a goal at home, their numbers under the hood are the best they’ve looked with this current Rangers core. While you sometimes should ignore that early in the season, Mike Sullivan deserves more credit than that. He did the exact same thing with the Penguins when he took over in 2015-16, and the Pens were even driving play in recent seasons when they stopped making the playoffs. This was the one element of the Rangers that made them a paper tiger during their peak years, so if they can keep this up while returning to form, look out.

13. Seattle Kraken

Record: 3-0-2, +2
Last Week: 25th (+12)
Hunter’s Rank: 18th
Scott’s Rank: 8th

Scott: The Kraken still haven’t lost in regulation, and two of their three wins came against the Golden Knights and the Maple Leafs, so you can’t complain about that start. Fittingly, their defensive metrics are good, while their offensive metrics are subpar, which just about lives up to the brand Seattle has established in their brief history. Vince Dunn has really stepped up his game so far this season, while Shane Wright keeps getting better and better.

Hunter: Came here to echo that sentiment regarding Wright. It felt like he made some good plays against the Canadiens and Senators, and seeing him score against the Maple Leafs gave commentators the ability to remind hockey fans that not only was this guy a former projected No. 1 pick, but he quietly remains one of the more talented players in the game.

14. Florida Panthers

Record: 3-4-0, -5
Last Week: 1st (-13)
Hunter’s Rank: 8th
Scott’s Rank: 21st

Scott: I wouldn’t say the Panthers’ 3-0-0 start is indication of what this team is right now without Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk just as I wouldn’t say the same about their 0-4-0 stretch right after that. Sam Bennett has struggled in the shutdown role, and that’s affected Sam Reinhart and Carter Verhaeghe as well. I think the weirdest thing about this team early on is how Brad Marchand and Anton Lundell have been so productive with six and five points, while linemate Eetu Luostarinen has zero points. Early-season sample sizes are weird.

15. St. Louis Blues

Record: 3-2-0, -3
Last Week: 20th (+5)
Hunter’s Rank: 14th
Scott’s Rank: 19th

Hunter: On one hand, the Blues earned decisive victories over the Canucks and Stars last week, with strong performances from Jimmy Snuggerud and Jordan Binnington. On the other, you gave up eight goals to the Blackhawks. Yes, the Chicago Blackhawks. You can blame it on backup netminder Joel Hofer, but typically, teams play better defense in front of backups. If that loss was over the weekend, it would leave a bad taste in my mouth, but since it was midweek and they responded by beating Dallas, they get a pass.

16. Toronto Maple Leafs

Record: 3-2-1, +2
Last Week: 18th (+2)
Hunter’s Rank: 11th
Scott’s Rank: 22nd

Scott: I wouldn’t say the Leafs have started off their season in alarmingly bad fashion. In fact, they’ve played exactly how I expected a team that was mediocre last season but played above their weight and was due for some regression while also losing a superstar two-way winger would be playing. But when your goalie (and so far the MVP of the team) is calling you out two weeks into the season, it’s not a great look. I will say, I’ve loved how Easton Cowan has performed on the top line with Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies. But I won’t sing Cowan’s praises too much here because I may or may not have a piece on his coming up this week #shamelessplug.

Hunter: Shameless Plug would be a great name for an electronics store owned by a braggadocious gentleman.

17. Anaheim Ducks

Record: 2-2-1, -4
Last Week: 10th (-7)
Hunter’s Rank: 20th
Scott’s Rank: 13th

Scott: Remember last week when I was excited about how the Ducks were playing, but warned that they only played the Kraken and Sharks? Shockingly, they’ve struggled a bit more after playing a Penguins team that can punch a bit above their weight class on any given night, a dominant Canes team, and a Blackhawks team that’s been slightly better than expected. Looks like a classic case of early-season small-sample size!

18. Pittsburgh Penguins

Record: 4-2-0, +3
Last Week: 21st (+3)
Hunter’s Rank: 21st
Scott’s Rank: 14th

Hunter: The Penguins have won some games, and four-out-of-five dentists agree that winning games is more fun than losing them (we can’t confirm all dentists would agree with that, hence only four agreeing). No one is doing cartwheels for beating up on a struggling Kings group and the bottom-feeding Sharks, but as Uncle Junior once told Tony, “You find your pleasures where you can.” At some point, Pittsburgh is going to hit the rocks. For now, just steer the ship.

Scott: I think the one dentist that disagrees worked for the Oakland Athletics.

19. Vancouver Canucks

Record: 4-2-0, +3
Last Week: 26th (+7)
Hunter’s Rank: 23rd
Scott’s Rank: 12th

Hunter: It’s time for the first edition of this season’s “We Are So Back O-Meter,” this time starring the Canucks. After a ping-pong start in week one, Vancouver has won three straight, two against playoff teams. The game against the Stars felt like a barnburner you’d see in the playoffs, with the Canucks going down 2-0 early then storming back to take a 4-2 lead, holding on to win 5-3. Despite getting outplayed Sunday against the Capitals, Thatcher Demko showed flashes of his old self, stopping 28 of 31 and holding off a late third-period comeback from Washington to win. I wouldn’t give the Canucks a full 10 on the “We Are So Back O-Meter,” but the temperature is rising!

Scott: With such a glowing review about the Canucks, you would think that you were the one who ranked them 12th while my 23rd ranking held them down this far in the list. And yet, it’s the other way around. You know you are allowed to deviate from last year’s standings when making your rankings, right?

20. Tampa Bay Lightning

Record: 1-3-2, -5
Last Week: 14th (-6)
Hunter’s Rank: 10th
Scott’s Rank: 25th

Scott: This team is really missing Mikhail Sergachev. I already talked about the footspeed of the Lightning’s blueline last week, but they also lack an offensive gamebreaker on defense beyond Victor Hedman to support a talented forward group. Andrei Vasilevskiy isn’t going to have an .886 save percentage all season, but there are some concerning trends with Tampa Bay that have me hesitating to continue to call them a Stanley Cup contender.

21. Ottawa Senators

Record: 2-4-0, -10
Last Week: 12th (-9)
Hunter’s Rank: 15th
Scott’s Rank: 24th

Hunter: It felt like even the most objective hockey pundit would sympathize with the Senators this past week, as captain Brady Tkachuk underwent surgery on his thumb and will be out six to eight weeks, leaving fans wondering what’s next for an Ottawa squad that’s lost four of its last five games. Shane Pinto may have a league-leading seven goals, but after Dylan Cozens and his three, it’s slim pickings. Tim Stutzle and Drake Batherson will need to pick up the load for a Sens team that needs to catch up before they fall too behind.

22. Columbus Blue Jackets

Record: 2-3-0, -1
Last Week: 15th (-7)
Hunter’s Rank: 24th
Scott’s Rank: 16th

Hunter: Credit to the Blue Jackets for defeating a frazzled Lightning squad on Saturday. No team wants to face the Stars and Capitals with a three-game losing streak. Kirill Marchenko is on pace for 82 goals – I know, I know – but he’s a man on a mission through the first two weeks of the season. The only problem? He’s the only player who has really scored for Columbus, with only one other potting more than one. We’re only a handful of games into the season, but the Blue Jackets need to find goals soon.

23. Nashville Predators

Record: 2-2-2, -4
Last Week: 19th (-4)
Hunter’s Rank: 27th
Scott’s Rank: 17th

Hunter: I rewatched chunks of each Predators game this week, and here’s what I concluded: nothing. It feels like this team is unreadable. Against the Sens, they were outplayed but three late third-period goals got them the win; against the Leafs, they were badly outplayed and lost handily, then last Saturday, they were all over the Jets but two quick first-period goals took them out of it. I feel like there’s a kernel of potential in there, but I’m not sure it will ever pop.

24. Los Angeles Kings

Record: 1-3-2, -7
Last Week: 23rd (-1)
Hunter’s Rank: 22nd
Scott’s Rank: 23rd

Hunter: The past week couldn’t have gone any worse for the Kings. They lost captain Anze Kopitar to injury during Monday’s shootout loss to the Wild, then proceeded to lose two more times to the Penguins and Hurricanes, respectively. Getting two points in a winless week is something, but it hasn’t been a good start for the team from Hollywood.

Scott: At least they’ve already moved on from the Cody Ceci-Brian Dumoulin experiment and spread those two throughout the lineup. Still, I have low expectations for this Kings squad even with a healthy Kopitar unless we see more of a breakout from Quinton Byfield and Brandt Clarke.

25. Minnesota Wild

Record: 2-3-1, -5
Last Week: 17th (-8)
Hunter’s Rank: 17th
Scott’s Rank: 29th

Scott: The Wild’s limited success so far this season has almost entirely been from their power play, which shouldn’t be a surprise considering how red hot it was to start. As it’s cooled down slightly, the team has struggled a bit more, even to the point that they cost me a life in the Daily Faceoff Survivor Pool against the Flyers. Thanks guys!

26. Philadelphia Flyers

Record: 2-2-1, -1
Last Week: 28th (+2)
Hunter’s Rank: 30th
Scott’s Rank: 20th

Hunter: Hey now, did you see the Flyers’ win over the Panthers? No? You didn’t? Well that’s too bad, because you missed a 2017-20 era Sean Couturier performance out of the Philadelphia captain, scoring twice and adding two assists. The Flyers also gave the Wild a tough performance on Saturday, suffocating all offense and forcing overtime, where Noah Cates scored to get the win. They’ve got points in three of their five games, people!!!

27. Boston Bruins

Record: 3-4-0, -1
Last Week: 13th (-14)
Hunter’s Rank: 26th
Scott’s Rank: 28th

Scott: After a surprisingly hot start, the Bruins have already fallen back down to Earth and have a more modest record to support their underlying numbers that fall more in line with the expectations of this roster. David Pastrnak and Jeremy Swayman are the lone bright spots on this squad, and it feels like any success the Bruins have this year will be driven by those two.

28. New York Islanders

Record: 2-3-0, -3
Last Week: 31st (+3)
Hunter’s Rank: 28th
Scott’s Rank: 27th

Scott: I know I waxed poetic about Matthew Schaefer last week, but it’s stunning how at home he already is in the NHL given his limited playing time last season. He became the second-youngest defenseman in NHL history to score a goal last week, and his defensive game already looks better than some of his experienced teammates’ (although it’s not really an accomplishment to be better than Tony DeAngelo defensively). The rest of the team is still “who cares,” but Schaefer will make the Islanders appointment viewing soon enough.

29. Calgary Flames

Record: 1-5-0, -14
Last Week: 27th (-2)
Hunter’s Rank: 25th
Scott’s Rank: 31st

Scott: It appears our colleague Mike Gould had the right idea about the Flames in our preseason power rankings: they kind of stink. Their offense has somehow been worse than last season, and while their defense is still fine, Dustin Wolf has struggled to start the year to overshadow that. This team is exactly what we expected them to be last season, and they may have picked the right year to be bad.

30. Chicago Blackhawks

Record: 3-2-2, +4
Last Week: 32nd (+2)
Hunter’s Rank: 31st
Scott’s Rank: 26th

Scott: Credit where it’s due, the Blackhawks have improved ever so slightly this season. They still aren’t going to sniff the playoffs this season barring a miracle, but they at least look like a team that can play competitive hockey every game. Frank Nazar has been a big help there with his fast start, and Connor Bedard is also looking a bit more like the superstar many anticipated he would be right out of the gate. They at least won’t be a depressing watch for a city as lovely as Chicago.

Hunter: Just want to give a quick shoutout to Ryan Donato, who in the last two seasons has been my favorite Blackhawk to report on. He’s relentless along the boards with a motor that must be powered by the Energizer Bunny. Seeing him sign a long-term deal with Chicago, then score in three consecutive games this week, including the OT-winner Sunday night against the Ducks, has been a joy. Even if you don’t cheer for a team, cheer for good people.

31. Buffalo Sabres

Record: 2-3-0, -1
Last Week: 30th (-1)
Hunter’s Rank: 29th
Scott’s Rank: 30th

Hunter: Obviously an 0-3-0 start left Sabres’ fans with a bad taste in their mouths, and despite following that up with two wins, including a 3-0 victory over the defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers on Saturday, expecting anything other than another season missing the playoffs would be foolish. But it might work this time.

Scott: I remember watching their win over the Senators on Wednesday and seeing their top-six without Josh Norris and with Zach Benson making his season debut, and thinking “this may actually be their optimal top six right now.” Lo and behold, Benson has five assists since returning, Josh Doan has two goals and five points in those two games and McLeod had both of his two goals in the win over the Sens. There’s potential here, they just have to avoid Buffaloing it.

32. San Jose Sharks

Record: 0-3-2, -12
Last Week: 29th (-3)
Hunter’s Rank: 32nd
Scott’s Rank: 32nd

Scott: Well, at least the Sharks aren’t losing in embarrassing fashion like they were last season. That said, they are still the league’s only winless team after two weeks, and they haven’t been nearly as fun of a watch as they were last season. But as someone who’s in their fourth year doing power rankings, I feel bad continuing to rank the Sharks this low, especially as Chicago may be on the precipice of escaping consistently being at the bottom. Now imagine if this continues for the next two seasons and they manage to get Gavin McKenna and Landon DuPont? Woof.

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