NHL power rankings: Seven-game point streak vaults Mammoth ahead in playoff race
With Hunter Crowther
The story of this season has clearly been the parity amongst most of the teams, as they just couldn’t find a way to create space. But recently, we’ve seen the gaps start to form and teams now bunching up in smaller groups. How do I know? This week’s power rankings may have been the most I’ve had to enforce the five-point rule in its four-year history. You can’t have close standings if a large number of teams are more than five points behind other teams! Or maybe that’s just an indication that several good teams are losing and lots of bad teams are winning.
Hunter Crowther and I navigate through the 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.
1. Colorado Avalanche
Record: 33-5-8, +75
Last Week: 1st (0)
Hunter’s Rank: 1st
Scott’s Rank: 1st
Scott: For what I think is the first time this season, the Avalanche have not won a game in a calendar week. Yes, they only played two games, and one went to overtime, but we are in unprecedented times with this Avalanche team. In fact, the Avalanche have lost four of their last six games. Are they, dare I say, slumping? They can at least take solace in taking home three of our six midseason awards last week (and they were a finalist for one more, four different players too).
Hunter: Is something wrong in Colorado? Has Jared Bednar lost the room?! I’m just asking questions!
Scott: In all honesty, there is probably some correlation to the Avs going 2-2-1 and losing Gabriel Landeskog to injury (2-3-1 if you want to include the Florida game where he played only nine shifts). Greg Wyshynski put it best on The Sheet that Landeskog acts as the base to the acid that is Nathan MacKinnon to the Avalanche’s leadership, so perhaps that’s played a role in their recent “slump.”
2. Carolina Hurricanes
Record: 30-15-4, +27
Last Week: 3rd (+1)
Hunter’s Rank: 3rd
Scott’s Rank: 2nd
Scott: Look, it’s the regular season. Any take with playoff implications really can’t be determined until the playoffs. But the Hurricanes smacking the Panthers 9-1 on Friday is about as close as Carolina can get to taking the Eastern Conference crown from Florida in the regular season. That win was the biggest highlight amidst a 6-1-1 stretch in their last eight games, one that has also seen them never lose the 5v5 expected goal battle, and seen them finish with at least a 58% 5v5 xGF% in seven of the eight games.
3. Tampa Bay Lightning
Record: 30-13-4, +46
Last Week: 2nd (-1)
Hunter’s Rank: 2nd
Scott’s Rank: 3rd
Hunter: The Lightning experienced their first defeat in 2026 with a 3-2 shootout loss to the Blues, which snapped an 11-game winning streak. Not to worry, they started what will likely be another 11-game winning streak with a 4-1 win over the Stars, a game they dominated at even strength. If they didn’t lose six of their first seven games at the start of the season, they would be running away with the Atlantic Division.
Hey, you want a cool stat to tell your coworkers so you seem interesting? In a 28-game span dating back to Nov. 15, Nikita Kucherov has recorded 17 goals and 38 assists for 55 points, going pointless in just three games.
4. Vegas Golden Knights
Record: 24-11-12, +15
Last Week: 6th (+2)
Hunter’s Rank: 4th
Scott’s Rank: 3rd
Hunter: I don’t know if there’s a streakier team in hockey than the Golden Knights. Their Saturday victory against the Preds now gives them seven straight wins, which was preceded by a five-game losing streak, and at different points through the season, they had two four-game winning streaks and two four-game losing streaks. What I’m trying to say is: Vegas is a hard team to read. Adin Hill returned after a nearly three-month absence, and while he gave up five goals in his debut, he will provide some much-needed stability in the Vegas crease.
Oh, and congratulations to Mitch Marner on the win against Toronto. Every professional athlete will tell you a game against their former team is “just another game,” but every professional athlete is a liar.
5. Dallas Stars
Record: 27-13-9, +24
Last Week: 4th (-1)
Hunter’s Rank: 6th
Scott’s Rank: 5th
Scott: The Stars have now lost 10 of their last 12 games, including three of four games last week. While the Lightning are one of the best teams in the league, and the Mammoth have been good in recent weeks, being the team that busted the Ducks’ nine-game losing streak is not a great look for a top team. As a result, first in the division is nearly out of reach, and the only reason Dallas is still in second is because the Wild have been similarly cold recently.
The Stars are in desperate need of an upgrade, especially on the back end, and the biggest name in that regard just got traded to another team in the conference. There are still some decent names like Justin Faulk and Mario Ferraro that are significant upgrades over what Thomas Harley has had to play with, but this isn’t an ideal spot for them to be in.
Hunter: How the hell can a team lose 10 of 12 and still have the fifth-best record in the league!? Yes I know, they were 25-7-5 before this recent skid, but this is still, somehow, Gary Bettman’s fault.
Speaking of available defenseman, I thought Dallas would be a sneaky destination for Rasmus Andersson, even if they could only get him for the rest of the season like what Vegas appears to be doing, but c’est la vie. Hey Jim Nill, might I interest you with a slightly used Dougie Hamilton? Or if the defensive market is thin, someone like Nazem Kadri would fit in nicely — but only if Tyler Seguin’s season is over.
6. Detroit Red Wings
Record: 30-16-4, +4
Last Week: 5th (-1)
Hunter’s Rank: 5th
Scott’s Rank: 6th
Scott: What more is there to even say about the Red Wings at this point? With six wins in their last seven, they keep putting more distance between themselves and most of the fringe playoff teams, and they’re banking more points towards clinching a playoff spot. While the underlying numbers don’t indicate a team that is bordering on top five, they’re at least good enough to be in the playoffs. That said, Steve Yzerman needs to start exploring the trade market. These players have fought many years to get to this point, so try to help them to the finish line or in a way which boosts them in the long term.
7. Edmonton Oilers
Record: 25-17-8, +12
Last Week: 10th (+3)
Hunter’s Rank: 7th
Scott’s Rank: 7th
Scott: I don’t think enough people were talking about Connor McDavid’s 20-game point streak. It was just the seventh time a player maintained a point streak that long in the salary-cap era, and he was averaging more than two points per game in that span with 46 points. If he kept that pace up all season, he’d have 188 points! While he saw that streak end in a 1-0 loss to the Islanders, he got three points over the weekend as Edmonton beat the Canucks and Blues by a combined score of 11-0. And that performance was without Leon Draisaitl, who was away on a leave of absence. This Oilers squad lacks the depth of the past two seasons, they’re slowly rounding back into form.
Hunter: I was able to watch nearly all of Edmonton’s wins over Vancouver and St. Louis last weekend, and McDavid made a dozen or so little plays that left you shaking your head or laughing out loud like a hyena. My god, he’s so good. Having said that, it’s promising to see depth options like Vasily Podkolzin get on the scoresheet with goals in each of their weekend wins.
8. Minnesota Wild
Record: 27-13-9, +15
Last Week: 7th (-1)
Hunter’s Rank: 8th
Scott’s Rank: 8th
Hunter: It’s been a little more than a month since the Wild acquired Quinn Hughes from the Canucks, so let’s take a temperature check: Hughes has held up his end of the bargain, averaging nearly 29 minutes per game and recording 18 points through 17 contests. But Minnesota have lost nearly half their games since he was added to the lineup, going 9-4-4 with five losses in their last seven. Kirill Kaprizov has just two goals in his last 10 games and Matt Boldy only has two in the new year. If Minnesota plans on extending Hughes beyond next season, GM Bill Guerin needs to pull off (at least) one more big trade before the Trade Deadline, especially as the infirmary overflows with Boldy, Joel Eriksson Ek, Jonas Brodin and more injured.
9. Montreal Canadiens
Record: 27-15-7, +4
Last Week: 8th (-1)
Hunter’s Rank: 10th
Scott’s Rank: 9th
Scott: The Canadiens are similar to the Red Wings in that there’s nothing about them that strikes me as a high-end team, but they’re far from bad. While they haven’t been quite as hot lately (they had lost three of four games before their comeback win over the Senators), they’re banking points now and helping themselves in the long run of this playoff race when it feels so much harder to catch up. If their goaltending could just stabilize, this team could truly solidify their standing, especially when Cole Caufield is putting up his best totals yet, Lane Hutson has seen his defensive game take significant strides, and (for all the Habs fans in my mentions for the last year and a half, this one’s for you) Nick Suzuki is playing Selke Trophy-caliber hockey.
10. Pittsburgh Penguins
Record: 22-14-11, +6
Last Week: 9th (-1)
Hunter’s Rank: 12th
Scott’s Rank: 10th
Hunter: The Penguins lost two of three last week, and since their six-game winning streak was snapped on Jan. 10, they have fallen back to Earth. However, one bright spot for Pittsburgh fans with postseason hopes is the play of Stuart Skinner: Since giving up five goals in his first game with the Penguins, he’s posted a .918 SV% and has given up just one goal in four of his past seven starts. While Tristan Jarry has dealt with injuries in Edmonton since the two were swapped last December, there’s a good chance Skinner will end up being the better goalie for the remainder of the season.
11. Florida Panthers
Record: 25-19-3, -11
Last Week: 14th (+3)
Hunter’s Rank: 9th
Scott’s Rank: 13th
Hunter: As per tradition, the Panthers celebrated their Stanley Cup victory last week with a visit to the White House. Each of Florida’s players, coaches and managers wore red ties, which you could say was just them donning (pun intended) their team colors, but with U.S. President Donald Trump in attendance, there’s no such thing as coincidences. Matthew Tkachuk couldn’t hide his enthusiasm when he saw Trump, saying “The two Cups (were) pretty good, but that walk with you might’ve trumped it all.”
The next day, the Panthers lost 9-1 to the Hurricanes.
Scott: “The two Cups (were) pretty good, but that walk with you might’ve trumped it all,” sounds like something I’d hear in Heated Rivalry. I know Tkachuk was just stroking Cheeto Man’s ego, but I wonder when his character will get called into question for not caring enough about winning. It’s not slander (or in our case, libel)! He said it himself!
Hunter: I mean, Trump DID warn us of this happening…
12. Washington Capitals
Record: 24-19-6, +14
Last Week: 11th (-1)
Hunter’s Rank: 11th
Scott’s Rank: 12th
Scott: The Capitals have been in one hell of a slump for what has been almost half the season at this point. Since Dec. 11, the Capitals are 6-10-3, with their .395 point percentage in that span being the fourth-worst in the league. I’ve talked about their defensive struggles in the past, but now their offense is taking a tumble, as they’ve scored more than three goals just five times in that 19-game stretch. This was bound to happen at some point, as their offense was running too hot for too long and was destined for regression. Even Alex Ovechkin is turning human and dealing with the side effects, as he has just six goals in his last 21 games, and five of those came in a four-game stretch two weeks ago.
13. Utah Mammoth
Record: 25-20-4, +18
Last Week: 20th (+7)
Hunter’s Rank: 15th
Scott’s Rank: 11th
Hunter: Scott (kind of) gave Karel Vejmelka his flowers last week, and I’ll do the same right now, as the Czech netminder has won eight of his last 10 starts with a 7.4 goals saved above expected (GSAx) during that span. As for the Mammoth, they won all three games last week in regulation, and dominated both the Leafs and Stars in terms of even-strength expected goals and Corsi. Utah now holds the first Wildcard spot in the West.
14. Buffalo Sabres
Record: 26-16-5, +9
Last Week: 13th (-1)
Hunter’s Rank: 14th
Scott’s Rank: 14th
Hunter: The Sabres earned five of a possible eight points last week with wins against the Flyers and Canadiens, then an overtime loss to the Wild. However, their underlying numbers left much to be desired, losing the expected-goal battle at even strength in all four games. Tage Thompson had a breakout performance against Montreal, scoring three goals and two assists in a 5-3 victory. He now has 25 goals and 50 points on the season.
Scott: At least the Sabres’ dodgy underlying numbers won’t be noticed by the city of Buffalo yet, as they’ll be distracted by the Bills’ deep playoff ru- oh wait, never mind. The Bills lost again, so all eyes are on you, Sabres. Those late pass interference calls were the second-most controversial thing involving a Buffalo Bills player and a Bronco in sports history.
Hunter: I think this just might be your masterpiece.
Scott: I may have no ground to stand on as a Miami Dolphins fan, but that won’t stop me from throwing a few punches.
15. Ottawa Senators
Record: 22-19-7, -4
Last Week: 17th (+2)
Hunter’s Rank: 13th
Scott’s Rank: 18th
Hunter: The Senators now find themselves in a position where, if they’re going to lose, it better be in overtime or a shootout. Between Nov. 27 and Jan. 10, Ottawa went 8-19-5 over a 32-game span — their last six losses being in regulation — and dropped from second in the Atlantic Division to last. The Sens earned six of a possible eight points last week, but for a franchise that hoped to build off last season’s success, they’re running out of time.
16. Philadelphia Flyers
Record: 22-17-8, -8
Last Week: 12th (-4)
Hunter’s Rank: 16th
Scott’s Rank: 16th
Hunter: The City of Brotherly Love just went through a week from hell: the Eagles lost in the NFL’s Wildcard round, Major League Baseball’s Phillies missed out on Bo Bichette, and the Flyers have lost six straight, with the last five coming in regulation. It’s even worse when you consider that, in each of Philadelphia’s five regulation losses, they gave up at least five goals. The Flyers are still in the Wildcard race, but you can’t go a full week without recording a point, especially when the Eastern Conference is as competitive as it is this season.
17. Boston Bruins
Record: 28-19-2, +14
Last Week: 18th (+1)
Hunter’s Rank: 19th
Scott’s Rank: 15th
Scott: Curse the Rangers for waking up the Bruins again. While Boston’s 10-2 drubbing of New York was the second game of their current streak, they’ve won six games in a row and are leading the pack of middling Eastern Conference teams. That has put them in a buying position again, and by the sounds of reports out there, they were close to acquiring Andersson. As someone who still has a rooting interest in the Leafs, I was hoping the trade would go through so the Leafs’ first was out of Boston’s hands and there wouldn’t be another repeat of Tyler Seguin. It’s never too late to make another move, Don!
Hunter: It’s the reunion we’ve all been waiting for: Dougie Hamilton and the Boston Bruins!
Seriously, with their recent winning streak, the New England Patriots’ win over the Houston Texans and the Boston Celtics currently second in the NBA’s Eastern Conference, the long-suffering Boston sports fans are finally seeing some success. And thank goodness, because if there’s any North American sports fan who has struggled, it’s obviously those in Massachusetts. Can you believe there’s babies born after June 2024 that haven’t seen one of their teams win a championship? A travesty, I say!
Scott: This recent success for Massachusetts sports teams was deserved after the Red Sox lost out on Kyle Tucker and Bo Bichette in free agency.
Hunter: Imagine showing up for the World Series and hitting a home run in Game 7, resulting in one of the loudest pops in modern sports history … only to sign with the little brother of New York baseball? To each their own. Thanks for the memories, Bo.
18. New York Islanders
Record: 26-17-5, +7
Last Week: 15th (-3)
Hunter’s Rank: 18th
Scott’s Rank: 17th
Hunter: It’s been an underwhelming road trip for the Islanders, highlighted last week by two losses against the bottom-feeding Jets and Flames. They needed a 35-save performance from Ilya Sorokin to get a 1-0 win over the Oilers, a game which saw New York get outshot 35-18 and crushed 4.5 to 1.7 in 5v5 xG. However, a lackluster Metropolitan Division means they’re still second in the standings. They close out the road trip next week with games against the Canucks and Kraken.
19. Toronto Maple Leafs
Record: 24-16-8, +4
Last Week: 16th (-3)
Hunter’s Rank: 17th
Scott’s Rank: 22nd
Hunter: The Leafs started the week perfectly, handing the Avalanche just their third defeat of any kind at home. But after a lopsided defeat to Utah, Toronto blew a late lead and lost in overtime to the Golden Knights — their first game against former franchise superstar winger Mitch Marner. Every fan and pundit then took a chance to complain about Auston Matthews’ (lack of) backcheck on the OT-winner — as if you can take 3-on-3 hockey seriously — and some complained about his comments on Marner during his Mark Masters interview before puck drop.
When I first read Matthews’ Marner comments, I thought it was taken out of context, but when I saw the clip, I felt relieved. We beg athletes to be honest and give us something beyond the mundane, then when they finally do it, we crucify them and tell them to smarten up and stand up straight. I’m glad the Leafs have a captain who says what’s on their mind, and as a reporter who has done thousands of interviews, thank goodness there’s at least one athlete who can string together a full-length sentence.
And for all the talk from talking heads over how in the old days, athletes didn’t like each other and there were real rivalries, and you could feel the hatred between two teams … an awful lot of them thought the Leafs’ captain was “rude” when he talked about his former teammate. It’s obvious that if they won that game, they would be hailing Matthews as a true leader. This fanbase and the team’s media ecosystem will eat its own tail, repeatedly denying the narrative of it being a toxic environment for players, then without irony, go from singing praises to calling for their execution within days.
20. Anaheim Ducks
Record: 324-21-3, -14
Last Week: 23rd (+3)
Hunter’s Rank: 20th
Scott’s Rank: 21th
Hunter: The Ducks snapped their nine-game losing streak with three wins last week, pausing their freefall in the Western Conference standings. Lukas Dostal is starting to look like his old self; after giving up four or more goals in six of his previous seven starts, he stopped 50 of 53 combined shots last week against Dallas and LA. If Anaheim wants to compete for a playoff spot, the Czech netminder will have to be on top of his game.
21. Los Angeles Kings
Record: 19-16-13, -11
Last Week: 19th (-2)
Hunter’s Rank: 22nd
Scott’s Rank: 19th
Scott: I know we’ve talked a lot about how bad this Kings offense has been this season, but I swear I always learn a new fact as to how bad they are. This week: they’ve only had 12 games this season where they’ve scored more than three goals. That’s only 25% of their games. Even worse, they’ve scored two or fewer in 26 of them, which is 54.17% of their games. MORE THAN HALF THEIR GAMES! The weirdest thing about their lack of scoring is that they have yet to be shut out of a game. Even if this team sneaks into the playoffs at this point, they aren’t anywhere close to the underwhelming Kings teams from the previous four seasons, so who’s to say they’ll do anything this time. How does Jim Hiller still have a job?
Hunter: That’s a great question, Scott! The Kings have a 5-8-6 record since Dec. 8 and now find themselves outside of the playoffs. As of the publishing of this story, LA has more overtime/shootout losses (13) than regulation wins (12) — a statistic so ridiculous, I had to triple-check on three different websites.
Hey, you have to give Ken Holland credit: You can’t lose to the Oilers in the first round if you don’t make the playoffs to begin with.
Scott: If only the Kings were allowed to spend over the salary cap, they could improve this team. We all know what happens when a Los Angeles sports team has the ability to spend however much money they want!
22. Columbus Blue Jackets
Record: 22-19-7, -12
Last Week: 24th (+2)
Hunter’s Rank: 23rd
Scott’s Rank: 20th
Hunter: Can you imagine the shock Dean Evason must have experienced after learning he was fired as head coach of the Blue Jackets, just one day after an overtime win over the Mammoth? Well, we don’t have to imagine, because Evason shared his reaction with The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline, telling him he was “blindsided” by the move.
“When you go through this as a coach, you can feel it coming,” Evason said. “But I’ll be honest with you: I didn’t.”
There’s no doubt Columbus struggled, posting a 6-10-7 record after Dec. 4 and falling to the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings. But the lack of production from younger players like Kent Johnson and Cole Sillinger, as well as a step backwards for Adam Fantilli, was enough for GM Don Waddell to pull the trigger.
The Blue Jackets have won all three of their games under new head coach Rick Bowness, and while it feels like they’re too far back to catch up in the Wildcard race, Bowness may be here to provide Columbus an evaluation of what they have — and what they can move on from.
Scott: If you asked me in September who would be the first coach fired this season, I’d probably name at least 10-15 coaches before I got to Evason. The more surprising thing to me is that we didn’t have a single firing in the first half of the season. For a market that is a tad bit overreactive, we got a rare stretch of calm.
23. Nashville Predators
Record: 23-21-4, -23
Last Week: 22nd (-1)
Hunter’s Rank: 21st
Scott’s Rank: 23rd
Hunter: On one hand, the Predators gave the Avalanche their first regulation loss at home, led by a Ryan O’Reilly hat trick and a 39-save performance from Juuse Saros in a 7-3 win. On the other hand, they gave up five goals in a 10-minute span against the Golden Knights, losing 7-2. Talk about peaks and valleys, eh? Still, Nashville enters this week just one point back of a Wildcard spot and kick offs a three-game homestand Tuesday against the Sabres.
24. New York Rangers
Record: 21-22-6, -18
Last Week: 21st (-3)
Hunter’s Rank: 24th
Scott’s Rank: 24th
Scott: I know I cursed the Rangers for waking up the Bruins, but I also want to give a shoutout to them: they’ve just made the trade deadline so much more interesting. We were looking at a McDonald’s menu of trade options in March, especially after Andersson was traded yesterday, so the Rangers releasing The Letter 2.0 just gave us a few better options.
Artemi Panarin is the obvious one as a pending free agent, and teams will certainly get into a bidding war for his services, but New York has the potential to get very spicy if they want to, possibly throwing Alexis Lafreniere, Mika Zibanejad, or Vincent Trocheck into the fold and seeing what offers they’ll get. Maybe Adam Fox will request a trade after his GM and coach didn’t go to bat for him for the U.S. Olympic team? Who knows!
I doubt we get all of this considering the Rangers plan to only retool, but it’s certainly much more interesting than *checks notes* Justin Faulk, Brayden Schenn, Kiefer Sherwood and Steven Stamkos.
Hunter: I swear, someone is going to overpay for Sherwood, then he’s going to struggle to produce in the playoffs, and will still get a long-term contract on July 1. It’s a great living if you can get it.
25. New Jersey Devils
Record: 24-22-2, -22
Last Week: 25th (0)
Hunter’s Rank: 25th
Scott’s Rank: 25th
Scott: Are we getting a Dougie Hamilton revenge tour? After the defenseman was healthy scratched last week, he’s put up four points in three games, with the Devils winning two of the three. I’m sure New Jersey doesn’t mind that he’s increasing his trade value, but I think he’s reminding the team that he isn’t the problem.
26. Seattle Kraken
Record: 27-17-9, -11
Last Week: 26th (0)
Hunter’s Rank: 26th
Scott’s Rank: 27th
Scott: If you want a great illustration of how middling the Western Conference is after the Avalanche, Stars, Wild, Golden Knights and Oilers, the Kraken have maintained third in the Pacific Division after losing three games in a row last week. They continue to get significantly outplayed by their opponents, and the only reason why they’re in a playoff spot this year as opposed to no-man’s land is because Phillipp Grubauer is giving them competent goaltending this season. It’s not that he’s taking over the crease from Joey Daccord, but it helps that every night off for him isn’t a scheduled loss.
27. Calgary Flames
Record: 21-23-4, -17
Last Week: 28th (+1)
Hunter’s Rank: 27th
Scott’s Rank: 26th
Hunter: Well folks, the thing we were all waiting for finally happened: The Flames beat the Blackhawks, earning a 3-1 victory Thursday, their first against Chicago since January 2025. What a great performa- wait, what happened?! To Vegas?!? Good Lord. What was the return? Really? I mean, no, that’s not bad, I just … I don’t know, I would have expected more? Or maybe that’s just the state of the current market.
(If you want to read a far better evaluation of the Flames-Golden Knights trade that sent Rasmus Andersson to Vegas, read Mike Gould’s trade grades)
Scott: Hey man, don’t overlook Zach Whitecloud!
28. San Jose Sharks
Record: 24-20-3, -20
Last Week: 27th (-1)
Hunter’s Rank: 28th
Scott’s Rank: 29th
Scott: The Sharks continue to exceed expectations, they make for one of the most entertaining watches in hockey, and Macklin Celebrini is one of the best players in the league. We all know that, so I want to focus on something else.
Monday and Tuesday will see San Jose end one of the weirder stretches of hockey I’ve ever seen, as they’ll have played eight games in a row where the games were paired into back-to-backs. Jan. 6 & 7, 10 & 11, 15 & 16, and 19 & 20. Have you ever seen anything like that? Between this and the Kings’ playing several teams twice in a row at home, the compacted schedule in an Olympic year has produced some weird results.
29. St. Louis Blues
Record: 19-22-8, -48
Last Week: 30th (+1)
Hunter’s Rank: 29th
Scott’s Rank: 28th
Hunter: I’ve said it before, but hockey is a funny sport. The Blues defeated the Hurricanes and Lightning last week, getting absolutely pummelled in every category except the actual goals, with Joel Hofer stopping 67 of 69 combined shots. Then Jordan Binnington came in Sunday against the Oilers, and in an evenly matched contest, Edmonton won 5-0. Now that’s what I call pure comedy.
30. Winnipeg Jets
Record: 19-22-6, -4
Last Week: 31st (+1)
Hunter’s Rank: 30th
Scott’s Rank: 30th
Scott: I mentioned in our roundtable earlier this month that while I don’t think the Jets are a good team, I think they have too much talent to be this bad. They’ve proved me right since then, as they won four games in a row before blowing a two-goal lead to the Leafs and losing in overtime, which is still nine of 10 points in that stretch. They’re seven points out of a playoff spot right now, and it’s possible that may be too much to overcome, but they also need just four points to get themselves out of the top-five lottery odds, with all the teams in their way being clear sellers. The path to a playoff spot may be cloudy, but the path to ruining their draft pick certainly isn’t!
Hunter: I couldn’t agree more. This team has too many quality players to be a bottom feeder. But as Scott mentioned, the seven-point gap may be too much for them to make up for, and it may be prudent for GM Kevin Cheveldayoff to take the loss on the chin and start selling assets. However, part of me wonders if, due to the unique circumstances of a market like Winnipeg, where season-ticket sales are well short of their target and the risk of losing out on playoff-gate revenue is too alarming, maybe they’d rather take a shot and fall short instead of throwing in the towel?
31. Chicago Blackhawks
Record: 19-22-7, -21
Last Week: 29th (-2)
Hunter’s Rank: 32nd
Scott’s Rank: 31st
Scott: It’s too bad Connor Bedard’s injuries and illnesses will keep him out of the general conversation as one of the top players this season. Pundits won’t see his name at the top of the scoring leaders, but he’s still tied for eighth in points per game.
That said, these next few weeks could be massive for Bedard’s career. Brayden Point’s injury opens up the possibility of a replacement if he’s not healthy in time, and while many think it’ll be Sam Bennett that goes, I don’t know if Hockey Canada will want to replace one of their top scoring threats with another grinder-type. I mean, they might, it’s Hockey Canada, but in this case, the spot in the lineup opening up is that of a top scorer. If Bedard can put together a few great weeks, maybe he can still make the Olympic roster after all. He’s the most logical option to replace Point, but logic doesn’t guarantee reality when it comes to Canada (and USA) optimizing their rosters.
32. Vancouver Canucks
Record: 16-27-5, -50
Last Week: 32nd (0)
Hunter’s Rank: 32nd
Scott’s Rank: 31st
Scott: Fun fact: the Jets, who are second-last in the league, are seven points out of a playoff spot. The Canucks, who are last, are seven points behind the Jets. I did not realize it had gotten this bad in Vancouver. After they won their first four games of the post-Quinn Hughes era, the Canucks have lost 12 of 13 games. Is it possible for Hughes to win the Hart Trophy as a Canuck this season considering how valuable he was to that team?
Anyways, I’m excited to see Vancouver maintain this poor play all season, only for the lottery to drop them down to third. You know it’s happening.
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