There is a new team at the top of this week’s PHT Power Rankings, and it is probably not a team you expected to be there at any point this season.
Yes, it is the Buffalo Sabres.
It has been a long time coming for Sabres fans after watching years of terrible hockey. Just for some perspective on where this team was prior to this season, no team in the NHL (Vegas excluded) had won fewer games than Buffalo over the previous five years. And it’s not just that the Sabres were at the bottom of the wins list during that stretch. They were at the bottom by a significant margin, having won 18 fewer games than the next worst team (the Arizona Coyotes). Heck, even the Edmonton Oilers won 30 more games than them. If you are 30 wins behind that organization, you know things are bad.
Thanks to a nine-game winning streak entering this week, the Sabres now have one of the best records in the league, are off to their best start in more than a decade, and with 16 wins in their first 24 games have positioned themselves nicely for a potential run to the playoffs.
During the five-year stretch between 2013-14 and 2017-18 there were 20 teams that won at least 16 of their first 24 games. Only two of them, the 2015-16 Montreal Canadiens and 2017-18 St. Louis Blues, failed to make the playoffs that season. And the Canadiens’ failure to make the postseason was due mostly to a devastating injury to starting goaltender Carey Price.
So, yes, Buffalo, it’s not too early to start believing in your team. It might finally be good again.
As for the rest of the Power Rankings...
The Elites
1. Buffalo Sabres -- Do I honestly believe the Sabres are the best team in hockey this season? No, I do not. But for the purposes of this week’s power rankings I have to give some love to a team that as of this moment has one of the best records in the league and has won nine games in a row (and 10 of 11). Buffalo fans, you’ve watched a lot of disgustingly bad hockey over the years. You deserve a fun team to watch, and you have earned it. Enjoy this.
2. Tampa Bay Lightning -- They just keep finding more stars in the draft where other teams do not. The latest example is Brayden Point who enters the week as one of the top-five scorers in the league.
3. Nashville Predators -- Injuries are starting to mount for the Predators but they have enough depth to overcome them for a short period of time in the regular season.
One step below the elites
4. Boston Bruins -- Speaking of great teams and depth, that has always been the big question for this Bruins team. Well, they are currently playing without Patrice Bergeron, Zdeno Chara, and Charlie McAvoy and do you know what they are still doing? Winning. Jaroslav Halak deserves a ton of credit for the way he has played this season, but to be without one of the best two-way centers in the league and their top two defenders and still find ways to scratch out two points on most nights is a big accomplishment. Especially in that division. Since Bergeron went down the Bruins have collected seven out of a possible eight points.
5. Toronto Maple Leafs -- They are one of the most dynamic offensive teams in the league and have only received 11 total games from Auston Matthews and William Nylander, their second-and third-leading scorers from a year ago. Imagine what they will look like when they both get in the lineup.
6. Minnesota Wild -- With 20 points in his first 20 games this has been a great bounce back year so far for Zach Parise.
7. Winnipeg Jets -- Remember When Patrik Laine had just three goals in his first 12 games? He now has 16 goals in his past 10 games, including three hat tricks, one of which was a million dollar five-goal game.
Making Their Move
8. Washington Capitals -- Here come the Champs! They have won six of their past seven games and are starting to quickly climb the standings.
9. Colorado Avalanche -- I had the Avalanche as a mystery team two weeks ago, and they still kind of are. But that top line is absolutely unstoppable.
10. Columbus Blue Jackets -- Cam Atkinson is red hot right now offensively with a seven-game goal scoring streak. This is still one of the more interesting teams in the league to watch from a distance given their status as a likely playoff team, and the fact their two best players are free agents after the season. Not an enviable position for their front office to be in.
11. Vegas Golden Knights -- This is a very strange team. As a second-year franchise they are not particularly deep and injuries have crushed them this season, but they are also playing a lot better than their record indicates. They are starting to get the results now. Given the sorry state of the Pacific Division I still think they have a great shot to win it this season. The schedule really softens up for them over the next couple of weeks as well.
[Related: Stanley Cup Finalists are heating up]
The Middle Ground
12. Calgary Flames -- Matthew Tkachuk just keeps getting better offensively and, somehow, more annoying for his opponents.
13. San Jose Sharks -- Do not like where they are at this point given the talent they have on the roster, but they have got to start getting more out of Martin Jones. Getting him back to his expected level would do wonders for this team.
14. New York Islanders -- Their MVP so far is Thomas Greiss. That is not something I expected to be typing at any point this season.
15. Pittsburgh Penguins -- It has not always been pretty but with six out of a possible eight points in their past four games they might be starting to get back on track. Their record when they have all three of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Derick Brassard in the lineup is what should be expected of them this season. It is when one of them is out that everything seems to go wrong.
16. Detroit Red Wings -- Give this team some credit, after a miserable start to the season they are 9-3-1 in their past 13 games. Not sure it is going to last, but they have been better than expected.
17. New York Rangers -- Henrik Lundqvist in the month of November is 5-1-1 with a .924 save percentage. King Henrik can still dominate at times.
18. Carolina Hurricanes -- I feel like the middle of the pack is a good spot for this team. They go through stretches where they look like a team that is going to realize its potential, and then they still have moments like their game in New York on Saturday night where they look like the team they have been for the past seven years. Overall, though, they are 5-2-1 in their past eight games.
19. Dallas Stars -- It is awfully difficult to replace one of the league’s best defenders (John Klingberg) and a pretty good starting goalie (Ben Bishop) when they are out of the lineup due to injury.
20. Montreal Canadiens -- Tomas Tatar and Max Domi are still massive surprises, but the Canadiens have suddenly lost eight of their past 12 games, including four in a row.
21. Florida Panthers -- Starting to look like that five-game winning streak a couple of weeks ago was just a mirage. Probably one of the most disappointing teams in the league, especially when you consider how much Mike Hoffman has produced for them.
22. Ottawa Senators -- Their games are the NHL answer to a Big XII college football game. Nobody plays defense. Or shows much interest in playing defense.
23. Philadelphia Flyers -- The Ron Hextall era is officially over. Sometimes the Flyers looked great, sometimes they looked awful. Put it all together and you have a completely average team.
[Related: Flyers fire GM Ron Hextall]
24. Anaheim Ducks -- Ducks goalies have the fourth best overall save percentage in the league. They are only 15th in goals against average. Do you know what that means? The team in front of the goalies is playing horribly.
The Basement
25. Chicago Blackhawks -- Dylan Strome may never be the player he was expected to be when he was selected third overall in 2015, but I love the Blackhawks’ gamble to trade for him. Maybe he and Alex DeBrincat can recapture some of the magic they had during their junior days.
26. Arizona Coyotes -- They were starting to look like they were turning a corner, and then they lost eight out of 10 with the most recent two (a 5-1 loss to Colorado, followed by a 6-1 loss to Calgary -- both at home) being especially ugly.
27. Vancouver Canucks -- The best possible outcome for Canucks fans this season is continued development and highlights from Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser (when he is healthy), and a team around them that still keeps them in the Jack Hughes derby. That is happening.
28. Edmonton Oilers -- The Ken Hitchcock era is not off to a great start with back-to-back losses to Anaheim and Los Angeles.
29. New Jersey Devils -- The Devils are only 5-10-3 since that 4-0 start.
30. St. Louis Blues -- The Ryan O’Reilly trade has worked out great. Unfortunately for the Blues that is the only thing that has worked for them this season.
31. Los Angeles Kings -- Ilya Kovalchuk has not recorded a point in nine games and spent Sunday night on the fourth-line, logging just six minutes of ice time. Yikes.
MORE: Your 2018-19 NHL on NBC TV schedule
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Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.