In this week’s edition of the NHL Power Rankings the Florida Panthers take over the top spot after an impressive week that saw them score goals at a ridiculous pace.
Whether or not they are actually the best team in the league at this point is certainly up for some debate. But there are two things that are not really worth debating. The first is that they are absolutely in that discussion for best team alongside the likes of Colorado, Carolina, and Tampa Bay. The other is that their ceiling is as high as any other team in the league right now, and that when they are playing at their absolute best they have the potential to make teams look like they are playing a different game.
Elsewhere this week, the New York Rangers are back into the top-five thanks to the return of their MVP, starting goalie Igor Shesterkin, while the Nashville Predators, Minnesota Wild, and Boston Bruins round out the top-10 of the rankings.
We take a look at all of that and more.
Where does your team sit?
To this week’s NHL Power Rankings!
1. Florida Panthers (Last Week: 3). In two different games this week their fans were chanting “we want 10!” in reference to the team’s goal scoring. They keep getting close. The Panthers are 8-0-1 in their past nine games and have scored 54 goals during that stretch. That is six goals per game. They have scored at least four goals in every game, including four games with six goals or more. That includes three seven-goal games and two nine-goal games. Just an insanely ridiculous offense right now.
[Related: Some appreciation for Panthers All-Star Jonathan Huberdeau]
2. Colorado Avalanche (LW: 2). They started the year winning just four of their first 10 games (4-5-1). Since then they are 20-3-2 in the next 25 games. If Darcy Kuemper gets going in goal this team will be tough to stop.
3. Carolina Hurricanes (LW: 1). Their drop down a couple of spots has more to do with what the two teams ahead of them have done lately than anything the Hurricanes have or have not done.
4. Tampa Bay Lightning (LW: 4). Imagine what this team’s record would be if Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov had not combined to miss 46 man games due to injury so far this season.
5. New York Rangers (LW: 9). A top-three goalie carrying the team and stealing games. Something Rangers fans are used to seeing. This is a good team, but probably not as good as its record would indicate. Great goalies (and a couple of superstars at forward and defense) really change things.
6. Toronto Maple Leafs (LW: 6). Jack Campbell turning his career around in Toronto the way he has has been a game-changer for the Maple Leafs.
7. Pittsburgh Penguins (LW: 5). Evgeni Malkin is back and Kris Letang is still playing at an insanely high level.
8. Boston Bruins (LW: 10). Tuukka Rask is back, Brad Marchand is on a roll, and the scoring depth is coming around. What else do they need? Maybe a second-line center upgrade.
[Related: With Tuukka Rask back in mix, what else do Boston Bruins need?]
9. Nashville Predators (LW: 8). No shame in losing in overtime to Boston, but that Buffalo loss this week sure was a surprise.
10. Minnesota Wild (LW: 13). They are starting to get some good news on the injury front. When healthy this is an outstanding team.
11. St. Louis Blues (LW: 11). They are 11-3-2 when Jordan Binnington does not play (and 11-8-3 when he does), while their backups are dramatically outperforming him. Something to keep an eye on this season.
12. Vegas Golden Knights (LW: 7). Speaking of goaltending, that might be the big concern here for an otherwise pretty complete team.
13. Washington Capitals (LW: 10). Their slump has gone on for about a month-and-a-half now. Starting to become a concern.
14. Los Angeles Kings (LW: 18). They have put themselves in a great position in the playoff race as we near the halfway point of the season.
15 .Winnipeg Jets (LW: 16). We only saw them for one game this week but they picked up a nice 3-0 win.
16. Anaheim Ducks (LW: 14). With only two wins (and one of them being in a shootout against the Detroit Red Wings) there might be some cause for concern. By points percentage they now rank ninth in the Western Conference.
17. Calgary Flames (LW: 15). They have barely played lately and when they have they have been losing games.
[Related: Which teams still have realistic chance to make Stanley Cup Playoffs]
18. Vancouver Canucks (LW: 17). Nice win in Washington on Sunday afternoon but this road trip has been tough for them, and they have one more tough game in Nashville this week.
19. New York Islanders (LW: 22). They have started to collect some points lately but even with that and even with all of their games in hand this still seems like it is going to be a major challenge to get back into playoff contention.
20. San Jose Sharks (LW: 20). We are going to learn a lot about them in the next couple of weeks as they face a pretty daunting schedule against some of the league’s best teams.
21. Dallas Stars (LW: 19). The potential is there but they just have no consistency this season.
22. Edmonton Oilers (LW: 21). They have won just two of their past 14 games entering the week and both of those wins came without Dave Tippett behind the bench. This team has the same problems that they simply can not seem to solve.
[Related: Slumping Oilers can not find solutions to same old questions]
23. Chicago Blackhawks (LW: 24). The four-game winning streak is a nice distraction in the middle of another disappointing season.
24. Detroit Red Wings (LW: 23). Things looked really promising there for a while in the Wild Card race by the Boston Bruins have really jumped over them. This season is still all about the development of the young stars.
25. Ottawa Senators (LW: 28). They are 7-3-2 in their past 12 games and have at least been really competitive against some really good teams. The effort is there. The talent is not quite there yet.
26. Philadelphia Flyers (LW: 25). Since the middle of November (or the past two months) they have had a 10-game losing streak and are now on a seven-game losing streak. Not ideal.
27. Columbus Blue Jackets (LW: 26). At least they won the Seth Jones trade.
[Related: Revisiting the Seth Jones trade between Blackhawks and Blue Jackets]
28. New Jersey Devils (LW: 24). Since the start of the 2020-21 season Mackenzie Blackwood has a .900 save percentage in 47 appearances (46 starts). That is not what they are hoping for with him.
29. Buffalo Sabres (LW: 29). This is going to be the 11th consecutive season without the playoffs and they probably have at least two or three more ahead of them after this season. At least that many.
30. Seattle Kraken (LW: 30). Their struggles make the Vegas Golden Knights immediate success seem even more improbable.
31. Arizona Coyotes (LW: 31). Phil Kessel can still help a playoff team.
32. Montreal Canadiens (LW: 32). From the Stanley Cup Final to the worst team in the league. Just an amazing year here in so many ways.
—
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.