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NHL Power Rankings: Avalanche stay on top; Wild, Flames climb

In this week’s edition of the NHL Power Rankings there are no major changes at the top where the Colorado Avalanche, winners of 10 games in a row, remain in the top spot, followed immediately by the Florida Panthers and Carolina Hurricanes.

The big changes come with the Minnesota Wild who make a jump into the top-five thanks to their current winning streak, and the Calgary Flames who move up four spots thanks to their recent stretch of play. The Wild have won five games in a row and are currently on a nine-game point streak (8-0-1) to help give them one of the league’s best records. The Flames, meanwhile, have been dominant over the past couple of weeks thanks to their top-line duo of Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk and some strong goaltending.

We take a look at all of those storylines and more in this week’s rankings.

Where does your team sit?

To this week’s NHL Power Rankings!

1. Colorado Avalanche (Last Week: 1). Does not matter who they are without, they just keep crushing teams. Best team in the league right now.

2. Florida Panthers (LW: 2). Jonathan Huberdeau has a real shot to win the NHL’s scoring title this season. Also should be in the MVP discussion.

3. Carolina Hurricanes (LW: 3). Frederik Andersen, Vezina Trophy contender is not a storyline many people saw happening here this season.

4. Minnesota Wild (LW: 8). Kirill Kaprizov is the obvious superstar here, but there are not really any weak links anywhere on the roster. Solid team from top to bottom and a team that deserves some attention as a Stanley Cup contender.

5. Tampa Bay Lightning (LW: 4). Sometimes it feels like we take for granted how good Steven Stamkos is and has been in his career.

6. Toronto Maple Leafs: (LW: 9). Michael Bunting has been such a great pickup this offseason. They needed to find some cheap depth, and they did.

7. Pittsburgh Penguins (LW: 5). They hit a little bit of a slump this week but still managed to collect a couple of points in the process. They need to get Kasperi Kapanen and Evan Rodrigues going again.

8. New York Rangers (LW: 6). Forget only winning the Vezina Trophy, Igor Shesterkin should be in the MVP discussion.

9. Nashville Predators (LW: 11). Getting Filip Forsberg re-signed seems like a must. Still so good.

10. St. Louis Blues (LW: 10). As long as they get their goaltending situation figured out this is still a really good team with a sneaky dangerous offense.

[Related: Capitals, Blues, Avs have goalie situations worth watching]

11. Boston Bruins (LW: 7). Going to keep saying this until it happens, but Claude Giroux would make so much sense here. So. Much. Sense.

12. Washington Capitals (LW: 12). Marc-Andre Fleury, Washington Capital, would certainly add some intrigue to the Penguins-Capitals rivalry. They are rumored to be interested in him.

13. Calgary Flames (LW: 18). They have really turned things around here lately and while the overall standings might not show it, they are quickly gaining ground on the Golden Knights in the Pacific Division race. They are right on their heels by points percentage and have five games in hand.

[Related: Gaudreau, Tkachuk showing value as contract extension decisions loom]

14. Vegas Golden Knights (LW: 13). Same story here since the beginning of the season: Just be healthy for the playoffs. If they are, this roster is still a top-tier roster.

15. Anaheim Ducks (LW: 17). Trevor Zegras remains a one-man highlight reel every game. What a player.

[Related: Zegras adds ‘Michigan’ lacrosse-style goal to highlight reel]

16. Dallas Stars (LW: 19). At various times they look like a playoff team that could cause some real problems, and then look like a total disappointment at other times. Most Jekyll and Hyde team in the league.

17. Los Angeles Kings (LW: 14). If Quinton Byfield can take a big step forward in the second half that would be a significant game-changer for their playoff push.

18. New York Islanders (LW: 15). At this point they have no margin for error and losing three out of four this past week after making up some ground was a definite step back.

19. Edmonton Oilers (LW: 21). They have won four games in a row. That is nice progress. But is it real progress or just a mirage? Even with Evander Kane in the mix all of the same questions still remain.

[Related: Desperate Oilers decide signing Kane is worth the risk]

20. Winnipeg Jets (LW: 16). Missing the playoffs with that goalie and Kyle Connor having the season he is would be a pretty significant disappointment.

21. San Jose Sharks (LW: 20). Losing Erik Karlsson is going to put a dent in their already slim playoff chances.

22. Detroit Red Wings (LW: 22). The question now is will both of Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider be Calder Trophy Finalists, or just one of them? It should be both.

23. Vancouver Canucks (LW: 23). After starting 7-0-0 under new head coach Bruce Boudreau they are now just 4-4-4 in the 12 games after. That is a .500 points percentage. Which is their points percentage for the season as a whole. This is what they are.

24. Ottawa Senators (LW: 24). Drake Batherson has been a nice bright spot this season so his injury is definitely a disappointment.

25. Columbus Blue Jackets (LW: 26). They rebounded nicely after what was arguably the worst single game any team played this season, a 6-0 loss to the Calgary Flames where they allowed 62 shots on goal.

26. Chicago Blackhawks (LW: 25). Probably time to start worrying about Kirby Dach’s chances of being an impact player.

27. Seattle Kraken (LW: 28). Every once in a while they go through a stretch like this where they start to put everything together and win some games. The key will be finding a way to sustain that. So far they have not been able to do that for any extended stretch of time.

28. Buffalo Sabres (LW: 29). Here is some good news: Peyton Krebs and Alex Tuch, the two main parts of the Jack Eichel trade, have looked really good lately. Jeff Skinner has also been really good.

[Related: The relief of Skinner just getting to play]

29. New Jersey Devils (LW: 27). They have just six wins since the start of December, with only four of them coming in regulation.

30. Philadelphia Flyers (LW: 30). They finally got a win, snapping what had been a 13-game winless streak. They have won just three games since the middle of December, with none of them coming in regulation.

31. Arizona Coyotes (LW: 31). Never really sure what to say about this team here in this spot except that everything is going as it was expected to go this season.

32. Montreal Canadiens (LW: 32). Not only are they the worst team in the NHL this season this is one of the worst single seasons in the history of the entire Montreal Canadiens franchise.