NHL power rankings: Alex Ovechkin is back as the Washington Capitals stay alive in the playoff race
Just one point separates the top seven teams in the league.
Only eight points separate six teams in the Eastern Conference playoff race, including the Philadelphia Flyers in the third seed of the Metropolitan Division. The West… okay, that one feels a little bit more locked up. But still, there’s a lot on the line for a lot of teams in the NHL right now, something we rarely get these days at this point of the season. Enjoy it while it lasts.
Mike and I continue to navigate through the results so far with another week 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, Mike goes off his own intellect and pure vibes, and together we find a way to combine it and meet in the middle.
1. Florida Panthers
Record: 46-20-5, +58
Last Week: 1st (0)
Mike’s Rank: 2nd
Scott’s Rank: 1st
Scott: I can see why Mike finally dropped the Panthers from the top spot, especially since the Panthers had dropped four in a row before getting away with a 4-1 win over the Flyers on Sunday despite getting significantly outplayed. But the recent stretch aside, this has been one of the most dominant teams in the league statistically, so it’s hard for me to kick them off of the throne just yet.
Mike: Hey, I still have them in second. How about that Sam Reinhart guy scoring 50 goals? But I can’t ignore a team as good as Colorado winning nine games in a row.
2. Dallas Stars
Record: 44-19-9, +48
Last Week: 3rd (+1)
Mike’s Rank: 3rd
Scott’s Rank: 3rd
Mike: Naturally, the team both Scott and I ranked at No. 3 ends up in the second spot on our rankings. I have no problem with that, though. The Stars have won four in a row and are tied with the next team on this list for the top spot in the Central Division. I have to give a shoutout to Mason Marchment, who now has 50 points in 71 games this season after a really tough first year in Dallas. He’s lived up to his billing this season as one of the better middle-six wingers in the league … but he’s slowed down a bit of late, with just one goal in his last 17 games. If and when Marchment gets hot again, look out.
Scott: Jake Oettinger has started to reach a level of concern for me. We’re less than a month away from the playoffs, and Oettinger hasn’t just been bad by his high standards like Igor Shesterkin, Ilya Sorokin, and Juuse Saros have been at points this season; he’s just been outright bad through 46 games. If he can’t figure this out, he could very easily sink an otherwise deep team. Suddenly, bridging him looks a whole lot smarter when they can see if he really is an elite goalie again by the end of next season after what’s basically been meh play for almost a calendar year.
3. Colorado Avalanche
Record: 46-20-5, +57
Last Week: 5th (+2)
Mike’s Rank: 1st
Scott’s Rank: 6th
Scott: Mike and I seem to be in a vast disagreement on the Avs, but I can see why he rates them so highly, considering they’ve now won nine games in a row. However, my perspective always leans more toward each team’s season as a whole, and when the top seven teams are separated by just one point, it all comes down to their overall play on the year. The Avs have seen significant improvement in their play since they solidified their depth at the deadline, so my ranking is more just weighed down earlier in the season when they struggled with their elite players off the ice.
Mike: I just think these guys have finally figured it out. I made a point earlier this season of noting multiple times how the vibes seemed to be off in Colorado. Not anymore. This team is rolling in the very best way.
Scott: Yup, when your biggest problem now is “who will replace the injured Logan O’Connor on the third line”, you’re sailing smooth. And keep in mind, there’s a greater than 0% chance that that replacement could be Gabriel Landeskog.
4. Carolina Hurricanes
Record: 45-20-7, +52
Last Week: 2nd (-2)
Mike’s Rank: 5th
Scott’s Rank: 2nd
Mike: The Hurricanes are a good team that has won a lot recently, although that 7-6 shootout loss to the Capitals on Friday was a complete trainwreck on basically every level (and for both teams, quite frankly). It was nice to see Freddy Andersen put together a nice outing against his former team on Sunday, stopping 32 of 33 shots in a close 2-1 win over the Maple Leafs. Goaltending remains the big question mark for these Hurricanes but Andersen has been dynamite when healthy, posting a 10-1-0 record and a .925 save percentage in 12 games.
5. Vancouver Canucks
Record: 45-18-8, +60
Last Week: 6th (+1)
Mike’s Rank: 4th
Scott’s Rank: 4th
Scott: Like the Stars, Mike and I agree on where we rate the Canucks, and yet there’s so much chaos surrounding them that they didn’t even end up in the spot we agreed upon. With three straight wins last week, the Canucks keep clicking along and remain in the conversation for the top seed in the West and the league, although with Vegas locking down that eighth seed, Vancouver might actually want to give that spot up.
6. Boston Bruins
Record: 41-16-15, +41
Last Week: 4th (-2)
Mike’s Rank: 6th
Scott’s Rank: 5th
Mike: I still don’t love their forward group, but the Bruins just keep making it work. David Pastrnak is flirting with another 50-goal and 100-point season, Brad Marchand remains a complete nuisance, and both Charlie Coyle and Pavel Zacha have done their jobs as top-six center facsimiles. But who really intrigues me at this point is Jake DeBrusk, who has picked up the pace down the stretch after a tough start to a contract year. DeBrusk is a pending UFA who might be a bit too pricey for the Bruins to keep around, but he’s doing his part for now — particularly considering his active five-game point streak.
7. New York Rangers
Record: 47-20-4, +46
Last Week: 7th (0)
Mike’s Rank: 7th
Scott’s Rank: 7th
Scott: As I’ve said before, the top seven teams are all neck-and-neck at this point of the season, but it looks like both Mike and I agree that this team is the weakest of the bunch. I’m not going to say that the Rangers are complete frauds, because now that they’ve ridden the percentages for three seasons, it’s safe to say that they have the skill to do so, plus they’ve seen some improvement after their depth adds at the deadline. But, when you’re this close to six other teams with the skill to compete with you, driving play means a lot more, and that’s where the Rangers are still lacking.
Mike: They aren’t frauds, and they deserve credit for remaining near the top of the standings even while Igor Shesterkin wasn’t at his best, but they’re clearly the weakest of this top tier of teams — to me, at least.
Scott: The Canes are now a point behind them in the standings, so even that top spot in the Metro isn’t safe anymore. Considering that they’ve always lost to teams in the playoffs that can match their pace and drive play, it might cause problems for them again this year.
8. Toronto Maple Leafs
Record: 40-21-9, +38
Last Week: 10th (+2)
Mike’s Rank: 8th
Scott’s Rank: 9th
Mike: We’ve already discussed their close loss to the Hurricanes on Sunday, but I liked what I saw from the Leafs in their win over the Oilers the day before. They battled hard against a solid opponent and really put the game out of reach by the time the second intermission rolled around. Even when the Oilers started to generate some momentum in the third period, they didn’t really stand a chance of clawing back. And how about Bobby McMann and Pontus Holmberg both scoring twice in that game? That’s the kind of depth scoring the Leafs will need if they want to (finally) go on a long run.
Scott: This is a really random thing to shout out, but I loved that they sent Joseph Woll to Carolina a day early when he was starting there. You may as well when you run three goalies on your roster, and it allows the goalie to get more comfortable before their start, and it paid off with Woll’s play behind a team that was clearly gassed and couldn’t get the offense for him.
9. Edmonton Oilers
Record: 42-23-4, +47
Last Week: 9th (0)
Mike’s Rank: 10th
Scott’s Rank: 8th
Scott: It was another great start to last week for the Oilers with a solid 3-2 win over the Habs and an 8-3 rout of the Sabres, but then they had a tough start to their road trip with a 6-3 loss to the Leafs (with the final scoreboard hiding the fact that they were down 5-0 after two periods) and a 5-3 loss to the Sens. At the very least, Zach Hyman got four goals in his last three games to hit the 50-goal mark for the first time. Quite the testament for how good Connor McDavid is- er, I mean, how much Hyman has improved over his career.
10. Nashville Predators
Record: 42-25-4, +25
Last Week: 11th (+1)
Mike’s Rank: 9th
Scott’s Rank: 10th
Mike: Hahaha, I don’t even know what to say about the Preds anymore. I thought they would be so bad, you guys. For the life of me, I cannot fathom how they keep doing this. Look, I get it, any team with Josi, Saros, and Forsberg will probably be somewhat competitive, but we’re talking about a team that has points in 17 consecutive games. The Preds looked perfectly mediocre until around six weeks ago, when they turned into the 1972 Miami Dolphins seemingly overnight. Andrew Brunette, tell us your secrets!
Scott: Obviously the Panthers didn’t really miss Brunette nearly as much, but the Devils’ inconsistent play this season can probably also be chalked up to Brunette not being an assistant coach there this season as well. He seemed to learn from his mistakes in Florida and has mastered how to be a strong rush team while not giving up major chances the other way.
11. Winnipeg Jets
Record: 44-22-5, +45
Last Week: 8th (-3)
Mike’s Rank: 12th
Scott’s Rank: 11th
Scott: After the Jets started to excite us with a 4-2-0 run and an excellent start to Tyler Toffoli’s Jets’ tenure, they went on to drop three straight last week amidst their road trip through the East. It’s a shame too, because as the rest of that top bunch in the league has really tightened up, this stretch has led the Jets to falling just outside of it, although it’s certainly more in line with their underlying numbers this season.
12. Vegas Golden Knights
Record: 38-25-7, +18
Last Week: 13th (+1)
Mike’s Rank: 11th
Scott’s Rank: 13th
Mike: Ahem.
The deadline has come and passed,
The injuries can never last,
Wake me up,
When the season ends …
13. Los Angeles Kings
Record: 37-22-11, +37
Last Week: 12th (-1)
Mike’s Rank: 13th
Scott’s Rank: 12th
Scott: The Kings seemed to notice that I was making fun of their recently inconsistent record, because they put together three straight wins last week, admittedly coming to more middling teams in the Blackhawks (with Bedard), Wild and Lightning teams. It’s perfect timing too, as the Golden Knights have won three of their last four and are keeping up with L.A. for that third spot in the Pacific. That said, pick your poison, Kings; you either get the Canucks, Oilers, or whoever of the Avs, Stars, and Jets wins the Central. I do not envy thee.
14. Tampa Bay Lightning
Record: 39-25-7, +15
Last Week: 14th (0)
Mike’s Rank: 14th
Scott’s Rank: 15th
Mike: The Lightning seem to be shifting back into gear at a good time. They’ve won seven of nine in March, including in overtime against the Ducks on Sunday without the services of Brayden Point or Victor Hedman. That said, Tampa’s defensive group looked real thin in that game. Here’s the complete list six defenders they dressed on Sunday: Erik Cernak, Calvin de Haan, Matt Dumba, Darren Raddysh, Nick Perbix, and Emil Martinsen Lilleberg. All six guys are slotted a spot or two above where they should be.
15. Philadelphia Flyers
Record: 36-27-9, -8
Last Week: 15th (0)
Mike’s Rank: 15th
Scott’s Rank: 14th
Scott: Excuse me while I talk about Formula 1 here for a second, but it’s wild that Williams taking Logan Sargeant’s car away from him and giving it to Alex Albon because Albon wrecked his own car is somehow not the worst reason an athlete has missed their sporting event last week. That belongs to Sean Couturier, who was a healthy scratch for the Flyers for two games last week despite being named the team’s captain a month ago because… well we don’t know. John Tortorella is up to his John Tortorella shenanigans again and won’t communicate why to us or, apparently, to Couturier. He’s lucky they at least won one of the two games, or I’m very curious to see how that would have played for the Flyers and Tortorella. At least Williams’ decision made sense logistically, even if it didn’t work out. That’s sports in a nutshell.
Mike: It’s beginning to get more than a little concerning just how often Jamie Drysdale is sidelined with various different injuries. Even with Travis Sanehim, Rasmus Ristolainen, Cam York, and Nick Seeler in the fold, the Flyers aren’t a finished product on defense. What I’m saying is, I’m going to will a Travis Konecny-for-Rasmus Andersson trade into existence until it actually happens.
16. New Jersey Devils
Record: 35-33-4, -9
Last Week: 22nd (+6)
Mike’s Rank: 17th
Scott’s Rank: 16th
Mike: Stop me if you’ve heard this before: New Jersey is just five points out of a playoff spot. It is beyond nuts that they remain in the race. This has been the year from hell for this Devils team, with Dougie Hamilton’s absence compounded by their long-standing goaltending woes and iffy systems. They’ve suffered so many crushing losses down the stretch despite having a playoff spot practically screaming at them to take it. In such an unserious Eastern Conference landscape, there’s no way a team as talented as the Devils shouldn’t be in there. And yet … they have just 10 games to leapfrog Washington, Detroit, and the Islanders. That’s hockey!
17. Washington Capitals
Record: 35-26-9, -27
Last Week: 19th (+2)
Mike’s Rank: 16th
Scott’s Rank: 19th
Scott: Much like the top seven of this list, this stretch from 14 to 21 is also pretty close, so while I’m not as high on the Capitals as Mike is, I can understand why he has them as high as he does. With five wins in their last six games, they’ve been the hot hand right now, resulting in them holding down the final wild card spot for the time being. Plus, Alex Ovechkin has eight goals in his last five games; it’s always fun when he’s on a run like this. And it means that we finally have a logical reason for the Caps to be winning games, at least for this recent stretch.
Mike: These Capitals are just as perplexing as teams like Detroit and St. Louis, but I find them far more endearing. They’re also stronger under the hood than both those teams, even if their -27 goal differential is downright scary.
Scott: They might be stronger than those teams, but they still aren’t playoff team worthy either. And the -27 goal differential is more telling than you think, as they’re being propped up by one and two-goal wins and are a brutal .364% when it comes to three-goal wins. Still a solid team, but they’re winning a lot of coin flips.
18. Minnesota Wild
Record: 34-28-9, -10
Last Week: 17th (-1)
Mike’s Rank: 18th
Scott’s Rank: 17th
Mike: It was good to see the Wild come to terms on an entry-level contract with Riley Heidt over the weekend. He’s a small-ish forward with huge WHL production with the Prince George Cougars over the last three seasons — and I wonder if, given the chance to do it all over, Minnesota might take him over Charlie Stramel in the first round of last year’s draft. In any event, they got both guys (and Rasmus Kumpulainen, for that matter). I’m just so fascinated to see what the long-term plan ends up being in Minny. They have a long-term cornerstone in Brock Faber … but who else?
Scott: While a slow start and early injuries don’t do Matt Boldy’s boxcar stats any favours, he’s been clicking at 23 goals and 48 points in his last 52 games. He’s definitely someone to build around as well.
19. New York Islanders
Record: 30-26-15, -27
Last Week: 16th (-3)
Mike’s Rank: 19th
Scott’s Rank: 18th
Scott: I think the Islanders hate me. I will finally be nice to them and back them with their play under Patrick Roy, and how do they thank me? By losing seven of their last eight games, and seeing their numbers that I praised them for dip a little bit more. They’re still really good, just not elite. That really hurt their playoff chances, which is too bad because they finally sold me on being an interesting playoff team with their defensive play.
20. St. Louis Blues
Record: 38-30-3, -8
Last Week: 23rd (+3)
Mike’s Rank: 21st
Scott’s Rank: 21st
Mike: We’ve arrived at the two teams on this list that remain in the race for a wild card spot despite having some of the worst underlying metrics in the entire NHL this season. The Blues have been ghastly for much of the year, particularly in their own zone. Their goaltending hasn’t been bad at all, especially Joel Hofer in the backup role. But when you look at some of what we’ve seen from guys like Torey Krug and Brayden Schenn … it’s borderline miraculous that this Blues team is still just four points out of a spot.
21. Detroit Red Wings
Record: 36-29-6, +6
Last Week: 24th (+3)
Mike’s Rank: 22nd
Scott’s Rank: 20th
Scott: After finally snapping their seven-game losing streak, the Wings have been a bit back and forth recently. The win to snap the slump, another loss, two straight wins, another loss. At the very least, they won both of their games with big playoff implications, as that streak-snapper was a 4-1 win over the Sabres, and then they beat the Islanders last week by a score of 6-3. They’re still hanging on, but when they’re struggling under the hood, every win is even more important.
Mike: The Red Wings have not out-chanced their opponents in 11 consecutive games and 26 of their last 31. It is wild that they’re still so high in the standings. Yzerman has so much to fix and I’m not sure he can do it.
22. Pittsburgh Penguins
Record: 30-30-10, -8
Last Week: 20th (-2)
Mike’s Rank: 20th
Scott’s Rank: 22nd
Mike: I mean, just, lol. What else can you say? No, it’s not at all funny to see Sidney Crosby exert so much effort in a fruitless attempt to lift such a hapless Penguins team toward a wholly undeserved playoff berth. But the ways these guys have been losing games … I mean, at a certain point, you just have to laugh — and yes, even the most derisive chuckle still counts. I doubt a single Pens fan thought their 4-0 lead over the Avalanche in the second period of Sunday’s game was even remotely safe. They probably knew it was over as soon as Sean Walker scored to make it 4-1. Three points from Jonathan Drouin later, Colorado clinched a 5-4 overtime win. Good night.
23. Buffalo Sabres
Record: 34-33-5, 0
Last Week: 21st (-2)
Mike’s Rank: 23rd
Scott’s Rank: 24th
Scott: The Sabres recently are like that one Onion article, “Man who thought he’d lost all hope loses last additional bit of hope he didn’t even know he still had.” Based on how their season started, they had no business being back in the playoff hunt, but they were creeping up and looked good this time last week. Even though going 2-2-0 isn’t a bad stretch by any means, that still cost them when they really needed to go nuclear to make the playoffs. They now need to make up six points in their final 10 games just to have a chance to make it. It’s still possible, but a pipe dream at best now.
Mike: Calling it right now: Buffalo drafts Berkly Catton this year. I don’t know why I feel so strongly about that, but I do.
24. Calgary Flames
Record: 33-32-5, -12
Last Week: 18th (-6)
Mike’s Rank: 24th
Scott’s Rank: 23rd
Mike: The Flames have altogether far too many middling defensemen. What they very much don’t have is a truly elite No. 1 who can consistently influence play at both ends of the ice. But they do have a lot of guys like Joel Hanley, Nikita Okhotiuk, and Jordan Oesterle. What the Flames truly need to rectify this problem (and many others) is to make multiple top-10 picks over the next few years. Well, if the season ended today, the Flames would pick No. 10 overall. We’ll see how far they fall before now and the middle of April. Zayne Parekh and Carter Yakemchuk would both make excellent Flames.
25. Ottawa Senators
Record: 30-36-4, -24
Last Week: 27th (+2)
Mike’s Rank: 25th
Scott’s Rank: 25th
Scott: Remember at the start of the season when Ottawa was near the bottom of the standings but had five fewer games played than everybody else and people kept saying they’d make those points up and be back in the hunt? It’s kind of funny that that just never happened. Here they are, still with the seventh-worst record in the league and with as many games played as most of their surrounding teams in the standings. They can’t even do their late-season surge to 10th in the East right anymore; they just keep being inconsistent.
26. Seattle Kraken
Record: 28-29-13, -21
Last Week: 25th (-1)
Mike’s Rank: 26th
Scott’s Rank: 26th
Mike: Remember when these guys beat the Avs last year? It’s just not working out in Seattle this time around. It’s a team without a core. Matty Beniers taking a step back has likely thrown a major wrench into this management group’s plans going forward. As is the case with the Flames, it’s hard to identify a single player in Seattle’s pipeline who projects to be anything close to a franchise player down the line. There’s plenty of good; not much great.
27. Arizona Coyotes
Record: 29-37-5, -27
Last Week: 26th (-1)
Mike’s Rank: 27th
Scott’s Rank: 27th
Scott: If you get rid of that lengthy losing streak, the Coyotes are 29-25-3 on the year, and probably still in the playoff hunt if they played at that pace throughout those 14 games. But, that streak really just sucked the life out of their season, so even with stretches like the three wins in four games they had before dropping one to the Stars on Sunday just doesn’t hit quite the same as it did when we thought this team might actually have a chance at the playoffs.
28. Montreal Canadiens
Record: 26-32-12, -50
Last Week: 28th (0)
Mike’s Rank: 28th
Scott’s Rank: 28th
Mike: I keep forgetting whether we’ve given Juraj Slafkovsky his due, but we really should. The dude’s been going at pretty close to a point-per-game pace over the last two months. For a guy who looked pretty lost whenever I watched him in the first half of the season, he’s found his game and then some of late. It’s not a guarantee that Slafkovsky stays at this level — many, many better and worse players have gone on similar heaters at various points — but the 2022 No. 1 pick has shown some real progression down the stretch.
29. Columbus Blue Jackets
Record: 23-36-12, -55
Last Week: 29th (0)
Mike’s Rank: 29th
Scott’s Rank: 29th
Scott: Columbus has been too quiet recently. It seemed like for every week up until the All-Star break, they were making headlines, but it feels like they haven’t since firing Jarmo Kekalainen. Maybe we’ve just gotten numb to Pascal Vincent scratching the young guns and just aren’t paying attention to them anymore. They’ve only lost four in a row recently so it’s not like that’s headline-worthy, it’s just what you expect from a team in the bottom-five of the league. Speaking of Vincent, does he survive this season? I feel like with a new general manager coming in at some point, it’s hard to see that happening when he’s been stunting the growth of the future of this team for no reason at all.
Mike: I really wonder what Johnny Gaudreau’s future holds. I get he willingly signed in Columbus in the first place … but surely he can’t be at ease with all this losing, right? He’s too good a player to be spending his 30s on a team seemingly content to circle the drain in perpetuity.
30. Anaheim Ducks
Record: 24-43-4, -78
Last Week: 30th (0)
Mike’s Rank: 30th
Scott’s Rank: 30th
Mike: I find it really difficult to care about the Ducks at this point. They did very well getting a first-round pick for Adam Henrique and Sam Carrick, who haven’t done much since arriving in Edmonton ahead of the trade deadline. Frank Vatrano has 30 goals. Lukas Dostal has shown some promise. I dunno. It’s all about the future with these guys, and the future just hasn’t arrived quite yet. Give it a few years, and I’ll probably have lots of good things to say about a team with a core that includes Leo Carlsson, Cutter Gauthier, Pavel Mintyukov, Mason McTavish, and whomever they draft over the next little while. For now… they continue to exist?
31. Chicago Blackhawks
Record: 20-46-5, -99
Last Week: 31st (0)
Mike’s Rank: 31st
Scott’s Rank: 31st
Scott: Since returning from his injury, Connor Bedard has 22 points in 18 games. Meanwhile, the Blackhawks haven’t beaten a team that isn’t in the bottom seven of the league since January 19th, when Bedard was still injured (and admittedly, 16 of his 22 points have come against those teams in the bottom seven). That should probably sum up the Blackhawks season at this point.
32. San Jose Sharks
Record: 16-46-8, -130
Last Week: 32nd (0)
Mike’s Rank: 32nd
Scott’s Rank: 32nd
Mike: I have very little to say about the Sharks’ on-ice play at this point, so I’d like to take this opportunity to talk about the SAP Center — sorry, the “SAP Center at San Jose” — which is, for my money, the strangest-looking rink in the NHL. When I visited it a couple of years ago, I was immediately put off by its unwelcoming corrugated metal and glass exterior, which gave the distinct impression of one of those science centers you’d visit on a field trip. The interior is a little odd, too, what with its uniformly white ceiling, alternating sections of black and white seats, and white handrails sprinkled in everywhere. None of it feels very San Jose Sharks-y, unless your local science center also happens to feature an aquarium. Anyway, this is all just a long-winded way for me to say the “Shark Tank” is a very fitting nickname for this season.