It’s been a full month of hockey come and gone and what a fun opening month it was. Players are heating up, teams are finding their rhythms, and the competition is beginning to get intense. It’s time to once again take a deeper look at the teams and their positioning for better or for worse. Here’s your NHL power rankings for week 4.
32. San Jose Sharks (Previous rank: Unchanged)
It’s been a month and this team still doesn’t have a win (their record is now 0-10-1). On top of that they became the first team in history to allow double digit goals in back-to-back games. On top of THAT they’ve only scored ten goals all season. They may be one of the worst teams in NHL history.
31. Edmonton Oilers (Previous rank: 30)
McDavid is back, but it doesn’t seem to have helped this team at all. They have no depth scoring outside of their top guys, the defense is practically letting people walk into the zone and their goalie tangent seems incapable of stopping the puck.
30. Calgary Flames (Previous rank: 31)
The Flames have one more win than the Oilers and that’s pretty much the only reason they find themselves higher on the list. This was a do or die year for Calgary and it seems they elected to go with the latter.
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29. Seattle Kraken (Previous rank: Unchanged)
There’s a reason they call the Pacific Division in the sport right now. I had a lot of hope for this team this year and so far, they’ve done a pretty good job of squashing it. They might do better if Phillip Grubauer could find his game again.
28. Chicago Blackhawks (Previous rank: Unchanged)
Don’t get me wrong. Taylor Hall and Connor Bedard are very much fun to watch. However, they are consistently the only reason to ever consider watching this team play. Although, their 8-1 loss against the Coyotes was quite humorous.
27. Pittsburgh Penguins (Previous rank: 24)
Things keep going from bad to worse for Pittsburgh. They cannot consistently find wins to save their lives and it becomes increasingly more obvious that the glory days are behind them. At least Crosby will probably only have to endure a couple years of this before he decides to retire.
26. Minnesota Wild (Previous rank: Unchanged)
The Wild truly have no identity and no direction. Fleury has shown some of his old magic in net from time to time, but outside of that this team has shown absolutely nothing special. At least before they were consistently a playoff team, now I’m not even sure they’re that.
25. Columbus Blue Jackets (Previous rank: 27)
I said it last week and I’ll say it again. Columbus keeps showing glimmers of something special, but then it fades away almost as quickly as it comes. They still need an answer in net, and they need their top guys to start producing. Jonny Gaudreau only just got his first goal of the year this week.
24. Ottawa Senators (Previous rank: 20)
I’m starting to lose my faith. This team has no idea what it wants to be. They flounder around from week to week trying to figure it out, and with each week getting further and further away from the goal. Will Claude Giroux ever get a chance at a Stanley Cup?
23. Nashville Predators (Previous rank: Unchanged)
I don’t think we will see this team move around much this next couple of weeks. Eventually Saros is going to burn out and then I expect them to sink relatively quickly. Until then, they find themselves here.
22. Arizona Coyotes (Previous rank: 17)
I want to preface this by saying, this team is still performing far better than I expected them to this year. That being said, despite the promising youth they’ve established, they’re not ready to compete yet. I see a bright future ahead of this team though.
21. Philadelphia Flyers (Previous rank: 12)
It pains me to drop this team this far down after the promise they showed. The reality is though, they’ve won only one game in their last five and they’ve started to show some pretty massive holes. They’re quite deadly on the penalty kill though. They have a knack for scoring shorthanded goals.
20. Buffalo Sabres (Previous rank: 18)
The Sabres have looked better, but they’re still struggling to find where they lie. Because of that they find themselves dropping down the list again, amongst teams who have shown much better improvement.
19. Washington Capitals (Previous rank: Unchanged)
The Capitals are another team that I expected to look far worse than this. They find themselves with a winning record and a bit of momentum heading into next week. I still have my doubts they’ll find themselves in the playoffs, but maybe they stave off a rebuild for another year.
18. Florida Panthers (Previous rank: 21)
The Panthers are finally starting to look like a team again, however they’re not quite there yet. Their top players are still consistently under performing and we have no idea which Bobvrosky is going to show up in net every single day.
17. St. Louis Blues (Previous rank: 22)
It’s nice to see Binnington go back to stopping pucks rather than try to fight anyone who crosses his path. That being said, it’s still hard to see this team compete for a playoff spot down the stretch. There is some hope though.
16. Winnipeg Jets (Previous rank: 25)
Some people may call them over-ranked but I personally have loved what I saw from this team this week. They’re in playoff position and they look decent. Maybe still a ways to go from being any sort of contender.
15. Toronto Maple Leafs (Previous rank: 7)
Toronto has lost three in a row and they appear to be suffering from a serious lack of depth. But hey, Auston Matthews has multiple hat tricks this year so maybe we should pretend everything’s okay right?
14. Carolina Hurricanes (Previous rank: 15)
I feel for Carolina. I really do. The most hype they’ve had for years was carried into this season and from the looks of it, they’re not going to meet those expectations. That being said, they’re still a good team and I expect them to make the post season.
13. New York Islanders (Previous rank: 14)
The Islanders are continuing to impress. Sorokin is an early season Vezina candidate and the team just seems to be clicking right now. The outlying question is if this is going to be consistent success or if it’s just another flare up.
12. Montreal Canadiens (Previous rank: 8)
Montreal appears to be slowing down, but they still look rather good. The lingering question on everyone’s mind is if this truly is the team coming into it’s own, or if they’re just over performing.
11. Detroit Red Wings (Previous rank: 9)
Detroit also appears to have slowed a little bit, but they’re still far ahead of what I expected them to be so they still rank relatively highly. Husso is playing his heart out right now and hopefully he can keep up that level of play all season.
10. Tampa Bay Lightning (Previous rank: 13)
Vasilevsky being gone has hurt this team no doubt, but they are still finding ways to win hockey games. Every time you think they’re burned out and done, they come back and show you that there’s still more in the tank. Incredible.
9. Los Angeles Kings (Previous rank: 11)
Man, the Kings look good right now. Cam Talbot is playing better than we’ve seen him play in years and Anze Kopitar is showing everyone that he’s still one of the best centers in the league. There are a lot of reasons to be excited for LA, but you can’t help but hope that Phoenix Copley finds his game.
8. Vancouver Canucks (Previous rank: 10)
Vancouver fans already had hope heading into this season that this team would finally start putting it all together. Right now, the team is showing the fans they were right to have that hope. They’re performing very well and have found themselves competing for a top spot in the Pacific.
7. Anaheim Ducks (Previous rank: 16)
The Ducks got good out of nowhere. Gibson is playing like his old self and this team continues to compete against and beat the best teams in the league. They’re not only the team that took Boston’s undefeated record, but they just handed Vegas their first regulation loss.
6. Colorado Avalanche (Previous rank: 3)
The Avs had a bit of a rough week to say the least. If two shutout losses to Pittsburgh and Buffalo wasn’t enough, they got absolutely decimated by Vegas. They’re still a fantastic team and they should be able to bounce back, but right now they’ve got some wounds to lick.
5. New Jersey Devils (Previous rank: 6)
The Devils are trudging along getting better and better every week. There’s so many reasons to be excited about with this team, including the fact that Jack Hughes is one of if not the best player in hockey right now.
4. New York Rangers (Previous rank: 5)
The Rangers are such a fun team to watch. Seriously, sit down and watch them and you’ll think you’re watching a person play an NHL video game. They work so well together and have emerged as a serious contender.
3. Dallas Stars (Previous rank: 4)
The Stars might win the Central this year. They are just so unbelievably good. Jason Robertson is an absolute stud and Jake Oettinger continues to perform day in and day out. This is a loaded roster from top to bottom and man do they work well together.
2. Boston Bruins (Previous rank: Unchanged)
The Bruins have the best goalie tandem in the league right now. Both Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman are absolute killers in net, and both guys have an argument to be starter. Pair that with the fact that the roster seems to be filling the holes left by Bergeron and Krejci just fine and you have a killer team.
1. Vegas Golden Knights (Previous rank: Unchanged)
Their first regulation loss aside, I think it’s still safe to say Vegas looked like the best in the world this week. Adin Hill and Logan Thompson are both playing spectacular hockey and this roster is leaking depth scoring. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it and this team currently has nothing to fix.
