Wow, that first week went by fast. Already, teams are beginning to shake up expectations. However, it is important to remember that this is only the first week of the NHL season.
Last season taught us, once again, to never count your chickens before they hatch. I’m sure this season will be no different.
That being said, some teams are looking better and/or worse than I expected them to look early. Let’s take a look at how week one shook up the rankings.
Who are the top teams in the NHL after week one of games?
32. San Jose Sharks (Previous ranking: Unchanged)
The one team that refuses to defy expectations is San Jose. They’ve once again started the season winless through one week. Last season, it took them nearly fifteen games to finally get one in the win column, so if they prevent doing that this year, it’ll be an improvement. Not enough of one to get them out of the bottom of the rankings however.
31. Chicago Blackhawks (Previous ranking: 29)
Despite beating a relatively poor-looking Edmonton team, Chicago has not looked great through three games. Outside of a surprising offensive burst against the aforementioned Edmonton team, Chicago is still struggling to score goals, and their defense hasn’t played much better. Hopefully, the vets they brought in to help Bedard start showing up soon.
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30. Columbus Blue Jackets (Previous ranking: 31)
Columbus is 1-1 to start the year so far, so it’s really hard to determine where exactly they’re going to be. They get to move one spot up the rankings this week, though, so there’s something to be proud of! You gotta start somewhere, even if the start is relatively small. Keep it up, Columbus!
29. Anaheim Ducks (Previous rank: 30)
Anaheim also gets to move up a ranking given that they’ve looked better than I thought they would, and they’ve certainly looked better than the teams below them have. It’s important to remember though, they started off decent last year too before they absolutely tanked. Not saying with one hundred percent certainty that that will happen again this year, but I am saying maybe this team tends to be a bit deceiving.
28. Washington Capitals (Previous rank: 24)
Washington is getting dropped fairly heavily this week simply because there are a lot of teams that are way overperforming my expectations so far. They’ve only played one game so far this NHL season, so they have plenty of time to prove me wrong or continue dropping down the rankings! The door is still wide open!
27. Ottawa Senators (Previous rank: 28)
Ottawa did manage to get a pretty decent win over Florida, but Florida seems to be experiencing a bit of a Stanley Cup hangover. So far, Ullmark seems to fit in pretty well with the Sens, though, and that’s a very good sign for this team. If they can grab onto that baseline and build off it, we may see good things from this team.
Also Read: All 32 NHL Teams Win-Loss Predictions For The 2024 Season
26. Buffalo Sabres (Previous rank: 17)
It’s the first week, so some teams are going to get dropped pretty heavily due to small sample sizes. However, I was thoroughly unimpressed with Buffalo last week. They looked sloppy and downright uncomposed at times this week. Last NHL season, I said multiple times that I expected Buffalo to eventually turn it around, and they never did, so maybe I’ll just keep my mouth shut this time.
24. Pittsburgh Penguins (Previous rank: 20)
Poor Pittsburgh. Maybe Crosby just can’t carry you anymore. Maybe I’m wrong, and the legend will suddenly turn on the jets and somehow push this team to compete for a playoff spot against all odds again. It’s not like Crosby hasn’t made a career out of proving people wrong; he may as well do it again, right?
23. Philadelphia Flyers (Previous rank: 25)
I don’t have a grasp on the Flyers yet. They may be good—like, actually, good. I need a bigger sample size to know for sure; they could just be lying to me. That’s why they haven’t moved up super far this week. They need to show me more, show the league more, and prove to us that last year wasn’t a fluke.
22. New York Islanders (Previous rank: 18)
The Islanders look a bit slow to start off the year. That’s unfortunate to say because they haven’t exactly looked fast the last few years. It doesn’t help that star goaltender Ilya Sorokin is on the sidelines with an exact return date still up in the air. That’s not to throw shade on Semyon Varlamov, though, who has been rather solid for New York as well.
21. Minnesota Wild (Previous rank: Unchanged)
Minnesota’s only played one game so far, and to be fair to them, they won it. It was against Seattle, though. There’s still not a large enough sample size to move them up or down yet. I need to see more from them to be completely sure which direction they’re going to start heading.
20. Detroit Red Wings (Previous rank: 16)
Detroit looks worse than I expected them to. And that’s saying a lot. They have plenty of time to turn things around, but the fact that goalie Ville Husso is already on waivers is a pretty good sign that Detroit hasn’t fixed any of the issues that plagued them last year. Maybe I’m just being overly cynical through the first week, but I really wanted to see improvement from the Wings.
19. Nashville Predators (Previous rank: 13)
Nashville just straight-up hasn’t looked good so far. All the fire we saw at the end of last season appears to be gone so far this year. Maybe they need to have another concert canceled to kick them in the rear and get them moving. It’s too early to count anyone out yet, but this was not the same Preds team we saw heading into the NHL postseason last year.
18. Montreal Canadiens (Previous rank: 27)
Montreal has been a pleasant surprise this year. Primarily the fact that so far Sam Montembault has looked very, very good in net. I won’t get my hopes up too high yet as they do have plenty of time to hit that wall they hit last year, but as of right now the boys look good. Keep it up Habs, this is nice to see.
17. Calgary Flames (Previous rank: 26)
What in the world happened to the Flames? They’re undefeated through three games, and they’ve made their competition look bad in the process. This is not what you would expect from a team that seemingly was about to kickstart a rebuild. They could still hit a wall very soon, but man, this is just surprising, to say the least.
16. St Louis Blues (Previous rank: 23)
I was perhaps too hard on the Blues. The truth is, they look rather solid so far this year. At least they look like they can compete. It’s still way too early to say if they have what it takes to compete for a playoff spot again this year, but so far, it’s so good for the boys in Missouri. Don’t lose the engine, boys.
15. New Jersey Devils (Previous rank: Unchanged)
New Jersey has had a decent start to the NHL season, but that’s also because two of their three wins came against Buffalo, and one came against Washington. They should win those games. They still lost to the one elite team they’ve played so far this year. They also have plenty of time to have the wheels fall off the wagon and crash back into the bottom of the rankings.
14. Edmonton Oilers (Previous rank: 3)
It’s been another rough start for the Oilers. They’ve yet to win a game, and they’ve lost to some not-so-great competition. I mean, a 5-2 loss to Chicago guys? We thought they had potentially hit rock bottom last year before they suddenly shot back to the top and made a run to the Finals. Maybe rock bottom is still yet to come for this team.
13. Colorado Avalanche (Previous rank: 10)
Colorado is also winless to start the NHL season, although, let’s be honest, they’ve looked better than Edmonton. At least offensively. Already this year, we’re seeing that one glaring red flag pop up again, and it’s Alexandar Georgiev. At his absolute best, he is a solid goalie, but I don’t think he was ever truly ready for a starting position, and the cracks have been showing more and more since he left New York. Without a solid number one, it’s unlikely Colorado will compete for a Cup again.
12. Florida Panthers (Previous rank: 2)
After initially beating Boston in their opener, Florida proceeded to look not-so-great in their next two games. We should probably cut them some slack, though, as they’ve been to back-to-back Finals and are probably feeling a little bit of lag. We shouldn’t at all get the pitchforks and torches ready for them quite yet.
11. Carolina Hurricanes (Previous rank: 9)
Carolina is another team that’s had a relatively small sample size, so it’s not really fair to judge them too harshly quite yet. The real reason they’ve been bumped down the list so far is because of the stellar performances of other teams so far this year. Not a knock on you, Carolina. Don’t take it too harshly, please.
10. Vancouver Canucks (Previous rank: 4)
Three of my top five teams from the opening rankings have dropped out to just barely in or completely out of the top ten. That’s hockey, though, and that’s why we love it. Vancouver hasn’t looked terrible, but they also don’t look like the same force they were last year. Granted, they’ve only played two games, and they lost in OT in both of them.
9. Los Angeles Kings (Previous rank: 12)
From Anze Kopitar starting the year with a hat-trick to Darcy Kuemper looking like a brick wall, the Kings are starting the NHL season fairly well so far. As predicted, the 1-3-1 has become a thing of the past, and we’re seeing a much more aggressive and physical Kings team, particularly in the offensive zone. The players seem to be enjoying this change as well, so that’s always a bonus.
8. Utah Hockey Club (Previous rank: 17)
Does Utah have something to prove or what? They’re undefeated in three games, and they look spectacular. They’re playing with intensity and fire, and quite frankly, they look like a team that wants to win. We’ll see if they can keep this up or if they fizzle out like Arizona did last year, but as of right now, this is a fun team to watch.
7. Tampa Bay Lightning (Previous rank: 14)
Tampa has only played one game, but the reason I’ve bumped them up is because of how they looked in that one game. They looked like the old Tampa. They outplayed a very solid Carolina team in what was a very hard-fought game. We didn’t get to see the rematch due to a certain hurricane, but hopefully, Tampa doesn’t make me look foolish and keeps playing well.
6. New York Rangers (Previous rank: Unchanged)
New York looks fine to start the year. I wasn’t really expecting them to win the President’s Trophy back to back, and they haven’t shown me anything too worrying yet. Their goal scorers are already finding points, and Shesterkin has looked good so far this year. Nothing really new to report so far.
5. Boston Bruins (Previous rank: Unchanged)
After a rough game against Florida, Boston appears to have refound some footing. They had a very solid defensive performance against LA this week. The power play hasn’t looked as good as we’re used to seeing it, though. Maybe it’s still too early to worry about that.
4. Toronto Maple Leafs (Previous rank: 7)
I was getting ready to laugh after Toronto dropped their opener to Montreal, but then, all of a sudden, they became Toronto again. This team is still way too hard to read, though. I genuinely couldn’t tell you if they’ve fixed their defensive structure or if it’s just early-season hockey. Give me a couple of weeks, and we might have a more solid reading on Toronto.
3. Vegas Golden Knights (Previous rank: 8)
For the second straight season, Vegas is undefeated through week one. I don’t know how this team maintains such good form year in and year out. Last year, they did tend to fizzle out towards the end of the NHL season, though, so maybe putting everything they have into the start of the year isn’t actually the move. I could also be completely wrong. It’s hard to say with Vegas.
2. Winnipeg Jets (Previous rank: 11)
Winnipeg heard me say that they were foolish not to change anything in the offseason and took it as a personal challenge. So far, they’re undefeated through week one, and the defense has looked absolutely formidable. It’s almost daunting. That being said, there is a lot of time for Winnipeg’s old flaws to rear their ugly head once again, so I still have yet to be proven wrong!
1. Dallas Stars (Previous rank: Unchanged)
Also undefeated through week one and looking as deep as ever, we have Dallas. I’m still so high on this NHL team, and so far, they have reminded me why. There’s talent from top to bottom, and at their very best, they just have such a smooth system. This is such a fun hockey team to watch.
Also Read: Ranking All 32 NHL Teams (Season Opener)
