Two weeks have come and gone in the NHL season. This week saw fast-paced action and some really fun games all around. Teams are starting to find their groove and settle into their system, which means that the competition should really start heating up soon.
Enough future talk, though; let’s take a look at this last week and see how the NHL teams are ranking.
Who are the top-ranking NHL teams after week two of games?
32. San Jose Sharks (Previous rank: Unchanged)
For the second straight season, San Jose has been winless for two weeks. They have the worst goal differential in the league at -14 and are tied with two other teams for the second least amount of goals scored with 12. Vitek Vanecek has been about as good as you would’ve expected him to be coming from a god-awful year in New Jersey, and somehow Mackenzie Blackwood has been even worse.
31. Nashville Predators (Previous rank: 19)
The Preds are the only other team in the league without a win, but they’re the only team without even so much as a point. They easily could’ve made the bottom of the NHL rankings this week, but I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt. They haven’t been able to get the offense going at all; any semblance of depth they had has disappeared, and even Juuse Saros appears to be struggling. They’ve also only had the lead in a game twice this year.
30. Philadelphia Flyers (Previous rank: 23)
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I wanted to be nice to the Flyers, but this week has only further solidified that this team is very much still rebuilding. Despite some solid goaltending from Samuel Ersson, Philly has struggled to score goals and has been relatively outpaced by most of the teams they have played.
29. Chicago Blackhawks (Previous rank: 31)
Chicago only has two wins this year, but they’ve somehow managed to look a lot better than the last three NHL teams in the rankings. That being said, they share something in common with the other three teams, and that’s that they cannot score goals. The depth they tried to bring in is showing spurts, but it hasn’t been nearly consistent enough to take Chicago to that next step.
28. Detroit Red Wings (Previous rank: 20)
Oh boy, Detroit has looked terrible. Their defense still isn’t able to keep up with their offense and so far it’s looking like Cam Talbot isn’t going to bring too much success in net. That being said, I don’t think they will stay this low for very long, but I can’t say I expect them to make the playoffs, either.
27. Buffalo Sabres (Previous rank: 26)
Wow, Buffalo’s defense has not been good. There are only two teams in the league that have allowed more goals than Buffalo. The blue line looks like an absolute mess right now. I don’t care how good their offense is, and it’s pointless if they can’t stop the puck from going into their own net more often than not.
Also Read: Ranking All 32 NHL Teams’ Defenses From WORST To FIRST For The 2024 Season
26. Columbus Blue Jackets (Previous rank: 30)
Maybe Columbus doesn’t deserve this much of a bump-up, but quite frankly, they just haven’t looked as bad as the others, in my opinion. They haven’t looked great either, but nobody expected them to. They do look slightly better than I anticipated from them, though, and I think that’s a victory, albeit a small one.
25. Anaheim Ducks (Previous rank: 29)
If Anaheim could consistently score goals, they may be higher than they are now in the NHL rankings. They’ve shown the ability to lock down offenses fairly decently, but they cannot score when they need to, and that’s led to them failing to win games they might’ve been able to squeak out. I don’t know if this will gain or take away confidence from Anaheim.
24. Montreal Canadiens (Previous rank: 18)
You know, despite all their issues, Sam Montembault has actually looked pretty good. If he continues to play well in net, then maybe we can finally say Montreal’s future in goal has been secured. That’s still a big if, though, as there’s plenty of time for Montebault to crack. On top of that, Cayden Primeau has looked very poor in the two games he’s played this year, which most likely means Montembault will have to carry a lot of the workload this season.
23. Edmonton Oilers (Previous rank: 14)
Edmonton has been scoring in droves, as expected, but so have their opponents. They’ve allowed 24 goals in 6 games this year. That’s an average of four goals allowed per game. It’s not just the defense, though. Both Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard have looked TERRIBLE. This was the nightmare scenario for Edmonton after losing in the finals last year. They needed Skinner at least to keep up his high-level play, and so far, they haven’t got that.
22. Colorado Avalanche (Previous rank: 13)
Yet another team that’s had no problem scoring goals but can’t seem to stop their opponents from scoring either. Every year, it becomes increasingly more apparent that Alexandar Georgiev is not made to be a starter. Justus Annuen has been slightly better, but only slightly, and not enough to carry the Avs on his back. You can’t put all the blame on the goalies, though. Outside of Cale Makar, the blue line looks atrocious.
21. Pittsburgh Penguins (Previous rank: 24)
To be fair to the Pens, their offense has been on fire, and it even got them three wins in a row. To be unfair to the Pens, their defense has been god-awful, and they have lost quite a few games. They simply cannot keep up with the faster teams anymore, and despite Crosby seemingly finally getting some help on offense, this blue line is probably going to sink the team once again.
20. New York Islanders (Previous rank: 22)
Ilya Sorokin has returned for the Islanders, and that’s helped out a ton. That being said, they’re still one of the oldest teams in the league, and it’s been showing. Their grinding and slow style of play has not helped them slow down opposing teams so far this year, and they can’t catch their stride because of it.
19. Ottawa Senators (Previous rank: 27)
I’ll be the first to say that Ottawa has looked A LOT better than I expected them to. Maybe a big part of that is finally having a goalie who can stand on his head, but they’ve also just looked a lot more structured than they did last year. Still a very long way to go for this team, but maybe they’re finally moving in the direction they need to be.
18. Vancouver Canucks (Previous rank: 10)
I did expect a decent amount of regression from Vancouver this season, but not this much. This doesn’t look anything like the team we saw last year. To be fair to them, though, this last week, they did seem to catch somewhat of a foothold, but who knows if it’ll last. Not having Thatcher Demko has certainly been a blow, but it shouldn’t have caused this much damage. We will be watching them closely to see if they can pull their act together.
17. Minnesota Wild (Previous rank: 21)
It’s been really nice to see Fillip Gustavsson finally playing well. That’s been a big boost in Minnesota’s confidence, especially since we don’t really know how Fleury is going to look this year. On top of that, Minnesota has yet to lose a game in regulation. They’ve gotten at least a point in all five of their games so far. A rather impressive start for what was expected to be a run-of-the-mill team.
16. Seattle Kraken (Previous rank: 25)
This was the Seattle team we wanted to see. Joey Daccord is still playing at an elite level, backed by a rather impressive blue line to boot. That’s not the most impressive part, though. They can score goals again!! The major thing holding them back last season was their offense, and so far, that has not been a problem yet this year. If they continue down this route, they will very much be a team to watch moving forward.
15. St Louis Blues (Previous rank: 16)
Backed by another strong start from goalie tandem Jordan Binnington and Joel Hofer, St Louis has looked relatively solid to start the year. I don’t want to buy into their hype too much just yet, as they had moments of looking rather impressive last year but would consistently fall apart and miss the playoffs. There is still plenty of time for that to happen this year, but as of right now, they are playing rather good hockey.
14. Carolina Hurricanes (Previous rank: 11)
Seems to be another slow start for Carolina. With all the hurricane stuff going on, I guess we can’t really blame them for not coming out guns blazing. It’s too early to count them out yet, especially with how mediocre they started last year before getting hot in the second half of the season. But right now, they seem to be middling around a little bit.
13. Boston Bruins (Previous rank: 5)
Boston sees themselves bumped out of the top ten of the NHL rankings simply because so many teams ahead of them have been so impressive. They’re certainly not as impressive as the last two seasons, at least not so far, but I won’t call them bad or disappointing by any means. This is still a very solid hockey club that is a tough out for anyone playing them.
12. Toronto Maple Leafs (Previous rank: 4)
Seems any time I get high on a team this year, they suddenly lose their step. Toronto is far from falling flat on its face, but it definitely hasn’t seemed as impressive as it did in week one. I struggled to rank this team consistently last year because they always seemed to be different depending on the week. It’s starting to seem like it’s going to be more of the same this year, the difference being that Auston Matthews has had a relatively slow start this year.
11. Washington Capitals (Previous rank: 28)
Part of the reason Washington has gotten such a big bump up the NHL rankings is because of the fact that they only played one game last week. The other reason is that they have been playing rather terrifically and bumped both Vegas and Dallas from the ranks of the unbeaten. That being said, there still seem to be a few glaring issues, one of which is that they completely flipped the script from last year. The offense has seemingly come alive again, particularly with Tom Wilson, and the defense has been okay, but the goaltending is not what it was last year.
10. Los Angeles Kings (Previous rank: 9)
For a minute there, it looked like the Kings were going to fall down a hole. They’ve definitely struggled to adjust to their new system under Jim Hiller, but they have seemed to settle in and find their footing now. David Rittich also bounced back from a really bad game against Toronto and played two really good games against Anaheim and Montreal. If they can keep getting that level of goaltending and defense, especially with Doughty and Kuemper out to injury, they will be alright.
9. Florida Panthers (Previous rank: 12)
Seems like the Panthers have been able to recover and start looking like their old selves again. It helps that Sergei Bobvrosky has once again been fantastic to start this year off. The two-time Vezina Trophy winner has been racking up wins the last couple of seasons and doesn’t look like he has plans to slow down anytime soon. With him in net, it’ll always be hard to beat Florida.
8. Vegas Golden Knights (Previous rank: 3)
It seems like Vegas got a bit rattled by their loss to Washington. They’ve lost three games in a row now and seem to have lost a bit of their structure. We saw this happen a few times last season, and they were always able to bounce back, so maybe they will be able to do the same this year, especially if they’re able to take advantage of the salary cap again.
7. Utah Hockey Club (Previous rank: 8)
I really did not expect Utah to come out this strong. They have been solid. Despite lacking any real superstars, this team has formed a system that works. Every player seems to work in perfect sync to get the results Utah wants day in and day out. What a story it’ll be if Utah can continue this level of play and get themselves into the playoffs in their inaugural season. Let’s try not to jinx them, though.
6. New York Rangers (Previous rank: Unchanged)
The Rangers have yet to lose in regulation and are once again playing behind terrific goaltending and defending. Don’t count out their offense, though. This team is very capable of scoring on you. They also have the fourth-best power play in the league right now, so taking a penalty against them can be very, very costly. The Rangers were solid throughout most of the year last year, and they’ve been consistently solid through two weeks this year.
5. Calgary Flames (Previous rank: 17)
Look, I can’t tell you if Calgary is going to keep playing like this or not. I genuinely have no idea. But as of right now, they are playing fantastic hockey. I wanted to rank them higher, but I just don’t know if I can trust them right now or not. I will say, though, that the turnaround from Dan Vladar has been shocking, to say the least.
4. New Jersey Devils (Previous rank: 15)
Well, I’ll be a monkey’s uncle. New Jersey isn’t meddling about to start this year. Will it last? I couldn’t tell you. All I can tell you right now is that they look far and away like a better team than they did at the start of last season. It’s crazy what happens when you actually invest in good goaltending.
3. Tampa Bay Lightning (Previous rank: 7)
I don’t know what happened, man. Tampa looks like Tampa again. They lost their undefeated record, but they still have looked so solid through four games. Maybe I’m too high on them on the NHL rankings, and they’re going to start letting me down, but it’s just been nice to see this team playing like their old selves again. Steven Stamkos, who, right?
2. Dallas Stars (Previous rank: 1)
Dallas got bounced from the undefeated ranks by Washington of all teams, but they did bounce right back with a win. There’s nothing that’s been really too concerning with this team so far, as they still look as deep and as well-rounded as ever. Top that off with the fact that both Jake Oettinger and Casey DeSmith are putting in terrific starts, and you have a team that’s really tough to beat and really tough to score on.
1. Winnipeg Jets (Previous rank: 2)
Speaking of tough to score on, we have the last remaining undefeated team in the league. Coming in with a perfect 5-0-0 record, Winnipeg has also allowed a league-low eight goals so far this year. Top that off with the fact that they’ve scored 24 goals, and you have a +16 goal differential, currently the best in the league. On top of that, they have the league’s best power play at the moment, coming in at a whopping 43.8 percent.
Also Read: All 32 NHL Teams Win-Loss Predictions For The 2024 Season
