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Welcome again to The Hockey Information’ NHL energy rankings. Each Wednesday, we’ll rank all 32 groups primarily based on their weekly efficiency.
The Winnipeg Jets’ perfect record was smashed on the primary day of Week 4, and whereas they keep the highest spot on this week’s NHL energy rankings, it’s getting tight on the prime.
With American Thanksgiving approaching, which frequently serves because the unofficial cutoff line for the playoffs, just a few groups have already separated themselves on the prime. That features the defending champion Florida Panthers within the Atlantic, the Vegas Golden Knights within the Pacific, the present prime 4 groups within the Metro and the highest three groups within the Central. The race within the Atlantic, specifically, shall be enjoyable to observe, with the second-place Tampa Bay Lightning and the last-place Boston Bruins separated by simply three factors.
Which staff will be a part of that group within the coming days? The Nashville Predators and Edmonton Oilers got here into the season with appreciable hype, however they’ve been disappointing up to now this season and rank twenty fourth and twenty second, respectively, this week. Can they catch hearth on the proper time?
1. Winnipeg Jets (8-1-0, +18. Final week: 1)
All of us ought to’ve seen it coming. Since Mark Scheifele’s fateful phrases in 2021 about how nothing’s better than beating the Leafs, the Jets have now misplaced six straight towards them. It’s the Jets’ solely blemish up to now this season, and so they retain the No. 1 spot for no less than one other week.
2. Dallas Stars (7-2-0, +12. Final week: 3)
The Stars’ schedule hasn’t precisely been difficult, although they may find yourself travelling probably the most miles by the tip of the season. The second leg of the World Collection shall be a stiff check towards the defending champions, but from top to bottom, they may have probably the most balanced lineup within the NHL.
3. Carolina Hurricanes (6-2-0, +8). Final week: 5)
I definitely am impressed. Regardless of shedding just a few key items in the course of the low season, the Hurricanes nonetheless look very very similar to a contender and concluded their six-game highway journey with a 5-1-0 file, with the lone loss coming in St. Louis by a one-goal margin. The unhealthy information is Frederik Andersen is hurt but once more.
Related: Doubters, Take Note: The Carolina Hurricanes Still Look Like Stanley Cup Contenders
4. Minnesota Wild (6-1-2, +10. Final week: 4)
I’m prepared to let that 7-5 loss to the Flyers slide with a 1 p.m. native begin time, and the Wild did outplay them for lengthy stretches. In any other case, I’m nonetheless very bullish on the Wild. If we’re voting for the Hart proper now, Kirill Kaprizov could be a finalist.
5. Florida Panthers (7-3-1, +3. Final week: 6)
Getting Aleksander Barkov again is large, and Anton Lundell confirmed that he’s very able to being a No. 2 heart. A giant win towards the Rangers after a tough begin places them again on monitor for a title protection, and their lineup is wholesome, which is most essential.
6. Washington Capitals (6-2-0, +7. Final week: 11)
Even the potential loss of Jakob Chychrun in Tuesday’s sport towards the Rangers can’t dampen how spectacular the Caps have seemed. They’re simply the largest shock this season and really appear to be a legit playoff staff, not like the one final season that completed with a minus-37 objective differential.
7. New York Rangers (6-2-1, +16. Final week: 2)
Losses to the Panthers and Capitals knock the Rangers down just a few spots, however there’s little separating the elite groups from one another. One underrated storyline for the Rangers this 12 months has been the play of Filip Chytil, with seven factors in 9 video games on a wonderful third line, the depth down the center will enable them to raised compete towards future playoff opponents such because the Panthers.
8. Vegas Golden Knights (7-2-1, +19. Final week: 9)
The Knights are nonetheless winless on the highway, however they’ve been a buzzsaw at house with a 7-0-0 file and averaging a league-best 4.70 objectives per sport. Who cares how good your goaltending is when you’re providing that kind of goal support? The Knights appear to have figured it out – winger depth isn’t almost as essential as depth at heart and protection.
9. Tampa Bay Lightning (6-3-0, +8. Final week: 8)
The Lightning simply make issues work, even when they don’t look notably sturdy on paper, and that’s an enormous credit score to Jon Cooper. (He’s but to win a Jack Adams, by the best way). It goes with out saying Andrei Vasilevskiy is important to their success, and it’s nonetheless early within the season, however you do wonder if his numbers are dipping a little. Relationship again to final season, Vasilevskiy’s .908 SP at 5-on-5 (min. 1,000 TOI) ranks forty fourth out of 63 goalies, per naturalstattrick.com.
10. Toronto Maple Leafs (5-4-1, even. Final week: 7)
So very, very typical of the Leafs to go 0-2-1, together with two ugly losses the place they misplaced by a mixed 11-3 rating, after which topple the best team in the league. This staff ought to be good, however too usually, we’re left scratching our heads.
11. Vancouver Canucks (4-1-3, +2. Final week: 13)
The excellent news it the Canucks appeared to have settled on Kevin Lankinen as their starter. The unhealthy information is their starter is Lankinen, who has a profession .906 save proportion and three.03 goals-against common. He’s been unbelievable with maybe extra highlight-reel stops than anyone up to now this season, however one factor concerning the Canucks has all the time been sustainability. Can Lankinen be a No. 1 for a full season? Can they maintain final season’s shocking tempo? Can Elias Pettersson play like a famous person each evening?
12. Colorado Avalanche (5-5-0, -5. Final week: 16)
With 5 straight wins – by no means thoughts the gentle schedule – the Avalanche appear to be discovering their footing. Then Alexandar Georgiev loses to the Hawks and Ross Colton suffers an injury. The Avalanche have been preventing by damage after damage, however no less than Artturi Lehkonen and Jonathan Drouin are near returning. It’s worrisome, however the Avs want solely fear about having a wholesome lineup in April when the playoffs begin.
13. New Jersey Devils (6-4-2, +5. Final week: 12)
They could be first within the Metro, however primarily based on factors proportion, they’re a distant fourth. What’s most regarding concerning the Devils up to now is that 4 of the 5 groups (Capitals excluded) they’ve crushed up to now have a mixed 17-17-4 file. The excellent news is that they play eight of their next 11 games on the road, the place they’ve been higher than at house.
14. Ottawa Senators (5-4-0, +7. Final week: 15)
One factor that’s abundantly clear: This team can score. The Sens ranked twentieth in goals-for per sport and twenty third in power-play proportion final season however now rank third in scoring and second in power-play proportion. Their second line has mixed for 31 factors, whereas Tim Stutzle and Brady Tkachuk have 27.
15. Columbus Blue Jackets (4-3-1, +8. Final week: 21)
I really feel like Vader in The Empire Strikes Again when Luke escapes the carbon-freezing chamber lure once I say the Jackets have been “spectacular… most spectacular.” In line with moneypuck.com, the Jackets’ line of Sean Monahan between Kirill Marchenko and Yegor Chinakhov has the very best anticipated objectives proportion in your complete NHL. Sure, higher than Draisaitl-McDavid-Hyman, whom they beat 6-1.
Related: Sean Monahan Is The Feel-Good Hockey Story We All Need
16. Calgary Flames (5-3-1, even. Final week: 10)
I famous final week that we would have liked to see the Flames towards stiffer competitors earlier than they moved larger within the energy rankings, and so they ended up shedding three straight and have been outscored 14-5. Ryan Huska has thrown his traces right into a blender, however I dare say that is extra just like the Flames all of us anticipated.
17. St. Louis Blues (5-5-0, -7. Final week: 14)
The Blues began off nice, however their previous two performances have been awful, shedding by a mixed rating of 13-3. And completely *nobody* was stunned Jordan Binnington was seeking to choose a combat in a blowout loss.
18. Los Angeles Kings (5-3-2, -3. Final week: 19)
Profitable video games appear to be actually onerous for the Kings recently. They received by only one objective towards the Sharks and Utah after which misplaced to the Sharks in a rematch simply 5 days later. These are the kinds of matchups the Kings ought to be dominating. Quinton Byfield has zero objectives in 10 video games, and Kevin Fiala was benched for missing a team meeting.
19. Seattle Kraken (5-4-1, +6. Final week: 22)
The excellent news is the Kraken can rating objectives now, even when their hat tricks come from a defenseman. They’ve been streaky, successful three straight and shedding three straight, however no less than they’ve lastly come to their senses and understand Joey Daccord ought to be their full-time starter going ahead.
20. Buffalo Sabres (4-5-1, -4. Final week: 26)
The three-game successful streak was extremely encouraging, and so has the play of Tage Thompson. They’re shaping as much as be a particularly streaky staff and I keep that their odds of successful are exponentially larger once they put on the black goathead jerseys.
21. Boston Bruins (4-5-1, -7. Final week: 18)
Granted, apart from the Panthers and Lightning, the mid-Atlantic has seemed just like the worst division, however it could actually’t really feel good waking up Wednesday morning to see your self sitting at the bottom. They’ve been shut out twice of their previous 4 video games and most not too long ago by the Flyers on Tuesday, who have been permitting a league-worst 4.44 objectives per sport coming into the sport.
22. Edmonton Oilers (4-5-1, -13. Final week: 20)
Even worse than the 6-1 loss to the Jackets was the lack of Connor McDavid, who was despatched house early in the course of the Oilers’ four-game highway journey following an apparent lower-body injury. The Oilers might barely cobble two scoring traces with him within the lineup and now want Leon Draisaitl to earn each penny of that $112-million contract.
Related: McDavid’s Injury Puts Oilers In Tough Play-It-Safe Position
23. Detroit Crimson Wings (4-4-1, -3. Final week: 25)
Trading Olli Maatta to Utah to clear his $3-million cap hit and open up an area for Albert Johansson to change into a daily was an astute transfer, however there’s nonetheless loads of questions concerning the roster. Clearly, Steve Yzerman isn’t finished tinkering together with his roster. However how lengthy is simply too lengthy because the Wings stay caught at .500? They’re 3-1-1 prior to now 5, however does anybody actually assume that 1-0 win towards the Isles was something greater than weird success?
24. Nashville Predators (3-5-1, -8. Final week: 27)
Lastly, issues are perking up a little bit, going 3-0-1 following their five-game shedding streak to begin the season. It’s encouraging, nonetheless, that the Preds are ranked third in Corsi-for proportion at 5-on-5, per naturalstattrick.com, although six different prime 10 groups – Oilers, Kings, Utah, Isles, Leafs and Sabres – haven’t fared very properly up to now this season, both.
25. Utah Hockey Membership (4-4-2, -8. Final week: 17)
It’s robust to compete when half your protection is lacking, however Utah is now 1-4-2 after successful its first three video games and has not received a sport in regulation since its season opener. They are often wildly entertaining to observe, however their offense has dried up, and we’re reminded that that is simply one other Coyotes staff that is sporting completely different colours.
26. Anaheim Geese (4-4-1, -4. Final week: 29)
The bar was set very low, however like final season, the Geese have exceeded expectations early on. It wasn’t till mid-November that the Geese hit an eight-game skid, and this season, they’ve managed to lose two video games in regulation in a row simply as soon as up to now. The main reason? Lukas Dostal, who leads all goalies with 7.99 goals-saved above common, per naturalstattrick.com.
27. New York Islanders (3-4-2, -5. Final week: 23)
They’ve one win in regulation this season, and that was towards a banged-up Avalanche squad with Alexandar Georgiev in web. They’ve been shut out three times already this season and rank thirtieth in goals-for per sport and twenty eighth on the facility play. They’re making an attempt onerous, however they only don’t have sufficient scoring expertise, regardless of how Patrick Roy mixes up his prime two traces.
28. Montreal Canadiens (4-5-1, -12. Final week: 30)
Wins towards the Blues and Flyers have been encouraging, however there have simply been too many blowout losses. Sam Montembeault was inching nearer to creating Canada’s 4 Nations roster, however he’s fallen again on onerous instances. You’ll be able to’t assist however really feel that the Martin St-Louis’ seat is beginning to get somewhat hotter.
29. Philadelphia Flyers (3-6-1, -11. Final week: 28)
The Flyers actually put themselves in a gap, however issues are trying up. The road juggling will in all probability hold going – that’s simply John Tortorella for ya – however the hot button is goaltending, with Samuel Ersson taking part in higher and Aleksei Kolosov trying like an enchancment over Ivan Fedotov. Additionally price noting: Emil Andrae looks good, and don’t be stunned if he sparks their energy play.
30. Pittsburgh Penguins (3-7-1, -15. Final week: 24)
They’re 0-5-1 of their previous six, and one thing has to present. Both Kyle Dubas makes an enormous transfer with the roster or behind the bench as a result of hoping Tristan Jarry finds his game in two weeks is a hope and a prayer.
Related: The Pittsburgh Penguins Must Draw The Line Somewhere With Coach Mike Sullivan
31. Chicago Blackhawks (3-6-1, -6. Final week: 31)
Their schedule has been robust recently, however props for a win in Colorado. They even miraculously managed to get Ilya Mikheyev his first objective of the season… on an empty-netter.
32. San Jose Sharks (2-7-2, -18. Final week: 32)
They won two games in a row. Two! And so they didn’t even have to attend till the primary week of November to take action.
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