The NHL’s second season is second to none — especially the first two weeks.
With all 82 in the books, 16 teams are chasing the 16 wins it takes to lift the Stanley Cup. With our first post-whistle scrum, first controversy and first f-words on the immediate horizon, we’re doing a bonus playoff edition of the power rankings on the eve of the post season.
Note, these teams are not ranked according to championship odds; if they were, you’d be tempted to put two or three Eastern Conference clubs at the top simply because the path out of that group appears far less daunting. Heck, the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Winnipeg Jets are about to face a first-round opponent that recently wrapped up a 12-game winning streak and one of Colorado and Dallas — two teams with well-founded championship designs — will be golfing in two weeks.
The Western Conference is going to be a bloodbath.
Regardless of which side of the draw your team falls on — or if they made the playoffs at all — the first round is a special, frenetic kind of fun. With puck-drop now just 24 hours away, here’s our power ranking of every squad in the derby.
Watch the Stanley Cup Playoffs on SportsnetThe NHL’s best are ready to battle for the right to hoist the Stanley Cup. Watch every game of the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+ beginning on April 19.
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1. Winnipeg Jets (56-22-4) It’s hard to put a 116-point squad anywhere but the top. The Jets have a lethal power play and can grind teams down with depth scoring. There’s no getting around the fact Connor Hellebuyck has an .875 save percentage in his past 10 playoff games and Winnipeg has a 2-8 mark in those contests. Something has to change there. If it does, though, and we see a more recognizable version of the goalie who is about to win his second straight Vezina, the Jets will be heard from.
2. Vegas Golden Knights (50-22-10) By their standards, it was a quiet year for the Knights. Usually, with this club, we’re talking about the potential impact a huge deadline acquisition or two ahead of the playoffs. This season, though, it’s just all about consistent excellence. Vegas ranks fifth in the NHL in goals-per-game (3.34) and third in goals-against (2.61). Jack Eichel is coming off the best regular season of his career, one in which he established himself as an elite two-way player. There’s championship know-how on this club from the 2023 title and starving-dog hunger after getting bounced by Dallas in Round 1 — after taking a 2-0 series lead, no less — last spring.
3. Toronto Maple Leafs (52-26-4) Honestly, if you stripped away the team names, all the baggage that’s baked into the blue-and-white uniform come playoff time and just read bios for 16 playoff clubs labelled Hockey Club X or Y, I think a lot of people would say, “I kind of like this team with all kinds of talent that’s playing tighter this year and may finally have the best goalie in a series.” The path is there for Toronto; can the Leafs finally traverse it?
4. Colorado Avalanche (49-29-4) Essentially, Colorado removed a high-end piece in Mikko Rantanen in the name of filling holes. But those were some important holes. Colorado has had neither the goaltending nor the centre depth to succeed in the playoffs since puckstopper Darcy Kuemper and middleman Nazem Kadri left as free agents after the 2022 title. That changed this year when the goaltending was remade on the fly in-season and Rantanen was deleted from the lineup, but centres Brock Nelson and Charlie Coyle were added. This complete version of the Avs feels like it could go a long way.
5. Washington Capitals (51-22-9) We hear all the smoke-and-mirror talk and, to a degree, we understand. At first blush, it’s just hard to wrap your brain around a team that was first-round roadkill last year being a Cup favourite this time out. You can’t fake your way to 111 points, though, and Washington has a lot going for it, including a mean forecheck game that could be tailor-made for the second season. That said, it’s a bit unsettling that goalie Logan Thompson’s injury status is uncertain ahead of Game 1 and the top six will look less imposing with six-foot-six Aliaksei Protas listed as week-to-week.
6. Tampa Bay Lightning (47-27-8) Tampa’s mini reset could not have gone better, with Jake Guentzel joining the forward crew and Ryan McDonagh being re-incorporated into the blueline. Andrei Vasilevskiy is playing like his old self and Tampa has the second-best goal-differential (plus-75) in the league behind the Jets (plus-86).
7. Los Angeles Kings (48-24-9) Time to slay the dragon. Los Angeles has lost three consecutive first-round series to the Edmonton Oilers, but the Kings do hold home-ice advantage for the upcoming fourth clash and probably feel better about their goaltending today than in any of the previous series with Edmonton thanks to Kuemper’s strong second half.
8. Dallas Stars (50-26-6) Dallas would shoot up this power ranking if stud defenceman Miro Heiskanen was healthy and ready to go for Game 1. Throw in Jason Robertson’s lower-body injury in the final game of the year and it’s impossible not to ding this otherwise-fantastic Stars club. If Dallas can manage to overthrow Colorado in Round 1 and get healthy ahead of the second round, it could suddenly become the Cup favourite of the remaining eight teams.
9. Carolina Hurricanes (47-30-5) As always, the questions about Carolina come down to whether the goaltending can hold up and if the Canes can squeeze out enough scoring when it matters most. Still, don’t overlook the fact this is a relentless squad that comes at you in waves. It will be fun to keep an eye on incoming Russian defenceman Alexander Nikishin, who just might have the ability to impact games right away.
10. Florida Panthers (47-31-4) The Panthers are the champs until somebody takes that chalice from them, and this is most definitely a situation where you’ll have to pry it from their cold, dead paws. Playing in back-to-back finals takes an enormous toll, but nobody has more fight than the Cats. Can Matthew Tkachuk return to the lineup and play like his usual, unpleasant self? Like Dallas, if Florida can emerge from its first-round match with Tampa, we’ll suddenly be on Cup watch again.
11. Edmonton Oilers (48-29-5) From questionable goaltending to the absence of shutdown D-man Mattias Ekholm, there are justifiable reasons to doubt this team’s potential. The reasons to believe in it are the same as always; Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
12. St. Louis Blues (44-30-8) Is any team feeling better heading into the big dance? Pick a category and the Blues are probably at or near the top of it since the 4 Nations Face-Off.
13. Ottawa Senators (45-30-7) The wait is over and, most of all, Brady Tkachuk is ready. Ottawa is making its first post-season appearance since 2017 and will be more than a little keyed up for the “Battle of Ontario.” The Sens have good centre depth, some chippy players, an emerging blueline superstar in Jake Sanderson and Vezina-winning goalie in Linus Ullmark. This should, indeed, be a battle.
14. Minnesota Wild (45-30-7) The Wild returned their two most important forwards — Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek — to the lineup right at the end of the regular season. They might not be a contender, but Minny is no pushover, either.
15. New Jersey Devils (42-33-7) The Devils lost their best offensive player in Jack Hughes in February and it feels like they’ve been trending first-round exit for two months. If New Jersey is to surprise us, Jacob Markstrom will have to come up big in the crease and Nico Hischier will have to play like a Conn Smythe candidate right out of the gate.
16. Montreal Canadiens (40-31-11) Really, the Canadiens have already played their most important contests, clinching a playoff spot that felt as though it might be slipping away in their final contest of the season. The Habs now shift from bearing the weight of the world to a completely weightless existence as they compete free and easy in playoff games that are all gravy for this rebuilding club.
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