As of five weeks ago, The Athletic has weekly NHL power rankings. Yes, it happened. Yes, we’re using this exact same lede in each one. It’ll be 69 weeks in and we’ll still say “As of 69 weeks ago.” Calm down. We’re back with another installment this week, and we’ll be back every week until we’re old and grey and tired of ranking teams every week.
Here are the basic ground rules.
- The methodology here is as simple as it gets. We each rank the teams, from 1-31, then take the average, and voila. (Dom made a dedicated spreadsheet for this because of course he did.) It’s not going to be based solely on past performance, current hot streaks or future potential. Numbers will figure into it prominently, but if you want stat-model stuff, we’ve got you covered elsewhere. This is something different.
- From there, we’ll choose 10 or so teams to go back-and-forth on; that might be because we disagree on the placement. It might be because we each have something meaningful to say. It might be because we each want to make jokes about the teams, or each other. We’ll see.
- We want this to be fun, and we’re not locked into a format beyond going from No. 1 to No. 31. Some rankings might have themes. Some of those themes might be unexpected. If you have ideas — or just suggestions on how to make this a destination for you, each Friday — we’d love to hear them. You’re why we’re doing this in the first place.
- If two teams are tied, the team with the better Twitter account gets the edge. Sometimes we might add new rules as we see fit. For example, we added the tie-breaker rule because ties are stupid and don’t belong in this sport. It’ll change every week.
This week: an emoji for every team. Just two old men getting paid to pick out lil’ cartoon pictures for the best hockey boys.
1. Colorado Avalanche
Last week: 1
Record: 31-9-4, 66 points
Dom rank: 1
Sean rank: 1
🤖: The Avalanche are just a well-oiled machine at this point, perfectly programmed in almost every way.
Dom: What more is there to say about this team that seems to run over whoever they face? I’m getting bored of seeing them clown the Blues and Coyotes every night, let’s just skip to the playoffs already so we can see them destroy an actually good team.
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Sean: It’s funny to see how well they’re doing in all the “defensive” categories — second in goals against, first in expected goals against, first in shots against — and think about how much of that is just because they spend most of their games in the offensive zone against the Ducks or whatever, just screwing around. Someday soon, we might regret not being able to see this team play a full, normal schedule. We’re going to want context for all this.
2. Carolina Hurricanes
Last week: 2
Record: 31-10-5, 67 points
Dom rank: 3
Sean rank: 2
🔥: The only thing hotter than the Canes on the ice, is the Canes’ Twitter account off the ice.
We had 4 times as many guys in the penalty box as Florida has wins against us pic.twitter.com/G3GXqN6LEj
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) April 23, 2021
Sean: Worth saying it up top — Dom chose the tie-breaker, and I’m convinced that it’s nothing more than a way to scam more teams for more free stuff. To whoever runs the Canes’ social media: I believed first. I knew. I knew. Also, I’m a shmedium, so whatever you have laying around is fine.
Dom: Dear almighty Carolina Hurricanes Twitter account: Sean may have believed first this year, but I’ve been on this path much longer. Ask our good mutual friend, Eric, he’ll tell you. Remember when y’all were near the bottom of the East in 2018-19? I still believed. Don’t bother searching for tweets about it. Remember Dougie Hamilton’s Norris trophy campaign last season? Where were Sean’s passionate tweets and articles about it? The audacity of some people…
Sean: I was probably writing about the Pirates or something, my bad.
3. Vegas Golden Knights
Last week: 4
Record: 33-11-2, 68 points
Dom rank: 2
Sean rank: 3
💪: Vegas flexing all over the very wrong previous power rankings that had the team outside the top three with an eight-game winning streak.
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Dom: The Golden Knights had a long stretch of time near the bottom of the top five in these rankings. We didn’t really believe in their record due to only modest underlying numbers relative to their results. Well, that’s changed drastically over the last few weeks as the team has rattled off eight straight wins and done so in dominant fashion. They have a 61 percent expected goals rate in those games and have outscored opponents 34-14.
Sean: Yeah, it feels like stuff is starting to come together here. Early on, they were buoyed by Marc-Andre Fleury. Then, he had a meh patch. Now, their underlyings have come around, he’s got a .934 save percentage in six April games, and Robin Lehner is at .935 (also in six). This was how it was supposed to work.
4. Tampa Bay Lightning
Last week: 3
Record: 31-14-2, 64 points
Dom rank: 4
Sean rank: 4
💳: What is LTIR, really, if not the hockey equivalent of a credit card?
Sean: At what point are we supposed to start worrying about this team a little bit? They’ve basically spent the month alternating wins and losses, the underlying numbers are mediocre, the secondary scoring is non-existent, they’re in third place in the division … it seems insane to drop them out of the top five, divisional placement be damned, but man, I’m starting to waver.
Dom: No Nikita Kucherov, no Steven Stamkos, and currently no Victor Hedman either as he’s been awful of late. That’s… pretty much most of the team’s value. Those two forwards should be back for the playoffs and Hedman should return to normalcy by then too. I’m not too worried until they lose a couple of playoff games to Sergei Bobrovsky.
Sean: Right, but it’s an existential question for the rankings. I’m fine on their longer-term prospects, but the performance has been blasé enough to make me contemplate dropping them in the meantime. I take this more seriously than you, I suppose.
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Dom: Perhaps I’m not nearly as fickle with my rankings.
5. Boston Bruins
Last week: 6
Record: 27-12-6, 60 points
Dom rank: 6
Sean rank: 5
🚀: Might be a little late, but up, up and away.
Sean: The Bruins made their big move up last week when they went from 11th to sixth, but that was aided with a little bit of tie-breaker luck. This week, that was … unnecessary. Unreal run by them — they got 10 points in five games over the last seven days, and they remain undefeated in The Taylor Hall Era (all six games of it). With him on the roster, their expected goals for percentage is up more than 10 points, to around 60. This week alone, they’ve outscored opponents 15-3 at 5v5. He’s a born winner, that Taylor Hall. Success follows him. Don’t let anyone tell you differently. He’s got four points in six games, for the record.
6. Toronto Maple Leafs
Last week: 5
Record: 29-13-5, 60 points
Dom rank: 5
Sean rank: 6
🧀: If you shot a puck in the general direction of a Leafs goaltender over the past week there was a pretty good chance it went right through him.
Dom: So, last week said no matter what happened over the next week we would put Toronto second, because “nothing matters between spots two-to-five.” The Leafs said “bet” and delivered that.
Sean: In 10 games since April 3, the Leafs are 5-3-2, 15th in points percentage league-wide over that span. That’s about as average as it gets. Nick Foligno is only going to be able to distract people with funny hats for so long. If they lose a couple more, he’s going to show up for post-game in a foam cowboy hat. It’s funny because it’s bigger than a normal hat.
Nick Foligno is wearing his father Mike's team-issued 1993 Maple Leafs hat: "Bring a little bit of old with the new." pic.twitter.com/zbtkuZrCD1
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) April 22, 2021
Dom: This Simpsons clip, inspired by the idea of Foligno distracting people with hats, is actually a perfect metaphor for the Leafs trading for Foligno.
7. Pittsburgh Penguins
Last week: 8
Record: 30-14-3, 63 points
Dom rank: 7
Sean rank: 7
👨👦👦: A nice image of Sidney Crosby, Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust (55.34 expected goals percentage, 61.9 actual goals percentage this season).
Sean: Little bit of a weird way for the Penguins to get six of eight points this week; they lost to the Sabres once in regulation, then almost blew a 6-0 lead to the Devils on Wednesday. Their forward group, if it ever gets healthy, is going to be fascinating. The Crosby-Guentzel-Rust line is locked and loaded, as we said. Trying to make the Evgeni Malkin–Jared McCann–Kasperi Kapanen–Jeff Carter–Jason Zucker pieces fit together on the fly might be easier said than done, given the shortage of time.
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Dom: A lot of analytics folks were really excited about Zucker going to Pittsburgh and he has low-key stunk this year. He’s got just 12 points in 29 games and a 44 percent expected goals rate that’s among the team’s worst marks. What the hell is going on there?
Sean: All-time atrocious start to the season. High-key, in fact. He’s been better lately, but I’m really starting to wonder whether we see him go unprotected in the expansion draft.
8. Washington Capitals
Last week: 9
Record: 30-13-4, 64 points
Dom rank: 8
Sean rank: 8
👋: “Ah, hello. You’re still here and still quite good.”
Sean: Is the emoji a back-handed way of acknowledging that we’re still sort of taking the Caps for granted? Maybe. Thursday night (a 1-0 win over the Islanders) was interesting for one particular reason: Ilya Samsonov killed it. After making 26 saves on 26 shots, he stopped two of three Islanders in the shootout. That’s something the Caps haven’t seen much of; heading into the game, they’d gotten a quality start from their goaltenders less than half the time. Only they and the Leafs are playoff-bound teams who can say that. If Samsonov gets hot, look out. If he doesn’t, it’ll be easy (and maybe correct) to sleep on them a bit.
Is that a backwards Italian flag? No, silly, it's teams' Quality Starts percentage (via @hockey_ref) plotted against points percentage (with the black dots representing teams that aren't going to make the playoffs). Caps are one of two teams headed to the postseason with bad QS%. pic.twitter.com/jSJpprTO4i
— Japers’ Rink (@JapersRink) April 22, 2021
9. New York Islanders
Last week: 7
Record: 29-13-5, 63 points
Dom rank: 9
Sean rank: 9
💤: Two 1-0 games this week, one of which ended in a shootout? 2.36 combined expected goals last night? Booooooooring.
Dom: Come on, if the zzz’s fit any team’s reputation it has to be the Islanders and while the team has been much more exciting this season (hello Mathew Barzal), this hasn’t exactly been a banner week for the club. Aside from a six-goal outburst against the Rangers, the Islanders had three games where they didn’t score a single goal in regulation. The Bruins and Capitals losses were most concerning as the team will likely have to go throw at least one to make it out of the East. For long stretches, the Islanders have looked like the team to beat in the East, but they’re at the bottom of the pecking order this week. They’ve lost the expected goals battle in six of their last eight games.
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10. Minnesota Wild
Last week: 10
Record: 29-13-3, 61 points
Dom rank: 10
Sean rank: 11
: The Wild have an elite record that screams contender, but their underlying numbers over the last month look a bit suspicious.
Dom: Unsurprisingly, my best friends, the Minnesota Wild, won the tie-breaker for best Twitter account against the Panthers. There is no better Twitter account in all of sports based on the simple fact that they are friends with me online, the single most important thing about a team Twitter account.
And because best friends do not talk sh*t about each other, I will absolutely not say anything bad about the Minnesota Wild franchise. Best friends support each other, so when I see that the team has been outshot in 19 straight games, I choose to look at the positive instead — like the team’s record in that time frame, buoyed by a red hot power play. Just win, baby.
11. Florida Panthers
Last week: 11
Record: 30-13-5, 65 points
Dom rank: 11
Sean rank: 10
🤞: What else would you do with your hands when Sergei Bobrovsky is playing?
Sean: The other option, quickly, might end up “pointing at Spencer Knight.” He had 33 saves on 34 shots in the first start of his NHL career. Sure, it came against the Blue Jackets, but whatever. There are a couple of things to like here. One: The Panthers would be much easier to take seriously as a top-10 team (which they are in both expected and actual goals percentage) if their goalie was less volatile. Two: Knight was born in 2001, which brings us ever closer to Dom realizing that he, too, is getting old, just like the rest of us.
12. Winnipeg Jets
Last week: 12
Record: 27-16-3, 57 points
Dom rank: 12
Sean rank: 12
🧐: We have no idea what to make of this team, so we just put them in 12th every week and hope no one notices.
Dom: Last night’s game against the Leafs was pure opposite-land for Winnipeg. Connor Hellebuyck couldn’t stop a beach ball early on, got pulled, and the Jets won the expected goals battle against Toronto. Neither of those things happen very often, but it ended in a regulation loss making it very unlikely Winnipeg can catch Toronto for first in the North. In 12th they shall remain.
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13. Edmonton Oilers
Last week: 13
Record: 27-16-2, 56 points
Dom rank: 13
Sean rank: 13
🍿: The most entertaining team in hockey because they have Connor McDavid and other teams do not. (That, and defence is pretty optional the other way too).
Dom: Every week it seems like McDavid just does something insane. It’s usually some variation of “He’s a freak! He’s the fastest kid alive!” but I still can’t get enough. Like, this is just a normal goal for him.
CONNOR MCDAVID 🤯
It just NEVER gets old seeing him do this kind of thing… pic.twitter.com/pPsfRhiSs2
— NHL (@NHL) April 20, 2021
Sean: Another week of the rankings, another week of me being personally offended by Ken Holland’s “you can’t be all-in every year” insanity. His last 17 assists have been primary assists. Seventeen! In 15 games! It’s cool to see him score those goals, and it’s cool to see him rack up wild streaks. It’s also really depressing, borderline “lamp under a bushel” stuff.
14. New York Rangers
Last week: 14
Record: 23-18-6, 52 points
Dom rank: 14
Sean rank: 14
⚰️: Whatever faint glimmer of playoff hopes this team had is gone, as is the Rangers’ very temporary hold on East Division Goal Differential Champion.
Dom: Any excuse to post this meme is a good one (hence the coffin emoji) because this song still absolutely slaps. Here lies the 2021 Rangers season.
The Rangers have been a weirdly frustrating team all season — they should be a lot better. The goal differential is right there with the other top teams in the division, but the record isn’t even close. They have some very high-end players, but the bottom of the roster still needs a lot of work. They’ll come back much stronger next season, one that may start a nice playoff streak, but this season sadly was not it.
15. Dallas Stars
Last week: 19
Record: 19-15-12, 50 points
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Dom rank: 15
Sean rank: 15
🤠: The wild, wild West… err Central… featuring the most chaotic team in hockey. Will they win? Will they lose? Will Roope Hintz even play? Tune in to find out because no one has any idea.
Sean: It’s amazing to see that this team — this weird, ridiculous team — has somehow stabilized in the middle of this dumb thing we do. The end result (this season, at least) is destined to be mediocrity, but the road we’re taking is hilarious. Like, as we were writing this, they statistically dominated the Red Wings and managed to lose 7-3. What is happening here?
Dom: I bet on the Stars (after seeing the team would have Roope Hintz and Miro Heiskanen in the lineup literally 30 minutes before the game). That’s what happened. I might be cursed.
16. Nashville Predators
Last week: 15
Record: 25-21-2, 52 points
Dom rank: 16
Sean rank: 16
🤡: Imagine blowing a 4-1 lead halfway through the third and losing in overtime? Embarrassing.
Dom: The win probably won’t matter in the grand scheme of things for the Blackhawks who will need a lot going their way to make the playoffs, but losing that extra point really stings for Nashville. The Stars are just ever so slightly ahead by points percentage and this race looks like it’s going to come down to the wire. The Predators’ playoff chances sit at 45 percent while the Stars are at 47 percent after losing to Detroit. To squander a three-goal lead the way Nashville did just stings. The Predators didn’t sell at the deadline for this?
Sean: One metaphor, please.
It was an omen. pic.twitter.com/DHojIoWJiN
— Adam Vingan (@AdamVingan) April 21, 2021
Honestly, if we’re talking about team Twitter accounts, we should point out that Nashville’s spent Thursday night begging for the Red Wings to beat the Stars, and it worked.
ready for a big third period let’s go boys @DetroitRedWings pic.twitter.com/rpIoghXgmX
— Nashville Predators (@PredsNHL) April 23, 2021
Pretty cool. Bet they wish they’d have asked David Poile to trade Mikael Granlund. Maybe next time!
Dom: I don’t know how or why, but the minute you change your name to “team #1 fan” on Twitter, that team just wins.
17. Montreal Canadiens
Last week: 16
Record: 20-15-9, 49 points
Dom rank: 17
Sean rank: 17
🏚: Neither of us knew that the “derelict house” emoji (official name) existed. It’s standing up, but that is quite a large crack.
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Sean: The Canadiens needed a win against Edmonton on Wednesday, if only for psychological purposes, and they got it. They also scored more than two goals for the second time in nine games, which is kind of a good news/bad news thing, and their power play is still at 19 percent for the season and 9.1 percent (!) in April. On top of that, they’ve got 12 games in 20 days on the way. If only there were some way to add young legs and goal-scoring ability to the lineup. Ah, well.
18. St. Louis Blues
Last week: 17
Record: 19-19-6, 44 points
Dom rank: 18
Sean rank: 18
😠: Hi. Dom here. Anyone who follows my betting guide knows exactly why the Blues get an angry emoji. They deserve it.
Dom: To be honest, I’m sure the fans feel the exact same way. This team should be better! They were supposed to be the third-best team in the division, potentially competing with Colorado and Vegas. Instead, the Blues have lost more games than they’ve won this season and once again came up empty-handed this week. The fourth playoff spot should be theirs for the taking, but it just seems like they don’t even want it in some games. It’s crazy how bad this team is at five-on-five considering that was their calling card en route to their 2019 Stanley Cup. St. Louis is bottom 10 in both expected and actual goals this season and is the worst team over the last month in expected goals at 43 percent.
19. Chicago Blackhawks
Last week: 18
Record: 22-20-5, 49 points
Dom rank: 20
Sean rank: 19
🧟♂️: The Blackhawks (and their playoff hopes) emerged from their grave sometime in the third period against Nashville. Someone should’ve told the Preds to beware of bathrooms and Vinnie Hinostroza.
Sean: Honestly, it feels like we’ve had them on death watch for weeks. It’s close — their playoff chances were at 6 percent on Thursday, according to some guy I work with — but it’s not quite here. They’re a bad even-strength team, no matter how you slice it, but it’s still fun to see them hang around. In any case, happy anniversary to Joel Quenneville.
On this day in 2014, Joel Quenneville made a colourful gesture to the officials letting them know that they had missed a call. Coach Q was later fined $25,000 for his crotch grab #Hockey365 #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/n8ARjiqc5n
— Mike Commito (@mikecommito) April 17, 2021
20. Arizona Coyotes
Last week: 20
Record: 20-22-5, 45 points
Dom rank: 19
Sean rank: 21
📉: This emoji looks super familiar?
Dom: The Coyotes continued their downward trend of late, sandwiching a strong comeback win against the Blues with three losses to the Wild. The Coyotes went 1-7-0 against Minnesota this season, losing each game by three or more goals. Ouch. Arizona is also 2-3-1 against Colorado and 1-5-0 against the Golden Knights. That’s a combined 4-15-1 record against the top three teams where the team was outscored 78-40 in those games. Not even close and it’s why the Coyotes will likely finish the season not even close to a playoff spot.
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21. Philadelphia Flyers
Last week: 22
Record: 21-18-7, 59 points
Dom rank: 21
Sean rank: 20
🏌️♂️: Get your tee times, fellas.
Sean: It’s not that the Flyers had that bad of a week (five of eight points) — it’s that The Taylor Hall Era Bruins have well and truly left them in the dust. Disastrous as the season has been, they were still in squint-and-you-can-see-it mode when it came to the playoffs. Now, they’re 11 points out of fourth place. It’s not happening, no matter how many goals James van Riemsdyk scores with his face.
Flyers make it a 1-1 game, but it comes from a brutal shot to face off James van Riemsdyk: pic.twitter.com/1sO0Fz4cfR
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) April 23, 2021
Bizarre stat of the season, maybe: The Flyers haven’t won a game by more than one goal since Feb. 28.
22. Vancouver Canucks
Last week: 26
Record: 18-19-3, 39 points
Dom rank: 22
Sean rank: 22
👀: When people say you’re back in the playoff hunt, then you lose in regulation to the Senators and fall 10 points out of the fourth spot.
Sean: Getting shut out by Matt Murray in the first of four games against Ottawa was … probably not how the Canucks wanted their Thursday night to go, yes? Those wins against the Leafs were fun — apparently fun enough for people to forget that this is a bad team in a bad spot. Still, it was probably a nice couple of days.
Dom: It is Peak Hockey that the Canucks swept the Leafs fresh off a three-week layoff, only to get shut out by Matt Murray and the Senators to crash back to reality.
23. Calgary Flames
Last week: 21
Record: 19-23-3, 41 points
Dom rank: 23
Sean rank: 23
⌛️: Time is running out for this core and big decisions loom in the offseason. Is a rebuild necessary?
Dom: For a long time the Flames were held together by Mark Giordano on the backend, their rock. This season has made it plain and clear how important he is to the team’s success by showing a version of the team without his dominant presence: it’s bad. It’s difficult to know where the Flames go from here, but the status quo won’t cut it for next season. They need to embrace that what they have isn’t good enough.
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24. Los Angeles Kings
Last week: 23
Record: 17-20-6, 40 points
Dom rank: 24
Sean rank: 24
🔮: A look into the future would be nice for the Kings, you’d imagine.
Sean: One of the challenging things about doing this every week is finding something pithy and/or interesting to say about teams like the Kings, who a) aren’t particularly interesting and b) have played once since the last time we had to go through all this. Like, they beat Anaheim 4-1. Cool? I dunno. Hey, Quinton Byfield is playing pretty well in the AHL. The No. 2 pick in the 2020 draft has 12 points in his last 14 games and has scored in five straight games. That’s neat.
25. San Jose Sharks
Last week: 24
Record: 18-23-5, 41 points
Dom rank: 25
Sean rank: 25
👴: This one’s for you, Patty.
Dom: There were a lot of horrifically bad takes about Patrick Marleau this past week as he was set to become the NHL’s all-time games played leader, surpassing Gordie Howe. It’s an incredible accomplishment that showcases Marleau’s amazing longevity and durability. Anyone who has something negative to say about him – like, that he should’ve retired one game before? – should literally go find anything else to talk about.
Also, the whole Marleau thing gave us this very important video featuring Jumbo Joe in his element.
What a league! 🤣#HistoryMarleaud pic.twitter.com/ck0RLfQ9A7
— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) April 20, 2021
26. Columbus Blue Jackets
Last week: 25
Record: 15-25-9, 39 points
Dom rank: 26
Sean rank: 26
👻: Five games, five losses. Someone forgot to show up this week.
Sean: For real, they got outscored 21-6. They’re 0-7-1 in their last nine games. They’re 2-13-2 in their last 17. John Tortorella is benching dudes again. They have fewer points than the Red Wingsand have a 46 percent chance of keeping it that way. Elvis Merzlikins said on Thursday night that he “didn’t want to get to, like, Buffalo.” Bleak stuff, that. Credit where it’s due, though; they’re responsible for maybe the most unintentionally funny tweet of the week.
Darren Dreger, NBCSN pregame: John Tortorella is not expected to be back in Columbus next season. Odds are he will become a free agent, though Jarmo "isn't showing his cards." #CBJ
— CBJ Coverage (@CBJcoverage) April 21, 2021
Not showing his cards? The idea that anyone is thinking, “Hmm, maybe Torts signs a new deal, you never know,” is wonderful.
27. Ottawa Senators
Last week: 29
Record: 17-26-4, 38 points
Dom rank: 27
Sean rank: 28
🤢: Leave it to the Sens Sickos to spoil Vancouver’s feel-good week.
Dom: Ottawa has not had a great season by any stretch, obviously, but the Senators have been extremely fun in raining on various team’s parades. Toronto, Montreal, and Calgary have all felt Ottawa’s wrath this season and the Canucks were the latest team to fall back down to reality at the hands of a Senators loss. Flying high after two big wins against Toronto post-Covid, there were legitimate playoff hopes in Vancouver again.
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Canucks fans: “We just have to win the next four against Ottawa… no problem, piece of cake, we just beat the Leafs back-to-back.”
Ottawa: “Yes… ha ha ha… YES!”
28. New Jersey Devils
Last week: 27
Record: 14-26-6, 34 points
Dom rank: 29
Sean rank: 27
🙈: Cover your eyes …
Sean: … L-L-W-L-L-L-L-W-L-L-L-L-L-L-L. Hmm. The second-to-last ‘L’ was innovative, and Nico Hischier is back in the lineup. Also, shout out to podcaster Adam Present, who finally got the Hischier jersey “Deadbeat Dom” Luszczyszyn promised him months ago and only just managed to deliver. Sad!
Special Shout-out and huge thanks to @domluszczyszyn @cmasisak22 and the PR squad at the @NJDevils for hooking up @i__ampresent with his gorgeous new @nicohischier jersey. Awesome people! #NJDevils pic.twitter.com/TUSXCa26i3
— From the Cheap Seats (@cheap_seatspod) April 22, 2021
Dom: Do you have ANY idea how hard it is to get a reverse retro jersey? I still can’t believe how badly the NHL fumbled that launch: “hey everyone here’s some really cool jerseys for every team that we are going to make almost impossible to get. Have fun, suckers!”
Sean: I can believe that, yes.
29. Detroit Red Wings
Last week: 28
Record: 17-25-7, 41 points
Dom rank: 28
Sean rank: 29
🐑: Steve Yzerman, legendary player and GM, once again showing why he’s one of the best with an absolute fleecing in the Jakub Vrana trade.
Dom: There aren’t many things to be excited about with the Red Wings this year as joy and happiness still seem years away, but man did they get a player in Vrana. The speedster is finally in a place where he can flourish and he had himself a night in a 7-3 win over Dallas, potting four goals. After seeing Anthony Mantha score in every single game for the Capitals, it was nice to see that Detroit got a damn good player back in return — plus a very strong draft pick haul to boot.
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30. Buffalo Sabres
Last week: 31
Record: 12-28-7, 31 points
Dom rank: 30
Sean rank: 30
🎃: Enjoy Dustin Tokarski and that .930 April save percentage while you can, folks.
Sean: Starting on March 31, the Sabres have racked up a .538 points percentage. That’s 16th in the league in that span. The underlyings aren’t great — they’re 28th in expected goals percentage — but good god, who cares? Buffalo deserved to have something go its way. Also, a quick mea culpa here for forgetting that the Sabres’ season went off the rails immediately after their COVID-19 pause. We showed sympathy for the Canucks last week for what they’ve dealt with, and Buffalo deserved a little more of the same. Who knows what would’ve changed, but the NHL put them in a ridiculous situation, too.
31. Anaheim Ducks
Last week: 30
Record: 14-26-7, 35 points
Dom rank: 31
Sean rank: 31
💩: I mean, what other emoji would the worst team in the power rankings get?
(Top photo of the Golden Knights by Jeff Bottari/NHLI via Getty Images)
