NHL Power Rankings: B/R Experts' Week 24 Poll
With three weeks to go in the regular season, there are a few playoff spots up for grabs in the NHL. But there's only one spot that matters around these parts—the top spot in the B/R power rankings.
Will the New York Rangers retain first place in the power rankings? Can Carey Price and the Montreal Canadiens take over? Or will it be a team from the West, the league's superior conference?
As always, Jonathan Willis, Allan Mitchell, Lyle Richardson, Carol Schram, Steve Macfarlane and myself are here to vote and determine the rankings of the league's 30 teams, with the rankings based on an assessment of each of these teams rather than a pure look at the standings.
Read on to see where all 30 teams are ranked and which rise to the top this week.
News and statistics are courtesy of NHL.com, Hockey-Reference.com, war-on-ice.com and BehindTheNet.ca and are current through the start of action on March 16.
Our experts participate in weekly voting for B/R's NHL power rankings. Once a vote is cast for a specific team, it's assigned a value—30 points for the No. 1 team in the rankings, 29 points for the second spot and so on. The totals are then added up to create the power rankings.
30-26: Buffalo Sabres-Carolina Hurricanes
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30. Buffalo Sabres (Last week: 30): Anders Lindback stole a game in Boston on Tuesday; otherwise, the Sabres have lost nine of 10. With a three-point “lead” in the race for 30th and the 29th-place Coyotes on the schedule twice in the next week, one of history’s greatest tank battles could be decided.
29. Arizona Coyotes (Last week: 29): The Coyotes have lost eight straight and scored a grand total of seven goals in those games. Maybe "grand" isn't the right word. More like a "sad" total or "helpful for tanking" total. Semantics aside, the Coyotes are keeping themselves within striking distance of 30th place. That's a good thing.
28. Toronto Maple Leafs (Last week: 27): The Leafs are 5-23-3 since Jan. 9. How bad is that? That’s about a 34-point pace over an 82-game season. The Sabres have 47 points today. If only Toronto had committed to scorching the earth a couple months earlier, the Leafs would be running away with McEichel.
27. Edmonton Oilers (Last week: 28): The Oilers are 2-0-2 in their past four games and fading from the chase for last. The Oilers power play is 11-for-33 over the past seven games, yet the team has just two wins over that time.
26. Carolina Hurricanes (Last week: 25): After two pretty good months to start 2015, the Hurricanes have been a mess in March. They have two wins—one against Edmonton, another against Columbus—in 10 March games.
25-21: Philadelphia Flyers-Colorado Avalanche
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25. Philadelphia Flyers (Last week: 24): Nine losses in 11 games since the trade deadline ended any flickering hopes the Flyers had for the playoffs. Claude Giroux has three goals in two games after going 10 games without a goal.
24. New Jersey Devils (Last week: 22): The Devils had their three-game winning streak snapped by the Islanders on Saturday. Cory Schneider has registered an in-game save percentage worse than .912 just twice in his past 22 starts. He has been on fire for a team that's going nowhere.
23. Columbus Blue Jackets (Last week: 26): A recent 6-1-0 stretch has the Blue Jackets pushing toward .500. They are also 7-2-0 since David Clarkson went down for the season. It’s probably just a coincidence that the Blue Jackets were 0-3 with him in the lineup.
22. San Jose Sharks (Last Week: 20): The Sharks are just about dead after losing three of four. With 10 games remaining, they’ll likely need to go 8-2-0 to get to 96 points and a playoff spot. Maybe 7-3-0 will get the job done, but it seems unlikely.
21. Colorado Avalanche (Last week: 21): A 6-1-1 run to start March has the Avs within six points of a playoff spot. It may as well be seven points, however, as the Avs’ 24 regulation/OT wins will result in them losing any tiebreakers with teams they are chasing.
20-16: Dallas Stars-Los Angeles Kings
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20. Dallas Stars (Last week: 23): Five wins in six games have the Stars six points out of a playoff spot with 10 games remaining. They face the team they are chasing, Calgary, twice in the next seven days, so the Stars have life again with Tyler Seguin back.
19. Florida Panthers (Last week: 19): Time is running out on the Panthers, although their shootout win against Boston over the weekend keeps them alive for now. They have two more games with the Bruins, but the surging Senators are another team they’ll need to leapfrog.
18. Boston Bruins (Last week: 12): Five straight losses have the Bruins again teetering on falling out of a wild-card spot. With two games this week against Anaheim and the Rangers, this could be the stretch that dooms the Bruins. Or maybe not. Who knows, really?
17. Calgary Flames (Last week: 17): The Flames have lost three of four and have another one of those stretches that could sink them, the kind of stretches that have yet to sink them. Three of their next five games are against Dallas and Colorado, two teams that are below Calgary in the standings that have been hot in March.
16. Los Angeles Kings (Last Week: 13): The Kings refuse to make things easy for themselves. They’ve lost three of four and begin a five-game road trip Monday. We keep assuming the season will end with the Kings in the playoffs, but it’s getting less probable with each loss.
15-11: Vancouver Canucks-Washington Capitals
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15. Vancouver Canucks (Last Week: 14): The Canucks may have solidified a playoff spot with a 4-1 win in Los Angeles on Saturday and another win in Arizona the following day. With seven wins in nine games, it would take a major collapse for the Canucks to miss the postseason.
14. Winnipeg Jets (Last week: 16): Since losing in Florida to dip out of playoff position, the Jets have ripped off four straight wins to pull four points clear of ninth place. Ondrej Pavelec, once a permeable material, has allowed just three goals in those four wins.
13. Ottawa Senators (Last week: 18): The Sens are 14-1-1 since Andrew Hammond arrived on the scene last month. This may be news to you, but his nickname is the Hamburglar. Like, the McDonald’s character that steals hamburgers. He’s had the nickname for a while. But that’s his nickname. Hamburglar.
12. Detroit Red Wings (Last Week: 11): The Red Wings aren’t in danger of missing the playoffs, but they’ve been sneakily limping along with no one noticing as Boston fights for a playoff spot below them. Since Feb. 7, the Red Wings are 8-9-2 and have lost six of nine.
11. Washington Capitals (Last Week: 15): The Capitals have been quietly toiling in mediocrity for a couple months. Since Jan. 14, the Caps are 15-13-2. Braden Holtby is on pace to make a league-high 71 starts, which would be the most for any goaltender in a single-season since 2011-12.
10. Pittsburgh Penguins
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Record: 40-22-10, 90 points
Last Week: 9
Recent Trend: The Penguins ended a four-game regulation losing streak by rallying to beat Arizona 3-1 on Saturday.
Big Picture: This funk isn't the worst thing in the world for the Penguins, as the top four teams in the Metro are so evenly matched that home-ice advantage might not mean much. As long as Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby and the supporting cast are healthy when the puck drops on the playoffs, they'll be dangerous.
By the Numbers: The Penguins are having a hard time scoring goals of late, but it's not for a lack of trying. They have five goals in their past five games while averaging 35.4 shots per game.
9. New York Islanders
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Record: 44-25-4, 92 points
Last Week: 6
Recent Trend: Nick Leddy missed four games and the Islanders lost all of them. In his first game back against the Devils on Saturday, the Islanders won 3-0.
Big Picture: With the Rangers pulling away in the Metro, it's hard to imagine the Islanders contending for anything other than second place in the division. It's still possible for them to finish in a wild-card spot.
By the Numbers: Michal Neuvirth has been anything but an upgrade since coming over from Buffalo at the trade deadline. He's 1-2-1 in four starts with a 2.91 goals-against average and .882 save percentage.
8. Nashville Predators
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Record: 44-21-8, 96 points
Last Week: 5
Recent Trend: The Preds went 1-0-1 in their two games last week and are 3-8-1 in their past 12 games with two of the wins coming against Buffalo and Arizona.
Big Picture: Despite the prolonged slump, not even the Presidents' Trophy is out of reach yet. Stringing together a two-game winning streak for the first time since late February would be a good starting point for any lofty aspirations.
By the Numbers: James Neal has been serviceable when healthy, but 22 goals and 35 points in 63 games probably wasn't what general manager David Poile had in mind when he acquired him in the offseason. Neal has been out since March 12 with an upper-body injury.
7. Minnesota Wild
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Record: 40-25-7, 87 points
Last Week: 10
Recent Trend: The Wild have won three of four and haven't lost consecutive games in regulation since Devan Dubnyk made his debut Jan. 15.
Big Picture: Despite a 22-6-2 run, the Wild have yet to guarantee themselves anything in terms off a playoff spot. A wild-card berth is their most likely outcome, though, barring Dubnyk turning into a pumpkin over the final 10 games.
By the Numbers: Zach Parise has three goals and 10 points in 10 games this month. If he can find two more points in the Wild's final four games in March, he'll have his most productive month of the season.
6. St. Louis Blues
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Record: 45-21-7, 97 points
Last Week: 2
Recent Trend: The Blues have lost three straight and are 2-2-2 in their past six games.
Big Picture: This recent slump has allowed the Predators to move within one point of the Central lead. The Blackhawks are five points back with two games in hand, so the race for a top-two seed should be interesting over the final few weeks.
By the Numbers: In his past seven starts, Jake Allen has allowed two goals or fewer five times, four goals once and five goals another time. Brian Elliott has two shutouts in his past six starts, but he's also allowed four goals on 16 shots twice over that span. Consistency in net is all the Blues need to be a true Stanley Cup threat.
5. Montreal Canadiens
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Record: 46-20-7, 99 points
Last Week: 8
Recent Trend: The Canadiens won all three games they played last week, two via Carey Price shutout.
Big Picture: Montreal seems likely to finish first or second in the Atlantic, which is a very good thing. The Canadiens are 0-3-1 against Tampa this year and 14-5-1 against everyone else in the division. Putting off a Lightning series as long as possible would be good for the Habs.
By the Numbers: Price leads the NHL in save percentage at .938; Cory Schneider of the Devils is second at .929. The last time there was at least a nine-point gap between first and second in an 82-game season was 1998-99 when Dominik Hasek of the Sabres (.937) topped Byron Dafoe of the Bruins (.926).
4. Anaheim Ducks
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Record: 46-21-7, 99 points
Last Week: 7
Recent Trend: A four-game winning streak was brought to a crashing halt Sunday in a 7-2 road loss to the Rangers.
Big Picture: The Ducks have 99 points, tied for most in the league, but their goal-differential when shootout wins are removed is just plus-seven. Their worst-case scenario is earning the No. 2 seed in the West, but the wrong first-round matchup could be deadly.
By the Numbers: Frederik Andersen has stopped 85 of 97 shots (.876) in five starts since returning from a head/neck injury. With John Gibson at .917 for the season, we could be headed toward another goaltending merry-go-round in the postseason.
3. Chicago Blackhawks
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Record: 43-22-6, 92 points
Last Week: 3
Recent Trend: The Blackhawks had a four-game winning streak snapped Saturday in Dallas, although they are 8-2-1 in their past 11 games.
Big Picture: Since the Blackhawks will open the playoffs without Patrick Kane, a softer wild-card matchup may mean more to Chicago than anyone else. They can still win the Central, but they'll need to win their games in hand to have a shot.
By the Numbers: Since coming over from Arizona before the trade deadline, Antoine Vermette has two assists in eight games. Both assists came in one game and only one was at even strength.
2. Tampa Bay Lightning
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Record: 45-21-7, 97 points
Last Week: 4
Recent Trend: The Lightning went 3-for-3 last week and are 7-1-1 in their past nine games.
Big Picture: Two points separate the Lightning from the East-leading Canadiens, although Tampa should win the ROW tiebreaker should the teams finish the season tied. Worst-case scenario, Tampa should host a first-round playoff series.
By the Numbers: Ryan Callahan picked up his 49th point of the season Sunday. He's five short of his career high when he had 54 points in 76 games with the New York Rangers in 2011-12.
1. New York Rangers
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Record: 46-18-7, 99 points
Last Week: 1
Recent Trend: The Rangers took two of three last week, including a 7-2 walloping of the Ducks on Sunday. They are 7-1-1 in their past nine contests.
Big Picture: They are in the driver's seat for the Presidents' Trophy and at the very least a division title. They have two games in hand on Montreal and only leave their time zone the rest of the season for games in Minnesota and Winnipeg next week.
By the Numbers: Rick Nash has just two goals in his past 12 games; one was shot into an empty net, and the other was a pass that banked off a defender's skate and into the net. His next goal will give him 40 in a season for the first time since 2008-09.
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