NHL Power Rankings: Where Every Team Stands Heading Into the 2023 Playoffs
In case you were counting, it was 1,312 games in 190 days.
And now that each of the NHL's 32 member clubs have completed their regular-season obligations, it's time for the real thing.
The run to the 2023 Stanley Cup begins in earnest Monday with the two divisional champions from the Eastern Conference getting started on what they hope will be a 16-win journey. Alongside them, the hottest team in the Western Conference will embark on seeking its first title since 1990.
The Boston Bruins, Carolina Hurricanes and Edmonton Oilers are among the favorites, and all 16 participants will have gotten in at least one game by Tuesday in a tournament that could yield as many as 105 more games by the time it ends in mid-June.
The high-flying Bruins, who established league record for wins (65) and points (135), arrived to the eve of the playoffs with a 22nd consecutive No. 1 finish atop the B/R power rankings—holding or sharing the top position each week since Nov. 17.
The rest of the top five again is comprised of Carolina plus the New Jersey Devils, Toronto Maple Leafs and Vegas Golden Knights. The Oilers stayed in the top 10, too, after a four-spot jump last week amid their season-ending nine-game winning streak.
The B/R voting panel awarded 32 points for first place, one point for 32nd and so on to come up with the weekly list. Teams' last rankings and how much they moved are shown alongside each placement. Scroll through to see where your favorites landed, and drop a thought or two of your own in the comments.
Nos. 32-26: Ducks, Blackhawks, Blue Jackets, Sharks, Coyotes, Canadiens, Flyers
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32. Anaheim Ducks (Last Week: 32/Move: 0)
The Ducks finished in the league's basement and ended the season on a horrid 0-11-2 run that cost coach Dallas Eakins his job. His tenure included a 100-147-44 record in four seasons.
31. Chicago Blackhawks (Last Week: 30/Move: -1)
The Jonathan Toews era ended Thursday when he played his final game in a Chicago uniform after the team announced it wouldn't sign him to a new contract.
30. Columbus Blue Jackets (Last Week: 31/Move: +1)
The Blue Jackets finished off a disappointing season with a 5-2 loss to the Sabres on Friday night. They're guaranteed one of the top four picks in the upcoming NHL draft.
29. San Jose Sharks (Last Week: 28/Move: -1)
It's draft season in Northern California after the Sharks finished without a win in their final six games. "I was happy with how we competed," coach David Quinn said after Thursday's finale.
28. Arizona Coyotes (Last Week: 27/Move: -1)
The Coyotes skidded down the stretch with a 1-8-3 record, but forward Clayton Keller was a season-long standout and produced 86 points—tying the franchise record since it relocated from Winnipeg in 1996.
27. Montréal Canadiens (Last Week: 29/Move: +2)
Seven losses in the final eight games left coach Martin St-Louis pondering timelines. "We were in the infant stage of where we want to be, and next year we'll just be still further along," he said. "How fast we get to that, I don't know."
26. Philadelphia Flyers (Last Week: 26/Move: 0)
Coach John Tortorella's first year ended with two straight overtime wins and a 14-point gain in the standings, but the Flyers missed the playoffs for the third straight season since they were a No. 1 seed in 2019-20.
Nos. 25-21: Capitals, Red Wings, Blues, Canucks, Senators
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25. Washington Capitals (Last Week: 24/Move: -1)
The Capitals won just twice in their final 13 games and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2014. Alex Ovechkin finished the season with 42 goals and will begin 2023-24 just 72 behind Wayne Gretzky.
24. Detroit Red Wings (Last Week: 22/Move: -2)
The Red Wings went 7-16-2 after Feb. 24 and missed the playoffs by 12 points in the competitive East. "It's going to be really tough to evaluate this team in the offseason," coach Derek Lalonde said. "It's a tough read."
23. St. Louis Blues (Last Week: 23/Move: 0)
A tumultuous season for the Blues ended with their first playoff miss since 2017-18. "That's part of being a professional athlete and a competitor," goalie Jordan Binnington said. "It's how you handle it. You've got to just clear your mind, reset, refresh, recharge and come back at it even stronger."
22. Vancouver Canucks (Last Week: 25/Move: +3)
The Canucks recorded four wins in their final five games. "We have a ways to go. We've got four months to get ourselves ready for training camp," coach Rick Tocchet said. "That's what the teams that don't make the playoffs do."
21. Ottawa Senators (Last Week: 21/Move: 0)
Ottawa's 86 points were six below the East cutline, but that total was a 13-point jump from last season. "We believe in each other, and we think we're a playoff team," forward Claude Giroux said. "But it's a bad feeling right now, knowing that we were pretty close."
Nos. 20-16: Sabres, Penguins, Flames, Predators, Panthers
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20. Buffalo Sabres (Last Week 20/Move: 0)
Goalie Craig Anderson made 30 saves in Buffalo's overtime defeat of Ottawa on Thursday, his final start in a career that spanned six teams and 20 seasons, including 10 with the Senators. "It's the perfect story," he said. "It's unbelievable."
19. Pittsburgh Penguins (Last Week: 19/Move: 0)
The end of the league's longest playoff participation streak meant the end of the line for president Brian Burke, general manager Ron Hextall and assistant GM Chris Pryor, who were all fired Friday.
18. Calgary Flames (Last Week: 18/Move: 0)
It was a dizzying fall for the Flames, who won the Pacific Division last season but were eliminated from the chase for the 2022-23 tournament with a shootout loss to the Predators on Monday.
17. Nashville Predators (Last Week: 17/Move: 0)
The Predators were 16-10-2 from Feb. 21 to the end of the season but finished three points off the West playoff pace. "They've been tenacious. And they play with a lot of pride," coach John Hynes said.
16. Florida Panthers (Last Week: 14/Move: -2)
A loss to the Canes in their finale ended the seven-game point streak (6-0-1) than enabled the Panthers to reach the playoffs as the East's eighth seed. They drew the record-setting Bruins in the first postseason matchup of the two most recent Presidents' Trophy winners.
Nos. 15-11: Islanders, Jets, Lightning, Kraken, Wild
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15. New York Islanders (Last Week: 16/Move: +1)
Coach Lane Lambert got the Islanders back to the playoffs in his first season, clinching a berth in the team's season finale against the Canadiens. They'd made three straight postseasons—including two trips to the final four—before missing the tournament in 2021-22.
14. Winnipeg Jets (Last Week: 15/Move: +1)
The Jets were a sub-.500 team (12-14-2) for the final two months of the season, but the gap they created with a 34-19-1 start enabled them to get to the finish line two points ahead of the Flames for the West's final spot.
13. Tampa Bay Lightning (Last Week: 12/Move: -1)
The three-time defending East champs blanked the Red Wings in their finale to shake the sting of four straight losses. Brayden Point became the third 50-goal scorer in Lightning history, after Vincent Lecavalier and Steven Stamkos.
12. Seattle Kraken (Last Week: 13/Move: +1)
Seattle lost its last two games to Vegas but still finished with 100 points, good for the West's first wild-card spot and a 40-point uptick from the 27-49-6 mark the Kraken posted in their inaugural season.
11. Minnesota Wild (Last Week: 10/Move: -1)
Make it two straight 100-point seasons for the Wild, whose 103 earned third place in the Central Division. Minnesota, which has won just 10 games in its last six playoff appearances, will try again for its first postseason series win since 2015.
Nos. 10-6: Kings, Rangers, Stars, Avalanche, Oilers
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10. Los Angeles Kings (Last Week: 9/Move: -1)
Adrian Kempe's hat trick in Thursday's finale gave him 41 goals, making him the first Kings player to reach 40 since Luc Robitaille in 1993-94. Los Angeles drew a second straight first-round matchup with Edmonton, which beat it in seven games last year.
9. New York Rangers (Last Week: 8/Move: -1)
The Rangers had picked up points in six straight games (3-0-3) before a loss to the Maple Leafs in their finale. They'll meet the Devils for the seventh time in postseason play. New York has won four of those, though the teams haven't met in the playoffs since 2012.
8. Dallas Stars (Last Week: 11/Move: +3)
Goalie Jake Oettinger's second season as a starter was even better than his first. He closed it with his fifth shutout and finished second among the league leaders in that category along with sixth in save percentage (.919) and seventh in goals-against average (2.37).
7. Colorado Avalanche (Last Week: 7/Move: 0)
The Avalanche will try to defend their Stanley Cup title without captain Gabriel Landeskog, who still isn't ready to play after undergoing a second knee surgery in October and missing the season. He had 22 points in 20 games in Colorado's championship run last year.
6. Edmonton Oilers (Last Week: 6/Move: 0)
If playing well heading into the playoffs is important, then no team is better prepped than the Oilers—who went 14-0-1 to end the regular season and reached 50 wins for the first time since 1986-87, when the franchise won its third of five Cups in seven seasons. Connor McDavid led the league in scoring with 153 points and became the sixth player to reach 150.
Nos. 5-1: Golden Knights, Maple Leafs, Devils, Hurricanes, Bruins
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5. Vegas Golden Knights (Last Week: 3/Move: -2)
The Golden Knights got back to their winning ways in 2022-23 after the first playoff miss in franchise history last season. Their Pacific Division title was the franchise's third in six seasons, their 111 points marked a franchise record, and their 51 wins tied a franchise best. Vegas beat first-round opponent Winnipeg three times in three games in the regular season.
4. Toronto Maple Leafs (Last Week: 5/Move: +1)
It's all about playoff success for the Maple Leafs, who haven't won a series since 2004 and are without a Cup since 1967. They'll begin another postseason campaign against last season's first-round opponent, the Lightning, who beat them in seven games. Toronto was 2-0-1 against Tampa Bay this season.
3. New Jersey Devils (Last Week: 4/Move: +1)
The Devils rallied from three goals down to defeat the Capitals in their finale and establish franchise records for wins (52) and points (112). "We put ourselves in a great spot, and we're excited for an opportunity to go on a run," winger Erik Haula said.
2. Carolina Hurricanes (Last Week: 2/Move: 0)
The Hurricanes clinched their third straight division title with a win against the Panthers on Thursday, becoming the third team in the last 10 years to win three division titles in a row. Carolina will open the playoffs with the Islanders, against whom they were 3-1 and allowed just nine goals.
1. Boston Bruins (Last Week: 1/Move: 0)
The good news? Boston's season was historically amazing. The bad news? As a result, anything short of winning the Cup will feel like a failure. "We took five minutes and celebrated it, and we moved on," goalie Jeremy Swayman said. "Yeah, we know that there's a bigger goal in mind."
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