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NHL Power Rankings Have Bruins and Sharks on the Rise, with Maple Leafs in Free Fall
Every team in the league has played roughly a fifth of its schedule, so it may be time to stop labeling teams as surprises.
The Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks and San Jose Sharks—each of whom missed the playoffs last season—continue to defy expectations in 2025-26. In fact, all three experienced double-digit bumps in this week's edition of B/R's Power Rankings.
The Bruins leapt from 21st to eighth, the Blackhawks spiked from 24th to 12th and the Sharks skipped into the top 20 thanks to a 10-spot rise from 29th to 19th.
On the flip side, last season's Atlantic Division champions, the Toronto Maple Leafs, had the week's biggest dive from 14th place all the way down to No. 27. Also dropping 10 or more slots were the Utah Mammoth, who went from seventh to 18th, and the Columbus Blue Jackets, who toppled from 13th to 23rd.
B/R's hockey staff awarded 32 points for a first-place vote all the way down to a single point for a 32nd-place selection. Take a look at what we came up with and drop a thought in the app comments.
32. Calgary Flames
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Previous Ranking: 32
Overall Record: 4-12-2
It's the same old, same old for the Flames these days, and that's the bad news considering their current state. Calgary's loss to St. Louis on Tuesday was its third in a row, widening the gap to four points between it and the next-nearest team at the bottom of the league's overall standings.
The Flames have had a particularly hard time against the Blues recently, with just one win in their last 13 games against St. Louis.
31. Nashville Predators
2 of 32
Previous Ranking: 28
Overall Record: 5-9-4
Things haven't been going so well for the Predators in North America during a five-game losing skid (0-3-2), so they're hoping a trip to Sweden for two games with Pittsburgh can change the mojo.
"With where we are as a group, we have to think of it that way," forward Steven Stamkos said. "We have to think about, OK, this could be something that could lead to a run that gets us back in the mix."
30. St. Louis Blues
3 of 32
Previous Ranking: 31
Overall Record: 6-8-3
There aren't a lot of directions to go for the Blues other than up, so a 3-1-1 stretch across five games is welcome. That's where St. Louis got to with a 3-2 win over visiting Calgary that featured 38 saves from goalie Jordan Binnington.
"I think every win for us right now is big," forward Nathan Walker said. "It's good. Hopefully, we can get on a bit of a roll and start stringing them together."
29. Buffalo Sabres
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Previous Ranking: 22
Overall Record: 5-7-4
Losing two straight home games and the first two games of a four-game trip didn't make for an ideal week for the Sabres, with losses to Carolina and Utah and games against Colorado and Detroit before returning home for the first of four straight starting Monday.
It won't help that the team will be without defenseman Rasmus Dahlin, who's taken a leave of absence to handle a personal matter in his native Sweden, where his fiancée is recovering from a heart transplant earlier this year.
28. Vancouver Canucks
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Previous Ranking: 25
Overall Record: 8-9-1
The perpetual injury concerns that follow goaltender Thatcher Demko are back again after he left Tuesday's game against Winnipeg with a lower-body issue after allowing three goals on eight shots in the first period.
Demko didn't play over the weekend due to what the team called preventative maintenance. The 29-year-old has started more than half of Vancouver's games in a full season just twice and made only 23 starts in 2024-25.
27. Toronto Maple Leafs
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Previous Ranking: 14
Overall Record: 8-8-1
A two-goal loss in Boston on Tuesday night was bad enough, but collective breaths are being held in response to a pair of injuries in the game—a lower-body issue with forward Auston Matthews and an upper-body concern with goalie Anthony Stolarz.
Stolarz left the game after allowing three goals on 10 shots, while Matthews was hit along the boards by Bruins defenseman Nikita Zadorov midway through the second period and did not return. He has nine goals and 14 points in 17 games this season.
26. Minnesota Wild
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Previous Ranking: 30
Overall Record: 7-7-4
The Wild's climb back toward early respectability was delayed a bit with an OT loss to visiting San Jose on Tuesday, but coach John Hynes was focused on the future after a stretch of two straight wins and four in five games.
"We didn't get two points," he said. "We'll digest it and then we got a few days before we play again."
25. Edmonton Oilers
8 of 32
Previous Ranking: 20
Overall Record: 8-6-4
If ever a team needed a win, it was the bumbling, stumbling Oilers on Monday night in their last home game before a season-long, seven-game road trip. So Connor McDavid delivered.
The captain scored twice in the third period to get Edmonton to OT against Columbus, where it won, 5-4. The win came two days after a 9-1 home loss to Colorado and ended a three-game skid (0-2-1).
They followed up the victory at home on Wednesday with another dramatic overtime win against the Flyers in Philly, with Jack Roslovic scoring his second consecutive game-winning goal in the extra session.
24. New York Rangers
9 of 32
Previous Ranking: 26
Overall Record: 9-7-2
It was bound to happen eventually but it was still a little too long for the liking of the Rangers, who'd gone 0-6-1 with five shutout losses before finally getting a win at Madison Square Garden on Monday night.
"We feel confidence now for sure, finally," forward Artemi Panarin said. "It's like a bunch of pressure goes off our shoulders. It's nice to see our fans happy. It's nice to not hear the boos."
The Blueshirts followed up their home win with another one in Tampa on Wednesday, as they routed the Lightning, 7-3.
23. Columbus Blue Jackets
10 of 32
Previous Ranking: 13
Overall Record: 8-7-1
The Blue Jackets turned to goalie Jet Greaves for a second straight start, and it paid off in the form of a 2-1 win in Seattle that ended a four-game losing streak.
The 24-year-old was touched for four regulation goals and an OT tally in a 5-4 loss to Edmonton on Monday, but he made 22 saves against the Kraken and stopped three of four shots in a shootout to lock down the victory and improve to 4-4-1 in nine starts this season.
22. Florida Panthers
11 of 32
Previous Ranking: 27
Overall Record: 8-7-1
A 2-2-0 road trip may not meet the standards of the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions, but considering the finale was a win at Vegas, it wasn't so bad.
Brad Marchand had another goal to stretch his scoring streak to five straight games, his longest since he scored in seven consecutive games in 2016. He finished that season with 37 goals and is on pace this season for 59, which would eclipse his career best of 39.
21. Detroit Red Wings
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Previous Ranking: 12
Overall Record: 9-7-0
It's tough to get a sense of the up-and-down Red Wings, who won eight of their first 11 but have since dropped four of their last five after a Sunday home loss against Chicago.
Detroit has scored just six regulation goals across the five games, dropping its goals-per-game average to 2.75, tied for 23rd in the league through Monday's games.
20. Washington Capitals
13 of 32
Previous Ranking: 17
Overall Record: 8-7-1
The ideal tonic for a two-game mini-skid? Well, go visit a team on a four-game heater, of course. That's what the Capitals did on Tuesday night in Raleigh, handing the host Hurricanes a 4-1 defeat that was backstopped by Logan Thompson's 30 saves.
The 28-year-old from Alberta won a career-best 31 games in 43 appearances with Washington last season and is now 7-4-0 with a stingy 1.56 goals-against average through his first 11 starts in 2025-26. The goals-against average was best in the league after Tuesday's games.
19. San Jose Sharks
14 of 32
Previous Ranking: 29
Overall Record: 8-6-3
These may or may not wind up being the same Sharks we've known and pitied for the last few seasons, but early indications at least suggest they'll be more.
Second-year sensation Macklin Celebrini continued a hot start with a pair of assists in Minnesota on Tuesday, and San Jose extended a point streak to seven games (6-0-1). Celebrini's 10 goals, 16 assists, and 26 points through 17 games have him among the league leaders in each category.
18. Utah Mammoth
15 of 32
Previous Ranking: 7
Overall Record: 10-7-0
An 8-2-0 start has evaporated into a barely above-.500 record for the Mammoth, who lost the final three games of a four-game road trip during which they scored just eight regulation goals.
"It's a tough league," center Nick Schmaltz said. "There's a lot of good teams out there, and we've got to find a way to get back on track and get on a run here."
Perhaps being at home will help matters, as a win against the Sabres on Wednesday got Utah back on track.
17. New York Islanders
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Previous Ranking: 19
Overall Record: 8-6-2
A seven-game road trip is a task, no matter what. But when you win the first two games, it seems a bit less daunting.
That's where the Islanders are after a Monday victory at New Jersey that followed a shutout of the Rangers two days earlier at Madison Square Garden. They'll head to Vegas on Thursday and head later to Utah, Colorado, Dallas, and Detroit before returning home on Nov. 22.
16. Seattle Kraken
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Previous Ranking: 9
Overall Record: 7-4-5
It's a lack of offense, again, that's a culprit for the Kraken in what's turned into a stretch of three losses in four games. Seattle has scored a single goal apiece in each of the losses, which have come to San Jose (6-1), Dallas (2-1), and Columbus (2-1).
The team's average of 2.50 goals per game through Tuesday was 30th-best in the league, ahead of only the New York Rangers (2.41) and Calgary (2.06).
15. Ottawa Senators
18 of 32
Previous Ranking: 23
Overall Record: 8-5-4
It wasn't a two-point night, but an OT loss against visiting Dallas did give goalie Linus Ullmark reasons for optimism as the team's point streak was extended to six games (3-0-3).
"We played a really good game," he said. "We were on it, we were skating, we were doing a lot of good things, putting them on their heels."
14. Los Angeles Kings
19 of 32
Previous Ranking: 15
Overall Record: 8-5-4
The Kings were home-ice royalty last season, but they've flipped the script thus far in 2025-26, with a Tuesday win at Montreal not only registering as their third in four overall games but also their seventh in 10 games away from Los Angeles.
"It's weird, like two years ago, same thing," forward Quinton Byfield said. "We were hot on the road, last year we were hot at home, now we're hot on the road, I guess again."
13. Philadelphia Flyers
20 of 32
Previous Ranking: 16
Overall Record: 8-5-3
An early-season home-ice advantage is looking a little less impressive lately for the Flyers, who were 6-1-0 through their first seven games at Xfinity Mobile Arena but 0-2-2 in their subsequent four while not scoring more than twice in any game.
Philadelphia has won exactly 20 home games in each of the last two seasons and hasn't exceeded that number since going 25-6-4 there in the COVID-addled 2019-20 regular season.
12. Chicago Blackhawks
21 of 32
Previous Ranking: 24
Overall Record: 8-5-4
Connor Bedard is continuing to do Connor Bedard things so far for the Blackhawks, but a Sunday win at Detroit was all about goalie Arvid Soderblom, who stopped a career-high 45 shots in beating the Red Wings, 5-1, in just his fifth start in 2025-26.
"I haven't played in a few days, so I was a little off at the start," Soderblom said. "Once I got some shots, I felt great."
While Wednesday's OT loss to the Devils will dent the momentum, things are seemingly starting to turn around in the Windy City.
11. Vegas Golden Knights
22 of 32
Previous Ranking: 6
Overall Record: 7-4-4
The Golden Knights lost in regulation just twice in their first 12 games, but a recent skid has seen them drop three straight (0-2-1), including two within 60 minutes.
"We're a very resilient team," coach Bruce Cassidy said. "We'll answer the bell."
10. Tampa Bay Lightning
23 of 32
Previous Ranking: 18
Overall Record: 8-6-2
Injuries are piling up quickly for the Bolts, who lost forward Brandon Hagel in Tampa's 7-3 home loss to the Rangers on Wednesday night.
The Lightning are already without captain Victor Hedman, Ryan McDonagh, and Anthony Cirelli as they head into a weekend matchup against the rival Panthers in their next game.
9. Pittsburgh Penguins
24 of 32
Previous Ranking: 10
Overall Record: 9-5-3
It could be one last road trip to Europe for veteran teammates Kris Letang, Evgeni Malkin, and Sidney Crosby when the Penguins head to Sweden for a two-game Global Series matchup with Nashville.
The Pittsburgh trio, which has won three Stanley Cups together, played in the league's first two regular-season games in Sweden in 2008 but has not played together in 17 years.
8. Boston Bruins
25 of 32
Previous Ranking: 21
Overall Record: 11-7-0
There's something about reaching a milestone at home and in a victory, which David Pastrnak got to experience Tuesday when he scored his 400th NHL goal in Boston's win over visiting Toronto, which was the team's seventh in a row.
"It really hit me when the guys came over," Pastrnak said. "It was so cool what they did for me, and to top it off with a win is great."
7. Winnipeg Jets
26 of 32
Previous Ranking: 4
Overall Record: 10-6-0
A three-game skid to start a prolonged six-game road trip wasn't what the Jets were looking for, so a streak-ending win at Vancouver was particularly welcome.
"Everybody wanted to step up when you lose a few games in a row," defenseman Josh Morrissey said. "We had a great meeting (Tuesday) morning, actually, as a group, and just kind of talked about what our identity is."
6. Montreal Canadiens
27 of 32
Previous Ranking: 2
Overall Record: 10-4-2
A six-game point streak ended with a loud thud for the Canadiens, who were thumped, 5-1, at home by Los Angeles on Tuesday in a game that had forward Josh Anderson suggesting the Kings' desire to win was the deciding factor.
"We had our looks, definitely," he said. "They wanted it more than us."
5. Dallas Stars
28 of 32
Previous Ranking: 11
Overall Record: 10-4-3
The needle is back on the positive side of things for the Stars, who've won three straight after an OT triumph on Tuesday in Ottawa. The game was the first of two in Canada on a brief trip north for Dallas, which returns him for two on Saturday and Tuesday ahead of a four-game jaunt out west.
Forward Mikko Rantanen remained hot as well, notching a goal and an assist against the Senators to improve to 11 points in his last six games.
4. Carolina Hurricanes
29 of 32
Previous Ranking: 8
Overall Record: 11-5-0
The Hurricanes had won a season-high four straight games before a desultory Tuesday night with visiting Washington, which ended in a 4-1 loss and an injury to goalie Frederik Andersen, who left in the third period after a collision with Jordan Staal.
Andersen made 24 saves before he exited what was his ninth start of the season. Now 36, he made just 22 starts in 2024-25 and just 16 the season before.
3. New Jersey Devils
30 of 32
Previous Ranking: 5
Overall Record: 12-4-1
It took eight games for the Devils to finally show some vulnerability at home, which they did in an OT loss to the Islanders on Monday.
New Jersey was 7-0-0 to begin the season at the Prudential Center in Newark, just a season after it won only 19 home games in 41 games, ranking just 26th in the league.
The Devils responded on Wednesday night in Chicago, as they won in dramatic fashion in overtime behind a hat trick from defenseman Simon Nemec.
2. Anaheim Ducks
31 of 32
Previous Ranking: 3
Overall Record: 11-4-1
The effort in a Tuesday loss to Colorado wasn't where coach Joel Quenneville would have preferred, but the blow is softened a bit by the fact that the Ducks' 4-1 loss in Denver ended a seven-game winning streak.
On the bright side, the goal scored by 20-year-old Leo Carlsson got him to 100 points for his career, making him the youngest player in franchise history to get to triple digits, beating Paul Kariya's previous mark of 21 years, 109 days.
1. Colorado Avalanche
32 of 32
Previous Ranking: 1
Overall Record: 11-1-5
It seems pretty much all the news is good these days for the Avalanche, who still have just one regulation loss in 17 games and are on another hot streak, with a 6-0-2 mark over the last eight.
As for specific players, veteran forward Gabriel Landeskog's return from long-term injury got a jolt Tuesday when he scored his first regular-season goal since March 5, 2022. He played 51 games in the 2021-22 season and didn't take the ice again until this year's opener.
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