NHL Power Rankings After the 1st Week of the 2026-27 Season

The Stanley Cup has never been won in October.

Nor has it ever been lost in autumn's first full month.

But there are games being played by each of the NHL's 32 teams, which is all the reason needed for B/R's hockey staff to get together for the regular season's first installment of Power Rankings after the first week of the 2026-27 schedule.

Take a look at what we came up with and drop a thought in the app comments.

Statistics through games of Monday, Oct. 5.

ANA | BOS | BUF | CAR | CBJ | CGY | CHI | COL | DAL | DET | EDM | FLA | LAK | MIN | MTL | NJD | NSH | NYI | NYR | OTT | PHI | PIT | SEA | SJS | STL | TBL | TOR | Utah Mammoth | VAN | VGK | WPG | WSH

32. Calgary Flames

Last Week: 31

Few expected them to be good, but did anyone really think it'd be this bad in Calgary, where the Flames are 0-3-0 after scoring three goals and allowing 16? "I feel like right now we're disconnected," coach Ryan Huska said. Also, former first-round pick Connor Zary (24th overall, 2020) was waived.

31. Chicago Blackhawks

Last Week: 29

Connor Bedard got on the ice with his teammates for some drills and shots in practice, but he's still not cleared for contact after undergoing surgery on his left shoulder following an injury sustained in early July.

30. Philadelphia Flyers

Last Week: 14

Did someone say overachievement? That's the revisionist vibe surrounding the Flyers, who were a 98-point playoff team in 2025-26 but started this year with four straight losses (while scoring just five goals) for the first time since 2014.

29. Detroit Red Wings

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Todd McLellan

Last Week: 26

Two goals in two games (entering Tuesday) won't do it for the Red Wings, and it didn't help when they allowed three on the power play to Winnipeg. "Our guys are pi**ed when they are down," coach Todd McLellan said, "but they aren't digging graves, they are trying to dig themselves out of a hole."

28. Los Angeles Kings

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Anton Forsberg

Last Week: 22

Starting goaltending was considered a mystery going in and the numbers through two games showed why, as the Kings' tandem of Anton Forsberg and Darcy Kuemper allowed 13 goals on 54 shots (a .759 save percentage) in season-opening losses to Colorado (8-4) and San Jose (5-4).

27. New Jersey Devils

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Sheldon Keefe

Last Week: 16

It took 48 hours for the Devils to go from an OT win against Philadelphia to a 6-0 shellacking by the New York Islanders. "We were playing preseason hockey," coach Sheldon Keefe said, "against a team that was probably playing February-type hockey."

26. Toronto Maple Leafs

Last Week: 18

The Maple Leafs are getting exposure to close ones early on, having had each of the first three decided by a goal. Problem is, they lost twice. The good news? Newly acquired Kirill Marchenko scored his first with the team on Saturday.

25. Dallas Stars

Last Week: 5

OK, now that was more like it. The Stars were on the wrong end of 4-0 and 2-1 decisions to start the season but they looked far more like themselves on Monday night when they held San Jose to just 13 shots in a 5-0 home victory.

24. Nashville Predators

Last Week: 28

They'd played just two games and scored only three goals entering Tuesday, but that didn't mean Predators forward Steven Stamkos couldn't continue to climb the league's all-time chart. The 36-year-old buried a power-play chance against Dallas for his 625th career goal, tying him for 17th in NHL history.

23. Buffalo Sabres

Last Week: 12

Returning home after a loss in Columbus was good for the Sabres but it was even better when Jiri Kulich, who played just 12 games in 2025-26 thanks to a season-ending blood clot, scored a go-ahead goal in a win against Chicago. "It's hard to put into words how much he's been grinding," captain Rasmus Dahlin said.

22. St. Louis Blues

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Jim Montgomery

Last Week: 27

Score four goals in a shutout win one night, allow six on 36 shots the next. Such is life for a team searching for its game, said Blues coach Jim Montgomery. "We're trying to become a consistent team in a lot of things that we want to be good at—aggression, taking away time and space," he said.

21. Columbus Blue Jackets

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Jet Greaves

Last Week: 25

Things got off to a good start with a six-goal outburst in a win over Buffalo but quickly settled back to earth for the Blue Jackets in a 4-1 loss to visiting Utah in which Columbus allowed three power-play goals. The team's penalty kill percentage (76.0) was 28th in the league last season.

20. Boston Bruins

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Mark Kastelic

Last Week: 21

We'll always have the season's first couple days, right? That may be the mindset of Boston fans after the Bruins won their first two games but have since dropped consecutive 4-1 decisions at Minnesota and home against Ottawa.

19. Vancouver Canucks

Last Week: 32

Go ahead and include Paul Cotter among the early season's biggest free-agent steals. The 26-year-old forward signed a one-year deal worth $2.15 million on July 1 and scored four goals in his first four games with the Canucks.

18. New York Islanders

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Pete DeBoer

Last Week: 23

The Islanders focused on details while killing five penalties in a defeat of visiting New Jersey, pleasing coach Pete DeBoer. "You want them to be rewarded for that commitment early," DeBoer said, "because it promotes a belief in what you're doing, and if you don't win games, then it's hard to build that."

17. Washington Capitals

Last Week: 10

It wasn't official, but it wasn't exactly a secret either. Regardless, Alex Ovechkin officially answered the "Is this his final season?" question Monday when he told teammates he'll hang up the skates after 2026-27.

16. Carolina Hurricanes

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Shayne Gostisbehere celebrates his OT goal against Philadelphia

Last Week: 1

Being the defending Cup champs has a way of staving off the angst, but starting the season with consecutive home losses to Florida and Washington was certainly not what Carolina had in mind. A win came in game three, in OT, against Philadelphia to begin a stretch of four road dates in five games.

15. Florida Panthers

Last Week: 3

The shudders emanating from South Florida on Monday may have been because the Panthers are in familiar territory with Aleksander Barkov on the shelf, possibly for a while, after an awkward tumble against San Jose.

14. Seattle Kraken

Last Week: 30

Seattle was 28th overall in per-game offense last season but you'd have never known it from two early dates with Calgary, during which the Kraken hammered the Flames with 12 goals on 59 shots, including six on 27 shots in Sunday's home opener. "The energy was absolutely nuts in the arena," goalie Joey Daccord said.

13. San Jose Sharks

Last Week: 13

Be gentle with your Sharks fan friends for the next little while. San Jose's hockey resurgence took a hit when Macklin Celebrini missed Monday night's game against Dallas because of a lower-body injury. Yikes.

12. Vegas Golden Knights

Last Week: 7

Marc Gatcomb wasn't a headline signing last summer, but he scored his first goal in a Vegas sweater in timely fashion, providing a win over Vancouver. A veteran of 88 NHL games prior to this season, the 27-year-old signed a two-year deal worth $875,000 per year.

11. Tampa Bay Lightning

Last Week: 6

A four-goal loss in midtown Manhattan wasn't an ideal start to 2026-27 but the Lightning bounced back with home wins over Washington and Philadelphia while outscoring the two visiting teams, 7-2.

10. Pittsburgh Penguins

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Declan Carlile

Last Week: 17

The Penguins won their first two games of 2026-27 and were two-thirds of the way through win No. 3 against visiting Winnipeg on Monday before surrendering three third-period goals inside of five minutes in a 3-2 loss.

9. Montreal Canadiens

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Alexandre Carrier (45) celebrates with teammate Phillip Danault (24) after scoring a third-period goal in Toronto

Last Week: 4

Opening on the road wasn't the worst thing for the returning Eastern finalists, who won at Toronto and got an OT point in a loss at Pittsburgh. The Canadiens opened at home with Carolina on Tuesday and will stay for four before visiting Washington on Oct. 14.

8. Utah Mammoth

Last Week: 11

Going from Long Island to Utah is an adjustment, but it's all part of the job for Mammoth forward Anders Lee, who moved west as a free agent after 13 seasons with the New York Islanders and scored in his first game.

7. Winnipeg Jets

Last Week: 24

Another year, another bid to be among the goal-scoring elites for Kyle Connor, who scored three goals in the Jets' first two games after registering 31 or more goals in each of the last five seasons, topping out at 47.

6. Edmonton Oilers

Last Week: 9

Call it the Evan Bouchard Revenge Tour. He was the highest-scoring blue-liner in the league last season but was not a Norris Trophy finalist. This season, he's already produced eight points in his first three games.

5. New York Rangers

Last Week: 20

He's been one of the league's best goalies for a while and now he's an offensive weapon, too. Igor Shesterkin became the first goalie in the Rangers' long history to score a goal when he netted one against Tampa Bay.

4. Anaheim Ducks

Last Week: 15

The certainties of life: Death, taxes, and the Ducks winning their annual home opener. Anaheim made it 11 in a row in dramatic fashion when it shook off a late tying goal by Florida's Brad Marchand and won it, 3-2, on Mikael Granlund's power-play tally in the first minute of overtime.

3. Ottawa Senators

Last Week: 19

Defenseman Jake Sanderson hit the early-season injury list and missed games Monday and Tuesday after leaving Ottawa's Saturday game against Toronto. Sanderson had 4:29 of ice time in six shifts against the Maple Leafs.

2. Minnesota Wild

Last Week: 8

The Wild followed a winning recipe in their first two games, getting offense from Kirill Kaprizov (three goals) and Quinn Hughes (three points) and 45 saves on 47 shots from goalie Jesper Wallstedt. Wallstedt started 33 games last season and had a .916 save percentage while sharing time with Filip Gustavsson.

1. Colorado Avalanche

Last Week: 2

It seems like old times for the defending President's Trophy winners, who opened with eight goals in a blowout of Los Angeles and followed with six more in a one-sided defeat of St. Louis. "It's definitely not going to be like this every single night," defenseman Cale Makar said, "but it's good to start the season like it."