NHL Power Rankings: The Capitals and Red Wings Are Leading the Pack Early on

John Tavares has already netted a hat trick this season and his Islanders have joined the Avalanche as surprise teams.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has a hat trick as well (that didn’t take long), but the Oilers still lost the game…

The Coyotes are playing well defensively and the Stars are playing well without Brad Richards.

Toronto, Toronto, is undefeated.

This tends to happen early in the season: teams overachieve and then fall back to Earth once the season gets rolling along.

For fans in New York, Phoenix, Dallas and especially Toronto, they’re certainly hoping that’s not the case.

For the rest of the league: the Red Wings and Capitals are still at the top of the hockey world—Armageddon isn’t upon us…yet.

The following are all 30 NHL teams ranked based on their recent performances.

30. Winnipeg Jets

Last week: 29

The Jets are 0-3-0.

It’s going to be a long season for this team.

Fortunately, they should get a honeymoon from fans happy to have their team back.

29. Columbus Blue Jackets

Last week: 23

The Jackets have yet to win a game this season.

Losses to Minnesota, Colorado and Dallas indicate that this may be a long season for Columbus (again).

28. Ottawa Senators

Last week: 26

At 1-4-0, Ottawa is exactly where everyone expects them to be.

Their lone win came against Minnesota.

With the exception of their 2-1 loss to Washington, the Sens have given up five or more goals in their losses.

They need to play some D.

27. Calgary Flames

Last week: 30

Calgary was outplayed by Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Toronto, but destroyed Montreal 4-1 at the Bell Centre.

Makes no sense.

The Flames play the rest of October in the Saddledome, meaning they could capitalize on their big win over Montreal and be a surprise team early in the year.

26. Edmonton Oilers

Last week: 22

Only three games doesn’t give fans much to work with, but a shootout win against Pittsburgh has to be a positive.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins already has a hat trick, but it came in a loss against Vancouver.

Next week they will play four teams with varying expectations—the Preds, Flames, Wild, and Rangers—which will give Oilers enthusiasts a good idea of where their team is at this year.

25. Florida Panthers

Last week: 27

Florida won the battle of the Sunshine State with a 3-2 shootout victory on Saturday.

They’ve got a tough week ahead: an encore in Tampa, at Washington and Buffalo before playing the Islanders on Saturday.

24. Montreal Canadiens

Last week: 14

Beating Winnipeg is like taking candy from a baby.

Losses to Toronto, Calgary and Colorado are very concerning.

Montreal needs to get on track quickly.

Unfortunately, next week they face Buffalo, Pittsburgh and a resurgent Leafs team.

23. San Jose Sharks

Last week: 4

San Jose’s power play is clicking at a 33.3 percent rate (first in league), but the rest of their game needs work.

After crushing Phoenix 6-3 on opening night, the Sharks were shutout in Anaheim and lost to St. Louis 4-2 in the Tank.

They need to use Monday to get on track before spending the rest of October on the road.

22. New York Rangers

Last week: 12

Overtime losses to LA and Anaheim are acceptable.

Losing to the Islanders in regulation…not so much.

The Rangers have yet to win a game this season and start the season with seven games on the road.

Wins should come.

The Blueshirts get everyone from Canada except Montreal this month, meaning that their only really tough game will be Vancouver before they face San Jose on Versus Halloween night.

21. Tampa Bay Lightning

Last week: 8

Starting the season off with a 5-1 win in Carolina? That’s how it’s done.

Losing four-straight by a combined score of 18-9? That can’t happen.

The Bolts have yet to play a game at home yet. They’ll get their chance with a rematch against the Cats on Monday.

20. Carolina Hurricanes

Last week: 17

Carolina started the season out with three-straight losses, but have managed to beat Boston in the Garden and Buffalo at home in their last two games.

The Canes will face Boston at home on Tuesday, giving them an opportunity to prove that they can play with the best in the East this season and that the first game wasn’t a fluke.

19. Minnesota Wild

Last week: 15

Losses to the Islanders and Senators are concerning, and it took a shootout for the Wild to beat Edmonton.

However, the team made it close against Detroit in the first game and newcomers Devin Setoguchi and Dany Heatley found the net in the team’s first game against Columbus.

Looks like it might be an up-and-down season in Minnesota once again.

18. New Jersey Devils

Last week: 21

The Defensive Devils have won three-straight since losing their opener 3-0 to Philly.

Carolina, LA and Nashville are all quality teams.

Maybe the Devils will bounce back and play to their capabilities this season.

17. Nashville Predators

Last week: 13

Losses to Phoenix and New Jersey indicate that the young Preds did not come out of the preseason ready to play.

Nashville did, however, pick up a 4-2 win against St. Louis—a playoff-caliber team.

16. Phoenix Coyotes

Last week: 28

The Yotes own the fourth-best offense in the league. Nobody saw that coming,

Captain Shane Doan leads the team with three goals and seven points.

Oliver Ekman-Larsson, a young defensemen, has found the board as well. He netted two goals against Winnipeg on Saturday.

In their past two games, Phoenix beat Nashville and Winnipeg by a combined score of 9-3.

15. St. Louis Blues

Last week: 18

The offense is clicking, but St. Louis needs some work defensively and on special teams.

They got the win they were supposed to against Calgary and looked good against the Sharks, but need to establish themselves against Nashville (a division rival) if they want to make the playoffs this year.

14. Vancouver Canucks

Last week: 3

The Canucks are 2-2-1, but also have only played one home game so far.

Their wins have come against teams they’re expected to beat: Columbus and Edmonton.

Their losses have come against quality opponents: Pittsburgh, Philly and Detroit.

There’s nothing to worry about yet in Vancouver.

13. Anaheim Ducks

Last week: 16

The Ducks are only scoring a goal per game (last in league) and still have won two games.

Sounds about right.

After suffering a lopsided loss to Buffalo, the Ducks won two-straight against quality opponents at home.

Eventually, however, Getzlaf, Perry, Ryan and Co. need to find the back of the net.

12. Boston Bruins

Last week: 2

The Big Bad Bruins need some scoring.

Colorado, a team known for poor play in their own end, shut out the Bruins. The team has only one game, their 4-1 win against Tampa, where they scored more than two goals.

11. Chicago Blackhawks

Last week: 5

The loss to Dallas looks like an anomaly for this Chicago team that wiped the floor with the Stars in the second game (5-2) and topped Winnipeg.

The Blackhawks would have loved to get two points against Boston, but a shootout loss to the defending champs is nothing to sneeze at.

10. Los Angeles Kings

Last week: 9

With two overtimes and one shootout game this season, it looks like the Kings may have a flare for the dramatic this season.

The team’s only regulation decision was a loss to Buffalo 4-2.

A shootout loss to New Jersey may be concerning, but the Kings have two wins against quality opponents already this season.

9. Colorado Avalanche

Last week: 20

This team is an enigma.

The Avs were crushed by Detroit, beat Boston 1-0 (1-0! They shut out a team), went to a shootout with Columbus, destroyed Ottawa 7-1 and beat Montreal 6-5 in a shootout (they gave up five goals to…Montreal).

They are 0-1 at home and 4-0 on the road.

On Monday, Colorado has a chance to make it five-in-a-row against Toronto on Versus.

8. New York Islanders

Last week: 25

The Islanders, yes the Islanders, have won three-straight by a combined score of 11-4 since losing 2-0 to Florida in their opener.

John Tavares already has a hat trick.

What a surprise.

New York has yet to play a game away from home. They’ll get their first road test in Florida against the Lightning and Panthers next season.

7. Toronto Maple Leafs

Last week: 19

The Leafs are 3-0-0. Fans in Toronto are hoping, praying that this isn’t an early-season fluke.

Toronto is leading the league in scoring, but their wins came at home against Montreal, a team that’s underachieving, and Ottawa and Calgary—two teams that aren’t going anywhere.

The Leafs won’t play their first away game until they go to Boston on Thursday, which begins a four-game road trip.

Getting wins against Colorado and Winnipeg at home will be vital.

6. Pittsburgh Penguins

Last week: 1

Losses to Washington (OT) and Buffalo are going to happen.

Edmonton? That’s perplexing.

The Penguins have a chance to get on track next week with games against Winnipeg, Minnesota, Montreal and New Jersey.

The rest of the October doesn’t look too bad either. They play the Islanders twice and Toronto once.

5. Philadelphia Flyers

Last week: 10

The Flyers missed the memo. They’re a Philadelphia team that’s winning games.

An OT loss to LA isn’t anything to worry about, especially for a team that started the season off by winning three-straight in regulation against Boston, New Jersey and Vancouver.

4. Buffalo Sabres

Last week: 11

Buffalo got the start they wanted.

They scored a combined eight goals on Anaheim and LA and beat the Penguins in Pittsburgh 3-2.

Their only loss this season came at home against Carolina.

3. Dallas Stars

Last week: 24

A 5-2 loss to Chicago looks bad, but the Brad Richard-less Stars have played well.

Two of their wins came against Phoenix and Columbus, but wins against Chicago and St. Louis are impressive.

2. Washington Capitals

Last week: 6

The Caps are killing it on offense and on the power play, but need to focus on defense if they’re going to be in it for the long run.

They’re 4-0-0, so there’s nothing to worry about yet.

1. Detroit Red Wings

Last week: 7

As expected, the almighty Wings have started the season off without a loss.

Detroit has outscored their opponents 13-5 and both Ty Conklin and Jimmy Howard already have shutouts.

They are forth in the league in offense and first in defense, but special teams needs some work—although it’s a small sample size early in the season.