Via USA Today
Stop me if you’ve heard this one this week: the Winnipeg Jets are the best team in the NHL right now. Just when you thought they might come down to earth, the Jets just keep winning in dominating fashion.
They’ve won 14 of their first 15 games which is the best start in NHL history through 15 games, and are doing it by blowing everyone out. The Jets lead the league in goals per game at 4.47 and in goals against per game at just 2.07. While it’s not going to stay that way the whole year, Jets fans have to enjoy the ride they’re on right now.
Elsewhere in the league, Carolina and Washington continue to look strong in the east while the Nashville Predators still can’t string wins together. The rest of the league? Well, it’s as close as I can remember it being six weeks in – there are seven teams in the east within two points of each other while the west has a log jam just outside of the playoffs.
But without anymore delay, here are the week 6 power rankings for the 2024 NHL season along with the most surprising thing about each
RANKINGS NOTE: These rankings come from the average of the individual rankings by everyone on the TWSN hockey staff through Sunday afternoon. They are based on a mix of week-to-week and season-long play. The prior week’s ranking is in parenthesis, and the comments come from Mike Straw.
32. Montreal Canadiens (30) – Montreal is making this game look harder than what it needs to be. Every time it looks like they are getting it together, it turns out to be fool’s gold.
31. San Jose Sharks (31) – They are remaining competitive, but we are likely looking at another top five pick next summer.
30. Anaheim Ducks (27) – Anaheim’s ability to keep teams from scoring has finally vanished as they gave up 14 goals in three games last week. They also still can’t score with just five goals in those three games.
29. Philadelphia Flyers (32) – The Flyers looked better last week, but they are still one of the worst teams in hockey.
28. Chicago Blackhawks (28) – Connor Bedard is on pace for a lower point total than his rookie season. He has zero help in Chicago.
27. Columbus Blue Jackets (26) – Kirill Marchenko might be something special for Columbus. He leads the team with 13 points in 13 games this season.
26. Nashville Predators (21) – Something has to give with the Predators. They just can’t figure things out, and they don’t have a lot of wiggle room to make any sort of big move right now.
25. Detroit Red Wings (19) – Detroit continues to struggle to score as their goals per game has dropped to 30th in the NHL (2.43)
24. Seattle Kraken (23) – The Kraken are in the bottom half of the league in both scoring and goals against. That’s just not good enough yet Ron Francis refuses to address the needs of the team.
23. Pittsburgh Penguins (22) – The Penguins are third in the NHL in shots per game (32.1) yet find themselves 18th in goals per game at 2.88.
22. St. Louis Blues (17) – The Blues are a middling team that will likely just sit in the pack throughout the year.
21. New York Islanders (20) – Another team that can get shots on goal – 5th in the NHL – but fails to get quality chances leading to them sitting 28th in goals per game.
20. Colorado Avalanche (25) – Colorado is starting to figure things out, but they need Winnipeg to start losing for any shot at the Central
19. Buffalo Sabres (29) – Buffalo is the biggest Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in the NHL. They won three straight and followed that up by looking terrible in three straight losses. Now, they’ve won three again, including blowout wins over Ottawa and the New York Rangers.
18. Ottawa Senators (13) – Ottawa thought they had their number one goaltender situation solved, but Linus Ullmark has looked average at best this year.
17. Utah Hockey Club (15) – The honeymoon in Salt Lake City is over. Utah is falling back in the playoff race a bit after a hot start that could trigger an early-season move.
16. Boston Bruins (18) – Jeremy Swayman still doesn’t look like the goaltender he wanted to be paid like. He’s tied for the third-most goals allowed so far this season: 33 in 11 games.
15. Edmonton Oilers (24) – They survived without Connor McDavid and now sit in a playoff spot as of November 10.
14. Calgary Flames (16) – The Flames are fighting to stay in the race early on, but how much more can they hang on before their deficiencies get to be too much?
13. Tampa Bay Lightning (12) – Andei Vasilevskiy has a 2.43 GAA and .910 Save % yet has a 6-5-1 record. He deserves better for how well he’s played this year.
12. Vancouver Canucks (11) – Vancouver is 7-3-3 but sit with a -1 goal differential as of November 10. When they lose, they lose big.
11. Dallas Stars (8) – Dallas’ hot start has faltered a bit as the Stars have lost three of their last four games which isn’t going to help keep pace with Winnipeg or even Minnesota.
10. Toronto Maple Leafs (14) – The Maple Leafs have won three straight without Auston Matthews in the lineup while giving up just two goals over those three games.
9. New York Rangers (4) – From looking like the most complete team in hockey to being run out of the building by Buffalo. The Rangers are in a slump.
8. Los Angeles Kings (10) – If the Kings were going to take a step back, someone forgot to tell them. Los Angeles just keeps finding ways to win despite not being overly great at any one thing.
7. New Jersey Devils (9) – New Jersey has played more games than any team in the NHL. The good news is they are winning the games they need to to stay ahead of those with games in hand.
6. Vegas Golden Knights (5) – Vegas is the only team who hasn’t lost at home (8-0-0). The problem is, they only have one win on the road (1-3-2).
5. Washington Capitals (3) – Alexander Ovechkin is on pace for 59 goals this season and is just 31 goals behind Wayne Gretzky. Not only does it look like he’ll break the record this season, but Washington might just be a real contender.
4. Minnesota Wild (6) – Minnesota was expected to be a middle-of-the-pack team entering the year, and have, so far, surpassed all expectations. Kirill Kaprisov has 27 points in 14 games, and is the catalyst behind the Wild’s early-season success.
3. Carolina Hurricanes (7) – Carolina’s winning streak ended at eight games, but they look everything like the team I predicted to come out of the east this season.
2. Florida Panthers (2) – I’m going to keep raving about Sam Reinhart. He’s currently on pace for 126 points this season which would be 32 points better than last year’s career best.
1. Winnipeg Jets (1) – The Jets are off to the best start in NHL history without having a player in the top 10 in scoring right now. They have four players averaging more than a point per game so far.
