It’s the early going in the NHL season, so upheaval is to be expected.
But for the moment anyway, the B/R Power Rankings planets are aligned.
The Winnipeg Jets earned themselves a clean sweep from the voting panel to take the penthouse perch this week and they were followed closely by the New York Rangers, who were the second choice on all but one of the ballots.
In fact, of the 25 possible votes for the top-five teams in our poll, 24 of them went to the Jets and Rangers alongside the Calgary Flames, Minnesota Wild and Dallas Stars, who round out the elite quintet after the season’s second week. Only one fifth-place vote for the Washington Capitals spoiled the consensus, which came after the aforementioned Jets, Rangers, Flames, Wild and Stars combined to go 25-2-4 through Tuesday’s games.
Dallas, Calgary, Winnipeg and New York were holdovers from last week’s top five while the Wild skipped from 11th to fourth to dislodge the Vegas Golden Knights, who fell to eighth.
A first-place vote netted 32 points and a 32nd-place tally yielded one. The vote/point totals are reflected by the rankings, and we invite you to take a look at what we came up with and drop a thought of your own in the comments.