March 14, 2024 by Bob Schmidt

Now that each NHL team has played at least 60 games this season, I have updated my power rankings chart. I created this chart based only on each team’s first 60 games, their overall record in those games, the strength of each team’s schedule, and how they fared against the stronger, mid tier, and weaker teams.

1. Florida Panthers (60 game record: 43-16-4, 90 Pts. Games 51-60: 9-1-0, 18 Pts. Previous ranking: 4)

The Panthers picked a good time to get red hot. At the time of this article, they have gone 16-2-0 over their last 18 games with both losses being by just one goal. One of those defeats was a 1-0 loss versus the Carolina Hurricanes on February 22, where they fired 45 shots on goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov, who came up with one of the best netminding performances of the season. Florida has rattled off four separate winning streaks of five games or more and only one losing streak of more than two games all season. As impressive as some of their offensive production is from the likes of Sam Reinhart, Matthew Tkachuk, and Carter Verhaeghe have been, it’s been the team defense that has propelled Florida to the top of the league. Led by the goaltending of Sergei Bobrovsky and Anthony Stolarz, the 2023 Stanley Cup finalists sit at the top of the league with a stingy 2.37 goals against average per game. General manager Bill Zito has shown his team that he’s committed to make the moves he sees necessary to get the Cats back to the finals, as his recent acquisition of Vladimir Tarasenko from the Ottawa Senators confirms.

2. New York Rangers (60 game record: 40-17-3, 83 Pts. Games 51-60: 9-1-0, 18 Pts. Previous ranking: 3)

The Rangers are coming off their longest win streak of the season at ten games, and only had one loss in the whole month of February. The Broadway Blueshirts are led by Artemi Panarin, Adam Fox, and Igor Shesterkin, arguably each a top 10 NHL player at their respective positions. New York has been a powerhouse team since the start of the season when they won eight of their first 10 games, which included a six-game winning streak, and have remained in the top 10 of these rankings all season long.

3. Winnipeg Jets (60 game record: 39-16-5, 83 Pts. Games 51-60: 8-2-0, 16 Pts. Previous ranking: 8)

The Jets just might be the team to beat in the West. Most impressively during this last 10-game segment, was Winnipeg’s power-play, which has not been a real strength for them all season (currently ranks 24th at 18.0%). During this most recent stretch, the Jets went 10 for 28 on the PP (36.0%), which is double their season efficiency rate. It’s been quite the reversal of fortune for the Jets over the past eight to 10 months. From last season’s frustrations between head coach Rick Bowness and his players leading to speculation that a number of them might not be back, to the surprise re-signing of key players, to the emergence of the Jets being one of the premier teams in the NHL, the journey that Winnipeg has given their fans has been anything but boring and could possibly have a fairytale ending to the season.

4. Edmonton Oilers (60 game record: 38-20-2, 78 Pts. Games 51-60: 7-2-1, 15 Pts. Previous ranking: 10)

After a slight stumble out of the gate, the Oilers closed off this segment on a five-game winning streak with the last one coming in an impressive 2-1 overtime road win over the Boston Bruins on March 5. That night, Edmonton scored the game tying at 18:40 of the third period with the extra attacker, on a goal by Leon Draisaitl from Connor McDavid and Evan Bouchard. Just over two minutes into the overtime, the same trio, and in the same sequence, combined for the game-winning marker. The Oilers will always be known for having a dynamic offense for as long as McDavid, Draisaitl, and first time 40-goal scorer Zach Hyman are on the team, but the blue and orange have found their greatest success when they’re focused on team defense. During their winning streaks of eight, 16, and the most recent five games, Edmonton posted a 1.63, 1.50, and 1.40 goals against averages, respectively. With the new additions of Adam Henrique and Sam Carrick from the Anaheim Ducks, General Manager Ken Holland has remained focused on strengthening the team defensively as both these players were leading penalty killers for Anaheim, which has been an up and down special teams for the Oilers and is currently 14th overall in the NHL at 79.9%.

5. Toronto Maple Leafs (60 game record: 35-17-8, 78 Pts. Games 51-60: 9-1-0, 18 Pts. Previous ranking: 14)

Toronto made the biggest leap in the power rankings this segment and cracked the top-ten for the first time this season. That’s what a seven-game win streak and a power-play operating at 38.0% during this segment will do. The Leafs are a team built on offense thanks to super sniper Auston Matthews (who has never scored less than 34 goals in his eight NHL seasons), and a career season from William Nylander. Toronto’s 3.58 goals scored per game ties them for second overall in the league and their power-play of 27.7% is also good enough for second in the NHL. The question marks for this team will always circle around their defensive game (19th in goals against per game and 21st on the penalty) and the goaltending (21st in save percentage and a combined 50.0% quality starts percentage).

6. Colorado Avalanche (60 game record: 36-19-5, 77 Pts. Games 51-60: 4-5-1, 9 Pts. Previous ranking: 1)

A tough segment for the Avs which saw them go under .500 during these 10 games. Thankfully, for Colorado, they had played so well leading up to this segment that they are still in a good spot and remain on this list. Superstar, Nathan MacKinnon, is on pace to set career season highs in goals, assist, and points, and is the frontrunner in the Hart Trophy race, in my opinion. General Manager, Rob Blake, has made some moves in an attempt to bolster the lineup in preparation for, what he hopes, is a long playoff run, most notably the additions of Casey Mittelstadt from the Buffalo Sabres and Sean Walker from the Philadelphia Flyers. There is speculation, and hope, that captain Gabriel Landeskog might be back in time for the playoffs and 22-goal scorer, Valeri Nichushkin, is expected back in the lineup soon as well. If the goaltending is good enough remains to be seen. Between starter Alexandar Georgiev, along with Ivan Prosvetov and Justus Annunen, the Avalanche netminders have a combined save percentage hovering around the .900 mark and have given their team quality starts in only 45% of the games thus far.

7. Carolina Hurricanes (60 game record: 36-18-6, 78 Pts. Games 51-60: 7-2-1, 15 Pts. Previous ranking: 9)

The Hurricanes hammered out five wins in the first six games in this 10-game segment including a couple of 1-0 victories. One came against the New Jersey Devils on February 10 and the other vs the number-one ranked team on this list, the Panthers, on February 22. The emerging Pyotr Kochetkov, the return of Frederik Andersen, and a splash of Antti Raanta, combined to help the Hurricanes post a league low of 1.80 goals agaunst average during this segment. General Manager, Don Waddell, made a couple of substantial additions to his team at the trade deadline in the hopes of an upcoming lengthy playoff run, picking up top line forward Jake Guentzel from the Pittsburgh Penguins and long time Washington Capital, Evgeny Kuznetsov.

8. Vancouver Canucks (60 game record: 38-16-6, 82 Pts. Games 51-60: 4-5-1, 9 Pts. Previous ranking: 2)

This was not a strong segment for the Canucks, which saw them endure a four-game losing streak, including an alarming 10-7 loss to the (most likely non-playoff bound) Minnesota Wild. Vancouver has been one of the strongest teams in the league all season and have been in the top-10 on this list for the duration. This was the first segment in which they had a losing record. General Manager Patrik Alvin showed confidence in the team he already has and did not make any moves at the trade deadline having made his biggest move earlier in January with the acquisition of Elias Lindholm from the Calgary Flames.

9. Boston Bruins (60 game record: 34-12-14, 82 Pts. Games 51-60: 3-2-5, 11 Pts. Previous ranking: 5)

The Bruins had a unique segment where they reached extra time in seven of the 10 games, six of which were consecutive games that closed off the segment. Boston has surprised many this season with how well they’ve kept playing despite the loss of two of their top six forwards from last season, Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci. They have remained a top ten team all season, thanks in largely to their team defensive game and depth scoring. General Manager, Don Sweeney, saw fit to make only minor adjustments with the roster at the trade deadline, most notably the addition of three-time Stanley Cup champion Patrick Maroon from the Minnesota Wild.

10. Dallas Stars (60 game record: 35-16-9, 79 Pts. Games 51-60: 4-3-3, 11 Pts. Previous ranking: 6)

Dallas is the fifth team on this list that have remained in the top-10 on my list all season, along with the Rangers, Avalanche, Canucks, and Bruins. The Stars have six 20-goal scorers at the time of this article with a seventh on the cusp in Mason Marchment who sits at nineteen. Head Coach, Peter DeBoer, has run a well balanced rotation of his lines with none of his forwards averaging over nineteen minutes of ice time per game. The addition of Chris Tanev from the Calgary Flames should stabilize the back end for the Stars as they hope to build on last season’s playoff success where they reached the final four but ultimately fell to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights.