NHL power rankings: Capitals, Penguins are the cream of the crop

As the Washington Capitals enter their bye week, they remain on the top of our weekly NHL power rankings. However, the Pittsburgh Penguins are closing the gap.

They say time flies when you’re having fun. Well, hockey fans must be having a ton of fun because it’s already nearly time for the All-Star break. The All-Star Game is less than a week away, which means it’s time for my weekly NHL power rankings.

If you’ve never read my weekly power rankings before, welcome aboard! And welcome back if this isn’t your first time. My rankings are based on who I think will win the Stanley Cup. I look at a team’s record, their strength of schedule, and their underlying numbers.

Did I rank your favorite team too low? Am I being a bit too nice to another team? Do you respectfully disagree with my assessments? Feel free to leave your thoughts and musings in the comment section. Without further ado, let’s get started.

NHL POWER RANKINGS

The Pretenders

The Red Wings have won three of their past 10 games, which I suppose should be considered a hot streak for them. Forget about being the worst team of the salary cap era. They have a good chance of being the worst team since the 1995 lockout.

It’s time to start worrying about Drew Doughty. I was optimistic he would bounce back from last season, but his numbers remain unimpressive at best. Doughty has seven years left on his contract after this one. Ouch.

How bad are things in Anaheim? There have been more coaches fired since Nov. 1 than there have been Ducks’ wins in regulation.

The New Jersey Devils probably should have done something about their goaltending during the offseason.

While the Ottawa Senators are bad, they could turn things around very quickly since they’re likely going to have two high first-round picks in a very deep draft in 2020.

Heading into last week, the San Jose Sharks had an outside chance of turning things around and making the postseason. That was more of a testament to how bad the Pacific Division has been. With three straight losses, the Sharks playoff chances are quickly approaching “impossible”.

The Minnesota Wild got a very nice win over the Dallas Stars on Saturday night, but they’re still a very mediocre team. There’s no reason they shouldn’t be huge sellers at the deadline.

It wouldn’t surprise me if the Nashville Predators go on a huge run and surprise everyone by making the playoffs. But they’re going to need their goaltenders to be significantly better than they have been for that to happen.

The New York Rangers have been better as of late, but they still have too many defensive issues for me to believe they’ll make the playoffs. Also, carrying three goalies never works out, especially when one of them is a young goalie who needs playing time.

Man, the Chicago Blackhawks are going to have to make some tough decisions in goal after this season. Do they go with Robin Lehner, who likely wants some security in his next deal? Or do they look elsewhere? Also, nobody’s talking about how good Dominik Kubalik has been, so I’ll step up to the plate. He’s been darn good and should be in the Calder conversation.

Ilya Kovalchuk has been incredible for the Canadiens. Unfortunately, I think Montreal waited a bit too long to get a scorer like him. The Canadiens’ biggest issue remains scoring. They’re getting chances, but they ain’t scoring. And it’s not like this is a new issue. It’s one that’s been there for a while.