NHL Power Rankings Week 2: Maple Leafs rising, Canadiens free falling

The Toronto Maple Leafs are matching the hype, the St. Louis Blues and Vegas Golden Knights are surprising, and the Montreal Canadiens are in free fall mode in this week’s NHL Power Rankings. 

It’s hard to believe, but the 2017-18 NHL season is already a week old. Fans have already seen more than a few outstanding performances. Some teams expected to be bad are looking great. On the contrary, a few teams that were expected to be great are looking terrible.

While it might be way too early to panic about a team’s record, this week’s NHL power rankings show the importance of a strong start. A team’s record isn’t all that matters. How you win matters too. Let’s take a look at how each team looks after the first week of the 2017-18 season.

If you have to ask yourself if your team’s ranking is an overreaction, chances are it is. After all, we’re just a week into the season. Here are last week’s NHL power rankings, in case you’d like to compare.

So far, the San Jose Sharks are off to a horrific start. Among all teams, they have the second worst overall expected goals for percentage during all situations. Through two games, goaltender Martin Jones has a .864 save percentage. The Sharks have scored just four goals while allowing nine. Obviously, a good week could change their outlook quickly. But San Jose had issues going into the season and early on, the issues are prevalent.

Robin Lehner is the only reason the Buffalo Sabres were able to get one point in their first three games. So far, they’re a huge mess. The Sabres have allowed six goals in each of their past two games. Evander Kane looks great early on, but so far, Buffalo’s rebuild once again seems to be stuck in neutral.

The Arizona Coyotes are going to be a trivia answer, and not a good one. They’re the first team to lose to an expansion team twice in their first three games of the season. The Coyotes have allowed 12 goals in their first three games, and at least five goals in two of them. Arizona has earned a shorter leash this season with their upgrades. But so far, the Coyotes look no different.

Tom Petty died this week. I was looking for a way to work in one of his songs. The Canadiens have some encouraging underlying numbers, but they still lack goal scoring ability. Montreal has had strong starts in each of the past two seasons, but this one’s different. Thanks, Canadiens for giving this writer an excuse to blast some TP. Rest in peace.

The New York Rangers are running into some early bad luck. Semyon Varlamov stood on his head, preventing them from beating the Colorado Avalanche. But so far, the Rangers are digging themselves into a hole. They are more than capable of digging themselves out of it. But with expectations high, changes could be coming if the Rangers don’t right the ship soon.