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.

The Nashville Predators have been alarmingly bad on defense to start the season. Should Preds fans be concerned? Probably not, the Predators are, after all, without Ryan Ellis. Also, they got off to a really bad start last season and still managed to go on a Stanley Cup run. Still, it would behoof the Predators to not have to go on a late-season run just to make the postseason.

Early results suggest the New York Islanders probably shouldn’t have traded defenseman Travis Hamonic to the Calgary Flames. Or at least that they should have used the draft picks they got for him to fill his spot. The Islanders offense, however, has looked quite good the past two games. And they battled to get a point they probably shouldn’t have gotten against the St. Louis Blues.

The Philadelphia Flyers have looked quite good so far. In each of their first four games, they’ve gotten at least 30 shots on goal. However, the Flyers longstanding tradition of mediocre at best goaltending seems to be continuing. It’s early, but Philly has a team save percentage of under 90 percent. That’s not good. If they can solve that and their offense can continue to look good, they could be a surprise playoff team.

Considering how shorthanded the Anaheim Ducks have been, it’s encouraging they’re at a .500 point percentage. They’re down two of their top defensemen from last season, their second best center and their captain Ryan Getzlaf (though he returned for the third game). The rest of the Pacific Division is struggling, so that’s a good sign for the Ducks.

If the past two seasons have taught us anything, it’s that you should NEVER push the panic button for the Pittsburgh Penguins. They battled back in their first game to force overtime against the St. Louis Blues, even though they lost. Murphy’s Law hit them very hard in their game against the Chicago Blackhawks. And the Penguins looked very good against the Predators. Niemi is alarming, but other than that, Pittsburgh should be fine. They might also need to address their third line center situation if things don’t improve.

The Detroit Red Wings have been a surprise so far. They’ve been winning. However, so far, the Red Wings have been outshot by quite a bit. This is concerning, especially since Detroit doesn’t have the best goaltending situation. The young players are succeeding, but expect some regression out of the Red Wings soon.

The Colorado Avalanche have been impressive so far. Most notably, goaltender Semyon Varlamov, fresh off hip surgery, has been Vezina Trophy good through his first two games. Will this continue? Who knows. But the young Avalanche team has been better than expected. Of course, if Varlamov regresses, they could be back in the bottom spot very soon. But Avalanche fans should be proud of what they’ve seen so far.

Thus far, the Ottawa Senators are still winning despite not looking that great while doing so. Maybe last season’s Eastern Conference Finals run was more than a fluke? More importantly, they haven’t lost in regulation despite not having Erik Karlsson. The sooner he gets back, the better. If the Senators continue to tread water without him, they could once again be a surprise playoff team if they get him back by late November.

So far, so good for the Columbus Blue Jackets. They were very impressive in their win over the New York Islanders. However, the Chicago Blackhawks simply steam-rolled them and they weren’t overpowering in a win over the Carolina Hurricanes. The Blue Jackets are continuing to get excellent goaltending, with a team save percentage of .938. That’s encouraging because the Jackets will need it to go far in the postseason.

The Tampa Bay Lightning got off to a rough start, allowing the Florida Panthers to outshoot them in each of their first two games. However, their performance against the Washington Capitals was very encouraging. Entering the third period down 3-2, the Lightning were able to force overtime and get the win. Steven Stamkos isn’t scoring goals yet and they’re still winning. He’ll start scoring, and when he does, Tampa Bay should be an excellent team.

So far, the Vancouver Canucks are undefeated in regulation. This is probably an overreaction in the other direction, as they started last season off strong and still wound up being precisely who everything thought they were. But the Canucks are getting good play from their young players, which is quite encouraging for their future. It should make the rebuild more bearable for Vancouver fans.

The Calgary Flames are looking like Stanley Cup contenders early. Their goaltending was a question going into the season, but so far, the Flames have the sixth best team save percentage. Having a great team in front of the net has definitely helped. Adding Jaromir Jagr makes them a potential Stanley Cup dark horse. They rebounded from a tough Opening Night loss to the Oilers to look very good in their last two games, both wins.

It’s early, but it’s fair to question the Carolina Hurricanes’ ability to score consistently. They went from a four-goal (five if you include the meaningless shootout goal added) performance against the Wild to a one-goal performance against the Blue Jackets. But the Hurricanes looked very good in both games, dominating possession. Carolina’s goaltending is hard to judge after two games, but it needs to be better. If the Hurricanes figure out how to score more consistently and/or their goaltending improves, watch out.

The Los Angeles Kings look like an entirely different team this season. They’re fast and they’re a ton of fun to watch. That’s a significant change from the Darryl Suter Kings. Credit John Stevens for implementing his system quickly. It’s hard to fairly judge them because teams haven’t adjusted to their new system yet. That’s also why they’re a bit low for their record. But so far, Kings fans have every reason to be encouraged.

What a great first week for the Vegas Golden Knights. They’ve given a broken city still suffering from a horrible tragedy something to root for. The Golden Knights are a living embodiment of their city, which is honoring Tom Petty by refusing to back down.

You can stand me up at the gates of hell, but I won’t back down.

Don’t expect their success to continue, but then again, don’t let anyone rain on your parade Golden Knights fans. You have a team. Be excited and never take them for granted. Welcome to the NHL, we’re all rooting for you.

The New Jersey Devils have improved remarkably on offense. It’s only been two games, but this is a team MUCH faster and quicker than last year’s. That kind of system can have success in today’s NHL. Their next six games should be quite telling of just how good this team is. Cory Schneider looks outstanding, which is a very good sign for the Devils. They need him to be great to have a chance at the playoffs.

Alex Ovechkin is off to a very strong start. And outside of a weak third period against the Tampa Bay Lightning, so are the Washington Capitals. They’re getting amazing goaltending, which they’re going to need moving forward. Also, the Capitals have gotten two goals from their bottom six so far. That’s encouraging.

The St. Louis Blues have been the biggest surprise so far this season. No one expected them to have a strong start with many of their best players injured. But so far, head coach Mike Yeo has to be pleased. That said, the Blues have twice surrendered two-goal leads in the third period. This is something that must change. But the Blues get a bit of a pass because they are so shorthanded.

Give the Chicago Blackhawks credit. They’re having success after just about everyone thought their offense would be terrible. Brandon Saad is off to a very strong start in his return to Chicago. Jonathan Toews seems quite happy and productive with his wing back. The Blackhawks lone loss is to the best team in the NHL. And their defense has been surprisingly competent. However, that blue line still needs work if they want to be serious Stanley Cup contenders.

There were some people who thought the Toronto Maple Leafs were ranked too highly when we ranked them sixth in our initial NHL power rankings. It turns out maybe we weren’t giving them enough credit. The Maple Leafs have an elite offense, one that can help them overcome their flaws.

Does their blue line need work? Absolutely. Does Frederik Andersen need to be better? With a .892 save percentage, sure (but he’s not a problem). But the Maple Leafs offense is fast and quick. They’ve proven no deficit is safe. One might say their offense is running down a dream of a Stanley Cup.

Watching the Maple Leafs play is like listening to Tom Petty’s most famous song. You can’t help but feel engaged in the art. Sports and art rarely intersect, but the Maple Leafs offense is truly a masterpiece. Perhaps one great enough to end Toronto’s Stanley Cup drought.