NHL Power Rankings: Kings back on top, Lightning rising fast

It might be fall, but the Toronto Maple Leafs aren’t falling in this week’s NHL Power Rankings. And what’s up with the Edmonton Oilers and New York Rangers?

It’s just week 4 of the 2017-18 NHL season. While it might still be quite early in the season, it’s time to start taking teams at face value. Your record starts counting for something. Once the month of October ends, generally, teams are who they will be for the rest of the season.

Sure, there are some exceptions. There’s about one or two a year at most. However, because of the overtime point rule, it’s harder to come back from an early deficit in today’s NHL than in previous years.

There have been surprises, both positive and negative. Some teams are exceeding expectations. Meanwhile, other teams keep digging themselves into a hole. Let’s take a look at how each of the 31 teams ranks as the month of October slowly comes to an end.

In eight games this season, the Coyotes are averaging 2.25 goals scored per game and 4.25 goals allowed. That’s not a good combination. It’s early, but the Coyotes have to right the ship as soon as possible or they’ll risk their fanbase losing interest. They are the lone team without a win.

The Canadiens have been prone to fast starts over the past two seasons. However, it’s been the opposite this season. Not only are their 12 goals scored the lowest in the NHL, so is their 1.5 goals per game average. The Canadiens are also allowing 4.13 goals against per game, the third highest in the league.

The Oilers entered the 2017-18 NHL season as legitimate Stanley Cup contenders. However, they’ve been extremely disappointing so far. Connor McDavid has eight points and Patrick Maroon has five. But that’s about it. Cam Talbot and Laurent Brossoit have been sub-par in goal so far.

The New York Rangers are off to an extremely slow start this season. This shouldn’t be too surprising, as goaltender Henrik Lundqvist is a notoriously slow starter. However, the Rangers offense has averaged just 2.67 goals per game, the seventh fewest in the NHL. To complicate things, they’re also allowing 3.44 goals per game, which is tied for the 10th highest.

After a very rough start, the Sabres are somewhat stabilizing themselves. However, their power play has been awful. They’ve allowed the most shorthanded goals in the NHL so far. The Sabres defense is currently missing three of their starters, including Nathan Beaulieu and Zach Bogosian.

The Florida Panthers have been very inconsistent so far. With a goal differential of -2, they are precisely what their record suggests. Their offense has been fairly impressive, averaging over three goals a game. The issue is their defense is also averaging over three goals allowed per game.

Credit the San Jose Sharks for improving from their extremely rough start. After losing their first two games, they won three straight before losing to the New York Islanders. The Sharks offense has to get going, as they’re averaging under three goals per game. Meanwhile, their defense, stout last season, is averaging three goals against per game.

Few teams had a rougher week than the Calgary Flames. They’re still a very good hockey team, but it might be time to start worrying about their offense. The Flames came into this season counting on their guys to produce. So far, their 2.50 goals per game are the fourth worst in the NHL. The Flames defense has been middle of the pack.

The Minnesota Wild prided themselves in their defense last season. This was the case in 2015-16 as well. However, though it’s just a six game sample size, the Wild have not been nearly as good defensively this season. They’re allowing the ninth most goals per game. Luckily, the Wild’s offense has been up to the task, ranking fifth in the league.

Matt Duchene and Tyson Barrie have been carrying the load so far on offense for the Colorado Avalanche. They’ve been a bit of a surprise, as many thought them to be the worst team in the NHL entering the season. Mikko Rantanen is tied for the team lead in points with seven (with Duchene and Barrie). They have seven players with at least five points through eight games.

Much like the Avalanche, many expected the Vancouver Canucks to be towards the bottom of the standings. However, they’ve been a surprise so far this season. Eight of their players have at least four points through the first eight games. Derek Dorsett and Brock Boeser lead the way in points, each with six. Though the latter has done it in six games.

Anders Lee, Josh Bailey and John Tavares have been outstanding so far for the New York Islanders. Each has six points thus far through eight games. Lee has five goals to lead the team. Goaltenders Thomas Greiss and Jaroslav Halak have combined to be solid, but not great. Andrew Ladd is having a bounce-back season so far. He has five points through the first eight games, one of the five Islanders forwards to do so.

After a slow start, the Nashville Predators have gotten back on track. The slow start is a bit understandable, with them losing Ryan Ellis and Roman Josi to injuries early on. However, they’ve rebounded nicely, going 3-1-1 since their 1-2-0 start. Filip Forsberg has 11 points through his first eight games, while P.K. Subban has seven.

Because of the Carolina Hurricanes weird schedule, it’s hard to get a very good read on the team. After all, through the first three weeks of the season, they’ve only played six games. Most teams have already played at least eight. But when the Hurricanes have played, they’ve looked very solid. Goaltender Scott Darling is off to a rough start, but to be fair, he’s getting used to an entirely different defensive scheme. So he deserves a bit of a long leash.

Goaltending is going to determine how well the Winnipeg Jets do this season. Their skaters are unquestionably good enough for them to be a playoff contender. However, they’ve never gotten good goaltending (excluding the 2014-15 season). Connor Hellebuyck has a .928 save percentage through his first five games. Steve Mason appears to have given up the short leash he had as the starting goalie.

The Pittsburgh Penguins seem to be getting back on track after a slightly slow start. Trading for Riley Sheahan should give them some more production from the third line. It also puts Greg McKegg in a far more appropriate fourth line role. However, it’s time for the Penguins to start worrying about Antti Niemi. He’s been awful as a backup goalie. Luckily, the Penguins gave him a minimum contract, so they could just bury him in the minors. Expect Pittsburgh to try to do something to find a better backup goalie.

So far, the Dallas Stars look every bit as good as everyone thought they would be. They’ve been very well balanced so far. Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin each have eight points. Defenseman John Klingberg has seven. At 26.1 percent, the Stars boast one of the NHL’s best power plays. Ben Bishop has a .928 save percentage so far.

The Columbus Blue Jackets are off to an excellent start, even with their hightly touted offense ranking 14th in goals per game. Sergei Bobrovsky is looking like a Vezina Trophy contender once again. Artemi Panarin looks like an excellent addition, with nine points in his first eight games. Eventually, the rest of the offense should get going. And when it does, the Blue Jackets will be a very hard team to beat.

The Philadelphia FLyers have a pretty impressive record thus far. What’s scary is they might be even better than it suggests. So far, the Flyers have scored 28 goals and allowed just 18. Even if you take away their eight goal night against the Capitals, that’s still good for 20 goals in seven games. Shayne Gostisbehere, Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek each have hit double digits in points. And Wayne Simmonds is just one away from double digits with nine.

It appears everyone has written off the Chicago Blackhawks too quickly, once again. They own a top 10 offense and a top 10 defense. Six of their skaters have at least six points. Patrick Kane leads the way with 11, while Ryan Hartman has nine. The first line forward trio of Jonathan Toews, Richard Panik, and Brandon Saad each have eight points. However, don’t expect their team save percentage of .941 to continue.

The Ottawa Senators are once again the champions of weird hockey. Give them credit, as they’ve been far better this season than last season thus far. And the Senators have done most of their work without generational superstar Erik Karlsson. So what’s weird? The Senators have a 1-0-3 record at home this season. They’re playing well on the road, which should bode well in the postseason. Oh yeah, and Karlsson has six assists in three games after coming back from a devastating injury. He’s not human.

The Blues are starting to feel the effect of all of their injuries. Still, an impressive start for them. Their power play has been bad and so has their penalty kill, but they’re dominating at even strength. That’s EXTREMELY encouraging for a team missing as many key players as the Blues. Mike Yeo’s got to fix the special teams, but if they hammer out their issues, they might be a dark horse Stanley Cup contender.

It appears the Devils are much further along in their rebuild than previously thought. Jasper Brat and Will Butcher have led the way so far. But things could turn sour with Cory Schneider out. This should be a great test for the Devils.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are looking like Stanley Cup contenders. They’ve got to fix their defensive issues, but it appears their offense is more than capable of scoring at will. Typically, that’s what gets you Stanley Cups. They’re borrowing the Pittsburgh Penguins recent model, but putting their own spin on it with a bunch of young forwards. Frederik Andersen has to be solid in net for the Leafs to win the Cup. Expect them to address their defense at some point.

After looking a bit lazy in the first few games, the Tampa Bay Lightning have woke up. They’ve won seven of their first nine games. And the Lightning have twice dominated the Pittsburgh Penguins, though both came on the second end of a doubleheader for the Pens. Nikita Kucherov is a legit Hart Trophy candidate. Andrei Vasilevskiy is flourishing in his first official season as the full-time starting goalie.

Everyone keeps waiting for the Vegas Golden Knights to start declining. So far, it ain’t happening. They’re scoring 3.29 goals per game and allowing just 2.43. A lot of this has been due to the stellar play of Marc-Andre Fleury and waiver pickup Malcom Subban. However, both are injured. So this could be the time the Golden Knights begin to falter. But fans have to be very optimistic about their future so far.

Who saw this historic start coming from the Los Angeles Kings? Granted, they will be tested with Jeff Carter out for the next few weeks. But so far, the Kings look faster, quicker and better. That’s an extremely encouraging sign.