NHL Power Rankings: Highs and Lows, and the Blue Jackets going for it

In this week’s edition of NHL Power Rankings and weekly review: David Puddy falls over, John Tortorella talks crap, and Gritty goes streaking.

Happy Trade Deadline Day, everyone. It’s time for the NHL power rankings slash week in review. Not too long ago, I was given the task of coming up with a highlight and lowlight from the previous week, to really put things into perspective of how everyone’s week is different, and every week to each person is different. So we’re taking that to the NHL.

Note, this edition only goes through Sunday, so anything that happens on Deadline Day will not be covered here. We’ll have grades later in the week, I promise.

Here’s how the past week looked like for each team.

1. Tampa Bay Lightning (3-0-0, +7 Goal Differential)
Last week: 1

Highlight: Nikita Kucherov’s five point night against Columbus, and subsequent reaching of the 100 point mark after just 60 games.

Lowlight: The Lightning really give me a hard time finding lowlights.

2. Calgary Flames (4-0-0, +7 GD)
Last week: 3

Highlight: Mark Giordano’s slick move from the point to a backhand sweep past Calvin Pickard to give the Flames a 2-1 lead in Monday’s win vs Arizona.

Lowlight: Noted stickhandling whiz Mike Smith gives up a puck to the Ducks behind the net leading to Derek Grant’s tying goal vs Anaheim.

3. Toronto Maple Leafs (1-1-1, +1 GD)
Last week: 2

Highlight: Zach Hyman slamming home a late go-ahead goal on one of hockey’s biggest regular season stages, Habs/Leafs on a Saturday night.

Lowlight: Nazem Kadri caught with his head down by Vince Dunn of the Blues, giving Kadri a concussion.

4. San Jose Sharks (2-1-1, +1 GD)
Last week: 4

Highlight: Joe Thornton putting up a hat trick against his old team, Boston.

Lowlight: Joe Thornton coming up just one goal short of the Joe Thornton Rooster Trick (NSFW language alert).

5. New York Islanders (1-1-1, +1 GD)
Last week: 6

Highlight: Shutting out the Canucks handily in Vancouver.

Lowlight: This goal, credited to Austin Czarnik, that somehow found it’s way behind Thomas Greiss to give the Flames a lead they wouldn’t surrender.

6. Boston Bruins (2-0-1, +1 GD)
Last week: 7

Lowlight: Boston’s first goal against San Jose waved off even though it looked like the puck completely crossed the line.

Highlight: Charlie McAvoy’s game-winner in OT later that night.

7. Winnipeg Jets (1-2-0, -6 GD)
Last week: 5

Highlight: Nikolai Ehlers returning to the lineup finally, and scoring a goal in his first game back.

Lowlight: Laurent Brossoit getting the first save, but Ben Chiarot accidentally knocked the puck in against his own team to give the Coyotes their eventual game winner.

8. Nashville Predators (2-1-0, -2 GD)
Last week: 8

Highlight: Rocco Grimaldi’s partial breakaway goal against Dallas, showing his speed and hands.

Lowlight: Despite outshooting the Avalanche 38-21, the Preds lost 5-0.

9. Columbus Blue Jackets (2-2-0, +2 GD)
Last week: 10

Highlight: Trading for Matt Duchene and Ryan Dzingel, showing they’re all in on this year. More below.

Lowlight: John Tortorella explaining exactly how sick Artemi Panarin was on Tuesday. Overshare?

10. Pittsburgh Penguins (1-1-1, -4 GD)
Last week: 9

Highlight: They finally managed to beat the Devils. It’s surprising.

Lowlight: This whole skirmish by the Sharks bench caused by Evander Kane allegedly looking at the Penguins playbook or something along those lines.

11. Carolina Hurricanes (2-1-0, +3 GD)
Last week: 14

Lowlight: Justin Williams scoring a goal off his face against Florida.

Highlight: He’d be fine, and would actually score again later in the game, complete with a cotton swab stuck up his nose.

12. Washington Capitals (3-1-0, Even GD)
Last week: 12

Highlight: Brett Connolly’s backhand move around Freddy Andersen and the Leafs.

Lowlight: The defense forgetting about Jason Pominville cutting to the middle and it resulting in a goal against.

13. St. Louis Blues (2-1-1, -3 GD)
Last week: 11

Highlight: Ryan O’Reilly’s game winning goal in OT against the Leafs.

Lowlight: Their lengthy win streak was finally snapped by the Stars.

14. Colorado Avalanche (4-0-0, +16 GD)
Last week: 17

Highlight: Their five goal third period to wipe out the Jets on Wednesday.

Lowlight: Everyone mobbing Jonathan Toews and failing to take the puck away, only to forget about Patrick Kane on the doorstep. We all know how that usually ends.

15. Montreal Canadiens (2-1-0, +2 GD)
Last week: 15

Highlight: Brendan Gallagher’s first career hat trick, coming at the expense of the Flyers.

Lowlight: Blowing a 3-0 lead in Toronto, surrendering six straight goals.

16. Vegas Golden Knights (0-2-1, -6 GD)
Last week: 13

Highlight: Malcolm Subban with a full stretch save to deny Gabe Landeskog on a 2-on-1 break.

Lowlight: Jake Debrusk pulling a spin move in the low slot to open the scoring for Boston.

17. Dallas Stars (2-2-0, -1 GD)
Last week: 16

Highlight: Mats Zuccarello gathering a goal and assist in his Stars debut.

Lowlight: Zuccarello also broke his arm in that game, and will miss at least a month.

18. Minnesota Wild (3-1-0, +1 GD)
Last week: 18

Highlight: Ryan Donato’s first goal with the Wild is an overtime winner vs. the Blues. It’s official, the Wild won the Charlie Coyle trade.

Lowlight: The entire game against the Ducks, losing 4-0.

19. Buffalo Sabres (1-1-1, +1 GD)
Last week: 19

Highlight: Carter Hutton stopping 39 of 40 Lightning shots, earning Buffalo a shootout point.

Lowlight: Kyle Okposo is concussed again, which is really worrisome. Best wishes to Okposo and his family.

20. Arizona Coyotes (3-1-0, +1 GD)
Last week: 21

Highlight: Retiring #19 for Coyotes lifer Shane Doan.

Lowlight: Austin Czarnik sneaking through the defense for the go-ahead goal for Calgary.

21. Florida Panthers (2-1-0, +6 GD)
Last week: 23

Highlight: Alexander Barkov keeps putting up highlight reel goals, like this one against the Sabres.

Lowlight: Getting into penalty trouble in the third period against Carolina, which would cost the Panthers the game.

22. Philadelphia Flyers (1-2-0, -6 GD)
Last week: 20

Highlight: Their late comeback in the Stadium Series, aided by a streaking Gritty.

Lowlight: Carter Hart getting pulled after 10 minutes in both of his starts this past week, and now he’s hurt for a couple of weeks.

23. Chicago Blackhawks (2-2-0, -1 GD)
Last week: 24

Highlight: Alex DeBrincat’s hat trick in the wild shootout against Ottawa.

Lowlight: JT Compher’s breakaway goal that was actually kicked in by Colin Dellia.

24. Vancouver Canucks (0-1-1, -5 GD)
Last week: 22

Highlight: Adam Gaudette’s late tying goal to coax a point out of the Coyotes.

Lowlight: Not cleaning up in front of the net is a bad thing, says Casey Cizikas on the only goal the Islanders would ultimately need that night.

25. New York Rangers (2-1-1, Even GD)
Last week: 25

Highlight: Henrik Lundqvist stealing the game from the Hurricanes, stopping 43 of 44 shots.

Lowlight: A missed tripping call caused a turnover by Brady Skjei, leading directly to a Zach Parise goal for Minnesota.

26. New Jersey Devils (1-2-0, Even GD)
Last week: 26

Highlight: Puddy! Let’s get it on!

Lowlight: That first period against the Rangers. They couldn’t get it out of their zone all night (actually a quote from Puddy from the episode, just the teams’ roles reversed).

27. Edmonton Oilers (2-0-1, +2 GD)
Last week: 28

Highlight: Jesse Puljujarvi won’t be traded at the deadline, as rumored to have been a possibility.

Lowlight: Because he’s injured, and it’s long term.

28. Detroit Red Wings (0-2-1, -4 GD)
Last week: 27

Highlight: What would end up being Gustav Nyquist’s last goal for Detroit would end up being against the team to whom he was traded to later that day.

Lowlight: This is not how you play 3v3 defense with Patrick Kane on the ice.

29. Ottawa Senators (0-4-0, -9 GD)
Last week: 29

Highlight: They put up seven goals against the Blackhawks in one of their best offensive games of the season.

Lowlight: They gave up eight goals that same night, and lost.

30. Los Angeles Kings (0-3-0, -7 GD)
Last week: 30

Highlight: Alex Iafallo finishing a crisp pass by Dustin Brown against Washington.

Lowlight: You gotta score on these mistakes by goalies behind the net. Trevor Lewis here did not.

31. Anaheim Ducks (1-2-0, +2 GD)
Last week: 31

Highlight: Ryan Miller coming back to the lineup and shutting out the Wild.

Lowlight: Andrew Mangiapane attempting a pass on a 2-on-1, hitting the defenseman, and putting home that loose puck for the game winner.

Schmooze of the week: Columbus Blue Jackets going for it

It finally dropped on Friday midday, that the Blue Jackets are in full win mode right now.

The Jackets landed center Matt Duchene (and defenseman Julius Bergman) in a trade with Ottawa, sending back two of their better prospects in Vitaly Abramov and Jonathan Davidsson (ranked #3 and #6 respectively by Corey Pronman of the Athletic coming into the year), as well as this year’s first round pick (unless the Jackets somehow win the draft lottery), and next year’s first round pick if Duchene signs an extension.

Additionally, Columbus made another swap with the Senators, acquiring Ryan Dzingel for Anthony Duclair and their 2020 and 2021 second round picks.

In summation, Columbus gets Duchene and Dzingel for at least the next four months, and Ottawa gets most of the Blue Jackets’ top draft picks over the next three years.

This is interesting for a couple of reasons, chief among them is the Jackets’ approach to their roster decisions for the summer.

Artemi Panarin has been and will continue to be one of the more talked about players in the league this weekend, because his pending UFA status makes him an obvious trade candidate, considering he’s all but gone come July 1. The fact that the Jackets added Duchene and Dzingel should mean that the Jackets are loading up for a big playoff run before Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky (and potentially Duchene and Dzingel now) pack their bags and sign big deals elsewhere.

It looks like the Jackets are in full charge mode, and good for them.

If Panarin and Bobrovsky choose to leave Columbus this summer, as they have seemingly indicated, they in effect become in house rentals for the Blue Jackets this season. This is a much better situation than other teams, who would need to trade assets for rentals (kinda like what the Jackets pulled off for Duchene and Dzingel). This way, Columbus essentially gets their playoff rentals for free.

Come summer, no matter what happens, the Jackets are still loaded with young talent. Pierre Luc Dubois, Seth Jones, and Zach Werenski are all phenomenal talents who can be a great core group for GM Jarmo Kekalainen to build around. Losing these four UFA’s for nothing is a setback, for sure, but it’s not like they are left with nothing if those guys decide to sign elsewhere.

That being said, because they have Panarin and Bobrovsky in tow, as well as Matt Duchene and Ryan Dzingel now, the Jackets are now primed for a big push in the Metropolitan division, which is ripe for the taking.

Washington and Pittsburgh have shown signs of vulnerability, although one would imagine they’d be tough to beat in a playoff series, considering the experience both teams have. The New York Islanders are the darling of the league this year, and boast a very stout defense which has been scientifically proven to win playoff games.

Columbus now has the opportunity to move up and force one of these three teams to have to potentially face the Lightning in the first round of the playoffs, or knock them out all together with the help of Carolina or Montreal. Now that they have loaded up for a push, they are taking their shot now, which is good for exciting hockey and a lot to write about for us writers.

Unless they totally get KO’d in the first round yet again.

In conclusion, good on Columbus for grabbing the bull by the horns. Maybe it’ll pay off for them. They have their chance now, and it’s good to see them really make a go for it. If it fails, so be it. At least they tried.