NHL power rankings: Where is each team trending?
By Jeremy Tuch
With training camps around the corner, we look at the NHL power rankings to see which teams improved this summer and which ones didn’t.
Last year, just before the season started, we looked at how each team was trending going forward, based on their summer and progression this past year. In the intro to those NHL power rankings, we noted the likelihood of us being wrong was high.
In fact, we were right in being wrong on multiple occasions. This year, we hope we’ll get more right, knowing full well that won’t be the case.
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So, with this precedent being established, we will take a look at where teams are trending going into the upcoming 2019-20 season. In addition, we will be bringing back the same tier system that we used last year, putting teams in the tier we believe that team belongs in. The tiers are the same as last year, and here’s a refresher if you missed out:
Tier 1: Elite Tier – These are the top teams coming into this year. These are the teams you’ll likely be talking about into May and June, contending for Lord Stanley’s Cup.
Tier 2: Bubble In Tier – These teams should have what it takes to make it to the playoffs, but there does exist doubt whether they will be good enough to advance far, or even make the dance at all.
Tier 3: Bubble Out Tier – These teams are scratching on the surface of the playoff picture, but aren’t quite there, for one reason or another.
Tier 4: The Charlie Kelly Tier – These teams are complete wild cards. There are fundamental questions with these teams that can land them anywhere between playoff contention and lottery contention.
Tier 5: Tier of the Tank – These teams will be irrelevant by December, save for a couple of days in late February when they sell off their good players to better teams and become even worse, or the occasional media-fueled controversy for those teams in this tier from Canada.
With the system established, let’s get into things, starting at the top.