NHL power rankings: Bruins begin November on top

As the month of November begins, our NHL power rankings have the Boston Bruins as the best team in the league.

It’s hard to believe, but the first month of the 2019-20 NHL season has been completed. That means it’s time for an update in our NHL power rankings. There’s still plenty of time left in the season, but American Thanksgiving is a critical date for teams. Believe it or not, that’s less than four weeks away.

These rankings are based on several factors. They include overall record, underlying stats, and strength of schedule. With that being said, let’s get started with this week’s rankings.

It’s time for the Kings to do something about Jonathan Quick.

Connor Brown is scoring at nearly a point per game pace (10 points in 11 games). It likely won’t last, though.

Someone needs to put Bruce Boudreau out of his misery. He doesn’t deserve to go out like this.

Jack Hughes is heating up, which is good to see. But the Devils can’t hold onto leads.

The Red Wings moving up in the rankings has more to do with how bad the teams below them are than how well they’re playing.

The Sharks have a lot of problems. Goaltending is the largest one, but it’s far from the only problem.

Head coach Jeremy Colliton and general manager Stan Bowman should both be on the hot seat.

I’ll give the Rangers this – they’re bad, but they’re at least fun.

Dustin Byfuglien’s absence is certainly hurting them, but the Jets’ strategy of doing virtually nothing to fix their defense this summer isn’t paying off.

Their comeback win against the Wild could be a turning point for them.

Pierre-Luc Dubois is quietly having a solid season. I had questions about how he would do without Artemi Panarin, but he’s impressed me so far.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one – bad goaltending is hurting the Flyers.

October was a very tough month for the Leafs. They should be getting John Tavares, Zach Hyman, and other guys back healthy soon, which is a good sign.

The Lightning are still scarred from being swept by the Blue Jackets. They’ve got to find their identity quickly.

Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau have got to be better. The Flames need them to be producing, and they aren’t right now.

They’re at a 102 point pace. If the Panthers maintain it, it would be their second-highest point total in franchise history.

The Ducks are an impressive 5-1-0 at home so far this season. But that means they’re 3-5-0 on the road.

Brendan Gallagher is extremely underrated.

The pressure is on their defense and Jordan Binnington to step up with Vladimir Tarasenko out of the lineup until at least March.

Nick Schmaltz has been wonderful for the Coyotes so far.

Their top two forward lines are great. However, their bottom-six forwards simply aren’t good, but getting Alex Tuch back should help with that.

Leon Draisaitl, Connor McDavid, and James Neal have accounted for 29 goals this season. The rest of the Oilers skaters have 13 combined. They’re 5-4-1 after starting the season 4-0-0.

Despite injuries, they’re looking really good. And the Penguins should be getting Evgeni Malkin back soon.

Pekka Rinne is aging like a fine wine. Kyle Turris deserves credit for helping the Predators survive without Filip Forsberg.

Jacob Markstrom has been great. So have Quinn Hughes, Elias Pettersson, and Brock Boeser.

Hard to argue with seven straight wins.

Just imagine how good the Hurricanes will be once Sebastian Aho gets out of his funk.

The Avalanche are about to be tested, as they’ll be without Mikko Rantanen and team captain Gabriel Landeskog for a while. Nathan MacKinnon has at least one point in each game this season.

The Sabres have been excellent so far, but they’ve got to prove they’re different from last season.

They had their best October in franchise history despite having to overcome some significant hurdles.

The Bruins are the most well-balanced team in the league, though they could really use some secondary scoring.