Another week of hockey is in the books, which means that it’s time for the next round of power rankings for the 2022-2023 NHL season.
This list is a combination of my rankings and rankings done by Jim Lynch, and stop me if you’ve heard this before, but the Eastern Conference still owns the top spot.
Where does each team stand at this point in the NHL season?
The NHL is several weeks into the new year, and there are some teams that are still searching for a new version of themselves in 2023. For others at the top of the standings, they’ll hope that more of the same is in store in the second half of the season.
With the first full week of 2023 in the books, here are the updated NHL power rankings.
32. Arizona Coyotes (Previous Rank: 31)
The Arizona Coyotes have steadily descended down these power rankings in recent weeks, and with ten losses in January (all in regulation), it’s hard not to look at the Yotes as one of the worst teams in the NHL.
31. Vancouver Canucks (27)
The Vancouver Canucks have made headlines for all the wrong reasons this year, and that continued this week when the team officially fired head coach Bruce Boudreau and hired Rick Tocchet.
With the poor handling of the coaching change and the trade rumors swirling around star players, the Canucks are not in a good place right now.
30. Columbus Blue Jackets (30)
Columbus won one of its four contests last week and continued its inability to find any traction this season. Things are bad in general for the Blue Jackets, and playing in a loaded Metropolitan Division doesn’t make things any better.
29. Anaheim Ducks (29)
Like the Blue Jackets, the Anaheim Ducks can’t seem to get to the next level. This is a young team that has not yet taken a step forward as a whole, and its only positive from last week was a 5-3 win over the aforementioned Blue Jackets.