It’s playoff race time, and we’re seeing two completely different races in each conference. In the West, the playoff teams are pulling away, but the teams on the outside are trying their best to keep up.
In the East, the teams in the hunt for the final spots couldn’t be trying any harder to give that spot to the competition. It’s quite fascinating to watch as it happens.
Mike and I continue to navigate through the results so far with another week of our co-op power rankings. I have my same old system in which I aggregate six stats (points %, 5-on-5 goal differential, 5-on-5 xGF/60, 5-on-5 xGA/60, power play xGF/60, and shorthanded xGA/60, all coming courtesy of Natural Stat Trick) to come up with a list that eliminates my own biases, along with a rule that no team can be above a team that’s more than five points ahead of them in the standings, regardless of where the aggregate places them. On the other hand, Mike goes off his own intellect and pure vibes, and together we find a way to combine it and meet in the middle.
1. Florida Panthers
Record: 45-19-4, +59
Last Week: 1st (0)
Mike’s Rank: 1st
Scott’s Rank: 1st
Mike: It’s actually kind of hilarious that the Panthers ended up losing to the Lightning on Saturday despite outshooting them 38 to 5 in the final two periods. Sam Reinhart is knocking on the door of the 50-goal plateau, Sergei Bobrovsky remains at the top of his game (that loss to Tampa Bay notwithstanding), and even without Aaron Ekblad, this team has one of the more skilled defensive groups in the league. It’d be awesome to see the Panthers win it all this year.
2. Carolina Hurricanes
Record: 42-20-6, +48
Last Week: 5th (+3)
Mike’s Rank: 2nd
Scott’s Rank: 2nd
Scott: Mike finally sees eye to eye with me on the Canes, and for good reason. The addition of Jake Guentzel has turned them into a much more potent team, and while they didn’t click in Guentzel’s first game with a 1-0 loss to the Rangers, they had a strong 4-0 showing against the Panthers, a late comeback win over the Leafs, and then a rout of the Sens. Even Evgeny Kuznetsov has been gelling with the team with two goals and four points in six games so far. If it all comes together and one of Frederik Andersen or Pyotr Kochetkov gets hot in the postseason, watch out.
Mike: Yeah, it’s hard not to believe in these guys at this point given the caliber of the players they added ahead of the deadline. The Hurricanes have sorely lacked high-end finishing talent for a long, long time. Guentzel brings that in spades.
3. Dallas Stars
Record: 41-19-9, +41
Last Week: 2nd (-1)
Mike’s Rank: 4th
Scott’s Rank: 3rd
Mike: The Stars shrugged off back-to-back losses to the Panthers and Devils with a nice win over the Kings on Saturday. One of the better comeback players of the year: Craig Smith, who picked up his ninth goal as a Star in that win against Los Angeles. An analytics darling for years with the Nashville Predators, Smith has regained some of his previous form in Dallas after a difficult 2022-23 season split between the Boston Bruins and Washington Capitals. Even at age 34, Smith could very easily get another contract from this Stars team. He’s just 84 games away from 1,000 in his career.
4. Boston Bruins
Record: 40-14-15, +41
Last Week: 4th (0)
Mike’s Rank: 5th
Scott’s Rank: 4th
Scott: After a disappointing 5-1 loss to the Blues to kick off their week, the Bruins bounced back by… barely beating the Habs and the Flyers. That does give them wins in four of their last five, but it does feel like they’re sputtering along at this point of the season after an underwhelming trade deadline. At least they can get it out of the way now and rest before the playoffs and possibly avoid what happened last season.
5. Colorado Avalanche
Record: 43-20-5, +50
Last Week: 8th (+3)
Mike’s Rank: 3rd
Scott’s Rank: 6th
Mike: The Avs are scorching hot right now, having rattled off six consecutive wins to move within four points of first place in the entire league. Casey Mittelstadt has fit right in, Nathan MacKinnon remains on an incredible scoring pace, and how about this: Justus Annunen has a 4-2-1 record with two shutouts and a .929 save percentage in just seven games this year. With Pavel Francouz no longer in the picture, the Avs badly needed someone to give Alexandar Georgiev some support. Annunen might be that guy.
6. Vancouver Canucks
Record: 42-18-8, +54
Last Week: 3rd (-3)
Mike’s Rank: 7th
Scott’s Rank: 5th
Scott: After four straight wins heading into last week, only playing two games may have messed with their rhythm, as they dropped both of their games last week to the Avs and Caps. While I still think this is still a great team even with the luck they’ve had this season, they are bound to be a bit streakier when their bottom six forwards aren’t on shooting benders like they were to start the season.
Mike: We need to talk about how bad Elias Lindholm has been since joining this team. He has one point in his last 11 games. The Canucks gave up Hunter Brzustewicz and a 1st for this?
Scott: Are we surprised that a guy whose play style is more focused on the behind-the-scenes details hasn’t quite fit in with a run-and-gun style team?
Mike: I am. When he’s at his best, Lindholm is one of the better snipers around. He had some huge years in Calgary. Lindy needs good linemates to truly click, but Vancouver has plenty of strong offensive players. I don’t get why it hasn’t worked. At this point, it’s a full-on disaster of a trade for the Canucks.
7. New York Rangers
Record: 45-19-4, +44
Last Week: 7th (0)
Mike’s Rank: 6th
Scott’s Rank: 7th
Mike: Alexis Lafrenière is inching closer and closer toward reaching the 50-point threshold for the first time in his career. The 2020 No. 1 overall pick now has 42 in 68 games after scoring in the Rangers’ 5-2 win over the Islanders on Sunday. (It’s worth noting the Rangers wore their beautiful navy blue jerseys in that game). Another positive sign: Kaapo Kakko now has goals in back-to-back games and is up to 10 in 47 games this year. Neither top pick has had an easy go of it in NYC but there’s still lots to like there.
Scott: The only navy blue I like is the MUNA song.
8. Winnipeg Jets
Record: 43-19-5, +52
Last Week: 10th (+2)
Mike’s Rank: 8th
Scott’s Rank: 8th
Scott: Tyler Toffoli has fit in with this team about as well as we probably expected him to. Through four games with the Jets, he has four goals and five points, all coming in their past two games, and Winnipeg has won three of those four games, including back-to-back six-spots in the two games he’s scored. This could go down as one of the most underrated additions of the deadline, and while I think the first for Sean Monahan was an overpayment, a first, second and third is certainly worth Monahan and Toffoli.
Mike: I can’t believe nobody beat that price for Toffoli. He would’ve been perfect for the Oilers. 9. Edmonton Oilers
Record: 40-21-4, +46
Last Week: 6th (-3)
Mike’s Rank: 9th
Scott’s Rank: 9th
Mike: The popular sentiment about Saturday’s game between the Oilers and Avalanche was that it felt like playoff hockey. I’d agree, even just to the point that it could’ve been lifted directly from the 2022 Western Conference Final. The Oilers played pretty well, with their depth providing the offense and Stuart Skinner making 40 saves. But in the end, it was Cale Makar and Nathan MacKinnon who set up none other than Arturri Lekhonen — who capped off that 2022 series sweep for Colorado — for the dagger in overtime on Saturday night. You can bet the Oilers will be eager to rewrite that part of the script if they meet the Avs again this spring.
Scott: And to put the cherry on top for the 2022 West Final comparison, Leon Draisaitl had a poor defensive showing in the game.
10. Toronto Maple Leafs
Record: 38-19-9, +33
Last Week: 9th (-1)
Mike’s Rank: 10th
Scott’s Rank: 10th
Scott: I’m not joining the army of Leafs fans that thinks referees are out to get the Leafs, but that penalty on David Kampf late in Saturday’s game was atrocious, and I doubt that comeback happens if it isn’t called. Still, the Leafs could have also just… not blown a two-goal lead with less than two minutes left in the game, but otherwise they played well against a strong Canes team after blowing out the Flyers earlier in the week.
11. Nashville Predators
Record: 39-25-4, +15
Last Week: 11th (0)
Mike’s Rank: 11th
Scott’s Rank: 12th
Mike: There’s hot, and then there’s Nashville Hot. The Preds are riding a 14-game point streak that has pushed them from the periphery of the Western Conference playoff race to being firmly in a spot with a little under a month to go. I’ll be honest: I didn’t expect Nashville to score this many goals at the start of the season. In fact, I thought they’d have one of the weakest offenses in the league. Instead, the likes of Ryan O’Reilly and Gustav Nyquist have turned back the clock while Filip Forsberg and Roman Josi have been dominant up top. And now, Juuse Saros looks like his old self, too.
12. Los Angeles Kings
Record: 34-24-11, +26
Last Week: 12th (0)
Mike’s Rank: 14th
Scott’s Rank: 11th
Scott: Remember when Mike and I were making fun of the Coyotes earlier in the season for basically exchanging wins and losses? Well, that’s the Kings now. In their past 14 games, they’re 7-6-1, with the longest streak of either kind being back-to-back wins and back-to-back losses during this stretch. They may want to find that consistent gear soon, because once Vegas heats up, they’re back in the Wildcard hunt.
Mike: The chrome helmets absolutely gotta go. Untenable situation. Needs to be rectified ASAP.
Scott: Shocker, the guy who likes the Rangers’ boring navy blue jerseys hates fun designs.
13. Vegas Golden Knights
Record: 36-24-7, +16
Last Week: 13th (0)
Mike’s Rank: 12th
Scott’s Rank: 13th
Mike: Error: A fatal exception has occurred. Mark Stone not found. Tomas Hertl not found. Draft picks not found. Restart your salary cap to continue.
14. Tampa Bay Lightning
Record: 36-25-6, +10
Last Week: 16th (+2)
Mike’s Rank: 13th
Scott’s Rank: 14th
Scott: Every time the Lightning go on a decent run, I catch myself thinking “are the Lightning back?” Well, with three straight wins against playoff teams in the Flyers, Rangers and Panthers (with the latter two looking like their likely playoff opponent), outscoring them 18-6 in the process, are they? Maybe not, but Kucherov continues his dominant season with two goals and eight points during this streak, and Anthony Duclair has looked really solid in his time in Tampa with two goals and four points in three games. They certainly won’t give whoever they play an easy time.
15. Philadelphia Flyers
Record: 34-26-8, -6
Last Week: 15th (0)
Mike’s Rank: 16th
Scott’s Rank: 15th
Mike: We’ve arrived at the point where the Eastern Conference playoff race starts to get unserious. What do you mean, “The rebuilding Flyers are holding down a divisional playoff spot”? That can’t possibly be true! And yet it is, even with the team having dropped back-to-back games against the Bruins and Maple Leafs. One of the biggest stories of next season is going to be the status of Travis Konecny, who can become a UFA in 2025. Do the Flyers trade him this summer or look to extend him? Or will they roll the dice and let the final year of his deal play out?
16. New York Islanders
Record: 29-23-15, -20
Last Week: 14th (-2)
Mike’s Rank: 15th
Scott’s Rank: 17th
Scott: I’m not going to say too much because (spoiler alert), I’m writing a piece on the Isles later this week, but ever since Patrick Roy arrived, they’ve upped their game big-time. They’re one of the better play-driving teams in the league since he took over, and they’re the best at suppressing expected goals in that span as well. They have returned to the prime Trotz-era Isles that we either loved or hated during the pandemic, and this time they have one of the best goalies in the league behind them. If they squeak in, they could potentially upset whoever gets them as a Wildcard team, even the Rangers team that just beat them 5-2 yesterday.
17. Minnesota Wild
Record: 33-27-8, -7
Last Week: 17th (0)
Mike’s Rank: 17th
Scott’s Rank: 16th
Mike: The Wild are still clinging onto faint playoff hopes at this point. They have points in their last seven games, but they’re still five points back of the Golden Knights for the final Wildcard spot in the Western Conference. I’m really starting to wonder what Bill Guerin’s long-term play will be with Kirill Kaprizov, who only has two years left after this one before he can become an unrestricted free agent. If I’m Minnesota, I would seriously consider trading Kaprizov for a windfall before his full no-movement clause kicks in on July 1. Faber, Rossi, Boldy, Öhgren, Yurov, and Wallstedt are the future.
18. Calgary Flames
Record: 33-29-5, -4
Last Week: 19th (+1)
Mike’s Rank: 18th
Scott’s Rank: 18th
Scott: I’m sure back-to-back wins isn’t exactly what Flames fans want at this point of the season, but hey, at least new addition Daniil Miromanov has already chipped in with his first two goals as a Flame. And Huberdeau has continued to show signs of life in recent weeks, which is probably the most important thing for them to turn things around considering the contract he’s only just started. Sure, you’d rather tank for the lower pick, but at least they’ve been getting contributions from players who have a bigger role down the road.
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