NHL Power Rankings: Florida Panthers Remain Number One

Welcome back to another edition of NHL Power Rankings here at Full Press Hockey.

Even though there are still postponements happening, the NHL is still moving forward with their schedule. It will be interesting to see how they get through finishing the full 82-game schedule. While some teams have been hurt by these postponements, one team remains above the rest when it comes to these postponements. And that is the Florida Panthers. The Panthers continue to click on all cylinders. While the Panthers remain number one, others teams are starting to creep up right behind as there was some shakeup inside the Top 10.

Time to dive into the NHL Power Rankings and find out where these teams stand.

NHL Power Rankings

1. Florida Panthers

The Florida Panthers are one of the most complete teams in the NHL. Top to bottom they do not have a weakness and it shows with their play on the ice. Having Aaron Ekblad certainly helps too.

2. Colorado Avalanche (Last Week 8) 

The Colorado Avalanche are right in the mix of things in the Central Division as they have five of six games. Cale Makar is the talk of the town, but Nazem Kadri has 46 points in 29 games.

3. Pittsburgh Penguins (Last Week 5)

The Penguins continue to climb up the power rankings off the backs of a 10-game winning streak. Pittsburgh is getting healthier as Evgeni Malkin is returning to the lineup, but they have done this on the backs of Evan Rodrigues and Jake Guentzel this season.

4. St. Louis Blues (Last Week 6) 

The Blues are playing really well on home ice and are turning into a true Stanley Cup contender. Jordan Kyrou continues to amaze as he is having a breakout season.

5. Boston Bruins (Last Week 10) 

The Bruins have won five of their last six games including dominating wins over the Washington Capitals and Tampa Bay Lightning. Boston could be getting Tuukka Rask back soon, but it is their depth scoring that is impressive.

6. Vegas Golden Knights (Last Week 4) 

There was a lot of talk of the Golden Knights needing a first-line centre. Hence why they went out and got Jack Eichel. Who knew Chandler Stephenson was this good as he leads the team in points.

7. Carolina Hurricanes

The Hurricanes are playing well despite some injuries creeping into their goaltending position. Carolina is playing like their head coach Rod Brind’Amour would. And who would have thought Tony DeAngelo would be fourth in the team in scoring.

8. Toronto Maple Leafs (Last Week 3) 

We have not seen much of the Maple Leafs recently with all the postponements in the NHL. But what we have seen is two wild games and two blown leads. Lucky for the Maple Leafs they won against Vegas.

9. New York Rangers (Last Week 2) 

The New York Rangers are starting to get hit with COVID and it shows with their performance on the ice. Clearly, Igor Shesterkin is being missed not to mention other significant players.

10. Tampa Bay Lightning (Last Week 11)

The Stanley Cup Champions are still adjusting to having some players missing because of COVID. However, they did get Nikita Kucherov back which has helped Brayden Point.

11. Nashville Predators (Last Week 13) 

The Predators continue to lead the Central Division playing really good defensive hockey. Not to mention they continue to get production from Matt Duchene and Ryan Johansen.

12. Washington Capitals (Last Week 9)

The Capitals have hit a bit of a rough patch recently. They have lost three of four games and were badly outplayed against the Bruins. It doesn’t help that Alex Ovechkin had one assist and is a -6.

13. Minnesota Wild (Last Week 14) 

The Wild fell off the pace they set at the beginning of the season however, they are keeping pace with the Predators, as the Wild have won two in a row despite injuries to key players.

14. Anaheim Ducks (Last Week 15) 

While the Ducks have cooled off some since the return from the pause, Troy Terry continues to be red-hot. With the return of Trevor Zegras the Ducks are in business, they just need to find a way to score more goals.

15. Los Angeles Kings (Last Week 16) 

The Los Angeles Kings, like the Ducks, have embraced the youth movement. It took some time, but the kids are a reason why the Kings are still in the playoff picture. Oh yeah, Jonathan Quick‘s resurgence helps too.

16. Calgary Flames (Last Week 13) 

The Flames are moving in the wrong direction as they continue to struggle since returning from their COVID pause. What makes things worse they have been outscored 16-6 in the previous three games.

Around FPC

---

NHL: New York Islanders Must Continue To Ride The Youth Movement

NHL: New Jersey Devils Best Players Making The Difference

NHL: NHL Rumors: Vegas Golden Knights, Montreal Canadiens, Calgary Flames

NFL: Odell Beckham Jr., Rams Agree To One-Year Deal

Wrestling: WWE Once Again Chooses To Go Back To Brock Lesnar 

PODCAST: Full Press NHL Podcast Ep 11: Are The Penguins Really For Sale? Senators Talk w/ Murray Pam

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

17. Vancouver Canucks 

The Canucks have put themselves in a position to be in the playoff mix under head coach Bruce Boudreau. They still have a lot of ground to make up to make the playoffs, but they can if Thatcher Demko is going to play like this.

18. Winnipeg Jets

The Jets are so hard to figure out. One minute they are really good, the next minute not so much. Defensively they should be better than they are.

19. Dallas Stars 

Another team that is hard to figure out are the Dallas Stars. The runner-up in the bubble, the Stars have the potential to get back there. They just need to dig deeper and put wins together.

20. New York Islanders (Last Week 21) 

The Islanders move up by default. Though they have not played in a long time, the Islanders are getting healthy. The strategy has to be trust the kids.

21. Edmonton Oilers (Last Week 20) 

The Oilers have real problems up and down their roster. While Ken Holland says he won’t fire the coach mid-season, this team looks like they have given up on Dave Tippett. The Oilers have to find a way to stop the puck.

22. New Jersey Devils (Last Week 23) 

The Devils have won four of their last five games with Jack Hughes establishing himself as an elite player by recoding 12 points in those five games.

23. San Jose Sharks (Last Week 24)

The Sharks continue to exceed expectations in a much more competitive Pacific Division than most thought it would be. For the Sharks the question will be can they sustain this and finally cut ties with Evander Kane?

24. Detroit Red Wings (Last Week 25) 

The Red Wings continue to get better in the front office by bringing in Nicklas Lidstrom. There is little doubt the Red Wings will once again be a consistent playoff team in the NHL.

25. Philadelphia Flyers (Last Week 22) 

The Flyers are not getting to the point in their season whether they decide it is time to move on from Claude Giroux.

26. Columbus Blue Jackets 

It was a good start while it lasted for the Blue Jackets. It was just so hard for them to maintain the pace they had without many scoring options upfront.

27. Chicago Blackhawks (Last Week 28) 

The Blackhawks had one bright in a season that has been dismal when Marc-Andre Fleury picked up the win against his former team the Golden Knights this past week.

28. Ottawa Senators (Last Week 29) 

COVID is becoming an issue again for the Senators. They are having multiple games postponed yet they still managed to move up a spot in the rankings. Frustration is starting to set in.

29. Seattle Kraken (Last Week 27) 

Time to face some harsh facts… the Kraken are a bad team. They did themselves no favours in the expansion draft, and the coach is not helping matters either.

30. Arizona Coyotes

The Arizona Coyotes are in total rebuild mode as the trade deadline approaches. So many players are on the block. To top it all they can’t get a new arena approved.

31. Buffalo Sabres

You have to feel bad Buffalo as they have such a loyal fanbase that deserves much more than this. To make matters worse they had Jack Eichel and Evan Rodrigues on the same roster. 

32. Montreal Canadiens

The Canadiens remain on pause and that might be the best thing for them. At some point, you have to wonder if they should just forfeit the rest of the season and focus on next year.

 

That does it for this edition of NHL Power Rankings… Stay Tuned for another edition next week.