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NHL Power Rankings: Capitals' brilliance flying under radar

Hey everyone, we here at Yahoo! Sports are doing real power rankings for teams Nos. 1-31. Here they are, based on only how I am feeling about these teams and their chances to win the Cup, meaning you can’t tell me I’m wrong because these are my feelings and feelings can’t be wrong.

Please enjoy the Power Feelings.

31. Detroit Red Wings (Last week: 31)

Coming into the season, I thought for sure the Senators, who were awful last year and sold off all their good players with very little in the way of meaningful replacement, were in danger of being historically bad.

Little did I know that Detroit — now having lost 11 in a row, 15 of the last 18, 23 of the last 27, 24 of the last 29, and 24 of 31 overall — would blow them out of the damn water. They’ve allowed four goals a game, and only scored a little more than two. They’re sitting on a minus-58 goal difference.

They’re on pace for 45 points. Pathetic.

30. Los Angeles Kings (LW: 29)

29. Columbus Blue Jackets (LW: 28)

28. Ottawa Senators (LW: 30)

Ottawa is the only team in the bottom four to even get a point this week. One-eyed man in a land of the blind territory. All these teams are awful, none have made a single change.

Notably, every single team here got worse in the summer and were just like, “Whatever.” I guess it’s Alexis Lafreniere szn.

27. New Jersey Devils (LW: 25)

Even the Devils fired their coach and, if rumors are to be believed, are about to trade away at least one player. It’s not that hard.

26. Anaheim Ducks (LW: 27)

The Ducks’ only win this week was against the Kings, who have lost four straight. This is what we’re dealing with.

25. New York Rangers (LW: 24)

I know they’ve climbed to ninth in the East, but they’re four points back of Carolina (albeit with a game in hand) but I just cannot buy it with these guys. The goalies look great so far, but it’s only reasonable wait and see on them long-term.

Plus, with the talent in their division and in the middle of the Atlantic, it’s hard to see even a good-playing Rangers side the rest of the way playing well. Especially if they sell off assets in the near future, which they should regardless of performance.

24. Buffalo Sabres (LW: 26)

As of this writing, they technically sit third in the Atlantic Division but that division is an absolute mess and I don’t even think the locals are convinced this team is any good at all.

Their next 10 games are against the Blues, Predators, Islanders, Leafs, Flyers, Kings, Senators, Bruins (twice), and Lightning. Can’t be looking forward to that, eh?

23. Chicago (LW: 23)

22. Montreal Canadiens (LW: 22)

Two wins is two wins, to be sure. They needed it. But they’re still not talented enough to meaningfully compete in the Atlantic.

21. Edmonton Oilers (LW: 18)

Speaking of, going 1-1-1 in a week in which you host the Senators (loss), Kings (narrow win in which you got outshot 36-20), and Sabres (OT loss) cannot be encouraging for a team that still has almost no depth.

20. Minnesota Wild (LW: 19)

Who knew a guy whose name starts with “Kaapo Kakko” (or thereabouts) would be a savior for two franchises? But I really liked the quote the other day about, “We needed to go on an 11-game point streak just to pull even.”

Sucks to get all those points and still sit two points and two spots out of a playoff position but that’s where they’re at.

19. Philadelphia Flyers (LW: 20)

Suddenly that hold on third in the division has to feel awful tenuous: Pittsburgh and Carolina are only one and two points back and there are no games in hand. They’re about to swing through some hot teams in the Central (Colorado, Minnesota, Winnipeg). Could be a turning point.

18. Vancouver Canucks (LW: 21)

17. Arizona Coyotes (LW: 17)

16. Florida Panthers (LW: 16)

Winners of three of the last four? Allowing just six goals in those games? Probably too early to say the decision to bench Sergei Bobrovsky might have snapped some stuff back into place. But man, if this lasts another week or two, I’d be feeling real good about my chances to hold onto a divisional playoff spot if I were Joel Quenneville.

Which, by the way, they’re second in the division, up a point with two games in hand on Buffalo, or three with one over Montreal.

15. Nashville Predators (LW: 12)

14. Winnipeg Jets (LW: 15)

The Jets really do just keep winning but you get the feeling the Stars are coming for them sooner than later. Even still, they’d be comfortably ahead of anyone else looking at a second wild card spot for now (Vancouver, Calgary, maybe Minnesota) so that’s nice for these guys.

13. San Jose Sharks (LW: 10)

If giving up 12 goals in two games on a Florida trip doesn’t get DeBoer fired, nothing will. Wouldn’t be surprised if they get back from tonight’s Nashville game and that’s the end of that.

12. Dallas Stars (LW: 11)

11. Calgary Flames (LW: 13)

What better way to bounce back from going 0-5-1 than by going 5-0-1? The Flames not only look dangerous offensively again, they also don’t have the bad coach who got what he deserved. Lots of wins lately!

Nov 27, 2019; Buffalo, NY, USA; Calgary Flames left wing Milan Lucic (17) against the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center. Mandatory Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports
Things have been better since the coaching change for Milan Lucic and the Flames. Mandatory Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports

10. Pittsburgh Penguins (LW: 14)

When Crosby got hurt one month ago, I figured that was it for the Pens. Instead, Geno Malkin said, “No no. It’s fine.” The Pens are 7-3-3 since Crosby’s injury, and Malkin has a point on 20 of the team’s total 45 goals. Personally I think he’s a top-100 player of all time but I know this is an unpopular opinion.

9. Vegas Golden Knights (LW: 9)

8. Carolina Hurricanes (LW: 7)

They absolutely crushed one of the hottest teams in the league on Saturday night and I will not be checking on this further, but I feel like they’ve been pretty good at gunning down teams like this all season. “Wow they’re hot and they play Carolina next” and the Hurricanes just absolutely ventilate them.

Maybe it’s not true but it FEELS true and that’s all that matters in the Power Feelings.

7. New York Islanders (LW: 6)

Since the point streak ended, they’re 3-4-1 and cannot buy a goal. Their upcoming schedule isn’t gonna do them any favors, either. That’s why it’s good to bank points, gang.

6. Toronto Maple Leafs (LW: 4)

I think we have to be more cautious about getting excited when a team this talented just demolishes someone we think of as good, like the Leafs smoking St. Louis or Tampa crushing San Jose on the weekend.

They don’t let you carry over blowout goals into the next game, y’know?

5. Tampa Bay Lightning (LW: 5)

4. Colorado Avalanche (LW: 8)

Remember when these guys lost five in a row in late October and early November? Well now they’ve won six straight, four of which were on the road and all but one of which were against teams that came in looking real good.

Goal difference in this run? 26-10. They’re 11-3-0 since that losing streak ended. Oh yeah, and they spent a good chunk of that without guys like Rantanen, Landeskog, Kadri, Johnson, etc.

They are clearly accursed, as now Cale Makar and Philip Grubauer are hurt. But if cycling through injuries, winning a bunch and generally keeping guys at the bottom of the lineup engaged and experienced all come together, I bet that’s not a big deal.

3. St. Louis Blues (LW: 3)

2. Boston Bruins (LW: 1)

A lot of the Boston media was like, “Well the Bruins haven’t played well lately so it’s no surprise that they’ve finally lost in regulation at home,” and that’s true. But what went unmentioned in a lot of those takes is, oh yeah Patrice Bergeron has missed seven games, in which they went 5-1-1.

Plus their only two losses were to Western Conference teams so the aggregate impact in Bergeron’s absence was the Bruins taking 10 of 10 points from Eastern Conference opponents and giving one away (to the Rangers, who are notably not in their division).

If that’s what a problem looks like in Bergeron’s absence, I suspect they take it.

1. Washington Capitals (LW: 2)

A wild-ass thing no one has talked about much is that, until the Bruins hit this mini-skid, both they and the Capitals were on pace for better records than what the Lightning put up last season. The Capitals, having won six straight, are still on that pace while the Bruins slipped to end the week like 2.5 points behind it.

Incredible work by both.

Ryan Lambert is a Yahoo! Sports columnist. His email is here and his Twitter is here.

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