NHL Power Rankings: Great teams playing bad down the stretch
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. Ottawa Senators (Last week: 31)
Just gonna warn you in advance that there wasn’t a lot of movement this week because there’s three or four games left in the season and I absolutely can’t be bothered to change my opinions too much about how good any of these teams are.
The Sabres and Devils dropped and they’re way worse than I thought they would be at the start of the season but let’s be real here: The Sens were always the undisputed kings of being absolutely horrible this year and it probably won’t get better for 2019-20. It’ll probably get worse. Fun to think about.
30. New York Rangers (LW: 30)
29. Los Angeles Kings (LW: 29)
28. Detroit Red Wings (LW: 28)
You gotta love the Red Wings knocking down 7 of 8 or whatever number they’re up to because it’s the same old “Florida Panthers from last year” or “Blue Jackets three or four years ago” thing of, “Well look how good we were down the stretch! Next year? Let’s go!!!!!” and then they suck again.
Every overpaid guy on this roster is only gonna get older and worse, and Dylan Larkin is only going to be able to do so much himself. And I saw people saying Larkin is the only reason they didn’t toooooooootally bottom out this year. Check Jimmy Howard’s save percentage this year and get back to me. Pray he starts playing like a 35-year-old.
27. New Jersey Devils (LW: 26)
Anyway the thing I keep coming back to is why Taylor Hall would want to sign with this club next season. They’re gonna be varying degrees of bad for several more years. If he re-ups, he’ll never come close to playing for a Cup in his 20s. You hate to see this.
26. Philadelphia Flyers (LW: 27)
25. Buffalo Sabres (LW: 23)
It’s almost inexplicable how bad these guys are at this point. They played five games in the last week, which is obviously too many and they shouldn’t have to play that much, but in those five games they got outscored 21-6.
Can you even believe it’s this bad? Jeff Skinner has one goal in the last quarter of the season or something like that. I thought they’d be mediocre or worse this year (they opened the season 21st in the Power Feelings) but imagine being one of those “They’re gonna make the playoffs” guys? Yeesh.
24. Anaheim Ducks (LW: 25)
23. Vancouver Canucks (LW: 24)
22. Edmonton Oilers (LW: 22)
Nice to see Draisaitl hit 100 points. Bad to see everything else going on with this team. Feels like we’re a week away from them naming Kevin Lowe GM again, though.
21. Chicago (LW: 21)
20. Florida Panthers (LW: 20)
Wow, incredibly convenient that Roberto Luongo’s body is “failing” or whichever words they’re using now and that he’s going to end up LTIRed for the next three seasons, during which time his contract will pay him just $3.6 million or so despite his $4.533 million cap hit.
It’s so weird that it keeps working out exactly like this with the back-diving contracts, isn’t it? Some might say it’s a little more than coincidental but not me. Anyway, looks like the Panthers are gonna have some money to spend on a goalie this summer all of a sudden, and it just so happens there’s a big-name one who’s likely to end up in Miami. Also incredibly coincidental. Wow!
19. Minnesota Wild (LW: 19)
They won the big College Free Agent Derby this week by signing Nico Sturm, who will be 24 in a month, and who has one season of truly high-end production in a weak conference.
Let’s put it this way: Jimmy Vesey put up way better numbers and was younger when he came out of the ECAC and everyone thought he would be a middle-six guy and he really isn’t and it’s so interesting that this kind of misevaluation keeps happening every year.
A few people I talked to at the NCAA tournament this weekend were emphatic that he’s basically an AHLer/call-up. Some thought he might might might be a fourth-line guy. But hey, he’s big.
18. Arizona Coyotes (LW: 18)
They’re back to playing really well, going 2-0-1 last week with solid enough numbers and of course great goaltending, but they stumbled enough lately that their chances of actually overtaking Colorado (up a point with a game in hand) are slim.
17. Montreal Canadiens (LW: 15)
I have said at various points in the past month or so that no one wants that No. 8 slot in the East and it seems like both Columbus and Montreal are trying to prove me wrong. Turns out, as expected, that Columbus is just better at it. They were 4-0-0 last week. Montreal’s only 2-1-0.
16. Colorado Avalanche (LW: 14)
They’re gonna do it. A critical skill such as “Getting Goaltending” helps.
15. Dallas Stars (LW: 17)
14. Carolina Hurricanes (LW: 11)
Maybe the Hurricanes are just trying to avoid that Washington matchup and would prefer to take their chances against Tampa. That’s a good explanation for how bad they’ve been in the last week (1-3-0, 19 goals against).
13. Columbus Blue Jackets (LW: 16)
12. New York Islanders (LW: 13)
11. St. Louis Blues (LW: 10)
10. Pittsburgh Penguins (LW: 12)
I’m not sure I totally buy it with these guys but since the deadline they’ve been awesome and basically everyone they acquired, even Erik Gudbranson, worked out. Hard to believe but here we are. If they end up second in this division after everything they’ve gone through this year, that feels just about right.
9. Winnipeg Jets (LW: 6)
On the other hand, these guys looked unpassable a month ago and they’ve been horrible. Trash underlyings, and they’re only 8-8-0 since Feb. 26. That isn’t gonna fly.
And this starts a run in the Feelings this week where almost every great team has been playing really bad lately.
8. Toronto Maple Leafs (LW: 8)
Losers of four of the last five, getting badly outshot, and giving up 60 percent of the goals in all situations. They’ve conceded five in three of these games. The only good news is that Boston’s playing pretty poorly too.
7. Nashville Predators (LW: 9)
These next two teams are the only two in the top NINE that are better than .500. The Preds went 2-1-0 last week, but got smoked at home by Columbus. That’s enough to get you bumped up two slots these days? Not what I’d have expected.
6. Washington Capitals (LW: 7)
Three wins from three tries to lock up the top of the Metro again. Ovechkin hit 50. They outscored opponents 13-6 in these games. Good feelings all around. Must be all the freaking COVFEFE they got at the freaking White House from the damn Orange Buffoon Cheeto in Chief!
5. San Jose Sharks (LW: 4)
They went 1-3 and gave up 16 goals but I bet you can say the latter thing about a lot of four-game stretches for these guys lately. And hey, did anyone besides me see that report about Erik Karlsson maybe not being ready for the playoffs?
4. Vegas Golden Knights (LW: 2)
They were blowing out everyone for more than a month after the deadline. Now they’ve lost five straight (0-3-2), albeit against a slate of mostly good teams, with only 11 goals scored and 17 allowed. They’ve also barely outshot their opponents.
But the latest odds I saw had them between 10/1 and 20/1 to win the Cup and you really oughta jump on those odds.
3. Boston Bruins (LW: 5)
Amazing that a team can lose three of four in a week and move up two spots but here we are. The Bs lost to some truly horrible teams (Florida, Detroit), but also the Lightning, and beat the Rangers handily. I dunno. I think they’re probably fine but it’s not good form.
2. Calgary Flames (LW: 3)
A 2-2 week gets you moved back into the top two. Sure. Okay. Good team, top seed in the West, even Mike Smith is mostly playing well.
1. Tampa Bay Lightning (LW: 1)
At least you can argue these guys have had a reason to throw it into cruise control for like two months and they went 1-1. Their loss was to the Caps. It happens.
Ryan Lambert is a Yahoo! Sports columnist. His email is here and his Twitter is here.
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