We’re officially in the homestretch of the 2023-24 NHL Regular season! Following this Power Rankings, there are less than two weeks left on the docket before we kick off the most exciting time of the year for fans of hockey, the playoffs. For most, this will come down to a five-game cannonball run to either shuffle around your seeding, grab one of the few remaining playoff spots, or position yourself for the best shot at Macklin Celebrini before the 2024 NHL Draft lottery.
Given all that we know about the 2023-24 NHL Season, however, I can guarantee that this will be a dramatic finish. Teams I left for dead the better part of a month ago are somehow back in playoff contention, while a few Stanley Cup contenders are dealing with significant injury scares that could shape the rest of their regular season.
All this to say, Week 27 of the Rankings feels just as muddled as Week 1. Sure, we know a lot more about the teams that are really good and really bad, but everyone in the middle will swing from barely competitive to barnburning each game. So, for this penultimate Rankings, I’m going to try and keep calm and do my best to sort through a true mess at the bottom of the playoffs picture.
Either way, it’s going to be a lot of fun to discuss everything going on in Week 27 of THW’s NHL Power Rankings!
32-18: NHL’s Bottom Feeders Still Celebrating
32. San Jose Sharks (Previously 32nd) – Eliminated
31. Anaheim Ducks (Previously 31st) – Eliminated
30. Columbus Blue Jackets (Previously 29th) – Eliminated
29. Calgary Flames (Previously 25th) – Eliminated
28. Seattle Kraken (Previously 30th) – Eliminated
27. See Below
26. Chicago Blackhawks (Previously 27th) – Eliminated
25. Montreal Canadiens (Previously 26th) – Eliminated
24. Ottawa Senators (Previously 23rd) – Eliminated
23. See Below
22. Coyotes (Previously 28th) – Eliminated
21. New Jersey Devils (Previously 20th)
20. Buffalo Sabres (Previously 22nd)
19. Minnesota Wild (Previously 17th)
18. St. Louis Blues (Previously 14th)
It’s important to remember that even the worst teams in the NHL are filled with players living out their dreams. This week, I think we saw a perfect example of this in motion when the Sharks (who have largely wrapped up the race for the worst record this season) got an electric performance out of their young talent. On hat night, of all times, William Eklund posted his first career hat trick in overtime which gave goaltender Devil Cooley, who grew up playing hockey with the Junior Sharks, his first career win. After seeing their emotion, you simply can’t tell these players that their games don’t matter.
Outside of this incredible moment, the bottom teams are still just playing out the stretch. The Senators, Canadiens, Flames, and Kraken joined the ranks of eliminated teams this week, and I expect the Devils, Blues, Wild, and Sabres to follow them shortly. However, these teams can still play spoiler to their rivals on the bubble, which makes their games worth watching, even if they can get a bit rough sometimes.
17-15: I Hate the NHL’s Eastern Conference Sometimes…
27. Philadelphia Flyers (Previously 18th)
22. Washington Capitals (Previously 16th)
17. Detroit Red Wings (Previously 19th)
16. Pittsburgh Penguins (Previously 24th)
15. New York Islanders (Previously 21st)
I’m sure you’ve noticed I have things out of order this week. I felt it was best to keep the Eastern Conference together so this discussion could be had in a (playoff) bubble, even if all of these teams weren’t near each other in the Rankings. I apologize if the lack of number consistency causes anyone trepidation.
So…
How are the Penguins back from the dead? They largely played mediocre hockey throughout the season despite a talented roster, and they traded one of their best players at the deadline, so I moved them to the bottom of the Rankings more than a month ago and stopped thinking about them. Yet, they find themselves firmly on the bubble with a real shot of stealing a spot in the postseason on the back of Sydney Crosby (no surprise there) and goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic, who has six wins in his last seven games played. This would be a comeback for the ages should they complete this task.
Also, I’ve moved the Islanders out of the bottom section of the Rankings as they are finally playing good hockey again. With four wins this week, New York has taken over third place in the Metropolitan Division, and they appear ready to finally live up to expectations placed on them at the start of the season. Now, this may be the sign of a massively underperforming division, but it’s not their fault that they walked through a door left wide open.
Related: THW’s 2024 NHL Draft Guide
Now the only reason these two teams have found their way back into the picture is due to the abject failure of the Flyers and Capitals. Both of these teams have come completely apart at the seams despite looking like playoff contenders as recently as two weeks ago. However, Philadelphia have lost seven straight whereas Washington dropped their last six, leaving them at a miserable 83 points. Neither team can control their destiny anymore, and I have no reason to believe that they would win the games needed to make it in even if they could.
14-1: NHL’s Best Fighting Through Injury
14. Vegas Golden Knights (Previously 13th)
13. Los Angeles Kings (Previously 15th)
12. Nashville Predators (Previously 10th)
11. Tampa Bay Lightning (Previously 11th) – Clinched
10. Florida Panthers (Previously 6th) – Clinched
9. Winnipeg Jets (Previously 12th) – Clinched
8. Edmonton Oilers (Previously 9th) – Clinched
7. Toronto Maple Leafs (Previously 8th) – Clinched
6. Colorado Avalanche (Previously 3rd) – Clinched
5. Vancouver Canucks (Previously 5th) – Clinched
4. Carolina Hurricanes (Previously 4th) – Clinched
3. Boston Bruins (Previously 7th) – Clinched
2. Dallas Stars (Previously 2nd) – Clinched
1. New York Rangers (Previously 1st) – Clinched
If you cheer for a team at the top of the Rankings, this may have been a stressful week even if there’s little concern about postseason contention. We are at the point of the season where players are getting shut down for injuries they may have played through normally, which means it’s hard to tell how healthy the team may be.
For example, Carter Verhaeghe suffered an injury Monday that is expected to keep him out of the lineup until the playoffs. This would be a big blow to the Panthers if he’s not ready for Game 1, and the team has struggled in recent weeks, so it could cause a small moment of panic. However, Florida are largely safe in second position in the Atlantic Division, so they can afford to play it safe and let him heal, whether it’s a minor or major issue.
Now, for the Avalanche, the injury to Mikko Rantanen might be a bit more worrying. The star forward took an awkward hit where his head made contact with the ice and he simply looked stunned following the play, so he rightfully is in concussion protocol. These situations are very concerning, in terms of short and long-term health, and it could put one of the NHL’s stars on the shelf for more than the last few games of the regular season.
With all these injuries going around, I can’t help but hope that teams at the top of the standings bubble-wrap their players by balancing their playing time with needed rest. You can’t take two weeks off from playing hockey, of course, but we also don’t need to see any more stars out of the lineup before the postseason starts.
Final Weeks of the 2023-24 NHL Season
I can’t be surprised that the end of the 2023-24 season will be one of the more dramatic in recent memory. While we are used to teams sneaking into the final Wild Card spot, the fact that there are five teams with a realistic shot at two playoff spots will lead to a lot of excitement.
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Next week will be the final Power Rankings of the season, so I hope everyone is ready for one more big push as the season wraps up. It’s been fun so far, and I think the final few games will set a high standard for the postseason to live up to, unless all five teams on the Eastern Conference bubble just lose their remaining games… which is more of a possibility than I would hope.