The word at the front of my mind this week is parity. While all sports strive to keep a competitive balance, the idea of any team being able to win on any given night is something the NHL has pushed for under Gary Bettman’s leadership. Things like the salary cap (and most importantly a flat cap over the last five years) have hamstrung teams who are attempting to build dynasties, as they keep losing key talent in order to stay cap compliant. In most seasons, this creates a league where the difference between first place to 32nd isn’t massive in terms of on-ice talent, compared to what you may expect.
However, the start of the 2023-24 season has shown that no matter how hard you try, teams will still find a way to overachieve in either direction. On the positive side, we had two franchises that hadn’t registered a loss in regulation before this weekend. On the negative side, we are also seeing one of the worst teams in league history, who has yet to register a win 11 games into their season.
Once you get past those extremes, though, parity rules the day. You can make a strong argument for and against almost everyone in the Rankings this week, as we saw a mixture of embarrassing losses by good teams and strong wins by those we expected to be at the bottom.
Related: NHL 2023-24 Power Rankings: Week 4
Due to this, I’m going to break out my Rankings a little differently. In Week 4, I jumbled everyone together in an attempt to show how close they were. This week, I’m going to list them in tiers from F – S as well as give a 1-32 placement. Hopefully, this will allow me to better showcase where I think teams are, even if their numerical ratings are spread out.
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I think this will bring more clarity to the Rankings, since we just have a lot of teams who are all close to each other in my mind. With that explanation out of the way, let’s dig into THW’s NHL Week 5 Power Rankings!
Z Tier: Things Got Worse for the Sharks
32. San Jose Sharks (Previously 32nd)
So last week, I said Sharks fans could hope that getting shut out in back-to-back games would be the low point of their season and that the team should start looking more competitive soon. Instead, things got so much worse for San Jose, as they were absolutely embarrassed by the Vancouver Canucks and Pittsburgh Penguins en route to a 10-1 loss on Thursday and a 10-2 loss on Saturday. They are now 0-10-1 on the season and could be one of the worst teams ever in the history of the sport. I’m sorry to any Sharks fans reading this Rankings.
F Tier: I Expected Nothing but Was Still Disappointed
31. Edmonton Oilers (Previously 30th)
30. Calgary Flames (Previously 31st)
To put it bluntly, the Flames and Oilers are the most embarrassing teams in the NHL because the Sharks were at least expecting to be bad. While Calgary got their first win in nearly two weeks on Saturday, that’s not enough for me to pull them out of the F-Tier.
The only solace Flames fans have right now is that their greatest rivals, the Oilers, are somehow doing worse than they are. I really thought they would build upon their big win at the 2023 Heritage Classic, but they instead put forth duds in subsequent games and lost both this week. With losses piling up, there’s a real chance Edmonton needs deep organizational changes to improve their situation, starting with a conversation about general manager Ken Holland.
Now, do I believe both of these teams can still make the playoffs? Yes. However, if you dig a deep enough hole at the start of the season, it can be impossible to climb out no matter how hot you get towards the end. Points count the same whether they are earned on Game 1 or Game 82, but both Calgary and Edmonton don’t have many points to worry about right now.
D-Tier: Give Us a Reason To Believe
29. Chicago Blackhawks (Previously 28th)
28. Seattle Kraken (Previously 27th)
27. Ottawa Senators (Previously 16th)
26. Columbus Blue Jackets (Previously 29th)
It feels like the wheels came off the Senators’ wagon over the last 10 days. I was a bit high on Ottawa through the first three weeks, I’ll admit, but I’ve come back to reality on where the franchise is at right now. Between the suspension of Shayne Pinto, the resignation of Pierre Dorion after the team was penalized a first-round draft pick due to a botched trade in 2022, and five losses in their last six games, it’s hard to draw much positive about them right now.
As far as on the ice goes, the Kraken, Blackhawks, and Blue Jackets were rather uninspired this week. While they love playing against teams from Florida, apparently, as they all got a win against either the Tampa Bay Lightning or Florida Panthers, outside of that, I just don’t have much of a reason to believe in them. I still think they are a lot of fun to watch, at least, and if they can keep things competitive they still have an outside shot at the postseason.
C-Tier: Every Team Here is Mid
25. Pittsburgh Penguins (Previously 21st)
24. Arizona Coyotes (Previously 24th)
23. Florida Panthers (Previously 22nd)
22. Minnesota Wild (Previously 9th)
21. Washington Capitals (Previously 25th)
20. Montreal Canadiens (Previously 26th)
19. Philadelphia Flyers (Previously 18th)
18. Nashville Predators (Previously 15th)
17. Tampa Bay Lightning (Previously 14th)
16. St. Louis Blues (Previously 19th)
15. Buffalo Sabres (Previously 20th)
14. Toronto Maple Leafs (Previously 4th)
Mediocrity is not a great place to be, as any fan of a team in this tier will tell you. Many of the franchises listed here had big expectations heading into the season, yet they have often failed to live up to those lofty goals, sometimes in spectacular fashion.
Related: NHL Rumors: Blackhawks, Canadiens, Maple Leafs, Devils, Oilers
Heading into the season, I would have told you that the Penguins, Maple Leafs, and Wild would all be legitimate Stanley Cup contenders. A month later, I’m not even sure if these teams are good, let alone capable of reaching the postseason. I’d also put the Panthers on this list of underachievers, but they are at least getting healthy sooner than expected, which should give them a bump in production in the coming weeks.
It’s not all doom and gloom in the C-tier, however. The Canadiens, Capitals, and Coyotes have all looked better than expected to start the season, even if their records are a bit up and down at times. If these teams can keep finding ways to win games and/or earn points, they might be buyers at the trade deadline, which would be a big step forward compared to last season.
Overall, the C-Tier of this Ranking is exactly what you would expect… a bunch of mid teams that are inconsistent at best. I’m not impressed by anyone here, and I think you can make a compelling argument that every team should be lower in the Rankings than where I have them, not higher.
B-Tier: Good Teams With Flaws
13. Anaheim Ducks (Previously 23rd)
12. Winnipeg Jets (Previously 17th)
11. New Jersey Devils (Previously 7th)
10. New York Islanders (Previously 8th)
9. Detroit Red Wings (Previously 12th)
8. Carolina Hurricanes (Previously 11th)
Wait, the Ducks are the most fun team to watch in the NHL after a relatively short rebuild? How did that happen? I had low expectations for Anaheim this season, as I thought they wouldn’t be competitive for another year or two, but through their first 11 games, they’ve been a team that finds ways to win, regardless of their opponent. That is such a big improvement compared to the last few seasons, and while I expect them to fall off as we progress, you still shouldn’t overlook what they’ve accomplished thus far.
Outside of the Ducks (and the Red Wings), the rest of the B-tier features teams we expected to be good but they just can’t find consistency in their game. The Hurricanes, Islanders, Jets, and Devils all have big wins under their belts, but they also have bad losses where they were the second-best team on the ice. I expect more from these franchises, however, so keep an eye on them as the season progresses.
A-Tier: Great Teams With Plenty to Prove
7. Colorado Avalanche (Previously 6th)
6. Los Angeles Kings (Previously 10th)
5. Dallas Stars (Previously 5th)
4. Vancouver Canucks (Previously 13th)
3. New York Rangers (Previously 3rd)
If I started the season high on the Senators, the opposite was true about the Canucks. I had little faith that Vancouver was going to round the corner after a dysfunctional 2022-23, yet they sit tied for third place in the league in terms of points and wins. While the postseason is still a long way off, winning games early in the season is how you amass enough points to punch your playoff ticket by March instead of fretting over magic numbers and scoreboard-watching.
I think you can confidently say that every team in the A-Tier is great, and they should all be thinking Stanley Cup or bust this season. Time will tell if they can keep this up, but for now, they are all must-watch hockey.
S-Tier: The Best of the NHL
2. Boston Bruins (Previously 2nd)
1. Vegas Golden Knights (Previously 1st)
I’m going to keep it brief here since I really shouldn’t need to tell you why the Bruins and Golden Knights are at the very top of the Rankings. Both of these teams are off to historic starts, even if they had small setbacks here and there. Between the two franchises, they’ve gone a combined 20-2-2 through 24 games played, and they are dominating play most nights.
Related: 3 Takeaways From Bruins’ First 10 Games
Simply put, the fact that two teams are playing this well is madness. It’s hard enough for one franchise to get points in 10 straight games during a season, let alone two at the same time. If this continues, expect a competitive push for the Presidents’ Trophy by two teams running away with their divisions.
The NHL’s Extremes in 2023-24
The start of the 2023-24 NHL season really has been a unique one. The good teams have been historic, the bad team has been historic, and everyone in between has been unable to set themselves apart from the pack. This has led to some fascinating games and a really tight Ranking where I keep waiting for more franchises to separate themselves from the pack. For now, I’m just going to keep watching some fun hockey while the stakes still feel relatively low.