NHL Power Rankings: Where each team stands at season’s quarter mark

Just a handful of games separate the NHL’s 32 clubs from the new campaign’s quarter mark. And the first chapter of 2025-26 has no doubt been a memorable one.

We’ve seen San Jose’s Macklin Celebrini and Chicago’s Connor Bedard emerge as the talismans their clubs hoped they would be, while Leo Carlsson has Anaheim flying high. With Bedard’s 10th goal potted Wednesday night, the three young phenoms sit tied for second in the Art Ross race with 26 points apiece. 

Out east, we’ve seen the Pittsburgh Penguins shake off rumours of a Sidney Crosby trade, and turn their sights on a post-season return instead. Clocking in at a combined age of 77, Nos. 87 and 71 have been in vintage form, both sitting among the game’s top 20 scorers to this point. 

And on the other side of the scale, we’ve seen a slew of recent heavyweights — Toronto, Florida, Washington and Minnesota — all mired in the bottom half of the standings after disastrous starts, with snowballing injury issues set to make the climb back up even tougher.

All that, and we still have three quarters of the season still to play. Before we get there, for this week’s Power Rankings we’re checking in on how each team has looked through the first quarter of 2025-26.

1. Colorado Avalanche (11-1-5): A relentless start from Nathan MacKinnon has the Avs’ on Presidents’ Trophy watch through the early going of the campaign. The 30-year-old has come out flying in 2025-26, putting up an absurd 14 goals and 32 points through his club’s first 17 games — 12 of those came courtesy of a recent three-game tear alone. By no coincidence, Colorado has earned points in a league-best 16 of 17 games so far this year.

2. Anaheim Ducks (11-4-1): After seven seasons in the West’s basement, Anaheim’s youth movement is finally beginning to take. Twenty-year-old Leo Carlsson and 21-year-old Cutter Gauthier both have eyes on career years — Carlsson sits second in league scoring, while Gauthier sits tied for fourth in goals league-wide — and the club’s offence as a whole has been among the league’s most prolific so far. This time last year, the Ducks sat tied for last place in the West — this time around, they sit second, keeping pace with behemoths Colorado and Dallas.

3. New Jersey Devils (12-4-1): An eight-game win streak in the first month of the campaign announced the Devils’ intentions this season. After some rollercoaster results over the past few seasons, Jack Hughes’ squad looks to have rediscovered the form they showed three years ago, when they finished among the league’s best. They’re back there now, Jersey having collected a league-best 12 wins to this point.

4. Dallas Stars (10-4-3): A full season of Mikko Rantanen in Dallas seemed like it could be a game-changer for a Stars team that had already established itself as a bona fide contender. So far, No. 96 has delivered, putting up 23 points through Dallas’s first 17 games — good for seventh-best league-wide — while a healthy Miro Heiskanen has brought some magic back to the Stars’ blue line, too.

5. Carolina Hurricanes (11-5-0): Adversity has come for the Canes early, as the club’s been forced to navigate a a rash of blue-line injuries, none more impactful than the loss of veteran back-end stalwart Jaccob Slavin. But the emergence of rookie defender Alexander Nikishin, who’s already averaging over 20 minutes a night, has helped steady the ship.

6. Winnipeg Jets (10-6-0): Fresh off a Presidents’ Trophy winning 2024-25 campaign, the Jets haven’t had quite the electric start they did a year ago. Still, the club’s leaders are delivering early, with Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor and Connor Hellebuyck all off to fine starts, and Jonathan Toews making his presence known with his hometown club, too.

7. Montreal Canadiens (10-4-2): An uneven November has slowed their momentum some, but the Canadiens have looked like one of the East’s most dangerous groups through the early going of 2025-26. Cole Caufield leads the league in even-strength tallies, and is just a pair off the overall lead, too; Nick Suzuki may be playing his way onto Team Canada; and the addition of Calder favourite Ivan Demidov has the club’s power play humming.

8. Pittsburgh Penguins (9-5-3): No club in the league has had a more surprising first quarter than the Penguins. Written off before the season began, expected to flounder in the basement once again, the Pens have turned back the clock and started 2025-26 as one of the East’s best. New head coach Dan Muse has had an immense impact so far, as has rookie Ben Kindel. Add in some timeless performances from Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Erik Karlsson — who have Pittsburgh’s power play ranking No. 1 league-wide — and the black-and-gold have eyes on an unexpected return to the post-season.

9. Boston Bruins (11-7-0): You’d be hard-pressed to find a more rollercoaster start to a campaign than the one Boston’s managed so far. A six-game losing streak in the season’s opening month had the B’s looking sunk — they answered with a seven-game win streak that put them right back in the thick of the Atlantic.

10. Vegas Golden Knights (7-4-4): Adding 100-point two-way phenom Mitch Marner to the mix was supposed to make Vegas unstoppable in the West. But injuries have derailed that vision so far, with Mark Stone, Adin Hill, and William Karlsson all sidelined, and the Knights already navigating life without Alex Pietrangelo, too. Add in Anaheim and San Jose charging up the division standings, and Vegas is facing a stiffer test in the Pacific than they have in years.

11. Tampa Bay Lightning (8-6-2): After a wobbly start, the Bolts have stabilized and reeled off seven wins in their past nine games, righting the ship before getting buried in the East. Still, the early stumbles have Tampa Bay mired in the wild-card race, the veterans having to contend with a number of younger, hungrier up-and-comers rising up the ranks.

12. Los Angeles Kings (8-5-4): After watching Corey Perry cut short their post-season two years in a row wearing Edmonton Oilers colours, the Kings brought the veteran to Los Angeles to snag some of his big-game magic. He’s wound up a key addition so far, Perry ranking among L.A.’s top scorers to start the year, and their top goal-scorer at even-strength. That aside, it’s been an up-and-down opening month for L.A. in a division that’s started to see a changing of the guard.

13. San Jose Sharks (8-6-3): Speaking of that changing of the guard, the Sharks look dead set on upending the Pacific this season. Macklin Celebrini has looked downright dominant so far, the 2024 first-overall pick already blossoming into the game-changer San Jose drafted him to be. There’s plenty of race still to run, but after six years on the outside looking in, the Sharks seem to finally have some juice.

14. Florida Panthers (8-7-1): For a club missing their two top talents and two most important leaders — Aleksander Barkov, who’s likely out for the season; and Matthew Tkachuk, who’s working his way back from off-season surgery — the Panthers could be in far more dire straits. It’s been expectedly tumultuous for the Cats as they’ve navigated the injury situation, but there’s little doubt Florida’s playing the long game here. Just get to the playoffs, and then all bets are off.

15. Washington Capitals (8-7-1): After a wild 2024-25 resurgence that saw them finish with the Eastern crown, the Caps have fallen back to earth. A dip that began in late October and stretched into the beginning of this month saw Alex Ovechkin’s club drop six of seven games, pushing the Caps into a tie for last place in the Metro.

16. Utah Mammoth (10-7-0): For a moment there, it looked like this was going to be the year of the Mammoth, the newly-named Utah squad coming out of the gates hot and ranking as one the West’s best by the end of October. A recent stretch of five losses in six games has cooled that ascent, knocking them back into wild-card territory for now.

17. Chicago Blackhawks (8-5-4): Like Anaheim and San Jose, the young core in Chicago seems to finally be taking a step, led by 2023 first-overall talisman Connor Bedard. The 20-year-old is off to the best start of his career in Year 3, sitting tied for second in league scoring with 10 goals and 26 points through 17 games — an early pace that would have No. 98 finishing well above the century mark by the year’s end if it holds.

18. Ottawa Senators (8-5-4): A month without captain Brady Tkachuk has stymied the Senators’ pursuit of progress so far in 2025-26. Still, with the Atlantic Division’s usual top dogs all mired in mediocrity, Ottawa’s holding strong amid the top three. Key to that early success: a strong start from Sens leading scorer Drake Batherson, who has 17 points through 14 games to start the year.

19. Seattle Kraken (7-4-5): The Kraken are hanging around the post-season picture early, but through the first quarter of the campaign, the cracks are beginning to show in Seattle. The club is scoring the second-fewest goals per game of any team in the league, and putting the fourth-fewest shots on net. They have yet to string more than a couple wins together at a time, and with San Jose and Vegas nipping at their heels in the Pacific, a slide down the standings could come quickly if the Kraken can’t raise their level.

20. Edmonton Oilers (8-6-4): The Oilers faithful should be grateful that Connor McDavid already put pen to paper on a new deal. Because if the captain was judging the organization’s future potential on this season’s results, Edmonton’s run of form so far — decidedly middling, punctuated by a 9-1 shellacking at the hands of the Avs — would inspire little hope. The issues seem clear, and the Oilers brass are running out of time to find solutions.

21. Minnesota Wild (7-7-4): Speaking of hefty new contracts, a .500 start to the season — which has Minnesota sitting outside of the playoff picture in mid-November — was likely not what the Wild were envisioning when they inked Kirill Kaprizov to the most lucrative contract in NHL history. No. 97’s done his part, sitting top-10 in league scoring with 10 goals and 22 points through 18 games, and the Wild have seemingly begun to turn the corner. But a brutal October has left them a tough hole to dig their way out of.

22.  Vancouver Canucks (8-9-1): The Canucks entered the new season desperate for a bounceback campaign after a tumultuous 2024-25 derailed by off-ice chaos. The stakes couldn’t be clearer in 2025-26, with captain Quinn Hughes’ future in Vancouver seemingly hanging in the balance. But it hasn’t looked great so far, the Canucks sitting second-last in their division and fourth-last in the West overall with a quarter of the campaign in the books.

23.  Detroit Red Wings (9-7-0): Like Utah, the opening month of the season had us thinking the Yzerplan was finally working out, the Red Wings having finished October tied for second in the East. A return to the playoffs after nearly a decade out might still come, but a recent slide has Detroit back in the middle of the pack. 

24.  Toronto Maple Leafs (8-8-1): It’s officially time for the Maple Leafs faithful to worry. An awkward start to the year was expected for Toronto, the club having to navigate life without top-line stalwart Mitch Marner, a number of new faces having to be worked in. But the early results have been worse than anyone expected, the Maple Leafs looking disorganized and well off their game most nights. Add in a growing injury list that might now include Auston Matthews and Anthony Stolarz, and it could all snowball quickly for the Leafs.

25.  Philadelphia Flyers (8-5-3): It’s been a seamless fit for Trevor Zegras in Philly so far. The 24-year-old has rediscovered his scoring touch in Flyers orange, leading the club in scoring through the early going with a point-a-game pace, and sparking talks of a potential long-term extension. There’s still a ways to go for the Flyers’ young core, but after a half-decade out of the post-season, a return is looking more likely than was expected coming into the year.

26.  New York Rangers (9-7-2): It’s been quite a fall from grace for the Blueshirts. After winning the Presidents’ Trophy and marching all the way to the conference final in 2024, the Rangers missed the post-season all together in 2025, before carrying out some roster surgery and bringing in a new head coach. But a disastrous start to 2025-26, which saw New York win just three of its first 10 games, has them facing an steep climb if they’re hoping to find better results this time around.

27.  Columbus Blue Jackets (8-7-1): The Jackets remain on the fringes in the East, right where they finished last season. Poor special-teams play is hurting their cause, Columbus’s power play ranking third-last in the league, their penalty kill ranking sixth-last. On the other hand, a strong start from winger Kirill Marchenko, who’s riding a nine-game point streak, has kept them in the mix.

28. New York Islanders (8-6-2): Rookie sensation Matthew Schaefer has delivered in his first month as an NHLer. The 18-year-old tabbed by the Islanders with the 2025 No. 1 pick sits just a point behind Demidov in the rookie scoring race, and leads all first-year big-leaguers with over 22 minutes of ice per night. His club’s overall start has been far less prolific, but the future is bright on Long Island.

29.  St. Louis Blues (6-8-3): The Blues’ late resurgence was one of the key stories of 2024-25, the club stitching together 12 straight wins in March and April to surge back into the playoffs, before taking the Presidents’ Trophy winners to Game 7 in Round 1. This season, the magic has deserted them, a seven-game losing streak leaving St. Louis mired in the league’s basement through the first quarter of the campaign.

30. Buffalo Sabres (5-7-4): The 2025-26 season doesn’t appear to be the one that will see the Sabres rise from the depths. After finishing 2024-25 third-last in the East, the Sabres find themselves dead last in the conference through the first quarter of the new season, and a rash of injuries figures to make the going even tougher in Buffalo.

31. Nashville Predators (5-9-4): That wave of excitement around Nashville’s 2024 spending spree seems a long evaporated distant memory at this point. After stumbling through a disappointing 2024-25 that saw them finish third-last in the league, the Preds find themselves languishing there again to start the new season.The club’s lost eight of their last nine, with their only win coming against the one club below them in these rankings, inspiring little hope for a late surge in Nashville.

32. Calgary Flames (4-12-2): Calgary’s season looked lost before November even arrived, the Flames winning just two of their opening 12 tilts to start the new campaign. Little has improved since the turn of the calendar — the club’s dropped three straight, and won just twice in their past six games. After a magical 2024-25 that saw Calgary finish agonizingly close to a post-season return, the team’s recent run of form has Flames fans likely dreaming more of Gavin McKenna’s arrival than a dramatic mid-season turnaround.

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