NHL Power Rankings Week 26 Recap: It’s the Final Countdown

Quick Hits

This week, the Colorado Avalanche, Minnesota Wild, Seattle Kraken, Los Angeles Kings, and Dallas Stars clinched their berths in the playoffs. This leaves just three spots left open, one wild card seed in the Western Conference and both wild card spots in the Eastern Conference. The Winnipeg Jets are battling the Calgary Flames and Nashville Predators in the West, while the Florida Panthers, on a late-season push, New York Islanders, and Pittsburgh Penguins are fighting amongst themselves for the two Eastern wild card spots.

On that note, what happened to the Winnipeg Jets? Making the playoffs once looked like a certainty as the Jets were competing in the Central. But at this point, they are barely holding onto the last wild card spot. Their best players, Mark Scheifele being the most prominent, have been ice cold. Nikolaj Ehlers is not getting the ice time even to try to contribute. Things like this are contributing to Winnipeg being the sixth-lowest-scoring team since Christmas. Luckily they have an elite goalie in Connor Hellebuyck to help them win when they aren’t scoring.

The First Postseason Appearance for the Seattle Kraken

In their second season as an NHL team, the Kraken reached the playoffs for the first time. The excitement around the team this season is outstanding. They are fun to watch, hard to play against, and show that they are quite well-built.

The Kraken are one of, if not the deepest offensive teams in the league. They have the most 20-point scorers, 17, including every single one of their regular forwards. The biggest knock on them is the lack of star power. Despite how deep the team is, their leading scorer is Jared McCann with 68 points through 79 of Seattle’s games.

It is impressive how well the organization addressed some of the holes in the lineup. Last season, the Kraken had issues scoring and finishing chances. So they bring in Oliver Bjorkstrand, Daniel Sprong, Andre Burakovsky, and Eeli Tolvanen to fix it. All of those players are scorers, known for their ability to finish. And it has helped. The four of them have 69 goals this season and are a big part of why the Kraken have gone from fourth-worst in goals for last season to fourth-best this season.

The other major hole, goaltending, has still been an issue at times, but not nearly as much as last season when the team was not getting the easy, low-danger saves it needed. Of course, it helps when the team can now outscore its problems as well. The improvement is noticeable, however, as in 2021-22 the Kraken’s goalies had a combined -41.1 goals saved above expected. In 2022-23, they have a combined -8.5. A significant portion of the difference is improved play by Philipp Grubauer, going from a -33.7 GSAx in 55 games to a -1.3 GSAx in 37 games.

The Kraken could be a tough team to play against with their newfound offensive depth and high-powered finishing ability. Either way, it is exciting for a new franchise to see some success and make it to the playoffs for the first time.

Heading into the Playoffs Hot are the Edmonton Oilers

The season started off slow for the Oilers, as it looked at times that they might even be at risk of missing the playoffs. But following what is becoming a trend for the team, the latter half of the season is where Edmonton shines.

Since Christmas, the Oilers have been the second-best team in the league, only trailing the historically dominant Boston Bruins. They have a 30-8-7 record since the holiday break, good for a 122-point pace over a full season. With 192 goals for (4.27 per game), they are leading the league and outscoring second place by 21 goals, the equivalent of half a goal per game.

The big trade deadline acquisition for the Oilers, Mattias Ekholm, has also been a major factor in the team’s hot stretch. Since March 1st, his first game as an Oiler, Edmonton is 16-2-1. Now, this is not all about bringing him onto the team, but his defensive stability has given the Oilers another top defender as well as improving the quality of their top-four significantly.

Connor McDavid is reaching offensive numbers putting him in with the likes of Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky as he became the sixth player in NHL history to record 150 points in a single season. Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Zach Hyman have all been setting career highs.

This is a team that is firing on all cylinders right now. The big question is if the goaltending and defense will hold up, as that was the team’s major pitfall in last year’s playoffs. They were able to outscore their problems for a while, but that came crashing down against a team that was built as well as the Colorado Avalanche.

Going into the playoffs with a rookie goalie as their starter is risky on paper, but Stuart Skinner looks to be the answer thus far in his NHL career. There will be a big weight on his shoulders to carry this team through the playoffs, but with the support he gets from his skaters, there is a lot of promise for this team.

That wraps things up for this week’s NHL Power Rankings! Who is ranked too high? Drop a comment down below.

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