NHL Power Rankings After the 1st Week of the 2026-27 Season

The Stanley Cup has never been won in October.

Nor has it ever been lost in autumn's first full month.

But with each of the NHL's 32 teams playing games, that is all the reason B/R's hockey staff needs to get together for the regular season's first installment of Power Rankings after the first week of the 2026-27 schedule.

Take a look at what we came up with and drop a thought in the app comments.

Statistics through games of Monday, Oct. 5.

ANA | BOS | BUF | CAR | CBJ | CGY | CHI | COL | DAL | DET | EDM | FLA | LAK | MIN | MTL | NJD | NSH | NYI | NYR | OTT | PHI | PIT | SEA | SJS | STL | TBL | TOR | UTA | VAN | VGK | WPG | WSH

Few expected them to be good, but did anyone really think it'd be this bad in Calgary, where the Flames are 0-3-0 after scoring three goals and allowing 16? "I feel like right now we're disconnected," coach Ryan Huska said . Also, former first-round pick Connor Zary (24th overall, 2020) was waived.

Connor Bedard got on the ice with his teammates for some drills and shots in practice, but he's still not cleared for contact after undergoing surgery on his left shoulder following an injury sustained in early July.

Did someone say overachievement? That's the revisionist vibe surrounding the Flyers, who were a 98-point playoff team in 2025-26 but started this year with four straight losses (while scoring just five goals) for the first time since 2014.

Players That Will Dominate the Rumor Mill

Two goals in two games (entering Tuesday) won't do it for the Red Wings, and it didn't help when they allowed three on the power play to Winnipeg. "Our guys are pi**ed when they are down," coach Todd McLellan said , "but they aren't digging graves, they are trying to dig themselves out of a hole."

A return for Dylan Larkin on Tuesday led to a win against Ottawa, but there's still plenty to sort through.

Starting goaltending was considered a mystery going in, and the numbers through two games showed why, as the Kings' tandem of Anton Forsberg and Darcy Kuemper allowed 13 goals on 54 shots (a .759 save percentage) in season-opening losses to Colorado (8-4) and San Jose (5-4).

It took 48 hours for the Devils to go from an OT win against Philadelphia to a 6-0 shellacking by the New York Islanders. "We were playing preseason hockey," coach Sheldon Keefe said , "against a team that was probably playing February-type hockey."

A home loss on Tuesday against Utah won't help matters for Keefe.

The Maple Leafs are getting exposure to close games early on, with each of the first three decided by a goal. The problem is, they lost twice. The good news? Newly acquired Kirill Marchenko scored his first with the team on Saturday and Gavin McKenna tallied his first NHL goal Tuesday in the OT win vs. Nashville.

That's more like it. The Stars were on the wrong end of 4-0 and 2-1 decisions to start the season, but they looked much more like themselves on Monday night, holding San Jose to just 13 shots in a 5-0 home victory.

They'd played just two games and scored only three goals entering Tuesday, but that didn't mean Predators forward Steven Stamkos couldn't continue to climb the league's all-time chart. The 36-year-old buried a power-play chance against Dallas for his 625th career goal, tying him for 17th on the NHL all-time list.

Returning home after a loss in Columbus was good for the Sabres, but it was even better when Jiri Kulich, who played just 12 games in 2025-26 thanks to a season-ending blood clot, scored a go-ahead goal in a win against Chicago. "It's hard to put into words how much he's been grinding," captain Rasmus Dahlin said .

Score four goals in a shutout win one night, allow six on 36 shots the next. Such is life for a team searching for its game, said Blues coach Jim Montgomery. "We're trying to become a consistent team in a lot of things that we want to be good at—aggression, taking away time and space," he said .

Things got off to a good start with a six-goal outburst in a win over Buffalo but quickly settled back to earth for the Blue Jackets in a 4-1 loss to visiting Utah, in which Columbus allowed three power-play goals. The team's penalty-kill percentage (76.0) ranked 28th in the league last season.

We'll always have the first couple of days of the season, right? That may be the mindset of Boston fans after the Bruins won their first two games but have since dropped consecutive 4-1 decisions at Minnesota and at home against Ottawa.

Go ahead and include Paul Cotter among the early season's biggest free-agent steals. The 26-year-old forward signed a one-year, $2.15 million deal on July 1 and scored four goals in his first four games with the Canucks.

The Islanders focused on details while killing five penalties in a defeat of visiting New Jersey, pleasing coach Pete DeBoer. "You want them to be rewarded for that commitment early," DeBoer said , "because it promotes a belief in what you're doing, and if you don't win games, then it's hard to build that."

It wasn't official, but it wasn't exactly a secret either. Regardless, Alex Ovechkin officially answered the "Is this his final season?" question on Monday when he told teammates he'll hang up his skates after 2026-27.

Being the defending Cup champs has a way of staving off the angst, but starting the season with consecutive home losses to Florida and Washington was certainly not what Carolina had in mind. A win came in game three, in OT, against Philadelphia, and the Canes followed it up on Tuesday with a victory in Montreal against the Habs in an Eastern Conference Final rematch.

The shudders emanating from South Florida on Monday may have been because the Panthers are in familiar territory with Aleksander Barkov on the shelf for 6-to-8 weeks.

The news got worse on Tuesday. There are now concerns about Brad Marchand after he suffered an apparent leg injury and was helped off the ice in the win over LA.

Seattle was 28th overall in per-game offense last season, but you'd never have known it from two early dates with Calgary, during which the Kraken hammered the Flames with 12 goals on 59 shots, including six on 27 shots in Sunday's home opener. "The energy was absolutely nuts in the arena," goalie Joey Daccord said .

Be gentle with your Sharks fan friends for the next little while. San Jose's hockey resurgence took a hit when Macklin Celebrini missed Monday night's game against Dallas because of a lower-body injury. Yikes.

Marc Gatcomb wasn't a headline signing last summer, but he scored his first goal in a Vegas sweater in timely fashion, providing a win over Vancouver. A veteran of 88 NHL games prior to this season, the 27-year-old signed a two-year deal worth $875,000 per year.

A four-goal loss in Midtown Manhattan wasn't an ideal start to 2026-27, but the Lightning bounced back with home wins over Washington and Philadelphia, outscoring both teams 7-2.

The Penguins won their first two games of 2026-27 and were two-thirds of the way through to win No. 3 against visiting Winnipeg on Monday before surrendering three third-period goals inside of five minutes in a 3-2 loss.

Opening on the road wasn't the worst thing for the returning Eastern finalists, who won in Toronto and got an OT point in a loss in Pittsburgh. The Canadiens dropped one to the Canes on Tuesday and will stay for four before visiting Washington on Oct. 14.

Going from Long Island to Utah is an adjustment, but it's all part of the job for Mammoth forward Anders Lee, who moved west as a free agent after 13 seasons with the New York Islanders and scored in his first game.

The Mammoth picked up a win Tuesday night in New Jersey and head up to Boston on Thursday.

Another year, another bid to be among the goal-scoring elites for Kyle Connor, who scored three goals in the Jets' first two games after registering 31 or more goals in each of the last five seasons, topping out at 47.

Call it the Evan Bouchard Revenge Tour. He was the league's top-scoring blue-liner last season but was not a Norris Trophy finalist. This season, he's already produced eight points in his first three games.

He's been one of the league's best goalies for a while, and now he's an offensive weapon, too. Igor Shesterkin became the first goalie in the Rangers' long history to score a goal when he netted one against Tampa Bay.

The certainties of life: Death, taxes, and the Ducks winning their annual home opener. Anaheim made it 11 in a row in dramatic fashion when it shook off a late tying goal by Florida's Brad Marchand and won it 3-2 on Mikael Granlund's power-play tally in the first minute of overtime.

Defenseman Jake Sanderson was placed on the early-season injury list and missed games Monday and Tuesday after leaving Ottawa's Saturday game against Toronto. Sanderson had 4:29 of ice time in six shifts against the Maple Leafs.

The Wild followed a winning recipe in their first two games, getting offense from Kirill Kaprizov (three goals) and Quinn Hughes (three points) and 45 saves on 47 shots from goalie Jesper Wallstedt. Wallstedt started 33 games last season and had a .916 save percentage while sharing time with Filip Gustavsson.

It seems like old times for the defending Presidents' Trophy winners, who opened with eight goals in a blowout of Los Angeles and followed with six more in a one-sided defeat of St. Louis. "It's definitely not going to be like this every single night," defenseman Cale Makar said , "but it's good to start the season like it."