NHL Power Rankings See Defending Champion Hurricanes Back at No. 1, With Oilers Right Behind

Hockey is a simple game, really: Score goals and keep the puck out of your net.

The teams that do it the best tend to be the ones who win the most, and it's borne out again by the latest edition of B/R's NHL Power Rankings, which are led by the defending Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes.

Carolina entered Tuesday averaging 3.94 goals per game (third behind Colorado and Edmonton) and allowing 2.19 (second behind Dallas). Those numbers helped put the Hurricanes atop the Metropolitan Division, the Eastern Conference and the overall NHL standings—and at No. 1 in our Power Rankings for the second time in five weeks.

B/R's hockey staff got together to vote (awarding 32 points for a first-place vote all the way down to one point for a No. 32 tally), and the point totals created the 32-to-1 ranking that follows.

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

Statistics updated through games of Monday, Nov. 2.

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

The Canucks have been losing enough to try anyone's patience, but alternate captain Brock Boeser was still looking for positives during the tumble to the league basement. "Our team has been playing a lot better hockey as of late," he said .

It's early November and it's already been a miserable season for the Blackhawks, and it didn't get better Monday when Patrick Kane left with an injury. "It goes without saying," captain Connor Bedard said , "he's one of the heartbeats of this team."

A prolonged skid is bad enough. Losing 7-0 amid that skid and having your starting goalie (Stuart Skinner) pulled in consecutive games is worse. "It's pretty frustrating," coach Scott Arniel said , "pretty embarrassing as an organization."

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Travis Konecny's return after 10 games was good for linemates Christian Dvorak and Trevor Zegras and the trio combined for a +8 rating against Utah. "There's a lot of chemistry there," said Konecny, who led the 2025-26 Flyers with 68 points.

The Kings won just 15 of 41 home games last season and the struggles have continued amid a 1-4-0 start at Crypto.com Arena. Los Angeles has scored just 11 goals in five home games, including two goals once and one goal three times.

Two losses on a three-game trip made it five in six games for the Blue Jackets, who are still showing enough to please coach Rick Bowness. "We keep up that effort that we're showing right now," he said , "good things are gonna happen."

Another week, another milestone for Sidney Crosby, whose weekend goal in Montreal moved him into a tie for sixth on the league's all-time points list with Marcel Dionne at 1,771 total points.

Cutter Gauthier had two goals through 11 games but a renewed focus on shooting yielded five more against Buffalo (2) and Ottawa (3). "If they're not going in," he said , "they're creating good opportunities for my teammates and creating chaos."

Giving up the first goal led to losses in four straight games for the Rangers, who trailed by multiple goals in three of the games. "I don't necessarily agree that it was a lack of being ready when the puck drops," coach Mike Sullivan said .

Twenty-three-year-old forward William Stromgren became an NHL goal-scorer when he beat San Jose's Yaroslav Askarov in his fourth career game. "You're always happy for a young guy when he gets his first one," coach Ryan Huska said .

A slide of four losses in five games coincided with a lack of production for the Sharks, who scored nine goals in the stretch. "We're trying to generate," coach Ryan Warsofsky said . "We're struggling to generate some scoring opportunities."

Veteran forward Steven Stamkos scored in a shootout against Tampa Bay to give the Predators their first non-regulation win of the season after five straight losses. "When you start getting the odd (point)," he said , "it starts to accumulate."

The Blues opened a four-game trip in style, scoring three in the third in a dramatic win in Detroit. "That was not the best game we've ever played," defenseman Justin Barron said . "With that being said, I really liked the way we came back."

The Islanders have struggled on the power play but picked the wrong time for an 0-for-4 in a loss to Edmonton. "We obviously had some self-inflicted stuff (Saturday) against a team that you can't do that to," coach Peter DeBoer said .

A 2-2-0 trip wasn't stellar but it gave a reinvigorated Auston Matthews a chance to extend a season-opening road point streak to eight games. "I want to compete and play at this level for the full season and just one day at a time," he said .

A turnaround gains legitimacy when it yields a win over an elite team and coach Todd McLellan was particularly pleased when his Red Wings won, 5-3, at Florida. "It's done in the trenches," he said . "It's along the boards, net-front, heavy."

The first half of a California back-to-back went well for the Senators in San Jose, but the second ended in a 6-3 loss at Anaheim in which they allowed four power-play goals. "If you took the special teams out," coach Travis Green said , "I'd be really happy."

The Kraken made a long-anticipated deal when they sent former No. 4 overall pick (2022) Shane Wright to Nashville in exchange for Matthew Wood, who was the 15th overall pick in 2023. Wright had 39 goals in 183 games with Seattle.

The Panthers were rugged in three straight wins—one over Chicago and two over Winnipeg—but allowed three third-period goals in a loss to Detroit. "That was a really strong game from Detroit," coach Paul Maurice said . "I wasn't in love with ours."

The Mammoth split two games in Pennsylvania—winning a shootout in Pittsburgh (4-3), losing in Philadelphia (6-3)—to start a six-game road trip that'll keep them away from Salt Lake City until they host St. Louis a week from Thursday.

The Sabres got seven of a possible eight points on a road trip and have grabbed at least a point in seven straight away from home. "The biggest thing right now is we have to be able to string points together," goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen said .

Blowout losses to New Jersey and Montreal weren't ideal, but the Stars ended a six-game homestand with four wins after Jake Oettinger stymied Columbus in a 3-1 triumph. "The difference in the game was (Oettinger)," coach Glen Gulutzan said .

A run of three wins for the Capitals ended with a thud when they were beaten, 5-1, by visiting Minnesota after allowing two goals in the first six minutes. "I felt like our guys were very overwhelmed in that moment," coach Spencer Carbery said .

Carter Hart's return from injury didn't yield a win but the second-year Vegas goalie did stop 25 of 27 shots and exceeded a .900 in-game save percentage for the sixth time in nine appearances. His season-long number in 2025-26 was .891.

The Devils took their new goaltending toy, Connor Hellebuyck, on the road before bringing him back to the Garden State, and the former Winnipeg Jet made 36 saves across wins at Dallas and Vegas—posting a .923 save percentage.

Florida's Gulf Coast became the focus of the hockey world after Nikita Kucherov's reported request for a trade from the Lightning went public, though GM Julien BriseBois held firm. "We unequivocally have no intention of trading Nikita," he said .

Three straight wins have yielded five goals apiece and the Avalanche have scored 23 times across a stretch of four wins in their last five games. Colorado's 4.27 goals per game is tops in the league after its 3.63 average led the NHL last season.

No team began the week hotter than the Canadiens, who beat Pittsburgh for a fifth straight win and stretched a point streak to seven (6-0-1). Meanwhile, goalie Jacob Fowler has won seven straight starts after losing his 2026-27 debut.

The Bruins kept October momentum into November, defeating Vegas on Monday for their sixth straight home win. Boston hasn't lost at the TD Garden since October 5. The team's 29 home wins last season were tied for tops in the league.

Kirill Kaprizov is becoming a milestone player. The 29-year-old winger became the second player in Wild history to reach 500 points and tied Evgeni Malkin as the fourth-fastest active player to get there, reaching the milestone in 413 games.

Just when it seemed the Oilers were in trouble with Devon Levi on the shelf, Tristan Jarry went 2-0-1 with two shutouts to earn the NHL's second star of the week. Jarry allowed three goals on 70 shots for a .957 save percentage across three games.

Goalie Pyotr Kochetkov established a Carolina record when he blanked Winnipeg to log his 10th straight victory, breaking a tie at nine straight with Cam Ward and Brandon Bussi. "He's playing at an awesome level," defenseman Sean Walker said .