With the 2024-25 NHL season moving along at breakneck speed, it still is important to take some time each week to look at the big moments that happen off the ice. This week, the 2024 Hall of Fame class will be inducted, with a full weekend of festivities taking place. This year’s class features on-ice talent like Jeremy Roenick, Natalie Darwitz, Pavel Datsyuk, Shea Weber, and Krissy Wendell along with builders David Poile, and Colin Campbell.
While we’ve known this class for a few months, it is always a special moment for the sport when the next group of deserving members see their names added to the Hall of Fame. This is the ultimate culmination of any sporting career, after all, and it is something every person dreams to achieve when they lace up their skates for the first time.
With the Hall of Fame on our minds, however, let’s not lose track of the current stars lighting up the ice each night. The NHL is littered with players who are building their resumes to eventually earn their way into the Hall of Fame, so it should come as no surprise that we are seeing some incredible showings of the sport each night. As we think about this future ahead, let’s take a look at Week 5 of THW’s 2024-25 NHL Power Rankings.
32-23: Canadiens Not Taking Expected Steps
32. Montreal Canadiens (Previously: 30)
31. Columbus Blue Jackets (Previously: 25)
30. Anaheim Ducks (Previously: 28)
29. Chicago Blackhawks (Previously: 29)
28. Philadelphia Flyers (Previously: 31)
27. San Jose Sharks (Previously: 32)
26. Pittsburgh Penguins (Previously: 27)
25. Nashville Predators (Previously: 16)
24. Seattle Kraken (Previously: 24)
23. Utah Hockey Club (Previously: 20)
When a team is struggling for any length of time, there is an uneasy understanding between fanbase and franchise that the pain will be worthwhile as things will eventually get better. Oftentimes, this is a slow process, as a rebuilding franchise has to be bad enough to get a great draft pick, select the right players, develop them, and then surround these young stars with additional talent to keep them from drowning under the weight of the league.
Despite how difficult this process is, I still thought the Canadiens were doing it right heading into the 2024-25 NHL season. After making a surprise run to the 2021 Stanley Cup Final, the team bottomed out in 2022, got the first overall pick, selected a forward with franchise-altering potential, got the right head coach behind the bench, added veteran talent when needed, and headed into the new season not with playoff expectations, but with the belief that they were still moving in the right direction.
Yet here we are, 15 games into the season, and Montreal finds themselves on a six-game losing streak at the bottom of the standings all while giving up more than four goals each game. Even with low expectations, this can’t be what the team expected to see, which leads me to think if things don’t start getting better shortly, change might not be far behind for the storied franchise.
For the remaining teams at the bottom of the Rankings, we’ve reached that point in the season where the bad teams are starting to separate themselves from the pack. There isn’t a team listed here with a winning record in their last 10 games played, which is a sign that things aren’t going great. Yes, there’s still a lot of time for things to turn around, but it feels like the top talent in the NHL will start to separate itself out from the bottom of the league here shortly.
However, I wanted to give a quick shoutout to the Sharks, who are 5-2-0 in their last seven games. The team is starting to pull themselves out of their historically bad start and might be taking that next step in their rebuild with young stars like Maklin Celebrini back on the ice.
22-13: Ten NHL Teams Ranked #16
16. New York Islanders (Previously: 26)
16. Tampa Bay Lightning (Previously: 11)
16. Calgary Flames (Previously: 15)
16. Detroit Red Wings (Previously: 19)
16. Buffalo Sabres (Previously: 23)
16. St. Louis Blues (Previously: 17)
16. Ottawa Senators (Previously: 12)
16. Boston Bruins (Previously: 22)
16. Edmonton Oilers (Previously: 18)
16. Colorado Avalanche (Previously: 21)
Long-time readers of THW’s Power Rankings know that I like to play around with my formatting, especially when it comes to the middle part of the NHL. In a league obsessed with parity, I sometimes find myself staring at a list of teams, trying to differentiate different versions of mediocre before finally throwing my hands up and saying, that’s enough, you’re all going in timeout.
This week, I feel like there are 10 teams who are all real threats to make the playoff… but just barely. Between short losing and winning streaks, they haven’t been able to convince me that they are actually good just yet, but they also aren’t so bad that I expect them to tumble out of the middle of the Rankings either. So, once I did all my mental math, they all landed at number 16.
Some notes from this group, the Lightning are on a four-game skid and already have a full week off in early November (the NHL’s schedule is weird sometimes), the Oilers and Avalance both seem to be finding their footing again after shaky starts to the season, the Flames are struggling after a hot start, and the Blues, Red Wings, and Senators are swinging wildly from fun good to just bad bad each night. Oh, and the Sabres have won three straight games heading into their early game on Monday, which makes them the hottest team in this section.
Don’t take their positioning on the Rankings this week as their actual Rankings, either. I purposefully shifted them around to make their order mean nothing. Hopefully next week I will feel a bit stronger about the middle of the Rankings and be able to build a real list. However, we shall see.
12-1: Maple Leafs Finding Their Footing
12. Vancouver Canucks (Previously: 10)
11. Dallas Stars (Previously: 8)
10. New Jersey Devils (Previously: 9)
9. Toronto Maple Leafs (Previously: 13)
8. Los Angeles Kings (Previously: 14)
7. Vegas Golden Knights (Previously: 7)
6. Washington Capitals (Previously: 6)
5. New York Rangers (Previously: 2)
4. Minnesota Wild (Previously: 5)
3. Carolina Hurricanes (Previously: 4)
2. Florida Panthers (Previously: 3)
1. Winnipeg Jets (Previously: 1)
Whenever a new coach takes over an established team, it takes time for their messaging to work through their new players. For the Maple Leafs, Craig Berube has been working to break bad habits while instilling a culture built on playoff-style goalscoring, and the team is starting to see results after hitting their low point a few weeks ago. After shutting out the Bruins on Tuesday, they went on to win three straight games last week, and it’s feeling like all this change might be making a difference. We won’t know until April, of course, but this will be a scary team if Berube can finally unlock the full potential of Toronto’s roster.
Speaking of winning ways, in a normal world, the Panthers would be at the top of the Rankings this week, as they’ve won seven straight games (despite some shaky performances at times). However, the Jets set an NHL record with a 14-1-0 record through their first 15 games, which is truly spectacular. Not only that, but the team gave up just one goal in three games played this week, despite playing some high-caliber opponents like the Stars and Avalanche. Needless to say, there’s dominant play going on in Winnipeg.
Also, in case you didn’t catch it this week, Alexander Ovechkin scored three more goals, putting him just 32 away from the all-time NHL record. With each passing game, we move closer and closer to a record-setting goal that felt impossible just a few months ago. If the Capitals keep playing this well alongside Ovi, then there’s a real chance they will be in the hunt for the Division title as well.
Moving Forward With the 2024-25 NHL Power Rankings
It felt like time to mix up the weekly format, as the Rankings were getting a bit predictable. One of my favorite things about writing this series each week is finding unique ways of presenting something that can get a bit stale if you only do a numbered list.
Related: 2025 NHL Draft Rankings – Horn’s Early Top 50
However, I’m hoping this week will bring a bit more clarity to my Rankings, as I still have a lot of questions about teams in the middle. For now, though, all we can do is keep an eye on the next big game and see where the week ahead takes us.