THW Power Rankings: Montreal is King

It’s still early in the season — the third week to be exact — but it’s clear which teams are going to be at the top of the food chain, and which are going to be fighting to stay out of the basement.

It’s clear that the Montreal Canadiens are off to the best start in the league. If you even try to deny that, then something may be wrong with your vision. Also in the successful start category, the Arizona Coyotes look far from a team expected to be last in the league. Rookies Max Domi and Anthony Duclair have a combined 16 points in eight games so far.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, two teams — Anaheim and Columbus — have gotten off to starts that no one saw coming. The Blue Jackets have already replaced Todd Richards behind the bench in favor of John Tortorella while many are wondering when/if the Ducks may do the same thing.

At The Hockey Writers, we look at schedule strength, weekly records, goal differential and more to determine the rankings. In addition, we poll the various writers of the website for their rankings and take those votes into consideration as well. So, without further adieu, it’s The Hockey Writers’ weekly power rankings.

*Note: The records are accurate as of the morning of 10/25*

This week	Last week	Team	Record	Our take
1	–		9-0-0	As if there was any doubt. When you’re on a record-setting pace, you deserve to be number one.
2	–		6-1-0	Evgeny Kuznetsov is starting to break into that superstar level. Oh yea, that Alex Ovechkin guy is pretty good, too.
3	–		5-2-2	Steven Stamkos is scoring goals, and Jonathan Drouin is a play-making machine. Tampa is the third-best team in a stacked East.
4	–		6-1-1	The Rattlers have seemingly come out of nowhere. Their strength of schedule is a bit of a question.
5	–		6-2-0	Lindy Ruff’s seat was expected to be hot at the start of the year. It’s cooled off with the hot start by the Stars.
6	–		5-1-1	With a 2.27 goals against average, Devan Dubnyk is proving that last season was no fluke.
7	–		5-2-1	Second guess them all you want, but the Blues remain a contender in the West.
8	–		5-2-1	Winning five of your last six games will easily get you in the top 10 this early in the year.
9	–		5-2-2	When you have the goaltenders that New York does, you’re going to win games despite your best forwards not producing.
10	–		5-3-0	Are the veteran sharks finding the fountain of youth under Peter DeBoer? Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau may have.
11	–		4-2-1	Last year was no fluke, the Jets are a very good team. They may have found a future star in Nikolaj Ehlers
12	–		5-3-0	The defending cup champions are starting to heat up. Look out!
13	–		4-3-1	Mike Cammalleri — 11 points in eight games — is as hot as anyone in this league right now.
14	–		4-3-0	The Kings won four straight after a brutal start. Will they sustain it?
15	–		4-3-1	The Panthers need to be a success this year just so we can see Jaromir Jagr as much as possible.
16	–		4-2-1	Michal Neuvirth posted back-to-back shutouts for the Flyers. Unfortunately, he’s now out with an upper-body injury.
17	–		4-3-1	There’s no doubt that the Coyotes are the surprise success story of the first two weeks. Domi and Duclair are going to be special.
18	–		4-3-1	11 points in 8 games has Henrik Zetterberg feeling like he’s at the top of the hockey world.
19	–		3-2-3	The Canucks are unbeaten on the road, yet winless at home. Not a good start for fans in the Pacific Northwest.
20	–		3-3-1	Boston was expected to be bad this year, but they’ve been pretty respectable to start the year. Matt Beleskey has just two points in 5 games
21	–		4-4-0	The Penguins may be 4-4, but they have a lot of chemistry issues to sort out right now.
22	–		3-3-2	Are the Senators as good, or better, than last year’s team? It’s tough to tell right now.
23	–		3-5-0	That Connor McDavid kid may be pretty good. The Oilers are a better team, clearly, they just need to find a rhythm.
24	–		2-4-1	It was tough not to knock the Avs down further after being Columbus’ first victory of the year. Semyon Varlamov (3.93 GAA) just hasn’t been the player the team needs.
25	–		2-5-0	When they can’t come back in the third period like last year, the youth and inexperience of the Flames shows in a big way.
26	–		2-6-0	The Sabres are much better than last year’s squad, but it’s just no equating to wins. Evander Kane’s injury could be a huge loss.
27	–		1-4-2	Toronto is playing each game tough, but they just aren’t good enough to have success. And that’s all part of the plan.
28	–		2-6-0	Could both Staals be on the way out in Carolina? With this start, anything is possible.
29	–		1-5-1	Jaromir Jagr has as many goals this season as the Ducks do as a team (6). That’s really all you
30	–		1-8-0	The Blue Jackets were a trendy Stanley Cup pick this year. Too bad they started with eight straight losses, and got their coach Todd Richards fired in the process.