NHL Power Rankings: Everything is changing — including at the top

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As we inch toward the halfway point of the playoffs, the time has come for the Rankings Boys to bid adieu. This is it: the final batch of the 2024-25 season.

As we rank the last eight teams standing one last time, we leave you with one piece of optimism for six of them and one piece of pessimism for the defending champs.

For the team at the bottom … well, we tried.

1. Toronto Maple Leafs, up 2-0 on Florida

Last week: 5
Sean: 1
Dom: 1

Why this time is different: The blue line is big and good

It’s important to have size among your defensemen. It’s more important to have good players. Too often in the recent past, Toronto added the former at the expense of the latter. Last season was particularly glaring; Ilya Lyubushkin and Joel Edmundson didn’t bring much to the lineup outside of being tall, and Toronto didn’t realize that until it was too late.

This time, the big fellas are Brandon Carlo (6-foot-5) and Simon Benoit (6-foot-3), and both have carried their weight. Carlo, crucially, works as a partner for Morgan Rielly, and Benoit scored an overtime winner against Ottawa. Coach Craig Berube deserves credit for playing him more down the stretch and preparing him for the postseason. Don’t forget about summer additions Chris Tanev (6-foot-3) and Oliver Ekman-Larsson (6-foot-2) either.

2. Edmonton Oilers, up 2-0 on Vegas

Last week: 4
Sean: 2
Dom: 3

Why this time is different: What they’re getting from everyone but Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard

In last year’s run to the final, the Oilers’ scoring leaderboard looked like this:

• Connor McDavid: 42 points in 25 games
• Evan Bouchard: 32 points in 25 games
• Leon Draisaitl: 31 points in 25 games
• Zach Hyman: 22 points in 25 games
• Ryan Nugent-Hopkins: 22 points in 25 games
• A literal chasm
• Mattias Ekholm: 10 points in 25 games
• 15 other guys: 8 points or less

It had to be the most top-heavy Cup finalist we’ve ever witnessed. It was literally McDavid screaming to dig in and five guys going “yes sir” while the rest of the team dozed off. That’s not the case this year, as the Oilers have received startling levels of depth production. That depth is driving play at five-on-five, too, with the John Klingberg and Jake Walman pair being especially revelatory.

The Oilers look deeper than anyone expected. With a trio of superstars leading the way, that’s a problem for everyone else.

3. Dallas Stars, up 1-0 on Winnipeg

Last week: 7
Sean: 3
Dom: 2

Why this time is different: Mikko Rantanen is wearing green instead of burgundy

Last year when the Stars were two games away from the Stanley Cup final, it was hard not to look at the other side of the aisle with envy. The Oilers had two of the absolute best players in the world carrying them. The Stars did not.

They do now.

That wasn’t as clear at the start of the playoffs, as Rantanen seemed like half of a whole during his brief auditions with two new clubs. With Carolina he was an excellent play-driver, but the production wasn’t there. With the Stars, it was the opposite. Rantanen was still great, but he wasn’t Rantanen. Not the guy Dallas invested $96 million into. That hadn’t really changed halfway through the Avalanche series either, when it still didn’t feel like we’d seen the real Rantanen. As The Athletic’s Mark Lazerus wrote, it was “understandable but unacceptable.”

Since that point, everything has changed. Back-to-back hat tricks, four straight games with three or more points, and a point on 12 consecutive Stars goals. And suddenly, all the noise that surrounded Rantanen has disappeared, as he’s left little doubt that he’s one of the absolute best in the world.

The difference this year for Dallas is that the Stars finally have one of those players on their side. With a guy like Rantanen playing at that level — a literal unstoppable one-man show — the Stars are a tough team to bet against.

4. Carolina Hurricanes, tied 1-1 with Washington

Last week: 2
Sean: 4
Dom: 4

Why this time is different: Enough bounces are going their way

Certainly not all of them; it wouldn’t be a Hurricanes playoff series if they weren’t on the wrong end of the whole “puck luck” thing. In Game 1, they hit five posts. In Game 2, Washington scored its only five-on-five goal of the night off a botched dump-in that bounced off Sean Walker’s neck.

The point, though, is that Carolina still is leaving D.C. with a split series, and they still have an immense edge at five-on-five that should be revealed even more when Rod Brind’Amour can dictate the matchups. The Hurricanes aren’t going to get all the bounces; they’re good enough to be able to settle for a few.

5. Florida Panthers, down 2-0 against Toronto

Last week: 1
Sean: 6
Dom: 5

Why this time is different: The “other” Playoff Bobrovsky

We’re not here to throw dirt on Sergei Bobrovsky. Even before he added “Stanley Cup-winning goalie” to his resume, he’d made 70 postseason appearances — and plenty of them were outstanding. If you started paying attention to his work with the Blue Jackets, then returned last summer, “Playoff Bob” would only carry positive connotations.

Facts are facts, though, and Bobrovsky has far too many playoff stinkers to ignore. In a 2020 series against the Islanders, he put up a .900 save percentage and allowed nearly three goals above expected. The Panthers were swept. The next year against Tampa Bay, he blew up in Game 1, was benched for Chris Driedger in Game 2 and then was pulled again in Game 4. Spencer Knight finished out the series. In 2023, good as he was in the first three rounds, he ran out of gas against Vegas, getting pulled in Game 2 (four goals on nine shots) and allowing eight goals in Vegas’ Cup-clinching win.

If that guy shows up — at any point — the Panthers will be in trouble.

6. Washington Capitals, tied 1-1 with Carolina

Last week: 6
Sean: 5
Dom: 7

Why this time is different: Tom Wilson is A Star rather than just The Boogeyman

If you were to make a list of how things have changed for the Caps, year over year, it’d be long. Wilson’s return to form would have to be at the top, and Thursday’s game was a prime example. After an atrocious Game 1 against Carolina — Wilson in particular should’ve burned the game sheet — he dragged them back into it, making huge plays in his own end and on the power play, and grinding out enough five-on-five time to help it all stand up.

We know Wilson is a physical force. We know he’s intimidating. He’s also a talented, substantive hockey player. Now, two seasons removed from ACL surgery, he might be at his best.

7. Winnipeg Jets, down 1-0 against Dallas

Last week: 7
Sean: 7
Dom: 6

Why this time is different: They’re more than just Hellebuyck

It is extremely rare for a team to win a playoff series when the starter posts an .837 save percentage. It’s possibly even rarer when that team’s almost-entire identity is based on that starting goalie being literally the best in the world.

Somehow, the Winnipeg Jets pulled it off. As we all got our shots in on Hellebuyck (seriously, what the hell was that, dude?) it’s crucial not to forget that the team in front of him still pulled it off. And they also did it without their No. 1 center and No. 1 defenseman for the final game. This Jets team showed its mettle by dominating the run of play through the series and bouncing back from the adversity of their goalie not being able to stop a beach ball.

And if Hellebuyck ever does figure out how to translate his regular-season excellence to playoff dominance behind this team? Look out.

8. Vegas Golden Knights, down 2-0 against Edmonton

Last week: 2
Sean: 8
Dom: 8

Why this time is different: Uhhhhh

It’s hard to suss out a positive way in which things are different for Vegas. It feels like everything has changed for the worse, especially compared to the team’s magical championship run two seasons ago.

That year, Vegas went 9-3 at home in the playoffs. This time around, the Golden Knights are in a 2-0 hole against the Oilers in the second round and have completely squandered home-ice advantage.

That year, Vegas had red-hot scorers and shockingly elite goaltending. This time around, they’ve struggled to finish their chances and Adin Hill has looked, well, how most of us thought he’d look in 2023.

That year, Vegas had a plus-14 penalty differential over 22 games. This time around, the Golden Knights are still getting more calls than not — but not in overtime in Game 2, just seconds before Draisaitl put the team to bed. No team is on the ropes more at the moment. Woof.

9. Colorado Avalanche, eliminated by Dallas in 7

Last week: 7
Sean: 9
Dom: 9

Why this time was not different: Mikko Rantanen was wearing green instead of burgundy

Martin Necas may yet turn into a prime playoff performer, an ideal partner for Nathan MacKinnon and the second-best forward on a Stanley Cup-winning team, and he might do it for less than whatever they’d have paid Rantanen. But “decent underlying numbers and five points in the first round” isn’t going to put him anywhere close.

Ultimately, Colorado chose a cheaper, inferior player over a known commodity and had it blow up in their faces to a nearly cinematic degree. The second part of that wasn’t their fault; the first part — valuing a relatively minimal amount of salary-cap space over an elite, established talent and burgeoning franchise icon — is on them. They got cute, and they paid the price.

10. St. Louis Blues, eliminated by Winnipeg in 7

Last week: 10
Sean: 10
Dom: 10

Why this time was not different: Jim Montgomery — for better in many cases, but also worse in one crucial one

The 2024-25 Blues under Montgomery were a miracle, an elite tour de force that won games in dominant fashion. Proof that they had the talent all along, they just needed the right man behind the bench leading it. What Montgomery got out of this group this season was pure magic.

Within that, though, there was one fatal flaw: whatever the hell he’s telling them to do when the other net is empty. Under Montgomery, the Blues allowed 18 goals against per 60 with the other team’s net empty during the regular season, the second-worst mark in the league. The 2023-24 Bruins were also a bottom-five team in that regard and we all remember how the 2022-23 Bruins’ season ended in Game 7, too.

That all came to a head in the dying minutes of Game 7. The Blues were up 3-1 with less than two minutes to go. The Jets had their net empty. The rest is history.

(Photo of Chris Tanev: Claus Andersen / Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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