NHL Power Rankings, Week 1: Edmonton on Top (2026-27)

Our first power rankings of the season, with teams 2 to 5 games in.

This season's results are measured three ways: points percentage (50%), expected goals share (30%) and the last 10 games (20%). This early, the last 10 is the same handful of games as the season record, so it carries the smallest weight. The expected goals numbers are this season's only, all situations, over three to five games each. They will move a lot.

#	Team	Record	Home	Away	GF	GA	Pts%	xGF%	Opp
1	Edmonton Oilers	3-0-1	1-0-1	2-0-0	22	16	.875	56.2	23.5
2	Vegas Golden Knights	3-1-0	1-1-0	2-0-0	17	10	.750	63.5	24.2
3	Colorado Avalanche	2-1-0	2-0-0	0-1-0	16	8	.667	57.9	21.7
4	Carolina Hurricanes	2-1-1	0-1-1	2-0-0	11	12	.625	58.6	18.0
5	Buffalo Sabres	2-1-0	2-0-0	0-1-0	10	11	.667	60.2	19.0
6	Minnesota Wild	2-0-1	1-0-0	1-0-1	9	5	.833	49.0	14.3
7	New York Rangers	4-1-0	3-0-0	1-1-0	16	8	.800	57.3	16.8
8	Utah Mammoth	3-1-0	1-0-0	2-1-0	17	8	.750	57.6	20.8
9	Tampa Bay Lightning	2-1-0	2-0-0	0-1-0	8	7	.667	59.1	17.0
10	Winnipeg Jets	3-0-1	1-0-1	2-0-0	12	10	.875	48.3	14.0
11	Florida Panthers	2-0-2	0-0-0	2-0-2	8	8	.750	55.4	16.8
12	Ottawa Senators	2-1-0	0-0-0	2-1-0	10	8	.667	49.4	20.3
13	Pittsburgh Penguins	2-2-0	1-1-0	1-1-0	18	13	.500	55.9	17.8
14	Washington Capitals	2-1-0	1-0-0	1-1-0	11	8	.667	46.0	8.7
15	Anaheim Ducks	2-1-0	1-1-0	1-0-0	9	10	.667	46.6	4.7
16	Boston Bruins	2-2-0	1-1-0	1-1-0	9	11	.500	45.6	8.8
17	Montreal Canadiens	1-1-1	0-1-0	1-0-1	12	14	.500	44.2	12.7
18	Dallas Stars	1-2-0	1-1-0	0-1-0	6	6	.333	54.3	22.3
19	San Jose Sharks	2-1-0	2-0-0	0-1-0	9	12	.667	39.4	19.3
20	Columbus Blue Jackets	1-1-0	1-1-0	0-0-0	7	7	.500	49.5	6.5
21	Toronto Maple Leafs	2-2-0	2-2-0	0-0-0	11	11	.500	51.0	19.5
22	Nashville Predators	1-1-1	1-1-0	0-0-1	7	9	.500	44.8	15.0
23	Seattle Kraken	2-2-0	1-1-0	1-1-0	15	11	.500	45.1	16.8
24	Detroit Red Wings	1-2-0	1-2-0	0-0-0	7	8	.333	51.7	9.7
25	New Jersey Devils	1-2-0	1-1-0	0-1-0	6	13	.333	54.2	21.7
26	St. Louis Blues	1-2-0	0-0-0	1-2-0	7	10	.333	49.3	17.3
27	New York Islanders	1-2-0	1-0-0	0-2-0	9	7	.333	44.4	17.7
28	Vancouver Canucks	2-2-0	1-2-0	1-0-0	19	18	.500	42.8	9.0
29	Los Angeles Kings	0-2-1	0-1-0	0-1-1	9	15	.167	52.9	11.0
30	Philadelphia Flyers	0-2-2	0-1-1	0-1-1	5	17	.250	29.4	12.8
31	Chicago Blackhawks	1-3-0	1-0-0	0-3-0	9	17	.250	35.4	10.2
32	Calgary Flames	0-3-0	0-1-0	0-2-0	3	16	.000	43.1	24.7

Opp is the average power ranking of the teams each club has played so far. Lower means a tougher schedule. Click any column to sort. xGF% is all situations.

The top five

The Oilers lead the league with 22 goals in four games, and the two players driving it sit first and second in NHL scoring. Connor McDavid has 12 points (3 goals, 9 assists) and is +11. Evan Bouchard is right behind him with 11 points, and his 6 goals lead the league, from the blue line. Add Leon Draisaitl's 9 points and three of the league's top four scorers are Oilers.

They have 56.2% of expected goals behind them, though the schedule has helped: two of their four games came against Vancouver, and their opponents average 23.5 in this week's ranking. The one soft spot is the penalty kill, at 64.3%. Last night's 5-2 win in Anaheim was their widest margin yet.

Vegas has 63.5% of expected goals, the highest share in the league, and a +7 goal differential. Jack Eichel has 10 points, third in the NHL, and 8 of them are assists. Tomas Hertl has 3 goals, all of them on a power play that is converting at 31.2%.

The one loss was 4-3 at home to Anaheim. Like Edmonton, they have had a soft start, with opponents averaging 24.2.

Colorado has outscored opponents 14-5 in two home wins, 8-4 over Los Angeles and 6-1 over St. Louis, then lost 3-2 in Winnipeg last night. Their +8 is tied for the second-best goal differential in the league.

Special teams have done a lot of the work. The penalty kill is perfect, one of two in the league along with Minnesota, and the power play is at 40%. Artturi Lehkonen has 3 goals, two of them on the power play, and Nathan MacKinnon leads the team with 5 points.

Carolina has been outscored 12-11, and still ranks fourth. The reason is 58.6% of expected goals: the Hurricanes are creating more than they allow and the goals have not caught up.

Sebastian Aho is carrying the scoring with 4 goals and 7 points, and 3 of those goals came on the power play. Andrei Svechnikov has 4 points. The penalty kill is at 89.5%. Both wins came on the road, the second a 6-4 win in Montreal on Tuesday.

Buffalo has the second-best expected goals share in the league at 60.2%, behind only Vegas. Owen Power leads the team with 5 points (1 goal, 4 assists) from the blue line, and Tage Thompson has 2 goals and 4 points.

The power play is the gap: it is one of five in the league without a goal yet. The Sabres opened with a 6-3 loss in Columbus, then won two straight at home, 4-3 over Chicago and 3-2 in overtime against Minnesota.

The bottom five

No team has allowed more than Vancouver's 18 goals, and Kevin Lankinen has been in net for 16 of them. He has an .824 save percentage over three games. Two of the four games came against Edmonton, a 6-5 overtime win and a 9-7 loss, and the Canucks are at 42.8% of expected goals while allowing 30 shots a game.

The Kings have 52.9% of expected goals and nothing to show for it. Darcy Kuemper is 0-2 with an .831 save percentage, and Artemi Panarin is -4 through three games. Adrian Kempe has one goal on 12 shots.

They lost 8-4 in Colorado, 5-4 in overtime in San Jose and 2-1 at home to Florida. On the underlying numbers, no team in the bottom five has played better.

The Flyers have the lowest expected goals share in the league at 29.4%, five goals in four games, and a power play that has not scored. No Flyer has more than two points. Tyson Foerster is -6, and Travis Konecny has no goals on 6 shots.

Dan Vladar is 0-2 with an .863 save percentage, and the Flyers are allowing 39.5 shots a game. They opened with a 7-0 loss at home to Pittsburgh. Their two points both came from overtime losses, 3-2 to New Jersey and 3-2 to Carolina.

Chicago opened with three straight road losses, including 6-0 in Utah, then beat St. Louis 4-2 in their home opener. At 35.4% of expected goals, only Philadelphia is lower.

Patrick Kane has one point and is -4, and Ryan Donato is -5. Arvid Soderblom allowed 6 goals on 32 shots in his only start.

Help is on the way. Connor Bedard has not played yet: he is on injured reserve with a shoulder injury and is expected to be out until at least November 7. Chicago will benefit greatly when he is back.

Calgary is the only team without a point, and has scored one goal in each of its three games: 6-1 and 6-1 against Seattle and 4-1 in Vancouver. Three goals is the fewest in the league.

Dustin Wolf has allowed 12 goals in two starts, a .797 save percentage. Mikael Backlund has 9 shots and no goals, and Morgan Frost is -6.

Next week's rankings will show who moved and by how much.