{"id":284403,"date":"2025-11-14T17:25:22","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T17:25:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/284403\/"},"modified":"2025-11-14T17:25:22","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T17:25:22","slug":"nhl-putrid-power-rankings-will-these-3-disappointing-teams-figure-it-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/284403\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL putrid power rankings: Will these 3 disappointing teams figure it out?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Red Light newsletter\u00a0\ud83c\udfd2\u00a0| This is\u00a0The Athletic\u2019s\u00a0hockey\u00a0newsletter.\u00a0Sign up here<\/a>\u00a0to receive Red Light directly in your inbox.<\/p>\n

Good morning, hockey folks. Here\u2019s hoping you\u2019re having as good a start to your fall as Nathan MacKinnon, who is on a blistering 150-point pace while leading the NHL in goals (14), assists (19) and points (33). His Avalanche improved to 12-1-5 last night.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s get to it.<\/p>\n

Will these 3 disappointing teams figure it out?<\/p>\n

With the NHL\u2019s schedule ultra-condensed due to the 2026 Olympics, we\u2019re zipping through the hockey calendar. Some teams will hit 20 games this weekend, so we can probably stop saying \u201cit\u2019s early\u201d every few sentences.<\/p>\n

U.S. Thanksgiving is less than two weeks away, and that\u2019s often a big demarcation line for teams to either bank a decent lead toward a playoff spot or fritter away enough points that the postseason looks unlikely.<\/p>\n

With that in mind, I gathered a few of our beat writers to chat about the three teams off to the most disappointing starts. Just how much trouble are they in? Are they contemplating firings or big trades? Is it salvageable?<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s my power ranking of putrid so far, leaving off teams such as Calgary and Nashville, which many expected to struggle this year:<\/p>\n

St. Louis Blues (6-8-3, 29th place)
\nVancouver Canucks (8-9-1, 28th place)
\nToronto Maple Leafs (8-8-2, 26th place)
\n\"\"<\/p>\n

\n (Patrick Smith \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Question 1: What\u2019s been the biggest problem(s)?<\/p>\n

\u2022 Jeremy Rutherford<\/a> on the Blues: \u201cNo. 1, they can\u2019t keep the puck out of the net. No. 2, they\u2019re getting very little offensive production from their top six. The Blues have the second-worst goals-against average (3.76) and worst save percentage (.869) in the league. In 17 games, they\u2019ve given up five-plus goals seven times. You can put a lot of the blame on the goaltenders \u2013 both have struggled mightily \u2013 but there\u2019s more to it than that.<\/p>\n

As for the lack of production, this says it all: Jake Neighbours leads in goals (six), and he\u2019s played just eight games. Pius Suter, a depth center and penalty-kill specialist, leads in points (10). Fourth-liner Oskar Sundqvist leads in assists (seven), and he\u2019s played nine games.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 Thomas Drance<\/a> on the Canucks: \u201cTheir penalty kill has been atrocious, the D-zone coverage has been beyond spotty and they\u2019ve struggled mightily to control play. Ultimately, though, we\u2019d have to spotlight the injuries<\/a>. The Canucks have used an astounding 28 skaters through 18 games. At center, Teddy Blueger and Filip Chytil have combined for seven games played at a position they were too shallow at to withstand such absences.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Jonas Siegel<\/a> on the Leafs, who lost to the Kings in OT last night: \u201cThe Leafs have been one of the worst defensive teams in the league<\/a>. They\u2019ve surrendered far too many odd-man rushes and other juicy scoring opportunities, leaving their goalies \u2013 mostly Anthony Stolarz \u2013 hanging out to dry. That\u2019s another big issue: The goaltending, under tremendous strain, hasn\u2019t been elite like it was last season<\/a>. Stolarz has struggled in year two as a Leaf, and Joseph Woll has yet to play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Question 2: Is the coach\/GM on the hot seat? Could a key player get traded?<\/p>\n

\u2022 Rutherford, Blues: \u201cThere definitely could be trades coming. The Blues\u2019 core has been under fire the past few seasons, but a near-upset of the Winnipeg Jets in last year\u2019s playoffs masked many of the issues. Now that they\u2019ve come back to earth, some fans seem to be in favor of dealing Jordan Kyrou, Pavel Buchnevich and perhaps even Robert Thomas. Kyrou was recently a healthy scratch<\/a>, and Buchnevich has zero even-strength points in his last 12 games. But all three have full no-trade clauses.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 Drance, Canucks: \u201cGM Patrik Allvin and president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford are now in their fifth season and have one playoff berth to show for it. A season where they severely underachieve could harm their job security, especially if a disappointing season further clouds captain Quinn Hughes\u2019 future.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 Siegel, Leafs: \u201cIf their current level of play keeps up a little longer, head coach Craig Berube\u2019s job could be in jeopardy<\/a>. He\u2019s only in his second season in Toronto, but expectations are so high \u2013 Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment president Keith Pelley recently told The Athletic\u2019s Pierre LeBrun that it was \u201cgo time\u201d<\/a> (whatever that means) \u2013 that if they continue to scuffle along, a change could be in order.\u201d<\/p>\n

Question 3: Do they play their way out of this and make the playoffs?<\/p>\n

\u2022 Rutherford, Blues: \u201cLast February, the Blues were on the outside looking in. But they went 19-4-3 in their last 26 games, helping them grab the No. 2 wild card in the West. It\u2019s only November and they\u2019re only a few points back, but there are a lot of teams ahead of them this time. I find it hard to believe<\/a> they could orchestrate another comeback like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 Drance, Canucks: \u201cIf they can fix their PK, get key bodies back and continue on an upward trajectory at five-on-five, there\u2019s a path to getting back into the mix. It won\u2019t be easy. Given Hughes\u2019 ability, we can\u2019t write them off just yet, but their pathway to competing for a playoff spot is getting narrower by the day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 Siegel, Leafs: \u201cIt\u2019s the likelier scenario given some of the talent at the top of the roster. John Tavares is having one of the best seasons of his career at 35, William Nylander might lead the league in scoring and Matthew Knies is stepping into stardom. And the Leafs have made the playoffs nine seasons in a row. To do it again, their defensive play will have to tighten considerably, their goaltending will have to improve and they\u2019ll have to find a way to keep hold of the puck more often.\u201d<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udca1 MirTrivia, November edition<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll warn you ahead of time: This one is a trick question \ud83e\ude84<\/p>\n

Connor Bedard (Chicago), Leo Carlsson (Anaheim) and Macklin Celebrini (San Jose) are all tied for third in NHL scoring with 26 points.<\/p>\n

When was the last time three players aged 20 and under have been top five in league scoring this far into a season?<\/p>\n

Coast to Coast\"\"<\/p>\n

\n (Bruce Bennett \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc99 The hockey journalism world lost a titan with the death of Larry Brooks<\/a> this week. I\u2019ll miss our chats, Brooksie \u2014 you were one of a kind.<\/p>\n

\ud83e\uddb7 As usual, Fluto Shinzawa has a good read here<\/a>: Why don\u2019t hockey players ever get their teeth fixed?<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udfc5 Speaking of the young guys lighting up the league this year, Sean McIndoe digs into the most important changing-of-the-guard seasons in NHL history<\/a>. I do believe we\u2019re in one this season.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udce3 Pierre LeBrun has his weekly rumblings from around the league<\/a>, including interesting tidbits on Leo Carlsson, Adrian Kempe, Steven Stamkos and Blake Coleman.<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udfb0 What are prediction markets, and why is the NHL partnering with them even as they face legal challenges? I took a deep dive into the latest odd shift<\/a> in the sports betting landscape.<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udfa4 On the latest episode of \u201cThe Athletic Hockey Show,\u201d<\/a> Hailey Salvian and Sean Gentille are joined by Michael Russo to talk about the Canada-USA Women\u2019s Rivalry Series and the slow start for the Wild.<\/p>\n

Cool Your Jets\"\"<\/p>\n

\n (Harry How \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

What is going on in Winnipeg?<\/p>\n

One team I didn\u2019t include in the disappointing list above was the Winnipeg Jets because, well, they\u2019ve been winning a decent number of games (10-7-0 after a rough 5-3 loss in Seattle last night).<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s the problem?<\/p>\n

Well, Winnipeg\u2019s underlying numbers are absolutely horrible. In terms of possession at even strength, they were 30th entering the Kraken game. In expected goals<\/a>, the Jets were last at 42.8 percent.<\/p>\n

That is not often a recipe for success in this league, even if you have Connor Hellebuyck playing out of his mind in net. In fact, it\u2019s more likely to be the profile of a lottery team. (It\u2019s where San Jose and Chicago were last year, percentage-wise.)<\/p>\n

So, I asked our Jets beat writer, the lovely Murat Ates<\/a>, if last year\u2019s Presidents\u2019 Trophy winners are in for some pain. He pointed to a run of injuries (Adam Lowry, Dylan Samberg and Cole Perfetti), as well as the loss of Nikolaj Ehlers as an unrestricted free agent, as part of the problem.<\/p>\n

But the Jets also now have \u201ca roster that\u2019s among the oldest<\/a> and slowest in the NHL<\/a>,\u201d Ates said. \u201cThat\u2019s put Winnipeg in its own zone more often, kept it there longer, and stopped the Jets from chaining together cycling shifts in the offensive zone. Good health will help (all three injured players have just come back), but Winnipeg\u2019s lack of pace is an element to keep an eye on.\u201d<\/p>\n

In other words, the Jets may be a team that slides back in a tough Central Division, especially with Utah knocking on the door. For more from Murat, here\u2019s one of his latest pieces<\/a> on the Jets\u2019 odd start.<\/p>\n

\ud83e\ude84 Your MirTrivia Answer<\/p>\n

The last time three 20-and-under players have been top-five in league scoring this late in a season was \u2026 never. In 108 NHL seasons. \ud83d\ude33<\/p>\n

The closest time was actually fairly recent, in 2016-17, when Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews and William Nylander were all top-five on Oct. 29 of that season. But that was only eight games into the season. (A young Wayne Gretzky, Laurie Boschman and Mike Gartner made it to Oct. 24 atop the league in 1980, too, but that was only seven games in.)<\/p>\n

The most 20-and-under players who have finished in the top five in scoring in the same season is just one, something that has happened 12 times. So, if Bedard and Celebrini are both there in April, it\u2019ll make NHL history. (Carlsson turns 21 next month.)<\/p>\n

Thanks to the fine folks at the NHL\u2019s stats department for those nuggets.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udceb Love Red Light? Check out The Athletic\u2019s other newsletters<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Red Light newsletter\u00a0\ud83c\udfd2\u00a0| This is\u00a0The Athletic\u2019s\u00a0hockey\u00a0newsletter.\u00a0Sign up here\u00a0to receive Red Light directly in your inbox. Good morning, hockey…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":284404,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85,3935,2370,2371],"class_list":{"0":"post-284403","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-st-louis-blues","13":"tag-toronto-maple-leafs","14":"tag-vancouver-canucks"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}