Streaking Avalanche Soar to Top of NHL Power Rankings
Bruins Tumble From Top Five
Two of the four divisions feature teams are tied with 97 points while only the Pacific Division-leading Vancouver Canucks have a division lead of more than one point so things will get interesting in the coming weeks. It should not be a surprise that the four division leaders are all featured among the top five teams in the weekly NHL power ratings.
Columbus, Anaheim, Chicago and San Jose have been eliminated from the playoffs.

Vancouver continues to lead in goal differential and is slowly moving in the right direction in our NHL playoff odds, while the Florida Panthers lead the way among the favorites in our Stanley Cup odds.
Here’s a look at the current top and bottom five teams in the NHL.
Top Five
1. Colorado Avalanche
Colorado has been living dangerously with four of the last seven games heading to overtime, but it is hard to argue with a nine-game winning streak.
The Avalanche are still being pushed by the Dallas Stars in the race for the Central Division title with both teams tied with 97 points while Winnipeg has the most regulation wins among the teams in the division.
Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon has points in each of his last 16 games with 13 multi-point games during that stretch. The recently acquired Casey Mittlestadt has five points over his last six games.
A huge game is coming up on Thursday against the New York Rangers in a clash of two of the teams fighting it out for the Presidents’ Trophy.
Colorado has covered against the Las Vegas NHL odds in 21 home games, one off the NHL lead.
- Colorado Avalanche Stanley Cup odds: +800
2. Carolina Hurricanes
Although Carolina is a point behind the New York Rangers in the Metropolitan Division race, it is hard to argue with an 8-1-1 record over the last 10 games or a division-leading +52 goal differential.
Carolina was active at the trade deadline with the acquisitions of forward Evgeny Kuznetsov and Jake Guenzel. Guentzel has at least two points in four of his eight games with the Hurricanes while Kuznetsov had a four-game stretch with a goal and four assists. They are part of the reason why Carolina’s NHL championship odds have gone from +1300 to +800 over the last month.
Each of the last three games for Carolina have been decided by one goal with the Hurricanes topping Toronto 2-1 the last time out.
Things will be emotional for Guentzel on Tuesday when he heads to Pittsburgh as a visiting player for the first time.
- Carolina Hurricanes Stanley Cup odds: +800
3. New York Rangers
The Rangers haven’t suffered back-to-back losses since Jan. 18 and 20. Since then, New York is 18-4-1. In its last two games, the Rangers have wins over the Boston Bruins and Florida Panthers, two teams they may run into during the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Keep an eye on the NHL schedule as New York’s first five games in April come against teams currently out of the NHL playoff structure.
Since the end of the NHL All-Star break, Artemi Panarin has 13 goals, 20 assists and a plus/minus rating of +17 to lead New York’s surge to the top of the Eastern Conference standings.
Artemi Panarin is a New York Ranger. pic.twitter.com/flWgcUq1Km
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) March 24, 2024
The Rangers are 7-1-2 in their last 10 one-goal games so this is a team that could be around for a while in the postseason.
- New York Rangers Stanley Cup odds: +1000
4. Florida Panthers
No team in the Eastern Conference has a better goal differential than the Panthers. Their 25 road wins top the NHL so the Panthers will be among the teams to beat again after reaching the Stanley Cup Final a season ago.
After a six-game winning streak, the Panthers have cooled off a bit with a 3-4-1 record over the last eight games, but that is still enough to move back into first place in the Atlantic Division since Florida has played one fewer game and has six more regulation wins than the Boston Bruins. The Panthers are also listed as the Stanley Cup favorite according to BetUs sportsbook.
Sergei Bobrovsky has a 2.38 goals-against average, his lowest since the 2016-17 season when he was with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Sam Reinhart recently scored his 50th goal after not scoring more than 33 goals in any of his other nine NHL seasons.
Florida leads the NHL with 45 of its games landing under the total.
- Florida Panthers Stanley Cup odds: +700
5. Vancouver Canucks
It has been a bit of a roller-coaster ride for the Canucks. After a three-game winning streak, Vancouver ended February with a 1-5-1 record – the lone win coming in overtime. A four-game winning streak was followed by back-to-back losses and then three wins in a row.
Vancouver still has a 10-point lead in the Pacific Division, easily the most among the four division leaders.
More was expected from Elias Lindholm than nine points and a -5 defensive rating in 22 games since he was acquired from the Calgary Flames. However, veteran defenseman Nikita Zadorov has added some physicality on the blue line for the Canucks.
Keep an eye on the updates of when starting goalie Thatcher Demko will be returning to the ice as he hasn’t played since Mar. 9.
So far this season, 21 of Vancouver’s 35 road games have landed over the total.
- Vancouver Canucks Stanley Cup odds: +1300
Bottom Five
28. Anaheim Ducks
Another high draft pick is headed to Anaheim as a 2-7-1 mark over the last 10 games has the Ducks out of the playoffs once again.
Adam Henrique was the only key veteran traded away at the deadline so it looks like 30-goal scorer Frank Vatrano, Troy Terry and defenseman Cam Fowler will be part of the rebuild.
Anaheim has been held to two goals or less in 10 of its last 12 games with the Ducks being shut out three times in the last six games.
- Anaheim Ducks Stanley Cup odds: Anaheim has been eliminated from playoff contention.
29. Columbus Blue Jackets
Columbus is the only Eastern Conference team that has been eliminated from the playoffs.
The Blue Jackets have lost their last three games and have been outscored 14-4 since taking a 2-0 lead against Detroit only to lose in overtime.
Five of the top nine scorers are 23 or younger so there is some hope for the future. Alex Nylander has eight goals and 11 points in 15 games since being acquired from the Pittsburgh Penguins so that is another player to help the Blue Jackets in the coming seasons.
- Columbus Blue Jackets Stanley Cup odds: Columbus has been eliminated from playoff contention.
30. Chicago Blackhawks
There will be no playoffs during the debut season for star rookie Connor Bedard as the Blackhawks are one of three Western Conference teams eliminated from the playoffs.
Despite missing 14 games, Bedard leads Chicago with 21 goals and 34 assists. He continues to be among the leaders in the Calder Trophy odds. Bedard is also one of 10 players with a plus/minus rating of -20 or worse so there is still plenty of work to be done after Chicago shipped off many of its top players in its tanking quest that resulted in Bedard landing with the Blackhawks.
Chicago is -99 in goal differential and is about to join the San Jose Sharks as the only teams to allow at least 100 more goals than they have scored.
Chicago is just 10-25 against the NHL spread on the road, with 14 of those games finishing over the total.
- Chicago Blackhawks Stanley Cup odds: Chicago has been eliminated from playoff contention.
31. Arizona Coyotes
Arizona is 6-6 since ending a 14-game losing streak. However, two recent losses to Chicago keep the Coyotes from moving up further in the weekly NHL power rankings.
One of the great mysteries of this season is how veteran forward Nick Bjugstad has a +9 defensive rating since the NHL All-Star Game while no other Arizona forward has a positive plus/rating during that time.
- Arizona Coyotes Stanley Cup odds: +50000
32. San Jose Sharks
An overtime loss to the Chicago Blackhawks in a matchup of two of the worst teams in the NHL gives the No. 32 spot to the Sharks.
San Jose has won just one of its last nine games decided by one goal and has the fewest points, the fewest wins and the fewest regulation wins in the NHL.
The Sharks began the month of March with five of their first six games being decided by one goal. However, San Jose won just one of those games.
It is not a good sign that two of San Jose’s top five scorers are no longer with the team and defenseman Nikita Okhotiuk, one of the pieces in the trade that sent Timo Meier to New Jersey, has already been traded.
Only 15 of San Jose’s home games have gone over the total.
- San Jose Sharks Stanley Cup odds: San Jose has been eliminated from playoff contention.
Questions Of The Day
Which NHL team has the best ATS record this season?
The Montreal Canadiens are 45-25 against the spread this season with the Philadelphia Flyers next at 45-26.
Who is the leading scorer in the NHL?
Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov has 123 points despite having his 13-game point streak snapped. Nathan MacKinnon of Colorado has 122 points.