NHL 2025-26 Power Rankings: Week 3

So, let’s waste no time getting into the meat of the story with Week 3 of THW’s NHL Power Rankings!

32-16: No Parity For the Atlantic or Pacific Divisions

32. New York Rangers (Previously: 21)

31. Calgary Flames (Previously: 31)

30. San Jose Sharks (Previously: 32)

29. Boston Bruins (Previously: 22)

28. Minnesota Wild (Previously: 18)

27. St. Louis Blues (Previously: 12)

26. Tampa Bay Lightning (Previously: 30)

25. Philadelphia Flyers (Previously: 28)

24. Ottawa Senators (Previously: 24)

23. Toronto Maple Leafs (Previously: 15)

22. Los Angeles Kings (Previously: 29)

21. Columbus Blue Jackets (Previously: 20)

20. Buffalo Sabres (Previously: 25)

19. Nashville Predators (Previously: 26)

18. Anaheim Ducks (Previously: 27)

17. New York Islanders (Previously: 23)

16. Vancouver Canucks (Previously: 11)

Everyone knows that statistics suffer from small sample sizes, and right now with less than 10 games played by most of the league, this will create some rather silly stats that won’t hold true for the entire year. But sometimes, you have to look and wonder… how did we get here?

As of Sunday the 26th, between the Atlantic and Pacific Divisions, a total of three teams have a positive goal differential. That means 13 teams have a negative goal differential out of a total 16, and if you count overtime losses as losses, four of those 16 teams have a record above .500. Yes, this is a very specific moment in time, but still, I found that statisitic fascinating and explains why it feels like I’m watching a lot of bad hockey when these teams are on the TV.

When it comes to some news about these teams directly, you have to start with the Flames, who are, well, on fire right now. After overperforming last season, reality has set in again and proven that it might be time for a bit of a midseason retool for Calgary.

Elsewhere, the Lightning had their worst start in franchise history through seven games, the Wild have gone from a pre-season favorite to scraping the bottom of the barrel on this Rankings, the Rangers continued playing joyless hockey at home, and both the Maple Leafs and Blues had rough weeks where two teams I thought would be at least middle of the road this season looked like they might be in the lottery hunt again.

Also, I just have to shine a spotlight on the Rangers one more time before ending this section. In a somewhat unlikely statistic, they lost to the worst team in the NHL in back-to-back games. It just keeps getting worse in New York somehow.

15-12: NHL’s Disappearing Middle Class

15. Edmonton Oilers (Previously: 17)

14. Chicago Blackhawks (Previously: 19)

13. Dallas Stars (Previously: 7)

12. Florida Panthers (Previously: 16)

It’s been a bit of an odd week across the NHL. Typically, there’s a pretty defined best, worst, and middle section of the Rankings where I have teams I like but know are flawed at this point of the season. In my three seasons writing these Rankings, this middle section is usually the largest early on, as I can argue that teams 11-25 are all good in their own ways and may be bad in others, but I still like where they are heading in the first few weeks of the season.

The 2025-26 season has been an outlier to this theory, as I simply think most of the teams across the NHL have looked bad, and they are only beating each other to get their rare wins. This has left me with only four teams in the middle of the Rankings, and you can argue there should be fewer.

However, that doesn’t detract from how these teams are playing right now. First, the Blackhawks are defying all early-season expectations with some all-around great play so far. I’m especially impressed by Spencer Knight, who is looking like a genuine number-one goaltender to start the season.

With limited teams to talk about here, I can say that the Stars and Oilers were close to falling to the bottom of the Rankings this week. These teams just don’t look engaged with October hockey, which might be a hangover from back-to-back Western Conference appearances. I still think they have greatness in them, and I expect in the coming weeks for them to solidify their position back at the top of the league once again.

11-1: Devils, Mammoth Taking Aim at the NHL

11. Colorado Avalanche (Previously: 2)

10. Seattle Kraken (Previously: 9)

9. Pittsburgh Penguins (Previously: 13)

8. Detroit Red Wings (Previously: 8)

7. Winnipeg Jets (Previously: 4)

6. Washington Capitals (Previously: 6)

5. Carolina Hurricanes (Previously: 1)

4. Vegas Golden Knights (Previously: 3)

3. Montreal Canadiens (Previously: 10)

2. Utah Mammoth (Previously: 14)

1. New Jersey Devils (Previously: 5)

Well, we have our first two big surprises of the 2025-26 NHL season. First are the Devils, who have rocketed up this Ranking with eight straight wins despite injuries to their starting goaltender, Jacob Markstrom. This is a deep team with enough talent in their forward and defensive corps to maintain this level of play all season, assuming they can stay healthy. Right now, if you can only watch one game each day, New Jersey has my recommendation as must-watch TV.

The other big surprise are the Mammoth, who entered the season looking like a team that could be good, but needed a few things to go right for them. So far, they’ve gotten that and more, as their offense sits second in the league in goals for per game (behind the Devils), they are seventh overall for goals against, and they have some true star players growing into their game on both offense and defense. Overall, the vibes are right in Utah, and they may emerge as more than just a playoff threat should this continue.

For the rest of the top teams in the NHL, while there are no longer any teams without a regulation loss on the season, and every team in this part had games that I really liked this week, even if they had a few losses along the way. Overall, there’s a lot of good happening at this level of the Rankings, even if not every team is dominating each night.

Growing Sample Sizes Across the NHL

It doesn’t take long for spring to come early in the NHL. While slow starts can be waived away for a few weeks, we will soon start hearing about coaches on hot seats should their play not improve quickly for those franchises with big expectations.

So, I am expecting news off the ice to really start picking up soon. Once we get past Halloween, patience starts to wear thin, and you might see teams selling players early to not only maximize value but potentially set themselves up for a run at the top of the 2026 NHL Draft. For now, though, all we can do is look forward to the future NHL news and keep watching some fun (albeit sloppy) early-season hockey.