By Bob Trask – With a light schedule for today, I thought I would calculate my reverse power rankings before the weekend schedule was completed. For this edition of the power rankings I have tweaked my methodology to include the impact of recent performance (last 10 games) in addition to each team’s overall record and its goal differential. It impacts the results slightly but not significantly.

Keep in mind that the points earned are my reverse power ranking points and not a prediction of the points a team may earn during the season. What these points do illustrate however, is how close together some some teams are ranked, how close some are to making or missing the playoffs and how likely or unlikely a team is to make it into the top three with respect to draft picks.

Without further ado, here are the new rankings:

DRAFT POSITION	TEAM	POINTS
	Lottery Teams
1	Chicago Blackhawks	50.3
2	Anaheim Ducks	58.0
3	Columbus Blue Jackets	61.7
4	Arizona Coyotes	66.9
5	Philadelphia Flyers	68.5
6	San Jose Sharks	70.7
7	Montreal Canadiens	73.7
8	Nashville Predators	74.8
9	Detroit Red Wings	77.9
10	St. Louis Blues	78.1
11	Vancouver Canucks	81.5
12	Calgary Flames	83.8
13	Florida Panthers – traded to Montreal Canadiens	85.1
14	Edmonton Oilers	87.8
15	New York Islanders	88.9
16	Ottawa Senators	89.0
	Non-Lottery Teams
17	Colorado Avalanche	89.1
18	Los Angeles Kings	89.6
19	Buffalo Sabres	90.8
20	Seattle Kraken	91.3
21	Washington Capitals	93.1
22	New York Rangers	99.6
23	Minnesota Wild	99.7
24	Vegas Golden Knights	102.2
25	New Jersey Devils	103.7
26	Dallas Stars	103.7
27	Winnipeg Jets	106.2
28	Toronto Maple Leafs	108.0
29	Pittsburgh Penguins	108.1
30	Tampa Bay Lightning	108.6
31	Carolina Hurricanes	111.0
32	Boston Bruins	125.0

Takeaways

Because of the conference format and wildcard teams, some teams with fewer points could make the playoffs ahead of teams with more points. The Edmonton Oilers, for example, could make the playoffs while the Buffalo Sabres could be on the outside looking in despite having more points. It’s because the Western Conference is weaker than the Eastern Conference this year.

The Montreal Canadiens have “climbed” to #7 in the rankings and the upcoming road trip over the Christmas holidays will give us a better idea of what kind of team they are.

Buffalo has made it into the top 16 while Ottawa is knocking on the door. It would not be surprising to see both teams finish ahead of the Florida Panthers – and that would be good news for Canadiens fans.

Detroit has slipped in the rankings and with only 2 regulation wins in their last 10 games their lead over Montreal is slipping slightly. They are currently out of a wild card spot in the official NHL standings. While their points percentage is higher than Florida’s, other metrics indicate it will be a struggle for the Red Wings to remain ahead of the Panthers.

My power rankings currently have the Panthers with the #13 overall pick but what their record will be going forward may depend on the extent of the injury to Aleksander Barkov. At the moment that #13 pick looks very attractive to the Canadiens and it is not out of the realm of possibility for them to have 2 top 10 picks in June entry draft.

The Nashville Predators are the team closest to Montreal in the rankings and Habs fans should be cheering for them when they are not playing the Canadiens.

The trade deadline and the subsequent entry draft are shaping up to be very interesting for Montreal Canadiens’ fans. There should be a lot of action.

More reading…

• Some Interesting UFAs by Bob Trask
• Possible Player Movement by Bob Trask
• CTL Hot Stove – December 17th, 2022 by JD Lagrange