NHL power ratings: Avalanche still on top entering Week 24 of the season

With less than three weeks remaining in the 2025-26 NHL regular season, the Colorado Avalanche appear to be on their way to winning the Presidents’ Trophy for the fourth time since their inception in 1985-86. Looking at the remainder of their schedule, there’s little doubt they’ll accomplish the feat.

The Avalanche, who last finished atop the league in the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season, have an eight-point lead over the Dallas Stars with nine games remaining on their slate. Since five of those contests are against three teams that rank in the bottom five in the overall standings, it’s difficult to imagine they will let the trophy slip out of their grasp.

Colorado went 2-1-0 in Week 23, splitting a home-and-home series against the Winnipeg Jets before demolishing the Calgary Flames 9-2 on Monday. The Avalanche (49-14-10), who meet the Flames two more times before the campaign concludes, are one victory away from reaching 50 for the sixth time in franchise history and have an outside chance to eclipse their record for most wins in a season (56 in 2021-22).

The Stars (44-18-12) only have eight games left on their schedule but must defeat the Boston Bruins and Jets prior to a showdown with Colorado this Saturday to keep alive their hopes for their third overall Presidents’ Trophy and first since 1998-99. Dallas’ recent play suggests those chances are very slim, as it has won just one of its last six contests (1-4-1).

In fact, the Stars are in danger of losing their hold on second place in the league standings as the Tampa Bay Lightning (46-21-6), Carolina Hurricanes (46-21-6) and Buffalo Sabres (45-21-8) trail them by just two points, with the Lightning and Hurricanes both having a game in hand. Dallas wraps up its four-game road trip Tuesday at Boston, which — along with the Montreal Canadiens and Philadelphia Flyers — went 3-0-0 in Week 23.

The Edmonton Oilers and Washington Capitals also went undefeated, winning both of their games, while Tampa Bay earned five of a possible six points (2-0-1). Meanwhile, six teams failed to get in the win column last week, with the Chicago Blackhawks, Florida Panthers, Nashville Predators and Vancouver Canucks all going 0-3-0.

Each week during the season, I’ll rank the league’s top 10 teams based on both the previous week’s performances and overall body of work in 2025-26. I’ll also give brief synopsis for each club that explains why they’re ranked where they are.

Let’s dive into the power ratings entering Week 24 of the 2025-26 NHL season and highlight a few of the teams’ notable accomplishments.

NHL Week 24 power ratings 

1. Colorado Avalanche (2-1-0 in Week 23; 49-14-10 overall)

After scoring a total of five goals in the home-and-home series against Winnipeg, the Avalanche tied their season high with nine versus Calgary. Acquired from the Flames at the trade deadline, Nazem Kadri tallied twice against his former team, while four different players recorded a goal and two assists. One of them was Nathan MacKinnon, who collected five points in Week 23 and is four behind Edmonton Oilers superstar Connor McDavid (124) in the race for the Art Ross Trophy. The 2024 Hart Trophy winner, MacKinnon hasn’t gone more than two consecutive games without a point this season, and he’s done that only twice. Colorado also received strong offensive performances from a pair of unlikely players as Parker Kelly recorded two goals and three assists while Jack Drury netted a pair of tallies and set up two others. Kadri also notched two assists to join Drury, Martin Necas (one goal, three assists) and defenseman Cale Makar (four assists) with four points. Makar set up three goals against the Flames but exited the contest with an upper-body injury 

2. Buffalo Sabres (1-1-1; 45-21-8)

The Sabres began Week 23 by squandering a third-period lead and dropping a 4-3 overtime decision to Boston in the opener of a four-game home stand. They followed with a 5-2 setback against the Detroit Red Wings but bounced back by edging the Seattle Kraken in a shootout, ending a three-game overall slide (0-1-2) – their longest since early December. Tage Thompson led the team with four points (one goal, three assists) and scored the decisive goal in the shootout win over Seattle. Jason Zucker tallied twice versus the Bruins while defenseman Rasmus Dahlin has converted in back-to-back contests and is three shy of the career high of 20 goals he set in 2023-24. Buffalo is tied with Tampa Bay atop the Atlantic Division and is on the verge of ending its 14-season playoff drought — the longest active dry spell in the NHL.

3. Carolina Hurricanes (1-1-0; 46-21-6)

Carolina split a pair of home games last week, defeating the New Jersey Devils 5-2 before falling to the Canadiens 3-1. Despite having lost two of their last three contests, the Hurricanes own an eight-point lead in the Metropolitan Division and are tied with Buffalo and Tampa Bay for the top spot in the Eastern Conference. Seth Jarvis had a goal and an assist in Week 23 and is riding a six-game point streak, during which he has collected two tallies and seven assists. Sebastian Aho notched an assist in each of the team’s contests and has landed on the score sheet in five of his last six outings. Meanwhile, Nikolaj Ehlers has amassed 10 points over his past eight games (three goals, seven assists).

4. Tampa Bay Lightning (2-0-1; 46-21-6)

The Lightning enter Week 24 with an eight-game point streak (6-0-2) after going 2-0-1 last week. They followed an overtime loss to Seattle with victories over the Ottawa Senators and Predators, winning both contests without the services of Nikita Kucherov (illness). The 32-year-old Russian right wing, who is second in the NHL with 121 points, notched an assist against the Kraken to extend his point streak to six games (six goals, nine assists). Jake Guentzel collected six points in Week 23 and is riding a four-game goal-scoring streak while rookie defenseman Charle-Edouard D’Astous has netted one tally and set up five others over his last four outings. Guentzel, D’Astous, Corey Perry and Brandon Hagel all landed on the score sheet in each of Tampa Bay’s three contests last week. Norwegian blue-liner Emil Lilleberg has recorded a goal and three assists in his last two games after amassing only six points over his first 39 appearances this season.

5. Dallas Stars (1-1-1; 44-18-12)

Dallas has won just one of its last six games (1-3-2) and scored fewer than three goals in five of its past seven outings. The club was held to one tally in two of its three contests last week, although it welcomed back Mikko Rantanen from the lower-body injury he suffered while representing Finland in the Winter Olympics. The 29-year-old right wing’s return from a 15-game absence was a productive one as he scored a goal and set up another in the Stars’ 6-3 triumph over the Pittsburgh Penguins last Saturday to extend his point streak to six games. Mavrik Bourque (two goals, one assist) and captain Jamie Benn (three assists) had three points apiece in Week 23, but Wyatt Johnston has been kept off the score sheet in three straight contests for the first time since a four-game stretch from Nov. 15-22.

6. Montreal Canadiens (3-0-0; 42-21-10)

The Canadiens continued rolling last week, winning all three of their contests to extend their streak to five games. Montreal, which trails Atlantic co-leaders Tampa Bay and Buffalo by four points, allowed just one goal in each of the three victories and has given up three or fewer in seven consecutive outings. Goaltender Jakub Dobes hasn’t permitted more than two tallies in any of his last five starts, going 4-1-0 over that stretch, and is the first Montreal rookie to post 25 wins since Steve Penney recorded 26 in 1984-85. Nick Suzuki has registered back-to-back multi-point performances and leads the team with 91 points, eclipsing the career high he set last season (89). Cole Caufield was kept off the scoresheet by the Columbus Blue Jackets last Thursday, ending his six-game point streak, but got back on track by scoring at Nashville in the opener of a five-game road trip two days later and notching a goal and an assist versus Carolina the following night.

7. Minnesota Wild (1-1-0; 41-21-12)

Minnesota edged Florida 3-2 last Thursday but ended its three-game road trip two days afterward with its sixth loss in nine overall contests (3-5-1), a 6-3 setback at Boston. The Wild have scored three goals or fewer in five straight games and eight of their last nine. Ryan Hartman converted in both contests last week and also notched an assist, Mats Zuccarello netted a tally and set up another and defensemen Quinn Hughes and Brock Faber picked up two assists apiece. The 23-year-old Faber is four assists shy of the career high of 39 he set in 2023-24 and has gotten on the scoresheet in five of his last six outings.

8. Boston Bruins (3-0-0; 42-24-8)

The Bruins, who occupy the first wild-card spot in the East, have earned at least one point in 11 of their last 13 games (8-2-3) and are two behind Montreal for third place in the Atlantic. Boston began last week with triumphs over Buffalo and Minnesota but appeared on its way to a loss at Columbus on Sunday as it trailed 3-0 after two periods. However, Pavel Zacha set up defenseman Charlie McAvoy’s goal before scoring two of his own — both on the power play, with the latter coming with 11 seconds remaining, to knot the contest. Viktor Arvidsson, who notched three assists in the contest to finish Week 23 with six points, netted the decisive tally in the shootout. The two-goal effort was the second in a row by the 28-year-old Zacha, who also scored one versus the Sabres and has landed on the score sheet in eight of his last nine outings — amassing nine tallies and five assists in that span. David Pastrnak racked up a goal and four assists in the Bruins’ first two Week 23 contests as he extended his point streak to 12 games before coming up empty against the Blue Jackets.

9. Pittsburgh Penguins (2-1-0; 37-21-16)

Pittsburgh sandwiched road wins over Ottawa and the New York Islanders around a home loss to Dallas last week, doing so without Evgeni Malkin (upper body). Captain Sidney Crosby also missed the setback against the Stars due to a lower-body ailment but returned to notch two assists versus the Islanders and has recorded at least one point in five of six outings since coming back from the lower-body injury he suffered while playing for Canada in the Olympics. Defenseman Erik Karlsson registered a goal and two assists in back-to-back contests last week before being kept off the score sheet in Monday’s 8-3 rout of New York. The three-time Norris Trophy winner has posted multi-point performances in eight of his last 12 appearances. Rickard Rakell scored twice against both the Senators and Isles while also picking up two assists in Week 23, while Anthony continued his career-best campaign by netting three goals and setting up another. The 31-year-old right wing has set personal highs of 29 goals, 28 assists and 57 points in his first season with the Penguins after having spent his first 10 with four different teams.

10. New York Islanders (2-1-0; 42-28-5)

The Islanders were on their way to a 3-0-0 week before falling apart against Pittsburgh on Monday. They owned a 3-1 lead midway through the second period before allowing seven unanswered goals en route to the 8-3 setback. The loss allowed the Penguins to move one point ahead of New York for second place in the Metropolitan and kept the Isles just one ahead of Columbus. Matthew Schaefer has gone five games without a goal and remains one behind Washington’s Jakob Chychrun (23) for most among NHL defensemen. But the 18-year-old began Week 23 with back-to-back two-assist performances and has amassed 56 points, one fewer than Montreal’s Ivan Demidov and Beckett Sennecke of the Anaheim Ducks for the rookie lead. Brayden Schenn has scored two goals and set up two others in his last two games, matching the point total over his first 10 contests with the Isles after being acquired from the St. Louis Blues at the trade deadline. Rookie Calum Ritchie also had a solid offensive week, collecting four points (one goal, three assists), and enters Week 24 with a career high-tying four-game point streak.