NHL Power Rankings Week 7: Blue Jackets rising, Islanders at rock bottom

In this week’s NHL Power Rankings, each team has something to be thankful for. Especially the Columbus Blue Jackets. 

A good barometer for whether or not your favorite NHL team is a contender is to look at how they’re doing on the fourth Thursday of November. American Thanksgiving is a good point to stop viewing things as small sample sizes and start looking at the bigger picture.

Is that always the case? Of course not. Last season’s Philadelphia Flyers and Anaheim Ducks proved you can overcome a very slow start and still make the playoffs. However, neither of those two teams advanced past the first round. And they are exceptions to the rule, not the norm.

With the addition of the point teams get if they go into overtime, overcoming a standings deficit is far harder than you think. It’s still only November, but now’s the time when contenders separate themselves from the pack.

That time has yet to occur for the Eastern Conference. Looking at point percentage, 11 of the top 16 teams in the NHL are from the east. The Western Conference has been weak so far this season, but history suggests this won’t be the case for the rest of the season. To be fair, it has been dragged down significantly by the weakness of the Pacific Division.

These rankings will be compiled by a team’s record, who they have beaten, and how they have looked in games. A tough loss to a very good team isn’t the worst thing in the world if you play well. The team’s record certainly counts, but so do a lot of other things. All stats, unless otherwise noted, are courtesy of Corsica. If you’re curious about expected goals, which will be referenced throughout the rankings, here’s a good reading.

In case you’d like to reference last week’s power rankings, you can find them here. To honor Thanksgiving and to spread some positivity, these rankings will include something each team should be thankful for this season.