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

Carolina is surging upwards. For a while, they were playing excellent hockey, but it wasn’t showing in their results. Lately, the Hurricanes have finally begun to reap the benefits for their impressive play. Carolina has a xGF percentage of 53.20 percent, one of the best in the NHL. So maybe this surge is a sign of things to come. Hurricanes fans should be thankful for Jeff Skinner. He’s very unappreciated outside of Carolina, but he’s been impressive this season.

The Ottawa Senators have struggled to score goals so far this season. Until last week, their defense was doing a good enough job to overcome it. Two bad losses to the Panthers and Predators have them out of a playoff spot. Ottawa scores just 2.06 goals per game, second worst in the NHL. Moreover, their even strength expected goals for percentage (xGF percentage) of 49.08 percent isn’t promising. Ottawa should be thankful for their phenomenal goaltending, which has stolen points for them all season long. And of course, Erik Karlsson is always worth giving thanks for.

Yes, the Panthers have a worse record than the Senators. However, keep in mind they’ve been without Nick Bjugstad and Jonathan Huberdeau all season. It’s kind of amazing they’ve been hanging in there despite so many struggles. Their 48.67 percent xGF percentage isn’t good, but once they get healthy, there’s no reason it shouldn’t improve. Aaron Ekblad has been disappointing and is perhaps missing Brian Campbell. They had a very impressive 3-2 win over the New York Rangers on Sunday. Florida fans should be extremely thankful for Jonathan Marchessault, who has been arguably the biggest bargain of the offseason.