NHL power rankings: Where do teams stand as November begins?

The first month of the 2019-20 NHL season is in the books. Here’s where all 31 teams stand at the precipice of November.

October has come and gone, and with it the first month of the 2019-20 NHL season. The rust has, seemingly, been shaken off of most of the 31 teams across the league, and the dust is starting to settle on the early shakeups of the first few weeks of play.

Friday marks the first day of November, and with it begins the NHL’s second month of play. It’s a long road until the end of the regular season in the beginning of April, and mostly all 31 NHL teams are still in playoff contention as winter closes in.

Power ranking the NHL teams is difficult week-to-week with how many games go on in a seven day time period, but here’s how we see the league shaping up after the first month of play.

The Devils offseason moves may have impressed many, but their play on-ice this season has been nothing but with just two wins in the month of October.

Not much to say about the team many believed to be the worst in the NHL this season. Maybe next time.

The Red Wings are in full tank mode after losing eight straight in the middle of October. Detroit’s opening week was solid, but was unsustainable from the start.

The Kings’ have the league’s worst goal differential (-20) and have lost four straight. Not a great mix to end their first month of the 2019-20 season.

It’s sadness season in San Jose. Adding veteran Patrick Marleau back into the mix hasn’t been able to stop the sands of time from passing this team by.

Rookie Kaapo Kakko isn’t happy and the Rangers benched, and then lost, major prospect Vitali Kravstov to the KHL (though he can be recalled if needed) within a few days of one another.

This year was never going to be the Wild’s year, and with an aging core of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, Minnesota seems destined for a date with the NHL’s basement.

Brent Seabrook hasn’t looked like he’s able to keep up in the league — though he insists otherwise — and has been scratched for Chicago for two straight games. The Blackhawks also have the NHL’s fewest goals on the season (25) in 11 games played.

The Stars started out the 2019-20 season dreadfully, but have won four of their last five games. A comeback win over Minnesota doesn’t get many brownie points, but a light 13-game schedule in November might kick them back into gear.

The Blue Jackets did not impress in the month of October, but they notched overtime wins against tough opponents in the Carolina Hurricanes, Toronto Maple Leafs and Buffalo Sabres. Losing so much star power in the offseason hasn’t sunk them quite yet.

The Jets have lost five of their last seven games, and their defensive woes are likely to continue with the news that Dustin Byfuglien had ankle surgery without the team’s involvement. It’s been a tough month of October for the folks in Winnipeg.

The overall numbers say the Flyers have been one of the league’s best teams, but bad luck then terrible play against two division rivals has fans wondering if this is the same old Flyers under a new coat of paint. Survey says: unlikely, but the team effort needs to be there.

Sergei Bobrovsky has not impressed in the first year with his new team, with a .873 save percentage over 11 games played. Allowing the second most goals in the NHL (51) isn’t going to cut it if the Panthers want to get back to the playoffs for the first time since the 2015-16 season.

On the other end of the goaltending spectrum, John Gibson is doing his best to keep the Ducks afloat after one month of play. New head coach Dallas Eakins has the team playing well, but Gibson can only do so much.

Matthew Tkachuk and Johnny Gaudreau are finally heating up for Calgary, and their impressive comeback win over the Nashville Predators on Thursday could give this team the spark it needs to pull it together after a so-so month of October.

Toronto is missing captain John Tavares, but the high-flying Maple Leafs offense keeps being undone by the team’s inability to play defense. The Maple Leafs have the third-worst goals allowed this season (49) and can only out-score opponents for so long.

Maybe a middling start to their season will do the Lightning some good after their unforgettable postseason collapse a year prior. Andrei Vasilevskiy can absolutely play better than his .910 save percentage in eight games played, and the Lightning will need him to be as the season gets going.

Montreal has won five of their last seven games in October, and Jonathan Drouin‘s redemption arc has gotten off to a great start with 12 points in 13 games played. The Canadiens are looking better than people predicted they would and are taking advantage of Tampa Bay’s and Toronto’s struggles.

The Coyotes may be the NHL’s biggest surprise of the season so far. A stacked Pacific Division means they’re sitting at sixth place, but they’ve had a strong opening month with Darcy Kuemper at the helm in goal.

The Islanders come into November with a seven-game win streak, an NHL best to start the year. Head coach Barry Trotz continues to work his magic with New York, catapulting them into the conversation with the Metropolitan Division’s best in the early goings of the season.

The Penguins survived a few weeks without Evgeni Malkin and Alex Galchenyuk, and didn’t look terrible in the midst of missing two members of their top six. Sidney Crosby is continuing to perform at the top of his game, and the team should only get better now that they’re healthy.

The first few weeks for the Oilers were some of their best in recent memory, as they started the season 7-1 in their first handful of games. Since then, however, Edmonton has lost four of their last six games as the cracks are starting to show in their armor.

The reigning Stanley Cup champions had a middling middle of October, but overall have come out strong to end the month. The loss of star forward Vladimir Tarasenko for at least five months will no doubt hurt the team, but St. Louis’ depth will have to shine for them to keep up the pace.

The Golden Knights started strong to open the 2019-20 NHL season, but have since been up and down to end October. Marc-Andre Fleury has been stellar in net so far, and Mark Stone leads the team with 17 points in 14 games.

The newly inked Roman Josi is second on the team in points with 13 points in 13 games and the Predators have overcome a .500 start to win four of their last five games.

After starting the season losing their first two games, the Canucks have gone 8-1-1 to close out the month of October. Vancouver is young, fun and better than anyone expected to start the new season.

The darlings of the NHL, the Hurricanes had an impressive October. Petr Mrazek has had a resurgence in net for Carolina, while 19-year-old forward Andrei Svechnikov has made waves as an explosive playmaker.

Colorado took a blow to their offense after losing Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen to injury. It remains to be seen if they’ll fall out of the top teams in the NHL in the month of October, but their hot start has them in a good position to stay afloat.

Carter Hutton is putting the Sabres on his back with a stellar goaltending performance, with a .926 save percentage in eight games played. This is a better start than any Sabres fan could have hoped for.

John “Norris” Carlson has 23 points in 14 games, Alex Ovechkin continues to pile up the goals and the Capitals are rolling to start the 2019-20 NHL season.

The Bruins first line of David Pastrnak, Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand remain the NHL’s best and Boston has lost just one game in regulation over the first month of the season. As of the end of October, the Bruins are on a four-game in streak.