{"id":335881,"date":"2025-10-27T11:08:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T11:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/335881\/"},"modified":"2025-10-27T11:08:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T11:08:10","slug":"nhl-weekend-rankings-wild-penguins-and-5-early-surprises-im-starting-to-buy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/335881\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL weekend rankings: Wild, Penguins and 5 early surprises I\u2019m starting to buy"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re three weeks in and it\u2019s still early, but there are some storylines taking shape that look like they could have legs. Last week, we looked at five early surprises I wasn\u2019t buying quite yet<\/a>. This week, let\u2019s flip the script and come at this from the other side: five early stories I didn\u2019t expect, but that I\u2019m starting to think might be the real deal.<\/p>\n

Bonus five: Early-season surprises I\u2019m starting to believe in<\/p>\n

5. The Flames are done \u2013 <\/strong>Let\u2019s just say I don\u2019t think I\u2019m alone on this one, but yeah, it\u2019s already over in Calgary. I tried to hold out some hope last week, but eight straight losses before last night\u2019s win has already sealed the deal. Now the question is when the selloff begins<\/a>, and whether they\u2019ll truly strip it down to the studs and start over.<\/p>\n

4. The Habs are a playoff team, and maybe more \u2013 <\/strong>OK, so they were a playoff team last year, and Montreal fans could rightfully argue that everyone should have seen them being back this year. But while that was always a possibility, a young team taking a small step back after surprising success wouldn\u2019t be unheard-of. And given the margins in the Atlantic, a small step back would have meant a playoff miss. Instead, Montreal looks a lot like a team that won\u2019t have to worry about getting to the dance \u2014 and might be able to realistically think about having home ice when they get there.<\/p>\n

3. The Panthers might be in trouble \u2013 <\/strong>How much trouble, I\u2019m not sure. I don\u2019t feel like they\u2019re at any serious risk of missing the playoffs yet, especially after watching them shut out the Golden Knights, and maybe that should mean they\u2019re not in trouble at all. After all, this team won the Stanley Cup last year with just 98 points, and with an 11-1 record in playoff series over the last three years, nobody is going to want any part of them in the postseason. But while I think they get there, it might be a grind, at least until Matthew Tkachuk is back. This won\u2019t be a team that coasts through the season and then hits the gas in the playoffs. Instead, they might have to hit the gas all year long just to get to the 95-or-so points they\u2019ll need. And that could have an impact in the spring.<\/p>\n

2. The Leafs aren\u2019t great \u2013 <\/strong>Are they good? I\u2019m not even sure on that, to be honest, and I\u2019m not alone<\/a>. They\u2019re certainly flat, with no discernible identity despite another summer spent promising one. The only good news is that their timing is immaculate, because nobody in Toronto cares about hockey<\/a> these days. That\u2019s good news, considering the Sabres just took three of four points from them in their back-to-back and looked like the better team for long stretches. Baseball buys the Leafs one more week to figure this out, because right now the answer to \u201cIs this a playoff team?\u201d is \u201cIt doesn\u2019t remotely matter, because they\u2019d get smoked if they did get there.\u201d<\/p>\n

1. The Mammoth are really good \u2013 <\/strong>Not \u201ctop five\u201d good \u2026 yet. But they certainly seem to be building something in Utah, and while I admit I was more bearish on them than most heading into the season, they\u2019ve been excellent to start the season. The Central was already top-heavy, and adding a fourth elite team to the mix would make be something to see. Wins over the Jets and Avs are tough to ignore.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll notice there are a few early surprises that I didn\u2019t mention, including the Penguins looking like a playoff team, the Blackhawks being surprisingly feisty, the Wild struggling and the Devils rolling over everyone. We\u2019ll get to those and more in the rankings, so let\u2019s head there now\u2026<\/p>\n

Road to the Cup<\/p>\n

The five teams with the best chances of winning the Stanley Cup.<\/p>\n

Was Linus Ullmark mad and looking for a fight, or just bored in an easy win where the Caps only managed 13 shots<\/a>?<\/p>\n

More bad news in Washington, where assistant coach Mitch Love has been fired<\/a> following a league investigation and suspension.<\/p>\n

One last Caps note: Be sure to check out Other Sean\u2019s piece on Alex Ovechkin\u2019s latest chase for history<\/a>.<\/p>\n

5. Colorado Avalanche (5-1-4, +9 true goals differential*) \u2013 <\/strong>One team has points in nine of ten, and is well over .500. The other has lost five of ten, including four in a row. Both teams are the Avs, and I\u2019m not quite sure what to make of them. For now, last week\u2019s top pick can stay in the top five, if only barely.<\/p>\n

4. Winnipeg Jets (6-3-0, +8) \u2013 <\/strong>Yes, I have them ahead of the Mammoth, even though Utah beat them in Winnipeg last night and is ahead of them in the standings. One team is the defending Presidents\u2019 Trophy winner and the other missed the playoffs last year, so the long-term view matters here. It won\u2019t last forever, though. It may not even last that long. Utah\u2019s good. Some might say that there\u2019s zero dismount on those guys.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Murat has a piece on Mark Scheifele\u2019s chase for the team scoring record, and why that\u2019s more complicated than it sounds<\/a>. Let me make it easy for you: The Jets are the Jets, and anyone who tries to tell you different is a pedant, not a fan.<\/p>\n

3. New Jersey Devils (8-1-0, +13) \u2013 <\/strong>They make their top five debut, and it\u2019s well-earned. On paper, their early schedule looked brutal. And while opponents like the Lightning, Leafs, Panthers and Wild haven\u2019t looked as good as we thought they would, the Devils are a big part of that. Tom Fitzgerald knows what he\u2019s doing<\/a>. And Jack Hughes might finally be having that MVP-caliber season we\u2019ve been waiting for.<\/p>\n

2. Carolina Hurricanes (6-2-0, +8) \u2013 <\/strong>Two pieces of bad news for the Hurricanes this week: their first two losses of the season, and the Devils looking like they may be the best team in the division. We won\u2019t go that far quite yet, partially because we wouldn\u2019t want to anger Fishy and Sugar Boo<\/a>.<\/p>\n

1. Vegas Golden Knights (5-1-3, +7) \u2013 <\/strong>This might feel like a slightly weird pick, although I don\u2019t think any team is firmly establishing themselves as the league\u2019s top squad. The Knights have one thing going for them that the rest of the teams in contention for this spot don\u2019t: a division that doesn\u2019t remotely scare anyone. Remember, we\u2019re trying to pick the Cup winner here. And until the Oilers get back on track or the Kraken keep rolling for a bit longer, Vegas looks like they have a very clear path into the conference final.<\/p>\n

*Goals differential without counting shootout decisions like the NHL does for some reason.<\/p>\n

Not ranked: Pittsburgh Penguins \u2013 <\/strong>Every year, at least one team gets listed in the top or bottom five in the week one \u201cit\u2019s way too early\u201d rankings, and makes me look bad all season long. This year\u2019s early candidate is the Penguins, who held down the three-spot in the bottom five just two weeks ago.<\/p>\n

At the time, they were 2-1-0 and coming off a bad loss to the Rangers. They\u2019d lose the next night too, against the rebuilding Ducks. And more importantly, they were a team virtually nobody seemed to believe in, given their aging roster and active streak of three straight years of missing the playoffs. For most fans around the league, the script for the Penguins seemed predictable: lose a bunch, trade some of the few remaining useful veterans, maybe drop a Sidney Crosby bomb on the \u201926 deadline, and then win the rigged Gavin McKenna lottery.<\/p>\n

Apparently the Penguins didn\u2019t read that script, because they\u2019ve already taken this thing off track. Since that loss in Anaheim, the Pens won four straight, all in regulation, before getting a point in a shootout loss on Saturday. How are we supposed to get Crosby onto the Avalanche power play by March if the Penguins keep this up? Won\u2019t somebody please think of the content?<\/p>\n

This is where we can pump the brakes just a bit. Wins are wins, but the five the Penguins have strung together have all come against teams in varying level of distress. The only 2025 playoff teams they\u2019ve faced so far are the Kings and Panthers, two teams struggling to get their seasons off the ground. Make hay while the sun shines and all that, but it\u2019s fair for Pens fans to hold off on spiking any footballs just yet. With Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell still topping the early-season trade board<\/a>, there\u2019s plenty of time for this to all fall into place the way we expected.<\/p>\n

But what if it doesn\u2019t? Look, I realize that nobody outside of the existing Penguins fan base is going to root for this team, not after five relatively recent Cups powered by a steady stream of some of the greatest players the sport has ever seen. But if you can peel that context away for just a moment, there\u2019s a hell of a story brewing here. It\u2019s almost movie-worthy \u2014 the remnants of a once-great dynasty, beaten down and written off, ignoring the buzzards flying overhead for long enough to put together one last magical season: a defiant exclamation point of an ending that was supposed to be a sad ellipsis.<\/p>\n

You could root for that, right? Maybe not. And chances are we won\u2019t get a chance to find out. But for now, at least, the Penguins are going off-script. And that\u2019s making for one of October\u2019s most interesting stories. Just in time for Oscar season.<\/p>\n

(But make sure to stick around for the post-credits scene, I hear McKenna makes a \u201csurprise\u201d appearance.)<\/p>\n

The bottom five<\/p>\n

The five teams headed towards dead last and the best lottery odds for Gavin McKenna.<\/p>\n

Send some good thoughts Brandon Montour\u2019s way. Eric has more on the situation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

Sending all of our love and support to Monty and the entire Montour family \ud83d\udc99\ud83e\ude75<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udde3\ufe0f Defenseman Brandon Montour addresses his leave of absence. pic.twitter.com\/mBoak8UEo9<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) October 25, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

5. Nashville Predators (4-4-2, -7) \u2013 <\/strong>I\u2019m not sure I can remember a time when it was tougher to fill out the bottom five. It feels like most of the league is sputtering along around .500, and even the teams nobody thinks will make the playoffs are stringing mini-win streaks together. It would feel wrong to drop a new team in here, so let\u2019s go with the Predators, if only because their fans are less likely to hurt me than Flyers fans.<\/p>\n

4. Chicago Blackhawks (4-3-2, +4) \u2013 <\/strong>No, I\u2019m not taking them out of the bottom five any time soon, although they\u2019re making it tough on me. I\u2019m not convinced that they\u2019re actually good \u2013 we have all of last season as evidence of that, and given how little changed over the summer, those 82 games still matter at least as much as a single-digit sample size so far this year. But even if they\u2019re not good, they\u2019re at least different. I used the word \u201cfeisty\u201d up above, and that seems to fit. Scott has more on what\u2019s going on in Chicago, and how a lot (but not all) of it has to do with Spencer Knight<\/a>.<\/p>\n

3. Boston Bruins (4-6-0, -3) \u2013 <\/strong>Remember that 3-0-0 start? That was fun. Handing the Avs their first regulation loss was also fun, even if they mostly got outplayed. It\u2019s the six straight regulation losses (and 28 goals against) in between that land them down here, at least for a week.<\/p>\n

2. Calgary Flames (2-7-1, -14) \u2013 <\/strong>I kept them out of last week\u2019s list, although I had to stretch to do it. They rewarded me with three\u00a0straight losses. Message received, guys.<\/p>\n

1. San Jose Sharks (2-5-2, -13) \u2013 <\/strong>Is Macklin Celebrini the next face of the NHL? He could be closer than you think<\/a>. Especially if he keeps doing stuff like this:<\/p>\n

Not ranked: Minnesota Wild \u2013<\/strong> They haven\u2019t been awful. But they haven\u2019t been good. And the top of the Central has been excellent. So that\u2019s not great.<\/p>\n

Now that I\u2019ve checked off all the adjectives I know, let\u2019s look a little deeper into what\u2019s wrong in Minnesota. They\u2019re sitting at 3-5-2, including last night\u2019s OT loss to the bottom-dwelling Sharks. That\u2019s left them just two points back of a playoffs spot, so we won\u2019t go crazy over it. Still, every point is going to matter these days, because the Wild have already dug themselves a hole.<\/p>\n

How? Well, I ran some numbers: The Wild hadn\u2019t scored more than three goals since the third game of the season until last night, but have given up four or more in six of their seven losses. I hacked into Dom\u2019s model and asked what it thought of that, and after several hours it came back with \u201cbad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe and Michael have basically come to the same conclusion, albeit in a few more words and with a bit more insight. They broke down some of the problems a few days ago<\/a>, including a lack of five-on-five scoring for both the team in general and Kirill Kaprizov specifically. That piece came before the Wild got smoked by the surging Mammoth to start this homestand, a game that led to some disconcerting comments from Brock Faber<\/a>. And then the Sharks arrived for ultimate \u201cget right\u201d schedule gift, and the Wild lost that one too. Heck, they needed a late comeback just to carve out a point.<\/p>\n

A much tougher test is up next, with the Jets in town tomorrow night. Then it\u2019s the Penguins, Canucks and Predators to finish the homestand, which is to say three decent teams a contender should be able to beat on home ice. Are the Wild one of those contenders? It hasn\u2019t looked that way so far. And it may not be long before it no longer feels too early to say that this team is in big trouble.<\/p>\n