NHL seasons, like this month of March we’re winding down, can have a lion/lamb dynamic to them.
A team or player can start out with an extended meek stretch, only to hunt down goals and wins in the rest of the way. Conversely, you might be shot out of a cannon to kick things off, but fade down the stretch.
In this edition of the Power Rankings, we’re going to focus on those who’ve surged after initially sputtering, while also highlighting some instances where a player or squad started strong before flaming out as the year wore on.
Two entities that most definitely fit the former category are Connor McDavid and the Nashville Predators.
Since the NHL returned to action from the early-February all-star break, McDavid has been averaging 2.08 points per game and 1.6 primary assists per outing. He’s now just five points back of Nikita Kucherov for the league scoring lead.
If there’s such a thing as a lion hunting other killers, this is it.
Speaking of predators, how about this gang in Nashville?
When they woke up on Feb. 16, the Preds were four points back of both Western Conference wild-card berths and the teams that occupied them (Los Angeles and St. Louis) had played fewer games than Nashville.
You know what happened; the Predators have not lost a 60-minute contest in 18 outings, most recently storming back from a 3-0 deficit on Tuesday night against the team that holds the other wild card in the West, the Vegas Golden Knights, to claim a 5-4 overtime victory.
Nashville is now just four points back of the Winnipeg Jets for third place in the Central Division.
Those are the most can’t-miss examples of hitting a whole new gear, but there are certainly others. Here, then, is a 32-team check-in to identify players and squads that are finishing with more menace than they started, while noting a few who have sagged.
1. New York Rangers (48-20-4) Not surprisingly, a few Rangers have been soaring. Alexis Lafreniere has scored 10 of his 22 goals since the all-star break, while Adam Fox is playing at a 93-point pace in the same span. Most critically, though, Igor Shesterkin has found his game. The Russian stopper is 12-3-1 with a .931 save percentage after posting an .899 SP in his first 32 games.
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2. Colorado Avalanche (46-21-5) Jonathan Drouin had four goals and 14 points through his initial 32 games with the Avs. Since Jan. 1, he’s got 30 points in 34 games. Drouin is eligible to become a UFA again this summer and, after playing for the bargain rate of $825,000 this year, what will his next deal look like — and will it definitely be with Colorado?
3. Dallas Stars (45-19-9) Wyatt Johnston had 23 points through 40 games this year. The 20-year-old has 34 in 33 since to make this suddenly look like one heck of a sophomore season.
4. Vancouver Canucks (45-19-8) Brock Boeser is scoring at a 25-goal pace in his past 23 games after firing darts at a 50-goal pace prior to that.
Meanwhile, Casey DeSmith had an 11-game stretch in the first half where he was 3-4-4 with an .882 save percentage. In March — with starter Thatcher Demko dinged up — the 32-year-old has a respectable .908 mark while going 4-2-1.
5. Carolina Hurricanes (45-21-7) Pyotr Kochetkov has stepped up during the stretch run, posting a .923 save percentage in his past 14 outings. And how about Freddy Andersen? The guy who missed basically four months as a result of a blood-clotting issue is 6-0-0 since returning on March 7 with a spectacular .951 save percentage.
6. Boston Bruins (42-17-5) The Bruins are still sitting pretty, but they had a .724 points percentage going into the ASG break — tied for the league’s best number with Vancouver — and they’ve got a .560 mark since, which ranks 17th in the NHL.
7. Nashville Predators (43-25-4) Just go ahead and pick your player. Since the ASG, Roman Josi is basically playing at a 110-point pace; Filip Forsberg is scoring at a 62-goal clip and Gus Nyqvist — whose previous career high for points was 60 — is already at 65 on the year thanks to the 105-point pace he’s been on in the past 21 contests.
And remember Juuse Saros, the goalie we thought Nashville might trade, except maybe not because his down season had punctured his value? After being a .500 goalie with a .901 save percentage through 43 outings, the Finn has a .932 mark while going 12-0-2 in his past 14 appearances.
8. Florida Panthers (46-21-5) It’s easy to think Matthew Tkachuk always plays like a lion, but he had a very dreary start to the year with 23 points — including just five goals — through 34 games. Contrast that with his past 37, where he has a whopping 55.
9. Tampa Bay Lightning (40-25-7) Here come the Bolts! Tampa has the second-best points percentage in the NHL in March (.850) after Nashville (.909). That’s shifted the conversation around the Lightning from just making the playoffs to how it’s a team of accomplished vets you might not be crazy about facing in Round 1.
10. Edmonton Oilers (43-23-4) Obviously no good team began the season worse than Edmonton, with its 5-12-1 start. On Jan. 1, Edmonton’s team save percentage was .903, which ranked 25th in the NHL. Since then, Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard are at .923 for the ninth-best mark in the league.
11. Los Angeles Kings (38-22-11) Cam Talbot was 4-10-4 from Nov. 29 through Feb. 13. He’s 9-3-1 with a .934 since.
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12. Toronto Maple Leafs (40-22-9) Auston Matthews and his pursuit of 70 goals obviously gets the headlines, but William Nylander is scoring at a 58-goal pace since the all-star break.
13. Winnipeg Jets (44-22-6) Presently on a four-game losing skid, the Jets are just 14-12-2 since Jan. 22. The hard-charging Predators might yet push Winnipeg down into a wild-card spot.
14. Washington Capitals (36-26-9) Ovi is back, baby! Since the ASG, only Zach Hyman (21) and Auston Matthews (19) have more goals than Alex Ovechkin’s 17. Dylan Strome is also finishing this year like no other in his career. The third-overall pick from 2016 has 40 points in 38 games since the final days of 2023. He started the year playing at a 50-point pace through 33 contests.
15. St. Louis Blues (38-30-4) Jordan Kyrou was sitting on nine goals through 39 contests, but he’s got 16 in his past 33 and five in his past six contests.
16. Vegas Golden Knights (39-25-8) 23 teams — including the frequently-maligned New Jersey Devils and Pittsburgh Penguins — have a better points percentage than Vegas’ .488 mark since Dec. 15. Good thing the Knights had built a huge buffer by posting the third-best mark (.726) to that point.
17. Minnesota Wild (34-28-9) Kirill Kaprizov was not quite a point-per-game player through 35 outings, registering 34 points. Since then, the Russian has exploded for 23 goals and 45 points in 29 games. That’s a 65-goal, 127-point clip for nearly half a season.
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18. Philadelphia Flyers (36-27-10) Morgan Frost was really fighting it for 31 games, netting just 14 points. However, he’s been scoring at nearly a 70-point clip since mid-January.
19. Detroit Red Wings (36-29-7) I think we all assumed Alex DeBrincat was gunning for 50 when he started the year with nine goals in seven games. He’s been scoring at less than a 20-goal pace since the earliest days of the season and just snapped a 12-game cold streak with a tally on Tuesday.
20. New Jersey Devils (36-33-4) Devils captain Nico Hischier was playing at a 60-point pace in mid-January; he’s going at a 92-point clip since.
21. Pittsburgh Penguins (31-30-10) Evgeni Malkin had 40 points in 46 games heading into the ASG, but has fallen off a cliff since then with just 13 points — and only three goals — in his past 25 outings.
22. New York Islanders (30-26-15) The Isles can’t decide if they’re a lion or lamb. New York won two straight coming out of the ASG break, then one of its next six, then ripped off six straight W’s and has now won once in its past eight games and been blanked three times in that most recent stretch.
23. Ottawa Senators (31-36-4) Shane Pinto wasn’t even playing hockey for half a season thanks to a lengthy suspension for a gambling-related offence. In an absolutely miserable year in Ottawa, the 23-year-old’s 25 points in 30 games has to register as an obvious highlight.
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24. Buffalo Sabres (34-34-5) Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen had an .892 save percentage through 17 games. Now, thanks to his .921 mark in his past 30 — even after getting blasted Wednesday night versus Ottawa — it’s possible to believe Buffalo finally has an answer in goal heading into next season.
25. Calgary Flames (33-33-5) It took a while, but Calgary has started to really falter. The Flames have fallen out of the Western Conference playoff race with a 3-8-0 record in their past 11 games.
26. Seattle Kraken (29-29-13) Seattle was in the thick of the West’s wild-card race in mid-January, thanks in large part to a nine-game winning streak. Since the end of that run, the Kraken have come apart with a 10-15-4 mark.
27. Montreal Canadiens (27-32-12) Nick Suzuki has really shown another dimension to his game the past two months. Always viewed as more of a passer than gunner, the Habs captain has 16 goals since the ASG (only six guys have more). That’s allowed him to already establish career highs with 29 tallies and 67 points.
28. Arizona Coyotes (30-37-5) Can you freakin’ believe this team was two points out of the playoffs after its first 45 contests? Arizona has a .296 points percentage since Jan. 24, worse than everybody but lowly San Jose.
29. Columbus Blue Jackets (23-37-12) Daniil Tarasov — who turned 25 on Wednesday — appears to be establishing himself as a capable NHL goalie with a strong finish. He’s got a .922 SP in his past 13 games.
30. Chicago Blackhawks (21-46-5) I mean, we’re not saying the Hawks are going out like a lion, but a 6-4-0 mark in its past 10 is not nothing for this young squad.
31. Anaheim Ducks (24-44-4) Frank Vatrano had 21 goals in 41 games, but that 40-goal pace has gone up in smoke in the back half of the campaign as he’s potted just nine in 30 contests.
32. San Jose Sharks (16-47-8) Like everyone in San Jose, Mikael Granlund started the year in excruciating fashion with zero goals and just four points in 13 games. The veteran Finn is basically a point-per-game player since late November, though, notching 44 in 45 games. Maybe someone bites on him as middle-six scoring this summer when he’ll have just one year remaining on his contract.
