NHL power rankings: Facing fears ahead of Friday the 13th

Let’s be honest: many of us don’t need any help feeling anxious about what’s around the corner; life’s many curveballs more than take care of that.

Now add to the mix some disturbing folklore around Friday the 13th (check your calendar, it’s tomorrow) and suddenly we’ve got to be extra nervy about black-cat crossings and other bad-luck events befalling us.

Why exactly do we tell ourselves these stories?

Of course, NHL types — especially the ones operating and coaching teams — don’t need any help worrying about what’s coming next for their clubs. Working in sports has a way of putting a fine point on the everyday notion that you never know what tomorrow brings. 

So, with our next Friday being a 13th, we’re using this week’s power rankings as a way to tap an underlying anxiety or example of bad luck for all 32 NHL squads.

1. Carolina Hurricanes (14-3-2): It’s a sign of how good life is for the defending champs when your biggest worry is the performance of your backup goalie. Brandon Bussi has an .869 save percentage in seven games as he struggles to replicate last season's breakout. 

2. Edmonton Oilers (14-3-3): Zach Hyman has had some bad injury luck the past couple years, missing 24 games last season and more than half of the Oilers’ contests this year. He popped two goals in Wednesday night’s 3-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers, though, offering a reminder of how much different the lineup looks when the winger with a nose for the net is in there. 

3. Minnesota Wild (13-3-4): We all know the main fear in Minnesota is that Quinn Hughes’ time there will ultimately be but a fleeting footnote in his Hall of Fame career.

4. Vegas Golden Knights (13-5-2): It’s not that Shea Theodore has been bad, but the points just haven’t come like you’d expect for the Knights’ top defenceman. Theodore had a 16-game stretch with just two points, but has contributed assists in each of his past two outings. Maybe the tide is turning.

5. Boston Bruins (13-4-1): Some of the Bruins’ surprising success can be attributed to the team having the highest (and likely unsustainable) PDO in the league (106.8). Still, when Jeremy Swayman is your goalie, you don’t have to worry too much about the save percentage side of that equation dipping too drastically. 

6. Tampa Bay Lightning (12-4-2): GM Julien BriseBois probably checked the calendar to see if it was the 13th when, a couple Fridays ago, news broke that pending UFA Nikita Kucherov was — to put it mildly — not happy with his current situation. It seems like the Bolts are still hoping to wake up from this bad dream.

7. Montreal Canadiens (11-3-4): Juraj Slafkovsky’s slow starts are a recurring nightmare. The big man is lumbering out of the blocks again, netting just two goals in 18 outings this season. 

8. New Jersey Devils (13-6-0): Bad special teams always find a way to haunt you and the Devils rank 29th in the NHL on the PK, surviving short-handed situations just 65.9 per cent of the time. 

9. Nashville Predators (10-4-5): Should Preds fans be worried the team’s early-season success is providing false hope or is Nashville simply better than expected and unlikely to part with veterans other clear contenders would covet? 

10. Dallas Stars (10-5-2): Stars supporters can tell themselves all they want that Jason Robertson will stick around for the long-term, but until the 27-year-old stud winger puts pen to paper on an extension, some anxiety is going to exist. 

11. Colorado Avalanche (11-6-2): Is Artturi Lehkonen going to become a 40-goal scorer just in time to leave as a UFA this summer? The Finnish winger leads Colorado with 13 goals in 19 games. 

12. Ottawa Senators (11-6-2): This team has been peppered with bad injury luck on the blue line going back to last year. Good on the Sens for finding a way to fight through. 

13. Anaheim Ducks (10-8-1): You might expect Cutter Gauthier to score every time he touches the ice, but the Ducks actually rank 28th on Moneypuck in expected goals for percentage (44.51 per cent). The company they keep there is with lottery-focused clubs. 

14. Washington Capitals (10-6-0): The fear for an all-time superstar is you stay one year too long and, 16 games into the campaign, Alex Ovechkin has one goal. 

15. Florida Panthers (10-7-2): Has anybody been cursed like Aleksander Barkov in the past two years? The Cats No. 1 centre missed all of last season — in an Olympic year — with a right knee injury, then went out in the second game of this campaign with a left knee ailment. On a positive note, Florida coach Paul Maurice said on Tuesday that he expected Barkov (and injured forward Brad Marchand) back within two weeks. 

16. Seattle Kraken (9-6-1): Neither Philipp Grubauer nor Joey Daccord have been actively bad, but both have a negative goals saved above expected mark and Seattle must have some fears around goaltending letting down a club that’s going pretty well.

17. New York Rangers (11-8-1): The Rangers already endured their worst nightmare when franchise stopper Igor Shesterkin was lost for the year early in the season. Every day they stay in the playoff race from now on feels like a good dream.

18. Utah Mammoth (10-8-1): Utah’s goalies have an .889 save percentage at five-on-five, worse than all but five teams. And now there’s no Connor Hellebuyck trade to daydream about.

19. Buffalo Sabres (8-7-3): See above. Another team that was linked to Hellebuyck is struggling in the crease, with Sabres goalies posting an .884 save percentage at five-on-five that ranks 30th.

20. Winnipeg Jets (8-8-3): It’s like that crazy comeback against Montreal just over a week ago — four goals with less than three minutes to go —was a dream the Jets never woke up from. Winnipeg has won four straight contests — beginning with that possible season-saving victory against the Habs — after dropping nine in a row. 

21. St. Louis Blues (8-8-2): Are the Blues cursed to mushy-middle status? St. Louis has one playoff appearance in the past four years, yet hasn’t picked any higher than 10th overall during that same span. Is there a path back to contention for this squad?

22. New York Islanders (7-6-4): With Alexander Romanov out, 28-year-old Logan Stanley is the only Isles blue-liner in his 20s. Matthew Schaefer is 19 and the four other guys are over 30. Good as Schaefer is, the composition of that defence corps induces a little long-term fear. 

23. Toronto Maple Leafs (8-10-2): The Leafs have just five goals from defencemen this season, the lowest percentage in the league (7.5 per cent). A little push from the blue line would do wonders in Toronto. 

24. Calgary Flames (8-10-1): Has Dustin Wolf been solved? The 2025 Calder Trophy runner-up experienced a dip last season and has an .869 save percentage through 10 games. 

25. Columbus Blue Jackets (7-9-0): Is Adam Fantilli a flop? The third-overall pick from 2023 has just six points in 16 games this season and concern around his ceiling — on the heels of inking six-year deal that carries a cap hit of nearly $14 million — must be growing.

26. Pittsburgh Penguins (7-10-2): The fear is clearly that last year’s playoff showing was just a positive blip during a slow sinking of this ship. 

27. Los Angeles Kings (5-9-2): Kevin Fiala seemed cursed when he sustained a serious leg injury at the Olympics in February and a subsequent setback over the summer. Good news, though: the talented Swiss winger is slated to make his season debut any night now. 

28. Detroit Red Wings (7-9-3): At this rate, Wings fans must be worried the 10-year playoff drought will extend forever. Everyday feels like Friday the 13th when both your captain (Dylan Larkin) and stud young D-man (Simon Edvinsson) have asked out. 

29. Philadelphia Flyers (5-10-6): Speaking of asking out, Flyers management is assuring fans Matvei Michkov isn’t going anywhere despite a report earlier this week from ESPN’s Kevin Weekes that Michkov — in the final year of his first contract — would like a new start somewhere else. Even talking about this must seem like a nightmare for anybody associated with a franchise that drafted Cutter Gauthier fifth overall, only to have him push his way to a new team and become a Rocket Richard candidate. 

30. San Jose Sharks (8-11-2): The underlying numbers tell a grim story for San Jose, which makes it easy to worry this club is nowhere near as close to turning a corner as expected.

31. Chicago Blackhawks (4-13-1): This go-nowhere rebuild surely feels like a nightmare Hawks fans can’t wake up from. 

32. Vancouver Canucks (3-16-1): The one thing that keeps you up at night at the start of a ground-up rebuild is bad lottery luck. The Canucks dropped two spots in the 2026 NHL Draft and will be hoping for a better fate next May.