NHL Power Rankings: Wild Rise Behind Kirill Kaprizov; Penguins and Predators Drop

Lyle Fitzsimmons Featured Columnist III

NHL Power Rankings: Wild Rise Behind Kirill Kaprizov; Penguins and Predators Drop

Bleacher Report Kirill Kaprizov is in the penultimate season of his contract with Minnesota, and Wild general manager Bill Guerin said last summer that winning would be the easiest way to convince the 27-year-old Russian winger to make the "State of Hockey" his long-term home.
Well, you can't say it's working out so far.
The Wild are third overall in the league standings, and the former fifth-round pick is off to his best personal start, too, producing at a pace through 15 games that'd leave him with career highs in goals (49), assists (104) and points (153) if he maintains it.
The early-season spike has kept Minnesota near the top of the B/R Power Rankings for a couple of weeks, and they took two steps closer to the penthouse recently, moving from fifth to third after staff-wide voting that closed Wednesday afternoon.
It's a heady rise for a franchise that missed the playoffs in 2023-24 and hasn't won a series since 2015, when Kaprizov was a teenage phenom in the Kontinental Hockey League.
But it's not all sunshine and happiness across the league these days.
The Pittsburgh Penguins and Nashville Predators were among the biggest rankings droppers this week, with the Penguins skidding from 25th to 28th and the Predators falling perilously close to the bottom of the barrel with a dip from 29th to 31st.
Votes were cast that awarded 32 points for first place all the way down to a single point for No. 32. Take a look at what we came up with and drop a thought of your own in the app comments.

Bill Wippert/NHLI via Previous Ranking:
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The Canadiens scored just 12 goals in a six-game skid that saw them muster a single OT point, but they broke out a bit with seven in a win at Buffalo. "I think the group had had enough," coach Martin St. Louis said . "We weren't perfect, but we played good hockey."

Michael Martin/NHLI via Previous Ranking:
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The expectations were high after a busy summer in Nashville, but it's not translated to the ice and the woes have continued for the Predators with four losses in five games. The latest skid dropped the offseason champions into a tie for the league basement with Montreal.

Andrew Mordzynski/Icon Sportswire via Previous Ranking:
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A four-game Eastern trip began with a back-to-back for the Sharks, who won at New Jersey on Sunday before losing in Philadelphia the next night. San Jose will visit the New York Rangers on Thursday and finish at Pittsburgh on Saturday before returning home on Monday.

Steph Chambers/Previous Ranking:
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It's been a particularly rough November for the NHL's representatives of middle Ohio, who opened the month with a 6-2 home loss to front-running Winnipeg before a five-game trip that yielded an 0-4-1 record and an ugly 23-9 goal differential. They're back home Friday.

Joe Sargent/NHLI via Previous Ranking:
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It's not often a loss generates an apology from a veteran like Evgeni Malkin to fans, but that's what happened after Pittsburgh laid a 7-1 egg at home against Dallas on Monday. The team entered Wednesday tied for last in league-wide goal differential with a minus-21.

Patrick McDermott/Previous Ranking:
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A western trip is no picnic but the Blackhawks got off in style with an OT win over red-hot Minnesota on Sunday. Chicago visits Seattle and Vancouver before returning home on Tuesday. Still, the team's 2.5 goals per game were tied for 26th in the NHL through Monday.

Tori Graessle/NHLI via Previous Ranking:
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The injury bug has begun biting the Ducks in recent days, forcing trips to IR for both defenseman Cam Fowler and forward Robby Fabbri. Fowler will have missed three games before he's eligible to return Friday and Fabbri left Sunday's win against Columbus.

Terence Lewis/Icon Sportswire via Previous Ranking:
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Never count on John Tortorella to make the conventional move. The veteran coach sat rookie phenom Matvei Michkov for two games as a healthy scratch then smiled as he returned with a goal and an assist on Monday, his fourth multi-point game of the season.

Brian Fluharty/Previous Ranking:
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A season-long five-game homestand that started off so well ended wretchedly for the Blues, who gave up three third-period goals to lose to Boston. St. Louis lost the final three games at Enterprise Center to Utah, Washington and the Bruins by a combined 15-5 score. Yuck.

Gerry Angus/Icon Sportswire via Previous Ranking:
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A 3-1 loss to Toronto on Saturday became a 4-0 loss to the New York Rangers on Sunday in which Detroit had 37 shots and gave Derek Lalonde a new level of angst. "I don't know if I've been in a more frustrating hockey game," he said , "and I've been coaching for 30 years."

Steph Chambers/Previous Ranking:
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There's no place like home for the Kraken, who returned to Seattle to win two straight (against Vegas and Columbus) after dropping the final four games of a five-game Eastern trip. Interestingly, they've scored four goals in a period four times this season, best in the league.

Ben Ludeman/NHLI via Previous Ranking:
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As if giving up seven in a home loss to a skidding Canadiens wasn't bad enough, the Sabres find themselves in limbo now waiting on the status of Tage Thompson. The 27-year-old exited with a lower-body injury and will be a big loss, having scored 11 goals in 16 games.

Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire via Previous Ranking:
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It's been an OK month so far for the Islanders, who are 3-1-2 in six games after rallying to reach OT before losing a 4-3 decision at Edmonton. "There are nights you're going home and say, 'OK, we stole a point,'" coach Patrick Roy said . "And (Tuesday), that was the case."

Ethan Miller/Previous Ranking:
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A four-game road trip wasn't much fun for the artists formerly known as the Coyotes, who were shut out twice and lost in OT alongside a win in St. Louis. Utah is an inglorious 22nd in the league in scoring (2.73 goals per game) and an even worse 25th in goals against (3.40).

Joe Puetz/NHLI via Previous Ranking:
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If the Bruins get going on a prolonged win streak look back at Tuesday night in St. Louis, where they scored three times in the third period to beat the Blues. It was the first time in eight tries this season that Boston won a game in which it trailed after two periods.

Ashley Potts/NHLI via Previous Ranking:
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An assist in a win over Nashville got Nathan MacKinnon to 30 points in 16 games, making him the first player in the league to get there this season. He's one of four active NHL players to reach the number in 16 or fewer games and is tied for third-fastest in franchise history.

Leila Devlin/Previous Ranking:
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And suddenly, Connor McDavid and the Oilers may be back. He's produced seven points in Edmonton's last two games and the team is 6-3-1 in its last 10 after a desultory start. A single point separates No. 97 from becoming the fourth-fastest player in history to reach 1,000.

Derek Cain/Previous Ranking:
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Fatigue is a thing for the Flames as they head home following a stretch of five games in five cities in just eight days. They'd gone 2-0-2 in the first four before a 3-1 loss at Vancouver on Tuesday. "That's no excuse," forward Justin Kirkland said . "We know what we're getting into."

Mark Blinch/NHLI via Previous Ranking:
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Has the emergence of Linus Ullmark finally begun in Ottawa? It appears that way lately at least, given two straight wins in which he's allowed two goals on 43 shots – a .953 save percentage – including a 2-0 win at Toronto for his first shutout in a Senators' uniform.

Mark LoMoglio/NHLI via Previous Ranking:
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It'll be a long time between wins (or even tries at wins) for the Lightning, who lost to Philadelphia in a shootout last Thursday and won't play again until this Thursday against Winnipeg. They've lost four straight since beating Colorado in Denver on October 30.

Bruce Kluckhohn/NHLI via Previous Ranking:
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It doesn't seem logical given his obvious star power but the Maple Leafs have actually fared well without Auston Matthews in the past. Toronto is 38-20-2 in games Matthews has missed since reaching the NHL in 2016 and was 3-1-0 in the first four without him this season.

Gerry Thomas/NHLI via Previous Ranking:
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It's the first sign of wobbling for the Kings, who lost three times in regulation in their first 14 games before dropping two of three from Thursday to Monday. Los Angeles scored three total goals in losses to Vancouver and Calgary and is 0-5-1 when it scores less than three times.

Joel Auerbach/Previous Ranking:
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There's no better way to build confidence than heading to the home of the streaking defending champions and laying a beating – in this case, by a 4-1 margin – on them. And it's just another step in a recent run for the Devils, who've won six of their last eight.

Justin Berl/Previous Ranking:
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There were records aplenty from the Stars' Monday visit to Pittsburgh, where they shook off a 1-3-0 stretch with six first-period goals and won 7-1. It was the seventh six-goal period in franchise history and the second since it relocated from Minnesota to Dallas in 1993.

Ethan Miller/Previous Ranking:
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The Golden Knights became the last team in the league to lose at home when they fell to Carolina after winning eight straight at T-Mobile Arena. Vegas' 27 home wins in 2023-24 were tied for fourth behind Colorado (31), the New York Rangers (30) and Edmonton (28).

Bruce Bennett/Previous Ranking:
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There's no hotter hockey story in New York than the contract status of goaltender Igor Shesterkin and there's a chance the distraction is legit. The former Vezina winner has allowed 10 goals on his last 42 shots and four or more in four of 11 starts this season.

Derek Cain/Previous Ranking:
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A four-goal loss to one division rival (Edmonton) on Saturday was enough to get the Canucks ready for another and they responded with a 3-1 defeat of Calgary. It was Vancouver's fourth win in five games and got it into third place in the Pacific behind Los Angeles and Vegas.

Patrick McDermott/Previous Ranking:
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It ended with an OT loss but Minnesota coach John Hynes was still pleased with his team going 2-0-1 across a three-games-in-four-nights road trip. "That's how you have to find ways to (win) games, get points in games," he said . "Just really proud of the mental toughness."

Zak Krill/NHLI via Previous Ranking:
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The Hurricanes have gotten mileage out of myriad recent goalies but few have approached the run assembled by Pyotr Kochetkov, who entered Wednesday with an 8-1 record on the heels of seven straight wins. His 2.45 goals-against average is eighth in the league.

Bruce Bennett/Previous Ranking:
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Yes, it's been less than 20 percent of the season, but it's still getting difficult to come up with weekly superlatives about the streaking Jets, who became the fastest team in league history to reach 15 wins (in 16 games) on Tuesday, beating a mark (17) held by five teams.

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