NHL Power Rankings: How about those Arizona Coyotes

With only weeks now left in the NHL regular season, the playoff picture in both conferences are starting to take shape. The top three seeds in both the Metro and Atlantic seem to be set. Tampa Bay is the best team in the NHL. Both Washington and Pittsburgh have gone on winning streaks to separate themselves from the pack. Over in the Central, Winnipeg and Nashville continue to battle for the top spot. Things in the Western Wild Card picture are getting crazy. With Arizona holding the second wild card spot, they will battle Minnesota and Colorado down the stretch. Let’s go inside this week’s NHL Power Rankings.

NHL Power Rankings: How about those Arizona Coyotes

1. Tampa Bay Lightning – Nothing is going to slow down the Lightning. The Stanley Cup is theirs to lose.
2. Boston Bruins – Even with their 19 game point streak, home ice is still not solidified for the Bruins just yet. Just wait until their top scorer gets back.
3. San Jose Sharks – Even with a couple of hiccups here and there, the Sharks are picking up some nice wins in the past week.
4. Calgary Flames – Still not sold on their goaltending, but the Flames have the firepower to go deep in the playoffs.
5. Toronto Maple Leafs – Going forward, Toronto had some things to worry about especially on defense. Easier to fix these problems now rather than in the playoffs.
6. Winnipeg Jets – While the Jets are so hot on the road right now, March is the month for Winnipeg. The big concern surrounds if and when Dustin Byfuglien returns.
7. Washington Capitals – Washington is getting hot at the right winning 7 out of 8 games. The Capitals can rival Tampa Bay offensively.
8. Pittsburgh Penguins – All it took was a little adversity and the Penguins have picked up some big wins to avoid dealing with the wild card.
9. Nashville Predators – Another team that has some issues right especially on the road. Still, need some things to work on heading into the playoffs.
10. New York Islanders – All it took was for the Islanders to face playoff teams to get back to their form after several dismal performances.
11. Vegas Golden Knights – George McPhee is a genius. He figured his team needed one piece and that piece was Mark Stone. They have only lost once since he arrived.
12. Carolina Hurricanes – This seems to be the real deal this season. Carolina needs to be a goalie for when the playoffs begin. Can’t roll with two guys come the second season.
13. Dallas Stars – Dallas is back in the mix for the top three in the Central thanks to Ben Bishop. Hopefully, Bishop’s injury isn’t too serious.
14. St. Louis Blues – After a great February, March has not been kind to the Blues. The Blues might have peaked just a bit too early.
15. Columbus Blue Jackets – The Blue Jackets have the firepower to make the playoffs. However, they need to start winning to secure a playoff spot.
16. Arizona Coyotes – How about those Arizona Coyotes is right. Darcy Kuemper is rolling, let’s hope he doesn’t turn into this year’s version of Andrew Hammond.
17. Montreal Canadiens – Carey Price is doing everything he can to get Montreal into the playoffs. The question is can they score enough to win?
18. Philadelphia Flyers – The Flyers are playing well at the right time. Unfortunately, the points gap just might be too much to make up.
19. Minnesota Wild – Things are not going well for the Wild at this moment. So much for that guarantee by Bruce Boudreau.
20. Colorado Avalanche – Thankfully Colorado had a great start thanks to their top line because that is the only reason they are in this position.
21. Florida Panthers – Remember when the Panthers were everyone’s playoff darlings?
22. Chicago Blackhawks – Chicago keeps winning games, but just like the Flyers in the East, the points gap is just too much to overcome.
23. Edmonton Oilers – Like previous Oilers teams of the past, when they are clearly out of it, Edmonton starts to play better hockey.
24. Buffalo Sabres – That 11 game winning streak seems so long ago, there are some serious problems in Buffalo.
25. Vancouver Canucks – Hope is coming to Vancouver. Don’t expect Quinn Hughes to step in right away.
26. New York Rangers – Don’t expect any easy games against the Rangers. Each and every game, they will compete.
27. New Jersey Devils – The Devils are fielding an AHL team with all their injuries on offense. Each night in a different adventure.
28. Detroit Red Wings – Heading into the off-season Detroit needs to consider a making a big splash considering how bad the trade deadline was.
29. Los Angeles Kings – The Kings are just playing for pride right now. However, they also should be looking at what they have in the system.
30. Anaheim Ducks – Anaheim has a bright future ahead with Troy Terry, Daniel Sprong, and others to ease the transition from Getzlaf and Perry.
31. Ottawa Senators – It’s pretty simple, the Ottawa Senators are bad. However, Marc Crawford has got them playing for pride.

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Photo Credit: By 5of7 [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons