Are you ready for some hockey - and another season of TSN’s 7-Eleven Power Rankings?
The 2018-19 NHL season finally gets underway Wednesday night with four games on tap, including the reloaded Toronto Maple Leafs, featuring prized off-season signing John Tavares, hosting a depleted Montreal Canadiens lineup. It’s also the night the rejuvenated Sharks show off Norris Trophy-winning defenceman Erik Karlsson as they entertain the Corey Perry-less Anaheim Ducks in San Jose.
The Tampa Bay Lightning, who were tops in the East last season but ousted by the eventual Stanley Cup-winning Washington Capitals in the conference final, open their season on Saturday and are the No. 1-ranked team in our first Power Rankings of the season, according to consensus rankings formulated by the TSN Power Ranking panel of Ray Ferraro, Jeff O’Neill, Jamie McLennan, Craig Button and Darren Dreger.
Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov, if healthy, plus consistent play from Andrei Vasilevskiy could push the Lightning to the final next spring. But if the Maple Leafs have anything to say, that’s not going to happen.
The Leafs are the No. 3-ranked team in Week 1 and a genuine Cup contender, thanks in part to new GM Kyle Dubas luring Tavares to T.O. in a bid to finally end a long Cup drought. Many are also counting on a healthy Auston Matthews and a beefed-up Mitch Marner, plus the hard work of Frederick Andersen between the pipes, to lead the Leafs into the postseason promised land.
Led by Mark Scheifele and Patrik Laine, the No. 2 Winnipeg Jets are also expected to be in the Cup mix after finishing last season with the league’s second-best regular-season record. But, as Winnipeg fans painfully recall, the Jets were sent packing by the out-of-this-world Vegas Golden Knights in five games in the conference final. The Jets open their season Thursday against the Blues in St. Louis.
Rounding out the top five teams in our first power ranking of the new season are the No. 4 Nashville Predators, who will need Pekka Rinne to stay true to form in the postseason to take the Presidents’ Trophy winners beyond the second round, and the Capitals, minus departed head coach Barry Trotz, who land at the No. 5 spot. The Predators begin play on the road Thursday against the New York Rangers while the Caps visit their longtime nemesis, the Penguins, in Pittsburgh the same night.
Other top-10 teams as ranked by our panel two days before the first puck drop of 2018-19 include the No. 6 Boston Bruins, the Sharks at No. 7, the Penguins at No. 8 followed by the No. 9 Golden Knights and the Columbus Blue Jackets at No. 10.
Following the Jets and Leafs this week as Canada’s top teams are the improved Calgary Flames at No. 12 and Connor McDavid’s Edmonton Oilers on the playoff bubble at the No. 17 spot.
Fighting to stay legitimate in the NHL’s cellar as the five worst teams heading into the new season are the gutted Carolina Hurricanes at No. 27, the No. 28 Henrik Zetterberg-less Detroit Red Wings, the fragile Chicago Blackhawks at No. 29, the No. 30 Vancouver Canucks minus the retired Sedin twins, and the Ottawa Senators, with Karlsson finally out of the picture, as their ugly rebuild unfolds at No. 31.