Vegas looks like a buzzsaw with Mark Stone

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Tue, Mar 5, 2019

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Hey everyone, we here at Yahoo! Sports are doing real power rankings for teams Nos. 1-31. Here they are, based on only how I am feeling about these teams, meaning you can't tell me I'm wrong because these are my feelings and feelings can't be wrong. Please enjoy the Power Feelings.

31. Ottawa Senators (Last week: 31)

I think the new idea that this team has "no excuses" despite losing a borderline All-Star roster in the past 12 months is very good. At least we're about to see what Brady Tkachuk is or isn't, because he's about to have a much rougher go of things without Stone.

30. Detroit Red Wings (LW: 29)

29. Anaheim Ducks (LW: 28)

28. New York Rangers (LW: 27)

27. Los Angeles Kings (LW: 30)

Think about how bad the teams below the Kings have to be that they move up four spots for the simple act of snapping a 10-game losing streak. And okay yeah it was against Chicago, but you gotta start somewhere.

26. New Jersey Devils (LW: 26)

Taylor Hall being out a month (and probably just getting shut down for the season) is another brutal twist for these guys, just having a nightmare season even before this. But man, it sets up an interesting offseason for them.

Hall's signed through next year but this team's nowhere near competing and Hall's looking for a deal that will bring him into his early or even mid-30s. Why would he stick around for another few years of rebuild to maybe be on a decent team three years from now? Don't you have to account for the fact that he might see this as being not that much different from how the guys the Senators traded saw their futures? Obviously the ownership thing is much different, but still. You'd have to think Ray Shero will be exploring his options at the draft.

25. Chicago (LW: 25)

Remember that seven-game winning streak? They're 4-6-0 since then, including 1-4-0 in the last five. That'll just about do it for this season.

24. Vancouver Canucks (LW: 23)

23. Edmonton Oilers (LW: 24)

22. Philadelphia Flyers (LW: 22)

The thing I keep coming back to is "What if they just played Hart all year?" The bottom of the Eastern Conference's playoff picture isn't so good that they would have been on the outside looking in, even if they'd received an extra few months of NHL-caliber goaltending.

On the other hand, maybe you argue the coach and GM changes were needed and wouldn't have happened without that terrible start. On the other hand, Hart almost certainly cost them a better draft pick (they sit 16th in the league in points through Sunday's games), so who knows?

21. Florida Panthers (LW: 20)

20. Buffalo Sabres (LW: 19)

19. Arizona Coyotes (LW: 21)

Incredible that they're only two points out of a playoff spot right now, with a game in hand on Minnesota. They're 9-2-0 on their current run, including a six-game win streak. That, of course, followed a five-game losing streak.

I thought they could be fine this year but it's not realistic to think they're going to be in this for the remainder of the season, is it? They've given up 24 goals on the last 350 shots they've faced, and that's a .931 save percentage. And most of that is from Darcy Kuemper . Let's be serious and not get sucked into talking ourselves into anything like we did with Chicago, okay?

18. Colorado Avalanche (LW: 16)

17. Montreal Canadiens (LW: 15)

16. Dallas Stars (LW: 17)

15. Minnesota Wild (LW: 18)

They're doing it again: Points in six straight after losing 9 of 10. After winning 4 of 5. After losing 3 of 4. After winning 4 of 5. After losing five straight. It goes on like this basically all season.

I hate to use the term "consistency" here because you're the sum of your parts, not the sum of your streaks, but their only only only consistency is in being streaky. Which, hey, "barely hanging onto a playoff spot" sounds about right in that case.

14. Columbus Blue Jackets (LW: 13)

13. New York Islanders (LW: 12)

They're 2-4-1 in the last seven games, and any concerns you might have had about that "quality over quantity" approach they're taking seem to be catching up with them. They're minus-45 in shots over seven games, which isn't ideal.

The percentages are still good (10 percent shooting, .916 in net) but maybe the goalies are losing their fastball a little bit? I dunno, because they've also given up 247 scoring chances in the last seven games, the most of any team in the league, and 101 of them were high-danger. They're still generating a decent amount, but not at the same rate they used to and certainly not as many as their opponents.

So that's something to keep an eye on, but at least they beat the Leafs.

12. St. Louis Blues (LW: 10)

11. Pittsburgh Penguins (LW: 14)

10. Carolina Hurricanes (LW: 11)

Nino Niederreiter has been absolutely electrifying since coming to the team. Just awesome. Can't believe how bad that trade was for Minnesota. It turns out when you give a talented player with great underlyings a chance to succeed with other high-end talents, he's gonna do it.

9. Winnipeg Jets (LW: 8)

8. Washington Capitals (LW: 7)

They're 7-3-0 in the last 10 and back on top of the Metro, which is where one expects they'll stay unless the Islanders can get back on track or, probably less likely, Carolina's run continues.

7. Toronto Maple Leafs (LW: 6)

6. Nashville Predators (LW: 4)

5. Vegas Golden Knights (LW: 9)

Big jump for the Knights, who look like a damn buzzsaw since acquiring Mark Stone . I said all along they should keep the Marchessault-Karlsson-Smith line together and boy they're making me look like a genius.

Stone came in with Stastny and Pacioretty and just spent four games wrecking the competition so far. Which allowed the Golden Misfits' top line to whale on the competition like they used to: In all situations, they've got Smith has been on for seven goals, Marchessault and Karlsson six. That's in four games.

Meanwhile, none of Stastny (on the ice for seven goals for), Pacioretty, or Stone (five each) have even been scored on.

If this even remotely keeps up, this is the team to beat in the West, without question. But I guess I gotta see a little more than four games, no matter how good they were.

Mark Stone was no small get for the Golden Knights. (Getty)

4. Boston Bruins (LW: 5)

3. San Jose Sharks (LW: 3)

2. Calgary Flames (LW: 2)

1. Tampa Bay Lightning (LW: 1)

I know everyone over the age of 45 is now coming out saying, "Well getting to 50 doesn't mean as much because they have the shootout," but the fact that this team got to 50 at the same pace as a team with seven future Hall of Famers on it in a cap era, with two of the other six or seven best teams in the league playing in their division is incredible.

I really hope Kucherov hits 130 and they win 63. He only needs 24 points in 16 games, which I'm gonna consider very doable, but they'd have to win 13 down the stretch to pass those Red Wings. It's possible, but not likely.

Ryan Lambert is a Yahoo! Sports columnist. His email is here and his Twitter is here .

(All stats via Corsica unless otherwise noted.)

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