NHL Power Rankings: Fearsome Panthers No. 1, plus players who must step up

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Almost two weeks into the playoffs and 10 teams are left standing in what has been another incredible opening round. No surprises there, the first round is usually electric and the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs have fully delivered on that front.

Some players, though, haven’t. Last week, we talked about the early heroes for each team. This week, we flip the script with the early … players who could be doing better (or could’ve, in the case of those already eliminated).

From last week’s GOATs to this week’s goats: Here’s one person (or more!) from each team that hasn’t delivered.

1. Florida Panthers, won 4-1 against Tampa Bay

Last week: 1
Sean: 1
Dom: 1

Turns out, the defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers are still the top team to fear in this league — despite seemingly every prognosticator in the world siding with Tampa Bay before the series started. Whoops!

The Panthers made short work of a seriously strong Lightning team which makes it difficult to pick out any major flaws on the roster right now. If we had to, though, we’re going with Aaron Ekblad. Inside his suspension sandwich, the games he did play weren’t all that appetizing. The Panthers played high-event, run-and-gun hockey with Ekblad on the ice, and while they had the slight edge in chances, they got absolutely buried in goals against. In just under 30 minutes, Ekblad was outscored 4-1 at five-on-five. For a shutdown defender, that won’t be good enough in the later rounds.

2 (tie). Vegas Golden Knights, won 4-2 against Minnesota

Last week: 9
Sean: 3
Dom: 3

Amazing what one strong game can do — coming into Thursday night, Jack Eichel was our runaway choice in this spot. Vegas had been outscored 7-1 with him on the ice at five-on-five. That wasn’t going to work. Eichel, unsurprisingly, took care of business in a series-clinching win on Thursday, scoring once and putting up a Game Score of 4.05, tied at the top with Shea Theodore. He’s off the hook.

The Golden Knights’ top pairing of Alex Pietrangelo and Noah Hanifin, though, is going to have to improve against the Oilers; with those two on the ice together against the Wild, Vegas was outscored 5-2 and controlled just 43 percent of the expected goals. That’s probably not going to work against Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.

2 (tie). Carolina Hurricanes, won 4-1 against New Jersey

Last week: 6
Sean: 2
Dom: 4

The Hurricanes, relatively speaking, had a low-stress first-round series. Points to them for that. Jordan Staal, though, wasn’t at his best against the Devils. His line was most typically matched up against Nico Hischier, and New Jersey won those minutes decisively (61-39 expected goals percentage), though Carolina did manage a 1-1 tie in goals. When Staal was away from Hischier, the Hurricanes controlled a bigger chunk of the run of play (47 percent expected goal share) but were outscored 3-0.

It’ll be interesting to see how Staal’s line looks, presumably, against Alex Ovechkin and Dylan Strome in Round 2. Washington’s top line produces plenty of goals but can struggle with sustaining puck possession.

4. Edmonton Oilers, won 4-2 against Los Angeles

Last week: 13
Sean: 6
Dom: 2

Darnell Nurse deserves credit for rebounding from a mess of a 2024 postseason to show what he’s capable of, particularly down the stretch. From March 1 on, he finished first among Edmonton’s defensemen in regular season on-ice expected goals/60 (3.33) and second only to Mattias Ekholm in expected goals against/60 (2.12).

Against the Kings, with Ekholm out long-term, Nurse backslid in a bad way. Edmonton was outscored 9-4 with him on the ice and also lost, albeit narrowly, on expected goals. The Golden Knights, with forward depth befitting a legit contender, await.

5. Toronto Maple Leafs, won 4-2 against Ottawa

Last week: 2
Sean: 5
Dom: 5

And with that, the Greater Toronto Area breathes a sigh of relief.

But while that effort may have been enough to dispatch a genuinely mid Senators team, the Panthers are going to be a different beast. The Leafs got exactly two goals from their bottom seven forwards and that won’t be good enough against the defending champions.

At the top of the list of players who need to be better is Bobby McMann. At times, he’s provided a nice offensive punch for the Leafs, but was mostly invisible against Ottawa. McMann had just one assist in six games while losing the scoring chance battle at five-on-five.

6. Washington Capitals, won 4-1 against Montreal

Last week: 7
Sean: 4
Dom: 9

Pierre-Luc Dubois had a fine first round, but zero goals and two assists were still a step down from his wonderful regular season. While he, Tom Wilson and Connor McMichael still won their minutes against Montreal decisively (and also performed well against the Canadiens’ lethal top line), they’re going to need Dubois at his best against the Hurricanes; no forward is better equipped to handle Carolina’s style of hockey.

Some more of this wouldn’t hurt, either.

7 (tie). Winnipeg Jets, up 3-2 on St. Louis

Last week: 3
Sean: 9
Dom: 6

At this point, it’s extremely low-hanging fruit to point out Connor Hellebuyck’s less-than-stellar recent playoff form. But holy moly was the goal he allowed in Game 5 the worst one yet.

Hellebuyck has been awful, the team has missed two top-six scorers every game, and the Jets are still up 3-2. That’s a great sign. But boy, do they ever need Hellebuyck to figure his game out if they want to go all the way.

7 (tie). Dallas Stars, tied 3-3 with Colorado

Last week: 5
Sean: 8
Dom: 7

We won’t pick on the defense here given how hard their job is slowing down the star-studded Avalanche with only two true top-four guys.

We will pick on Matt Duchene, who has just one assist in six games. That’s picking up right where he left off last season, when Duchene had six points in 19 playoff games. Given he’s coming off a point-per-game season, being this invisible is really disappointing for Duchene.

7 (tie). Colorado Avalanche, tied 3-3 to Dallas

Last week: 10
Sean: 7
Dom: 8

We came into last night wondering if it was time to, very gently, ask for a bit more production from Cale Makar. Nevermind — in a wild Game 6 win, he put up the second-highest Game Score of the postseason (6.97) and, among other things, did this:

Expecting more would be unreasonable. Charlie Coyle, though, has more to give. He’s got just one point in the series, the worst expected goal share on the team (39 percent) and Colorado is being outscored 4-1 with him on the ice.

10. St. Louis Blues, down 3-2 to Winnipeg

Last week: 12
Sean: 10
Dom: 10

This might be a different series for the Blues with Dylan Holloway in the lineup. That’s easy to tell from how quiet Jordan Kyrou has been. The Blues’ second line was a major catalyst for the team’s surge under Jim Montgomery, but it’s having a tough go in the playoffs without its engine. Kyrou’s play is at the top of the concern list. Through five games, he has two goals, but no assists, while the Blues have been badly outscored with him on the ice. At his best, Kyrou can be a major offensive game-breaker and the Blues will need him to step up if they want any chance of pushing this series to seven.

11. Tampa Bay Lightning, lost 4-1 to Florida

Last week: 11
Sean: 12
Dom: 11

Remember when Andrei Vasilevskiy was the epitome of playoff clutch? We sure do — but it’s been a long while since we’ve seen that version of him show up. Since going to the final in 2022, the Lightning have been ousted in the first round in three straight years and each time Vasilevskiy has had a sub-.900 save percentage. This year’s work might’ve been his weakest yet, with an .868 where he allowed 3.4 goals more than expected. As good as Tampa Bay was this season, the Lightning weren’t going to beat many teams with that goaltending, let alone the defending champs.

12. Minnesota Wild, lost 4-2 to Vegas

Last week: 8
Sean: 11
Dom: 13

First of all, shoutout to Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy for delivering an all-time Minnesota Wild series performance. The Wild have stars with dawg in ‘em and that bodes well for the future.

But they still need more and that starts with Marco Rossi. Yes, he had two goals and three points in six games playing surprisingly few minutes, but there was a reason for his sparse usage. Rossi was on for just 33 percent of the expected goals during the series, a disappointing number for a young player who took a major step this season. Rossi is young and the sky is the limit, but his first taste of the postseason could’ve been better. Next year, with center depth always being an issue for Minnesota, he’ll need to be.

13. Los Angeles Kings, lost 4-2 to Edmonton

Last week: 4
Sean: 13
Dom: 12

Time will tell if Jim Hiller keeps his job after a disaster class against Edmonton, featuring a bizarre, ruinous coach’s challenge in Game 3, out-of-control minutes for his top four defensemen and top nine forwards and, ultimately, another first-round loss.

If he returns, he’ll have to be better — but it feels like time might be up for him.

14. Montreal Canadiens, lost 4-1 to Washington

Last week: 15
Sean: 14
Dom: 16

Playing big, tough minutes is a hard and often thankless job. Mike Matheson is not as bad as his on-ice numbers suggested this season. But those bad numbers did tell a story: that big, tough, thankless job is probably not one he can handle anymore. We saw that play out during Montreal’s five-game exit at the hands of the Capitals, where Matheson set up base camp in his own zone. Matheson’s 35 percent xG rate was the lowest among all defenders in the series. His sacrifice did allow other Canadiens defenders to thrive, yes, but a mark that low is still not good enough for that role.

16 (tie). Ottawa Senators, lost 4-2 against Toronto

Last week: 16
Sean: 15
Dom: 14

When all was said and done, the Leafs simply had more weapons than the Senators. No shame there for the wildcard team, but it makes things clear going forward: Brady Tkachuk and Tim Stützle — both of whom were brilliant in their first postseason — need help. Contenders usually have a big three up front. Ottawa only had a big two, and that made the Senators easier to stop.

From this vantage point, that mostly falls on Drake Batherson in this series. He finished second on the Senators this year with 26 goals and 68 points, but was mostly a no-show against the Leafs with just a goal and an assist in six games.

16 (tie). New Jersey Devils, lost 4-1 to Carolina

Last week: 14
Sean: 16
Dom: 15

When the Cup Checklist dropped before the playoffs, one of the key concerns with the Devils was that, even when healthy, Dougie Hamilton’s defensive game didn’t stack up. Almost every championship team had an elite No. 1 who was reliable at both ends of the ice — the complete package. Hamilton has a ton of offensive gifts, but his defensive game has fallen off.

Lo and behold, Hamilton was indeed New Jersey’s leakiest defender during the series against Carolina with the Devils allowing 3.45 xGA/60 with him on the ice. The Hurricanes buried Hamilton in his own zone leading to an ugly 37 percent xG rate. Not good enough.

(Top photo of the Panthers: Kim Klement Neitzel / Imagn Images)





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