NHL Power Rankings: Team Rankings 2025

The Four Nations Face-Off break is here, and for some teams it came at the perfect time.

Some teams have been hit by the injury bug, while others surely wish they could still keep playing – namely, the Vancouver Canucks.

Though NHL players are on pause until Feb. 22, outside of those participating in the first best-on-best hockey tournament since 2016, we can still take stock of where teams stand as of Presidents’ Day weekend – with the trade deadline a little more than two weeks away.

Here are the NHL power rankings as of Feb. 14.

NHL Power Rankings 2025

1. Jets

If there were a way to rank the Jets better than first, it would be appropriate to do so since Winnipeg entered the Four Nations break as by far the league’s hottest team. Connor Hellebuyck is a shoo-in to win his second straight Vezina Trophy, which masks the fact the Jets have scored the most goals in the NHL as of the Four Nations break (202).

Perhaps Winnipeg’s biggest concern should be keeping Hellebuyck fresh for the postseason, since he will be backstopping the United States at the Four Nations tournament. But the Jets are running away with the top seed in the Western Conference, even while the Avalanche and Stars have made major moves to try and catch them.

Can Winnipeg win the Cup? That remains to be seen. But it is looking increasingly like the Jets will enter the Stanley Cup playoffs as the team to beat.

11. Lightning

The Lightning were another team that may have wanted to keep playing when the best-on-best tournament paused their season. Fortunately for Tampa Bay, only four of its stars are playing in the Four Nations Face-Off, with Russian-born superstars Nikita Kucherov and Andrei Vasilevskiy each getting a break.

The East is wide open, since it is hard to know how good the Capitals are and the Panthers may finally run out of gas after two straight trips to the Cup Final. Jon Cooper knows how to push the right buttons in the postseason, since he is a two-time Cup champion and has represented the Eastern Conference four times in his 12-plus seasons behind the bench.

Don’t be stunned if the Lightning continue to climb the rankings and enter the playoffs as a dark horse in the East.

14. Canucks

The soap opera surrounding the Canucks has ended, and thankfully for those on the roster, Vancouver appears to have come out the other end. The Canucks have won three straight, including wins over the Maple Leafs and Avalanche, after trading J.T. Miller to New York and acquiring Marcus Pettersson from Pittsburgh.

With the feud between Miller and star center Elias Pettersson officially a thing of the past, Rick Tocchet’s club will have less of the hockey microscope under it. Plus, Vancouver has all the correct high-end talents on its roster to make a deep playoff run, as long as Norris Trophy favorite Quinn Hughes and underrated goalie Thatcher Demko remain healthy.

16. Senators

Will the real Senators please stand up? Ottawa has lost three straight, two to the Lightning and one to the Panthers, just as it had firmly cemented itself in the No. 3 spot in the Atlantic Division. 

The Sens are clinging to the first wild card in the East, since they sit just one point ahead of No. 2 wild card Detroit and just two points up on the Blue Jackets and Bruins. But they followed a five-game winning streak with that three game slide, and the break came at the perfect time in Canada’s capital.

21. Bruins

The Four Nations Face-Off championship game may be the only high-intensity hockey being held at TD Garden this year, since Boston is on the brink of falling into the abyss in the East. The Bruins are 11th in the Eastern Conference in points percentage (.526) and have a ghastly minus-25 goal differential.

Boston’s struggles have led to the previously unthinkable notion of trading captain and pending free agent Brad Marchand so the veteran can get one more chase of the Cup – he won with Boston early in his career in 2011. 

If the Bruins don’t straighten up quickly after the break, those rumblings may get even louder as the March 7 trade deadline approaches.

28. Canadiens

The Habs have been a nice story for much of the season, but Martin St. Louis’ team is falling off just in time for them to sell at the trade deadline. Montreal should trade Joel Armia, Jake Evans, David Savard and the rest of its pending UFAs after its recent 1-7-1 stretch.

Montreal’s solid play into January should serve as a valuable lesson for its young roster, since barring some swift and drastic turnaround, the Habs will miss the playoffs for the fourth straight year.