A wise man once told me, don’t look at the NHL standings until Christmas. Well here we are. Nearly 40 games through the NHL season and we are starting to see the big picture unfurl. That said by my estimation only 5-8 teams are truly out of it and a lot can change in the NHL over the next few months of course but let’s do our best to rank the teams going into 2019!
1. Tampa Bay
2. Winnipeg
3. Toronto
4. Calgary
5. Washington
The Tampa Bay lightning lead the pack. It isn’t debatable this team is the deepest in the leauge currently. The Jets are lead by the nearly 50 point man Mark Scheifele. They have surged ahead to take the lead in the most competitive division in the NHL. Toronto continues to roll with terrific depth scoring. Since the return of Auston Matthews this team has looked nearly unbeatable. The Calgary flames lead by 3 40 point scorers are currently atop the pacific division. Then you have the defending NHL champs who have surged behind Alex Ovechkin’s league leading 29 goals. Will Ovi ever get old?
6. Buffalo
7. Boston
8. Nashville
9. San Jose
10. Colorado
The Buffalo Sabres, the NHL’s surprise team this year continue playing well in the toughest division in the East. The Bruins have heated up as of late most recently beating a slightly slumping Nashville team that can’t seem to get there scoring going. San Jose is chasing down Calgary in the Pacific. Meanwhile the Colorado Avalanche have massively cooled off due to Goal tending problems and the fact the first lines insane scoring run is cooling down.
11. Montreal
12. Vegas
13. Columbus
14. Pittsburgh
15. Anaheim
16. Dallas
17. New York Islanders
18. Edmonton Oilers
19. Vancouver
20. Minnesota
21. New York Rangers
22. Detroit
23. Ottawa
24. Saint Louis
25. Florida
26. Carolina
27. Philadelphia
28. Arizona
29. Chicago
30. Los Angeles
31. New Jersey