With one week of the 2025-26 NHL season in the books, a total of eight teams have yet to suffer a regulation loss. However, only three of those clubs played more than two games, and one of them was in action four times. That team is the Colorado Avalanche.
Colorado, which has eclipsed the 100-point mark in each of the past four seasons, won three of its first four contests, and its lone blemish was a shootout loss to the Dallas Stars. The Avalanche entered Week 2 with an NHL-high seven points, one more than the two-time reigning Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers and Boston Bruins.
Each week during the season, I’ll rank the league’s top 10 teams based on both the previous week’s performances and their overall bodies of work in 2025-26. I’ll also give brief synopsis for each club that explains why they’re ranked where they are.
Let’s dive into the power ratings for Week 1 of the 2025-26 NHL season and highlight a few more teams of note.
NHL Week 1 power ratings
1. Colorado Avalanche (3-0-1)
The Avalanche allowed just one goal in their victories over the Los Angeles Kings, Utah Mammoth and Buffalo Sabres, and Scott Wedgewood posted a 1.72 goals-against average while playing in all four of the team’s games. Offensively, 2024 Hart Trophy winner Nathan MacKinnon has gotten off to a fast start as he is tied for second in the NHL with four goals and shares the league lead in points (eight) with teammate Martin Necas. Both have recorded three multi-point performances, while Cale Makar tops all NHL defensemen with five points.
2. Florida Panthers (3-1-0)
The Panthers opened the season with three consecutive victories, defeating the Chicago Blackhawks, Philadelphia Flyers and Ottawa Senators. The most impressive thing about their start was the fact they did it without Matthew Tkachuk, who likely will be sidelined until December following groin surgery, and captain Aleksander Barkov, who figures to miss the entire campaign after undergoing knee surgery. Florida’s winning streak ended with Monday’s 5-2 loss at Philadelphia, although the club rallied from a 2-0 deficit to forge a tie before allowing the go-ahead goal with less than five minutes remaining in the third period. Brad Marchand and Anton Lundell share the team lead with four points apiece, and both have landed on the scoresheet in each of the Panthers’ last three games.
3. Boston Bruins (3-1-0)
The Bruins also won their first three contests of 2025-26 before dropping a 4-3 decision to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday. Boston is tied with Colorado, Florida and the Minnesota Wild for the most goals in the NHL with 13, while David Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha both have registered a tally and four assists to top the club with five points. The Bruins likely won’t keep up their scoring pace due to a lack of depth, but it’s nice to see them start strong after having missed the playoffs last season for the first time since 2016.
4. Nashville Predators (2-0-1)
The Predators went on a spending spree last offseason and the return was dismal as they finished 30th in the league, failing to qualify for the postseason for the second time in three campaigns. They began 2024-25 with a five-game losing streak and never were able to get to .500, so seeing them start this season with two wins and an overtime loss to Utah is encouraging. Two-time All-Star Juuse Saros posted a 1.64 GAA as Nashville allowed only five goals over its first three games, while Filip Forsberg and Erik Haula — who is on his second tour of duty with the club — recorded a point in each contest.
5. Dallas Stars (2-0-0)
The Stars gave up four goals in both of their games thus far but came away unscathed, edging the 2024-25 Presidents’ Trophy-winning Winnipeg Jets in regulation and Colorado in a shootout. Mikko Rantanen and defenseman Thomas Harley lead the team with four points apiece, while Jason Robertson and Wyatt Johnston both have scored twice. Meanwhile, blue-liner Nils Lundkvist already has three points after registering only five in 39 games last season.
6. Carolina Hurricanes (2-0-0)
The Hurricanes are just two games into 2025-26 and have three players with multiple goals. One is Seth Jarvis, who tallied twice in the team’s season-opening 6-3 triumph over the New Jersey Devils and scored the overtime winner against the Flyers. Defenseman K’Andre Miller also tallied twice versus New Jersey in his debut with Carolina and Taylor Hall converted in both of the team’s contests.
7. Seattle Kraken (2-0-0)
After finishing next-to-last in the Pacific Division last season, the Kraken have won their first two games for the first time in the franchise’s brief five-season history. They were strong defensively in those contests, allowing just one goal in victories over the Anaheim Ducks and Vegas Golden Knights. Jared McCann, who was Seattle’s goal-scoring leader in each of its first three seasons, scored in both games, netting the winner against Vegas four seconds before overtime was set to conclude.
8. Detroit Red Wings (2-1-0)
Yes, the Red Wings opened 2025-26 with a 5-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens. But they bounced back by sweeping a home-and-home series with the Toronto Maple Leafs, who won three of the four meetings between the Atlantic Division rivals last season. Detroit produced nine goals in the wins, with eight different players lighting the lamp. Lucas Raymond tallied twice in Saturday’s 6-3 home triumph, while Mason Appleton scored with 45 seconds remaining in the third period at Toronto on Monday to give the Red Wings a 3-2 victory. Captain Dylan Larkin, who shares the team lead in goals with Raymond, notched a point in each of Detroit’s first three contests.
9. Minnesota Wild (2-1-0)
The Wild are tied for the NHL lead in goals thanks to their power play, which was outstanding during the first week of the season. Minnesota went 8-for-17 with the man advantage over its first three games for a ridiculous conversion rate of 47.1% and cashed in seven times on 14 opportunities over its last two contests. Kirill Kaprizov recorded three power-play goals and is tied with teammate Matt Boldy and Jack Eichel of the Golden Knights for third in the NHL with seven points. The 28-year-old Kaprizov is one man-advantage tally away from matching the total he registered in 41 games last season.
10. Winnipeg Jets (2-1-0)
Winnipeg’s top two offensive players in 2024-25 picked up where they left off, landing on the scoresheet in each of the team’s first three games this campaign. Kyle Connor, who set a career high with 97 points last season, recorded his seventh hat trick in the NHL in the Jets’ season-opening 5-4 loss to Dallas and notched one assist in victories over Los Angeles and the New York Islanders. Mark Scheifele set up each of Connor’s goals against the Stars, netted a pair of tallies — including the winner — in a 3-2 triumph over the Kings and added an empty-netter in Monday’s 5-2 win versus the Islanders. Morgan Barron (two goals, two assists) also figured in the scoring in each of Winnipeg’s contests and is on pace to obliterate the career high of 21 points he set in 2022-23.
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