The Montreal Canadiens began the 2019-20 season last week. Now that we have a few viewings of the Habs, we are taking a look at where they rank against their division rivals in the second edition of the power rankings.
The Atlantic Division was a three-headed monster last season for most of the year. The Tampa Bay Lightning ran away with it, winning 62 games and clinching the President’s Trophy around Christmas if memory serves correctly.
The Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs battled for the second seed in the division for most of the year. A late fade towards the end of the schedule by the Maple Leafs resulted in the Bruins taking second place in not just the division, but the overall NHL standings. This meant the Bruins would have home ice advantage against the Leafs in the first round of the playoffs and it paid off with a Game 7 victory.
The regular season only began six days ago, so we are still relying heavily on last year’s results to come up with these power rankings. With a few teams only playing two games, we have limited views of the teams this season. Except for the Maple Leafs who have already played four games in the first six nights of the schedule.
However, a few surprise performances to begin the season has seen some small tweaks to our original power rankings. Again, it is hard to draw major conclusions from two or three games, especially at the beginning of the season. Teams are not quite clicking on all cylinders just yet and as a result will give up far more chances in a game than they will later on.
We plan on making this a regular Tuesday post around here, so we are going to keep things on schedule even though it is a quick turnaround from the start of the season.
So, who is the top team in the Atlantic Division now? Where do the Habs rank? Is there actually a team in worse shape than the Ottawa Senators? Let’s take a look at the second edition of the Atlantic Division power rankings.