Cumulative Power Rankings From 1980-81 Through 2023-24

welcome back now I'm going to say at the start of this um I'm not turning off the air conditioner for this video it is very hot today I don't feel like you know uh working up a sweat by the end of this video just standing here so the air conditioner may turn on during this video just going to let you guys know um so today I decided what if I measured the power rankings of every team that I've watched play uh from 1980 81 until now so the first season that I watched the National Hockey League regularly was 8081 uh where the New York Islanders win the Stanley Cup over Minnesota now you'll notice I've got here moved before 2023 2024 because I I have to have 32 teams but Utah is not going to get I I think I think Utah is going to end up probably being better team than what we saw in Arizona I I just we get that feeling don't we so I'll get through these ones first there are six teams I'm wearing Colorado Rockies who moved a couple years after I started watching and they're the first team that goes on the board now this magnet here is technically the Avalanche reverse retro but notice yeah it's the Colorado save flag so I was like all right I I don't have a Colorado Rockies but uh yeah they they never made the playoffs uh when I was watching um and in terms of the I keep wanting to say defunct when it talk about this but uh the Atlanta Thrashers are next at fifth on on this board in terms of teams that have moved before 2023 2024 uh fourth on the list is the whale what this also means is that what these teams did I am not weighing that in the ranking of the teams that are 1 through 32 here I wanted to separate that out uh the original Winnipeg Jets are third on the list uh they didn't have a great run but it was a little better than hartford's better than Atlanta's and better than the Colorado Rock uh number two on the board the Quebec nordi again technically this is an avalanche reverse retr magnet but it is the Nord logo and I was like well that works I can use that um and and so yeah there you go and so number one amongst the teams that have moved the Minnesota northstars made the Stanley Cup Final twice in the time I was watching hockey and generally were pretty good they made a Conference Final in there as well and of course when they started to tail off uh that's when they ended up being moved so there you go uh it's it's more weighted towards the Stanley Cup Playoffs but the regular season's taken into consideration as well uh it took me about 2 hours to come up with get all the information done so I can rank one through 32 so now that you guys understand and I haven't made the internet mad in a while and I was like I I need to make the internet mad so number 32 uh and again weighing the whole the whole run uh the Arizona coyotes yep so I I couldn't put Utah up because I haven't played a game yet so there you go we're in that no man's land with the Arizona Coyotes uh number 31 rounding out the bottom row on the board is the Columbus Blue Jackets so what weighs them down is they missed the playoffs regularly they they haven't won the division uh Arizona did reach a conference final at one point but they've missed the playoffs so many times that they still ended up being weighed down to uh bottom of the list out of the 32 teams that played this season so um it would be hard for me to do this next summer cuz then Arizona's in this area and Utah only has one season to go on yeah difficult uh number 30 moving up into the next Row Buffalo um Buffalo's been bad for a very long time and I I feel bad for Savers fans and I mean considering how good buffalo has been at times during time during during part of the 80s uh the late ' 90s definitely with with hasik it's sad to see the team 30th on the board overall but yeah the math definitely puts him in 30th 29th a team that struggled throughout the 80s has had a lot of long stretches of struggles Toronto the fact they haven't reached a Stanley Cup Final they haven't won a Stanley Cup leads to Toronto being 29th uh but you know they've won a couple of division titles and they did get to the conference final a few times and uh the mid 90s early 2000s so they did get some points that kept them out of the bottom Place uh but they they need to get more they they need to show a little bit more come playoff time and again I I weighed like division titles playoff appearances but yeah Toronto still ends up 29th on the board 28th another Ontario team the Ottawa Senators uh the SS of course their first season in the NHL was miserable like catastrophic but for the Ottawa Senators uh they've had some good runs here and there however uh in the end they still end up 28th on the board overall and so that's that's two Canadian teams on the board right next to one another and they're both from Ontario you know what I'll just I'll turn the I turn the air conditioner off I'll I'll Soldier through if if I'm a bucket of sweat at the end of this I'm going to apologize um it heats up very very quickly I'm right next to the garage so it heats up very quickly all right so number 28 is Ottawa number 27 is Florida now what's interesting is there's a lot of points for winning a Stanley Cup what it does is it keeps Florida from being right near the bottom the Florida Panthers have were run so badly for so long that it's it's going to take a few more really strong seasons and I think they're going to get them uh they may end up winning another Stanley Cup as well uh Florida and i' I've been looking at teams here and there I'll look at Florida and what they've lost since they won the Stanley Cup but that Stanley Cup win keeps them out of I'd say 30th without those points you just take a quick look at my board uh yeah uh without without that Stanley Cup win they would be they'd be ahead of Columbus they'd be ahead of Arizona they would not be ahead of Buffalo so that Stanley Cup win absolutely uh pulls Florida ahead of where they would have been but it it just shows how inept management was and again uh people always talk about oh nobody goes out to watch Arizona games I wonder why oh Florida nobody went to Florida games I wonder why once those teams are run pretty well all of a sudden people show up it's really strange it's like Buffalo doesn't get anybody in attendance fans seem to understand because we accept Buffalo as a hockey Market uh number 26 is Minnesota so the Minnesota Wild end up 26 they've had one Conference Final Run and not a whole lot to speak of outside of that and that was in 2003 so yeah Minnesota 26th on the board um I don't think wild fans are going to be surprised by that uh I think there's going to be some people that are upset with where some teams are on the board but again I I went over the math a few times and and I I I actually started this and then I started over I was like nope I got to start over again two hours putting this together number 25 is the Winnipeg jaet Jets the current Winnipeg Jets and what's interesting is and I'm again looking at the board the numbers between the old Winnipeg Jets and the current Winnipeg Jets are almost the same so this is a franchise that's had its mediocrity uh they haven't been in the Stanley Cup Final neither your original Jets or the current Jets and of course Arizona never got there either so if you're a Jets fan right now you can type into the comment section and that's why attendance goes down but yeah the Winnipeg Jets 25th on the board I really wanted see them do well absolutely want to see them do well 24th uh the the Seattle Kraken now they're only three years into their existence but I had to go by the point system uh I couldn't just not have them on the board because they've only had the three years but yeah uh Seattle 24th not too shabby only being three years into your existence and being ahead of the other teams and Seattle's a team that I'm already seeing articles about how oh these the they could get right back to the playoffs I know there's a lot of people that like see them back in the playoffs I don't know if they're going to get back to playoffs but I think they'll be better next season than this season and who knows the next time I tabulate a list like this they're probably going to end up being a little higher uh number 23 the Nashville Predators now Nashville is a team that we know has been aggressive in the off season so far and the expectation is Nashville's going to be potentially trying to win the division this next season um I think between them and the ABS I think those are probably going to be the power of the the division but it's it's it looks pretty wide open so we'll see how it turns out but Nashville I do like the additions in the off season this is a team that's been to one Stanley Cup Final of course and it's the first team on the board with the Stanley Cup Final other than Florida and well and Ottawa Ottawa had that Stanley Cup Final in ' 07 so yeah Nashville ends up 23d on the board they've had some good Seasons it's about maintaining it and uh adding who they've added in the offseason should help uh at number 22 Vancouver I'm not surprised Vancouver is 22nd like it's it's so bizarre that in in this Channel's existence for the I think it's seven years I've been doing power rankings it's six or seven years Vancouver seems to reside in the third row that just seems like it's the place where they end up so when I was tabulating the numbers at the end and again I'm not giving away my formula but there's a positive and a negative uh Vancouver ended up tabulating to a zero and I was like that that checks out yep that so everybody on this end of the board has a negative value everybody from 21 and up has a positive value Vancouver is just zero they're just they're even it's just feels like the most conu thing they could be I'm really hoping that the next time I do this they're higher up on the board I don't know maybe a Stanley Cup stop laughing it's not nice um hurts my feelings number 21 a team that did win a Stanley Cup back in 1989 the Calgary Flames Calgary and Vancouver being next to each other feels just about right uh if you go through go look through these teams uh histories um they're not dissimilar to one another Calgary does have that Stanley Cup win in 1989 which differentiates the two organizations but yeah they they've struggled with maintaining that spot at the top I think Calgary's best run was the one where they won that Stanley Cup and since then they've never really consistently been a top team Vancouver I've talked about it before they get to be a top team here and there but consistency over and I'll say like a 5-year period has eluded them so that's that's your third row uh second row the San Jose Sharks at 20th now the regular season gets San Jose to 20th if they'd won a Stanley Cup they'd be higher up but they just they haven't had that Stanley Cup win they've had the one Stanley Cup Final appearance that was in 2016 so yeah San Jose ends up 20th on the board uh cuz I had to wait it so that Stanley Cup victories are really important and even then certain Stanley Cup champions haven't been ranked higher but yeah San Jose ends up at 20th uh at some point in time this summer I want to do a video talking about San Jose at their Peak and how good they were and some of their best players and how they just couldn't quite get over the hump talk about teams that set them back so uh yeah look for that this summer number 19 staying in California Califor it is the Anaheim Ducks the Anaheim Ducks of course won the Stanley Cup in 2007 but it's been some lean years since uh what is it 2019 it's been lean since uh I think they last made the playoffs in 2018 so from 2019 till now uh that's dragged their numbers down so it's still a positive because they're over Vancouver but notice how the Pacific Division is showing up a lot at this point so there's been some rough seasons for Pacific Division teams for sure and uh Anaheim I think is starting to you know put things together but are they going to end up being last overall in the NHL this year they very well could be we'll see uh I think predicting last is just as tough as predicting first uh number 18 Carolina the canes went a long stretch without playoffs and I did when I was waiting this and putting this together I thought you know if a team's been outside of the playoffs for 5 years stretch or a 10-year stretch they they kind of need to uh have more of a penalty for that than a team that just misses once or twice and gets back into the playoffs so the long stretch Carolina went outside of the playoffs hurt them of course they won the Cup in 2006 right before Anaheim won it in 2007 but after they won the cup they then went without Stanley Cup playoffs they had they went to the Conference Final in 09 and then there was no playoffs for a very long time so uh yeah Carolina's had their their struggles uh better than Hartford I will say better than Hartford uh looking at the board here yeah it's not even close if I had included Hartford with the Carolina number Carolina would have been down right below Vancouver so by separating those out it moves Carolina ahead so that's part of the reason I wanted to do that number 17 another California team the LA Kings they had the Stanley Cup in 2012 and the Stanley Cup in 2014 uh they went to the Stanley Cup Final in 1993 they had some Conference Finals there they've also had a lot of Seasons where they missed the playoffs uh and again going back to 1981 the 80s were a pretty tough decade for La so when you average it all out they average out to 17th so uh La making the playoffs the last few years but getting knocked out in the first round that's not helping them either in terms of generating enough points to move up the board and so they're 17th and that puts them right near the halfway mark just above the halfway mark at 16th out of 32 which is half so halfway mark it's the New York Islanders now what keeps the Islanders higher than everybody else is the fact they won the cup in 81 82 and 83 now if I'd been watching hockey in 7980 and I generally didn't uh but if I'd been watching hockey in 7980 the Islanders would be substantially further ahead than they are um those backto backto back Stanley Cups each year they beat a team I was rooting for it they beat Minnesota then Vancouver and I really wanted the Oilers to win an 83 the Oilers would get that win an 84 but since since that Stanley Cup Final appearance in ' 84 it's been some lean times for the New York Islanders as well so they generate a lot of points at the start of what I was using to measure this out and then they just don't uh Conference Final appearan has helped but yeah they end up 16th on the board overall because they've had some rough times 15th the Philadelphia Flyers they're due for a Stanley Cup Final Run the Flyers have those every now and then they don't win in the Stanley Cup Final but they do have those Stanley Cup Final runs and that's part of how they end up 15th if they'd won a couple of those Stanley cups that they appeared in say like I don't know 85 or 87 or 2010 or 97 any any of those Stanley Cup finals uh they would they'd be much higher up on the board but they are where they are let me just let me just do the math here uh so if they had done that let's say they just would have won one of the Stanley Cups they would have moved up I'm just looking at the board over there uh yep they'd be ahead of them they'd be in the top 10 they'd be in the top 10 uh so number 14 on the board a team that did win a Stanley Cup uh the New York Rangers that 1994 cup gets the Rangers up to 14th uh they've had some Conference Final appearances they had a 2014 Stanley Cup Final appearance as well and I still I think the Rangers are going to get one over the next few years I think they've got a pretty good roster there I think with just the right little touches I absolutely think they can win a Stanley Cup uh soon soon I'm I'm not going to Ballpark a date because at number 13 is a team that's won the cups the W the Stanley Cup once and uh that's Dallas and I feel like Dallas is kind of do as well uh what weighs Dallas down a bit so Dallas had really good runs end of the90s end of the 2000s but they've also missed the playoffs a lot too Dallas misses the playoffs more than people think because Dallas doesn't get as much attention as a lot of the other teams in the NHL so when Dallas misses the playoffs there's no oh wow I can't believe Dallas missed um but yeah they go go check the stats Dallas misses the playoffs plenty uh right now though it feels like they've got a really good run going a lot of good young players to go with the veterans it should coales into a championship at some point uh will I still be alive for it who knows uh number 12 also a team with the Stanley Cup uh the 2018 Stanley Cup to be precise uh the Washington Capitals so they've had their lean years as well and of course in the 80s they had some really good teams that just didn't get over the could could not win that win that Championship so yeah Washington ends up 12th on the board um I don't think they're going to be upset with that they did win a Stanley Cup so you know the the Stanley Cup helps so there you go number 12 number 11 Vegas Vegas if you look at the overall stats their win loss records fantastic since they committed the league people hate them over it uh and and I like I get it I do if you watch your expansion team you know struggle for 5 years and they can't get anything done and then they finally get better and then Vegas comes in and through genius General Manager work by George MC and some questionable trades that other GMS made Vegas has been really good throughout most of their existence they've missed the playoffs once in seven years that's remarkable so uh yeah Vegas ends up 11th that Stanley Cup definitely helps gave him a bunch of points and again they just don't miss the playoffs so they end up just outside the top 10 even though they've only got seven years in the league number 10 St Louis so the blues with the 2019 Stanley Cup the other thing that moves keeps them in the top 10 is they've made the playoffs a lot so going back to 81 they made the playoffs a lot even the year that it looked like they could move to Saskatoon and there was a lot of concern about whether or not the team was profitable and they ended up not going to the draft because they weren't allowed to move to Saskatoon I may need to do another video on that soon cuz I'm aware there's a lot of people who are subscribed to the channel now that weren't back then when I did a video on that it's a bizarre story but St Louis ends up in the top 10 they're number 10 on the board so kudos to them for that number nine a multiple Stanley Cup winner and I'm looking I and the kings are a multiple Cup winner the Islanders are a multiple Cup winner and now at 9ine we've got the New Jersey Devils uh it is remarkable that considering some of the 80s and some of the recent history the devils are still in the top 10 they have three Stanley Cups to their name and a Stanley Cup Final actually two other Stanley Cup Final appearances as well when New Jersey is good they tend to be pretty good uh it's part of the reason I took them uh to win the Stanley Cup this year which um they had to make the playoffs to win the Stanley Cup and they didn't so not not my proudest proudest moment but uh yeah the Devils end up number nine on the board and we'll see maybe they get that fourth Stanley Cup this year and if they do they'll probably move up into the top five if I do this again next year not saying that I will but I might uh number eight Tampa uh the Tampa Bay Lightning of course three Stanley Cups I know I know people oh those cups don't count the players don't care the fans don't care people can say it all they want the reality is the Tampa Bay Lightning have three Stanley Cups to their name and if other teams had won I guarantee those fans of those other teams would have said well this cup counts so yeah um Tampa Bay ends up at number eight what drags them down a bit is that they had some some lean years there where they missed the playoffs uh definitely the 2019 upset at the hands of the Columbus Blue Jackets prevented them from getting points out of that season but Tampa Bay when they're good they're they're generally pretty darn good and they're pretty tough to beat in the playoffs number seven I was surprised by this one Montreal Montreal was was good enough in the 80s the early 90s that they've stayed in the top 10 when I got all these numbers put together I and I was surprised I was genuinely surprised I went over it too but really outside of now where they're going through the rebuild they've generally been really good uh they did make the Stanley Cup Final in 2021 so there's there's a lot of reasons that Montreal ends up in the top 10 kudos to them for that uh they are almost the best Canadian team on this board uh at number seven so there you go and the most recent Canadian team to win a Stanley Cup uh number six on the board is Chicago now Chicago would have been higher if not for the fact that man this team was bad this team was really quite bad in the late '90s early 2000s and it's interesting because in the early 90s it looked like with ranic and Belfor and Chelios this team was going to win at least a Stanley Cup and they didn't so yeah Chicago the three Stanley Cups they've won puts them up in the top top six but the the rough patches they've gone through and some of the drafting in the late '90s early 2000s too didn't help them out any uh but yeah uh Chicago ends up number six I was actually kind of surprised they weren't higher up uh I did as I said I I went through and I kind of started over and I felt like I needed to wait things a little bit different if I hadn't Chicago may have been down around 8th or 9th or 10th number five mild surprise at 5 the Boston Bruins they have won Stanley Cup win of course in 2011 in the time I've watched hockey but they've been consistently a playoff team through most of the time I've watched the game uh I started watching in 81 the first time they missed the playoffs in my time watching hockey was 1997 so and they had Stanley Cup Final appearances in there uh they've had I think four runs to the Stanley Cup Final and not one and then they won the one over Vancouver so all of that just kept pegging them up points and so the consistency Boston's had through most of their existence has them in the top five uh that Stanley Cup win doesn't hurt either without the Stanley Cup win they would have been below they would have been below Chicago uh they still would have been ahead of Montreal but just barely barely ahead of Montreal but yeah number five uh number four the Colorado Avalanche so again three Stanley Cups helps having a pretty darn good team helps the only thing keeping them from being higher is they went through that really rough patch of their own uh before you know with with Matt duchaine and the Really Bad season and when everybody thought sack should be fired and gone and waited too long on duchaine you don't hear much about that anymore you don't and so when people are criticizing Steve Eiserman now I think about that I think you know people criticized sack plenty until the team all of a sudden was really good then it all went away so uh for Colorado they're still a contender I will not be surprised if they win another Stanley Cup Nathan McKinnon if he can replicate what he did this season and they have a little bit better luck in the playoffs they could win another all right number three the Oilers so what booys the Oilers up and keeps them in the top three is five Stanley Cups uh numerous Stanley Cup finals as well uh 2006 as well as 2024 so that definitely helps uh looking at the Oilers if they didn't have the Stanley Cup uh final this year they would have been below Colorado so that that moves them ahead of Colorado uh but the Oilers best of the Canadian teams that I've watched in my time watching hockey because they had those five Stanley Cups yes the most recent one was in 1990 but I'm weighing this over the entire time I've washed hockey and the Oilers still one of the best teams and I will not be surprised if they're the Canadian team that breaks this drought that Canada's been in number two Detroit what's interesting too is that at the time I started watching hockey Detroit was a miserable franchise nobody wanted to play in Detroit nobody wanted to go there and um yeah it was it was rough Marcel Deon gets traded to LA in my in the time before I started watching hockey and the guys traded for Dion didn't want to go to Detroit no it was just kind of a thing so no trade lists uh Detroit would have been on them and back then you didn't have no trade lists you just didn't report that was just the way it worked and then the team would suspend you you're not getting paid but you're also not playing for a team you don't want to play for so the Detroit Red Wings uh remarkable tour turn around once they got Eiserman and now eisman's the GM of course and even though they've had a long stretch without playoffs just the four Stanley Cups and how good they were for how long they were puts them at number two which means number one on the power rankings is Pittsburgh um what is it five Stanley Cups yep five Stanley Cups in in my time watching so uh they're tied with the Oilers for the most cups u in in my time watching hockey and for Pittsburgh you have the Lemieux era you have the Crosby era and now the expectation is at some point in time they're going to have to rebuild and who's going to be the next one after Sid who are they going to draft that's going to be the next big Superstar or what are they going to do to find that next big Superstar if they don't get that number one draft pick so uh for Pittsburgh it's been remarkable when Pittsburgh's bad they are historically bad like they are awful usually by Design because they know who's coming up in the draft sort of like what Chicago did with Bard in the draft where it was just we're just going to bot him out San Jose did that this year with Salini uh I will not be surprised when Pittsburgh does it again and they get their man they get the guy they're looking for uh they did that with Lemieux where they intentionally were the worst team in the league uh trading away good players to just keep getting worse and uh with Crosby they just I don't know how intentional that rebuild was they just all of a sudden were really bad and they just sort of have stayed bad for a while they got malcin one year and Crosby the next and um yeah uh it's it's quite the story with the Pittsburgh Penguins uh of course it was a lottery where they get Crosby where all 30 teams were in the lottery uh there was plenty of uh discussion plenty of complaining about the fact that Pittsburgh won that Lottery but it was weighted towards the teams that were bad and Pittsburgh was one of the teams that were pretty bad uh so there you go power rankings from 1981 through to 20 24 um all set and you guys can let me know your thoughts in the comment section below as always hit like And subscribe if you haven't done so already once this is once this is done I'm turning that air conditioner back on because it's warmed up substantially in here uh over the time I've been doing this video but thank you guys so much for all your support as always uh I do enjoy doing power ranking videos this is for people who might have been missing some of the power ranking videos because I haven't done one since the end of the regular season the next Power Rankings on the channel for current hockey uh will be I'm aiming for August the 1st so or the first Saturday in August maybe that's August the 1st I haven't looked but uh yeah stay tuned for that but let me know your thoughts hit like And subscribe if you haven't done so already thank you guys so much for all your support I will talk to you again soon

Channel: The Hockey Guy

Views: 29,019

Keywords: hockey

Id: xdyXA3s6lXk

Length: 28min 17sec (1697 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 09 2024