2025-26 NHL power rankings week 6: Avalanche roar to summit, Oilers free-fall out of top ten

Week 6 of the 2025-26 NHL season felt like the first sharp turn on a roller-coaster. Colorado’s four-game heater rocketed them from fourth to first, Edmonton’s three-game goose-egg shoved them outside the playoff picture, and the New York Rangers continued to bank points at an 82-game pace that would eclipse 130. With Jack Eichel back in Vegas, Sergei Bobrovsky channeling 2021 in Sunrise, and Toronto’s depth finally getting exposed, the league’s hierarchy looks dramatically different than it did seven days ago.

Below is the definitive Week 6 edition of our 2025-26 NHL power rankings, complete with the advanced metrics that separate contenders from pretenders.

2025-26 NHL power rankings week 6: the new top 16

1. Colorado Avalanche – 11-2-1, 23 pts (🔺+3)
2. New York Rangers – 10-2-2, 22 pts (🔺+1)
3. Dallas Stars – 10-3-1, 21 pts (🔺+2)
4. Carolina Hurricanes – 9-3-2, 20 pts (🔻-1)
5. Vegas Golden Knights – 9-4-1, 19 pts (🔺+4)
6. Toronto Maple Leafs – 9-4-2, 20 pts (🔻-4)
7. Winnipeg Jets – 9-5-0, 18 pts (🔺+2)
8. New Jersey Devils – 8-4-2, 18 pts (🔻-1)
9. Florida Panthers – 8-5-1, 17 pts (🔺+3)
10. Edmonton Oilers – 7-6-1, 15 pts (🔻-5)
11. Tampa Bay Lightning – 7-5-2, 16 pts (🔺+1)
12. Boston Bruins – 7-6-1, 15 pts (🔻-2)
13. Los Angeles Kings – 7-6-2, 16 pts (🔺+2)
14. Seattle Kraken – 6-5-3, 15 pts (🔻-1)
15. Minnesota Wild – 6-6-2, 14 pts (🔺+1)
16. Buffalo Sabres – 6-7-1, 13 pts (🔺NR)

Teams dropping out: Pittsburgh Penguins (5-7-2), Ottawa Senators (5-8-1).

2025-26 NHL power rankings week 6: biggest risers

Colorado Avalanche

Mikko Rantanen’s league-best 14 goals in 14 games is only the headline. Nathan MacKinnon’s line is tilting 62 % of expected goals at five-on-five, and Alexandar Georgiev has stopped 93.4 % of shots during the streak. Coach Jared Bednar’s decision to pair Cale Makar with Devon Toews for 22 minutes a night has produced five goals for and zero against, the best duo mark in the NHL so far.

Vegas Golden Knights

Jack Eichel returned from October wrist surgery and immediately ripped off eight points in three games. The new top line of Eichel, Mark Stone and Tomas Hertl owns a 68 % offensive-zone start ratio and has yet to be out-chanced. Vegas out-scored opponents 16-7 in Week 6, the best goal differential in the league over that span.

Florida Panthers

Sergei Bobrovsky’s vintage stretch (1.65 GAA, .941 SV% in his last five) has masked an injury-riddled blue line that is still without Brandon Montour and Aaron Ekblad. Anton Lundell’s 56 % face-off win rate is keeping the Panthers afloat until reinforcements arrive next month.

2025-26 NHL power rankings week 6: steepest fallers

Toronto Maple Leafs

A 1-2-1 road swing through Alberta revealed the same old story: the bottom six can’t score. The third line has one even-strength goal in 15 games, and Ilya Samsonov’s October save percentage (.887) is the worst among 32 starters. Auston Matthews remains day-to-day with a wrist issue, and the power play has slipped to 21st at 17.1 %.

Edmonton Oilers

Connor McDavid has gone three straight games without a point for the first time since March 2019. Stuart Skinner’s five-hole vulnerability has ballooned his season SV% to .896, and the penalty kill is 30th at 68.4 %. Coach Kris Knoblauch called the slide “a five-alarm fire” after a 6-1 drubbing in Seattle on Saturday.

Boston Bruins

Injuries to Charlie McAvoy (upper-body, week-to-week) and Hampus Lindholm (lower-body) forced 19-year-old rookie Mason Lohrei into 24 minutes a night. The Bruins were out-shot 117-83 during a three-game losing streak, and Jeremy Swayman’s league-high 15 starts are beginning to show.

2025-26 NHL power rankings week 6: advanced stat spotlight

Expected-goals share since 1 November (five-on-five, via Natural Stat Trick):

1. Colorado – 58.3 %
2. Carolina – 56.9 %
3. Dallas – 56.1 %
4. New Jersey – 55.7 %
5. Vegas – 54.4 %

Bottom five: 28. Chicago – 44.2 %
29. Anaheim – 43.8 %
30. Columbus – 42.9 %
31. San Jose – 40.1 %
32. Calgary – 39.5 %

The Flames’ 40-shot shutout loss to Utah on Saturday was the third time this month they’ve been held under 1.0 expected goals, a threshold Colorado has failed to reach only once all season.

2025-26 NHL power rankings week 6: quote board

> “We’re not winning pretty, but we’re winning with structure. That’s what good teams do in November.”
> — Peter Laviolette, Rangers head coach, after a 3-2 OT win in Detroit

> “I don’t care if it’s October or April, you can’t give up six rush chances a period and expect your goalie to bail you out every night.”
> — Kris Knoblauch, Oilers head coach

> “Jack looks like he’s been shot out of a cannon. We’re managing his minutes, but it’s hard to take him off the ice.”
> — Bruce Cassidy, Golden Knights head coach

2025-26 NHL power rankings week 6: what to watch in Week 7

• Colorado at Toronto, Thursday – Matthews’ possible return against the league’s hottest club.
• Vegas at Dallas, Saturday – A potential Stanley Cup Final preview: both clubs rank top-five in goals per game (Vegas 4.05, Dallas 3.88).
• Edmonton at Seattle, Tuesday – The Oilers’ 30th-ranked PK (68.4 %) faces the Kraken’s 32nd-ranked power play (18.9 %). A get-right spot—or another trap door?
• Rangers at Carolina, Sunday – Metropolitan heavyweights collide; Igor Shesterkin vs. Frederik Andersen is must-see TV.

For a deeper dive into how the Metro is tightening up, our Metropolitan division breakdown tracks every team’s underlying numbers. We also examined Pacific division surprises after Edmonton’s slide and Vegas’ resurgence.

2025-26 NHL power rankings week 6: early awards watch

Hart: Nathan MacKinnon (COL) – 24 pts, 61 % xG share
Norris: Cale Makar (COL) – 18 pts, +12 goal differential when on ice
Calder: Macklin Celebrini (SJS) – 9 goals, 45 % of team’s total offense
Vezina: Igor Shesterkin (NYR) – 1.91 GAA, .938 SV%, 4 shutouts
Jack Adams: Peter Laviolette (NYR) – 10-2-2 record despite 187 man-games lost

Week 6 reminded us that October narratives can flip overnight. Colorado’s ascent is built on sustainable two-way dominance, while Edmonton’s star power alone no longer guarantees wins. If the Oilers can’t plug their structural leaks before U.S. Thanksgiving, the Pacific door swings wide open for Vegas and Los Angeles. Meanwhile, the Rangers’ quietly historic start positions them as the East’s new standard-bearer—provided Shesterkin stays healthy.

The sample is still small, but the trends are crystallizing. By Week 10, today’s risers could be cemented as spring contenders, and today’s fallers could be shopping for coaches or goaltenders. Buckle up; the NHL’s roller-coaster never slows.