Canucks mostly continue steady rise up the NHL power rankings

If you were to ask the average Vancouver Canucks fan how they think their team has performed so far in 2024-25, they'd probably say not good enough. This seems like a fair assessment, when considering they are only 15th-best in average goals scored and average goals allowed. (Last season they were sixth-best in both categories.)

Similarly you only need to watch the games and do the simple eye test, to see quite clearly the Canucks just aren't playing up to the standard you would expect, given the collective talent on the roster. And yet following Saturday's slate of games, they have a 9-4-3 record and sit in sixth pace in the Western Conference.

With this in mind, let's take a look at the latest round of NHL power rankings from some of the major sports media outlets in North America. As always, keep in mind this is a subjective exercise, so it's important not to get too carried away with their respective verdicts.

Best ranking of the week

We begin with The Athletic (subscription required), who have moved the Canucks up from 10th position to eighth place. What's interesting, is that this is helped by Dom Luszczyszyn individually ranking them sixth; if Sean Gentille had his way, they still would have been ranked 10th like last week.

The Athletic also picked Quinn Hughes as their first quarter MVP for the Canucks, with the belief that it's not even close. (While we wouldn't necessarily disagree he deserves to be picked, we do think Kevin Lankinen has been almost as important.) So much so, that they go beyond the defenceman being a Norris Trophy favourite and declare him as a Hart Trophy candidate.

Next we come to Sportsnet, who have also moved the Canucks up two places from last week, albeit from 11th spot to ninth place. In any event it still represents a positive ranking from Ryan Dixon.

Sportsnet also selected the most promising rookie for all 32 NHL teams, plumping for Arshdeep Bains, which we would agree with. However, Dixon did cover himself by also mentioning Jonathan Lekkerimaki, who made his NHL debut last Tuesday night and scored his first goal two nights later, against the New York Islanders.

Best ranking yet by NHL.com

As regular readers will be aware, they do it slightly differently at NHL.com, with a Super 16 as opposed to a traditional power ranking for every team. In any event, they rank the Canucks at number 10, a rise of one place from last week.

NHL.com also named the best thing about each team, and as with The Athletic, they picked Hughes. Although they did also give an honourable mention to the Canucks' 6-1-0 road record, which we would agree with, particularly given their below-par 3-3-3 record at Rogers Arena.

Finally we turn to CBS Sports, who are the only ones in our list to rank the Canucks lower compared to last week. At the same time, with them only dropping them from ninth to 10th place, the ranking is still closely alligned with the other three sports media outlets.

Interestingly, Austin Nivison makes reference to how Nils Hoglander was a key contributor in the bottom-six last season, but has so far failed to deliver offensively in 2024-25. Nivison does add that the forward still has what it takes to be a quality two-way player, but as we wrote on Thursday, he could potentially become a trade chip if things don't improve.

If we're being honest we would have probably ranked the Canucks lower than any of the four sports media outlets referenced, although we're not drastically different in thinking 11th or 12th place. Overall though, there's not really much to argue with, instead just wanting to see the team play closer to their true collective abilities.

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