NHL Power Rankings: Can the Wild's acquisition of Quinn Hughes shake up the West's power balance?
The Wild are aiming to take down the West's biggest juggernauts
•
1 min read
In last week's NHL Power Rankings, I wrote about how the Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars are simply on another level than everyone else. Then the red-hot Minnesota Wild swung a blockbuster deal for Quinn Hughes, but was that enough to close the gap?
If you believe that it takes legitimate superstars to win big in the NHL, and I do, then this trade was a win in Minnesota's quest to take slay dragons in the Western Conference. Yes, the Wild gave up some a very good roster player (Marco Rossi) and key future assets (Zeev Buium and a first-round pick), but the impact of Hughes outweighs all of that.
After all, Hughes is the second-best defenseman in the NHL, and players of his caliber come available about as often as Halley's Comet makes an appearance. The problem for Minnesota is that the best defenseman in the world (Cale Makar) resides in Colorado, and there's a good case to be made that the third best defenseman (Miro Heiskanen) calls Dallas home.
That's what the Wild are up against as they continue to roll toward the playoffs. Not only do the Avalanche and Stars have star power, but they're also very deep. With Rossi now out of the equation in Minnesota, the center situation doesn't resemble that of a Stanley Cup contender. That's not ideal, but when Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy are your top wingers, perhaps you can overcome that.
The Wild have now won five straight games, and they're within spitting distance of the Stars in second place. Minnesota will face bigger challenges down the road, most likely in April or May, but right now this team has all the answers on and off the ice.
All expected goals and goals saved above average data via Natural Stat Trick.
Biggest Movers
10
Red Wings
7
Kraken
Rk | Teams | Chg | Rcrd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | More evidence that Nathan MacKinnon is not human: The Avalanche have outscored their opponents 46-12 when MacKinnon is on the ice at five-on-five. Hart Trophy incoming. | -- | 24-2-7 |
| 2 |  | The Hurricanes have won four games in a row -- and seven of their last 10 -- despite a quiet stretch from Sebastian Aho. The Carolina captain hasn't registered a point in five games, and he has one goal in his last 12 contests. | 2 | 21-9-2 |
| 3 |  | Roope Hintz isn't pacing for the best offensive season of his career, but his two-way game has been great. With Hintz in the game at five-on-five (over 363 minutes), the Stars have allowed just nine goals, and he has the expected goal metrics to match those results. | 1 | 22-7-5 |
| 4 |  | Bill Guerin isn't messing around. Landing Quinn Hughes is the biggest move the Wild have made since 2012, and their goal is clearly to compete with the Avalanche and Stars in the Central. Now, Minnesota needs to find a top-six center. | 2 | 20-9-5 |
| 5 |  | On the surface, Noah Hanifin has had a lackluster season. His plus-minus of minus-6 isn't what you want to see out of a top pairing defenseman. However, Hanifin's five-on-five expected goals share is 54.8%. The issue for him is a 5.5% on-ice shooting percentage. | 4 | 16-6-9 |
| 6 |  | Tom Wilson just continues to prove the doubters (me) wrong. He's on pace for a 43-goal season, which would smash his previous career high of 33. Can he keep shooting 24.3%? I guess we'll see. | 3 | 18-11-4 |
| 7 |  | Moritz Seider is establishing himself as an elite defenseman in this league. He owns a plus-15 goal differential at five-on-five, and a nearly 60% expected goals share. Beyond that, he's on pace for 52 points. | 10 | 19-12-3 |
| 8 |  | While several young Ducks have been flourishing, Mason McTavish hasn't taken as big a step forward. He has one point in his last seven games, and his five-on-five impacts have been somewhat disappointing with an expected goals share of 47.8%. | 3 | 20-12-2 |
| 9 |  | The Islanders are 6-1-0 in the month of December despite some terrible underlying metrics. That disparity can be explained by the play of Ilya Sorokin, who has a .942 save percentage to go along with 6.87 goals saved above average in his last five appearances. | 1 | 19-12-3 |
| 10 |  | Over the last couple weeks, the Bolts have gone cold offensively. Jake Guentzel has one goal in his last eight. Brandon Hagel has one goal in his last six. Anthony Cirelli is riding an 11-game goal drought. | 3 | 18-12-3 |
| 11 |  | Since Thanksgiving, Elias Lindholm has been dishing the puck at a high level. He has 10 assists (and one goal) in eight games over that span. It's an encouraging sign for the Bruins. | 1 | 20-14-0 |
| 12 |  | Sam Bennett has had strong underlying numbers all season, but the production is starting to match. Over the last month, Bennett has been all over the scoresheet with seven goals and nine assists in 14 games. | 2 | 17-13-2 |
| 13 |  | The sophomore slump for Matvei Michkov continues. He has just eight goals on the season, and he hasn't found the back of the net in December. If Michkov can get rolling, Philly could be even higher in the standings. | 3 | 17-9-6 |
| 14 |  | If you can believe this, the Kings are struggling to score goals. They rank 31st in the league with 83 goals, and no one on the team has more than 11 tallies. This team doesn't have enough offense to go the distance, even if it reaches the postseason. | 3 | 14-9-9 |
| 15 |  | The line of Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky continues to do all the heavy lifting in Montreal. When that trio is rolling, the Habs look very good. When they have a quiet night, Montreal doesn't look like a playoff team. The Canadiens have to add some forward depth. | 3 | 17-12-4 |
| 16 |  | Much to the chagrin of 31 other teams, Connor McDavid is on one. In his last seven games, McDavid has nine goals and 11 assists. He is now one point behind Nathan MacKinnon for the league lead in points with 56. | 5 | 16-12-6 |
| 17 |  | The only time Auston Matthews has averaged less than a point per game in his career was his rookie campaign in 2016-27. He's currently tracking for 69 points this season. The goal-scoring has been there with 14 goals in 27 games, but the playmaking has lagged with just nine assists. | 2 | 15-12-5 |
| 18 |  | The Penguins could not protect a big third-period lead if their life depended on it. On Saturday, they coughed up a 5-1 lead. One day later, they choked away a 3-0 lead. Pittsburgh is letting its season slip away. | 5 | 14-9-9 |
| 19 |  | In a season knocked off track due to injury, Brady Tkachuk has just two goals in 12 games. He's scored more than 30 goals in three of the last four seasons, and he scored 29 in the one he didn't. His 4.1% shooting percentage -- less than half of his career average -- should start to level out soon. | 3 | 15-13-4 |
| 20 |  | Almost immediately after the Devils missed out on the Quinn Hughes sweepstakes, young defenseman Simon Nemec went down with injury. You cannot make this stuff up. The Devils need to burn some sage in the Prudential Center or something. | 5 | 18-14-1 |
| 21 |  | On Thursday, the Sharks trailed 2-0, and they came back to win. On Saturday, they trailed 5-1 and came back to win. This team is so much fun. I hope they stay in the playoff race the whole way. | 1 | 17-14-3 |
| 22 |  | The Rangers were shutout for the SIXTH time in Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night. They've scored 30 goals in 17 home games. The fans in New York will start asking for refunds before long. | 2 | 16-15-4 |
| 23 |  | Barrett Hayton has followed up an encouraging 2024-25 season with a devastating 2025-26 campaign. He has seven points in 30 games, and the former No. 5 overall pick has yet to really break out. | 4 | 16-16-3 |
| 24 |  | Connor Hellebuyck is back, and not a moment too soon for the Jets. Winnipeg sank like a stone while its star goaltender was on the shelf, and it now sits outside the playoffs. There's no doubt Hellebuyck can drag this team back into the postseason. He's done it before. | -- | 15-15-2 |
| 25 |  | The Sabres finally fired GM Kevyn Adams and replaced him with Jarmo Kekalainen. Will that move help Buffalo end its lengthy playoff drought? Maybe, but nothing will change until ownership decides to go all-in on building a contender. | 5 | 14-14-4 |
| 26 |  | Luke Evangelista has been great for the Predators. He leads the team in assists (19) and five-on-five expected goal share (62.5%). After a rough 2024-25 season, this has been a nice rebound for the 23-year-old. | 5 | 13-15-4 |
| 27 |  | They've done it. The Flames have a player who's broken the 10-goal mark. Matt Coronato got there last week, so Calgary has that going for it. | 1 | 13-17-4 |
| 28 |  | Connor Bedard is on IR with a separated shoulder, and that is a huge bummer for Blackhawks fans and fans of hockey at large. Hopefully Bedard is able to pick up where he left off when he does return. | 2 | 13-14-6 |
| 29 |  | Kirill Marchenko has two goals in his last 15 games as the Blue Jackets slide out of playoff contention. It's been a frustrating stretch for Marchenko, who has shot 5.4% throughout this cold streak. | 6 | 14-13-6 |
| 30 |  | Half the forwards (not an exaggeration) in St. Louis are injured. Combine that with abysmal goaltending, and you have the perfect recipe for losing. | 1 | 12-15-7 |
| 31 |  | Since trading away Quinn Hughes, the Canucks have won two straight games. Was Hughes the problem all along in Vancouver? (Kidding) | 1 | 13-17-3 |
| 32 |  | They've done it. The Kraken have a player who's broken the 10-goal mark. Jordan Eberle got there on Tuesday night. Unfortunately, Seattle has still lost nine of its last 10. | 7 | 12-13-6 |
