Player safety in physical contact sports will always be hotly debated by well, everyone. It is a fact. On one hand, foundations for physical contact sports like American gridiron football, Canadian ice hockey, MMA and boxing are necessary because of their evolution, their popularity and their elevation of competition. On the other, there has to be a good amount of player safety left intact. Most people like a balance of hard contact where safety is emphasized. We know that can be difficult in high pressure situations and with split-second decisions.
Within the NHL, the most recent example is Anaheim’s captain Radko Gudas’ leg-on-leg collision with Toronto captain and elite goal scorer Auston Matthews during a March 12th comeback home win. Anyone who understands the game and watched the collision knew Gudas was in the wrong and Matthews was seriously hurt. Hockey, unlike other major sports does not completely prohibit player fighting as long as it is controlled. It’s not the first time Radko Gudas has done something like this. He is a scrappy defenseman who needs to play physical since he isn’t a well-known goal scorer, which makes the loss of Matthews to a struggling Maple Leafs team even worse. Fortunately, Toronto did find a way to rally the last period of the game and pull out a win. It was their first since early February, and it tied the NFL Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks for total wins in a month and a half.
Despite the rally, there was a big problem after Auston Matthews was carried to the locker room: none of his teammates stood up for him and there were no fights. Why? For those who watch any professional team sport, you know that there are players who will get in each others’ faces should there be threats or actual injuries. Toronto had nothing the remainder of that period. In fact, the Maple Leafs only pulled out a win because their coach, Craig Berube, a former enforcer and Stanley Cup champion himself, ripped into them during intermission for how little passion they showed and for not jumping on their opponents for some fights once play resumed. That is unbelievable given how hockey teams work and who is on Toronto’s roster.
If a team cannot get fired up for the loss of their own team captain and Olympian, that says what viewers need to know about the team’s current direction. Last year the Maple Leafs were up 2-1 in their second round series against the reigning Stanley Cup champion Panthers before a game four meltdown. Since that loss, Toronto has been a shell of its former self. Forward Mitch Marner bailing for Las Vegas was seen as a relief and a way for the Leafs to turn the page on inconsistent play. Now it seems Marner might have held a lot of things together.
What is really strange now is how Toronto has become one of the weakest willed teams with little fight. Berube was a perfect hire for this roster. He had everyone buy in and take the next few steps to being a championship caliber team…and then they weren’t. It felt like a switch flipped. The Maple Leafs have 77 points and are all but eliminated from playoff contention. They’re easily the worst team in the competitive and stacked Atlantic division. Even before captain Auston Matthews was lost for the season, he had multiple goalless streaks almost every month. William Nylander doesn’t play with the same passion, and former captain John Tavares looks old. The defense isn’t bad but goaltenders Joseph Woll and Anthony Stolarz are giving up more than three goals a game. This was a premier net-minder tandem a year ago.
There’s enough blame to go around, but three weeks ago Craig Berube accurately said what the issues were at the beginning of the season. “They’re (the Leafs) soft.” He also said the team doesn’t value team defense (loss to Hurricanes November ninth), has a lack of urgency (loss to Capitals December 18th) and needs passion and emotion to play well (March 12th win to Ducks). Serious sports fans know that when a coach consistently says things like this to the public press, the offseason will be ugly.
If Marner was the canary in the coal mine, this year’s 2025-26 roster are the miners. General manager Brad Treliving previously showed Canada how much control he shouldn’t have when he was the general manager in Calgary. The Maple Leafs executives are more than likely to begin a massive re-build that will last two different decades. Again. Berube will unfortunately get the blame and likely lose his job despite being a proven leader and winner wherever he has been. Then stars like William Nylander and Matthews will be dealt for picks. You can’t blame the latter for leaving either. If players don’t stand up for you without being yelled at to do so, then there’s no reason to keep playing with them. A lot of viewers questioned why he was named captain over Tavares before the season began anyway. It hasn’t worked out.
There is a joke that ever since the NHL expanded past six teams, Toronto “died” after their last championship in 1967. Too bad that joke is more accurate than many want to admit. The Leafs are not a tough team and the organization has grown mentally and internally softer by the decade. That has led to what most people define as, “The Maple Laughs Curse”. Whatever one may think of whether this is hyperbole or honesty, this is one thing physical contact sports are great at reinforcing: a team has to be tough and fortified in every aspect if they desire victory on every level. Even if a few things are off or someone’s not paying attention, a loss is all but guaranteed. Defenseman Radko Gudas didn’t expose anything unknown about Toronto. He brought both clarity to Maple Leafs ownership on where to go next and turned to another page in the long chapter of championship drought.
Here are the final 2025-26 NHL regular season power rankings.
#32 Vancouver Canucks (last ranking: 32)
The only good thing this season for Vancouver is how they get three first round picks in the upcoming draft. They have their original pick, Minnesota’s first from the Quinn Hughes trade, and their 33rd overall pick that gets bumped to 32nd with Ottawa’s pick forfeited. Now they need to hire the right people to develop whoever they pick in the next draft.
#31 Chicago Blackhawks (last ranking: 29)
General manager Kyle Davidson quickly realized his roster didn’t have the depth to compete with actual playoff caliber teams and went to work planning for future at the end of January. The Blackhawks aren’t a bad team as the standings suggest. They’re just young and on the rise with little depth. Unlike San Jose, the defensive weaknesses stand out and weigh down a great season for a young, superstar number one overall pick.
#30 Calgary Flames (last ranking: 30)
Nazem Kadri, who was traded to Colorado at the beginning of March, still leads Calgary with a middling 41 points. How any team has let the Flames score the last few months is beyond me.
#29 New York Rangers (last ranking: 28)
Everyone expected New York to unload almost all their talent at the trade deadline. The Rangers not only didn’t do that, they went on a few winning streaks after. Then they followed up with a dismal 2-1 home loss to Ottawa where they tied a franchise worst ten shot attempts. That loss eliminated them from playoff contention and is the fastest they’ve been eliminated from postseason contention in the salary cap era. What a memorable 100 year anniversary for New York!
#28 St. Louis Blues (last ranking: 31)
Unlike the eastern conference, the west is wide open for whichever teams want the wild card spots. St. Louis oddly remains in competition for at least the eighth seed. After all the offensive issues and lack of depth on special teams, the Blues have gotten points in eight of their last ten (including six wins). It would be mind-numbing to see one of the worst scoring NHL teams somehow clinch a playoff spot and give the number one seeded central division winner another hard time.
#27 Seattle Kraken (last ranking: 21)
A bottom ten defense spoiled one of the most complete years of play in franchise history. Seattle had some quality wins against Tampa Bay and Carolina, but did almost nothing else last month. The Kraken will kick themselves for wasting a golden opportunity to clinch a wildcard spot.
#26 Toronto Maple Leafs (last ranking: 13)
Toronto was done after they had to be yelled at in the locker room to fight Anaheim players for injuring their captain and ending his season. If a Stanley Cup winning coach has to scream at adult men to play tougher and more physical, then everything from the game to the season is lost. The cherry on top is it being in the Maple Leafs’ own building. If ownership and management were smart (massive if here), everyone should be purged at the end of the regular season.
#25 Winnipeg Jets (last ranking: 20)
Winnipeg looked all but done a month ago. Like St. Louis, they’ve hung in long enough to be a threat for one of the two wildcard spots. Of all the eighth seed options, the Jets would be the most dangerous team to get in.
#24 Nashville Predators (last ranking: 26)
Nashville is a good example of why you don’t write off a team on the fringe of the playoffs early. A five game winning streak was enough the past two weeks to get them a point behind the eighth seed. If the Predators can win four of their six upcoming matchups against the Pacific division (four on road, two at home), they’ll get that last spot.
#23 New Jersey Devils (last ranking: 23)
In many ways, it’s hilarious both New Jersey and Toronto are in the same place this late in the season. Sheldon Keefe did a great job with the Maple Leafs before he was fired. Keefe’s struggles with the Devils have been head scratching after they were one of the NHL’s best teams before Thanksgiving weekend. It’s possible Sheldon Keefe returns next season, but if things don’t look better by next calendar year, he will likely be out of New Jersey.
#22 Florida Panthers (last ranking: 12)
No pun intended but the Panthers really are a different breed of cat. That is why a number of analysts telling us Florida should have traded star players like goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky had no idea what they were talking about. General manager Bill Zito wouldn’t make that move unless he knew something of equal value would be sent back. Injuries de-railed their season and still the Panthers put up 75 points in one of the most cluttered eastern conference years this century. The other 15 eastern teams are lucky injuries came in the way of a probable championship three-peat.
#21 Los Angeles Kings (last ranking: 17)
Los Angeles fired coach Jim Hiller and Anze Kopitar became the franchise’s all-time leading scorer after a March 14th win in New Jersey. The Kings are lucky it’s not too late to catch fire and be the hardest team to beat in the playoffs. The defense carried Los Angeles further into the season just for them to be a fringe playoff contender. Now the offense and power-play have to do their part and get them into a high spot in the pacific.
#20 San Jose Sharks (last ranking: 19)
It’s gotten to where even the NHL on TNT analysts said they don’t know what the argument would be for center Macklin Celebrini not winning league MVP at this point, even if San Jose doesn’t make the playoffs. The Sharks are one point back of Los Angeles and five back of Las Vegas despite being a bottom four defensive scoring team. Celebrini leads the team in every important statistic on offense while the second best player is Will Smith. That’s incredible from the sophomore standout.
#19 Utah Mammoth (last ranking: 22)
It is both impressive and unexpected that Utah is the best team in the central division after the dangerous trio of Minnesota, Colorado and Dallas. The Mammoth are playing their best hockey at the most important time of the season. Whichever team draws Utah in round one will have their hands full and should have one of the better series in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
#18 Washington Capitals (last ranking: 8)
I don’t think people realize how important the trade deadline move of John Carlson to Anaheim was. Carlson was assumed by many analysts to stay with Washington for his entire career like captain and NHL great Alex Ovechkin. This move not only sets back the Capitals on every side of the puck, but it could lead to Ovechkin having an earlier retirement. Ovechkin was mulling retirement when asked a month ago, which was progress after he said at least a year ago that he would retire once his current contract ended. This could be a move we go back and look at years (and decades) from now wondering what might have happened for Washington had they not traded their star defenseman.
#17 Vegas Golden Knights (last ranking: 7)
Anyone who thinks the goaltending position is starting to look overrated and overpaid should pay attention to Vegas. The Golden Knights should be one of the NHL’s best teams with their deep roster. However, there is no solid number one in net and that will be their undoing in the playoffs. Vegas leads the NHL in time spent trailing after last weekend with over 1900 minutes, and the lack of consistently good goaltending cost Bruce Cassidy his job. Cassidy’s firing interestingly gave John Tortorella another chance to coach an NHL team.
#16 Philadelphia Flyers (last ranking: 16)
There was a lot of debate if coach Rick Tocchet was holding Philadelphia back on offense before the mid-season break. Turns out the Flyers simply needed the time off more than any other team. They’re 7-2-1 in their last ten games and Philadelphia’s improved play will determine which eastern conference teams clinch what seeds.
#15 Edmonton Oilers (last ranking: 11)
Make no mistake, the loss of star forward Leon Draisaitl for the rest of the regular season is massive. Not only does it mean captain Connor McDavid has to carry Edmonton the rest of the regular season, it also means every team on their schedule will play them harder to expose every flaw on both sides of the puck. While the Oilers benefit from playing in the weakest NHL division, a few losses mixed with some winning streaks from Los Angeles and San Jose could quickly bump Edmonton out of the playoff picture.
#14 Anaheim Ducks (last ranking: 24)
I’m mixed on Anaheim’s success this season. On the one hand, their season is a success given how many viewers didn’t see the Ducks making the playoffs. Coach Joel Quenneville again showed why he is still one of the league’s all-time best coaches. On the other, the Pacific division was awful and Anaheim was better off at third or fourth place if Vegas and Edmonton had better goaltending and Los Angeles and Seattle had better offenses. A lot more teams will break down Ducks film this summer and prepare for them better.
#13 Detroit Red Wings (last ranking: 10)
Dylan Larkin’s injury had massive repercussions for not only Detroit, but the entire eastern conference playoff picture. Ironically, his first game back in a home loss against Ottawa will stand out most. The Senators played two back-to-back road games and came into Little Caesar’s Arena down star defenseman Thomas Chabot. Larkin returned for the Red Wings, but Ottawa was the team that claimed victory. Detroit being one of, if not the biggest loser in the playoff race this late in the season shows yet again how much work lies ahead for general manager Steve Yzerman.
#12 Ottawa Senators (last ranking: 25)
Despite how hot Ottawa was in March, it cost them defensemen Thomas Chabot (broken forearm) and Nick Jensen. Rookie Carter Yakemchuk was called up and had an impressive NHL debut against Detroit, but that’s a dicey situation for a rookie to be in late in the season. The Senators will miss their best defensemen the next couple of weeks against some of the conference’s best playoff teams. This is where goaltenders Linus Ullmark and James Reimer must play some of their best hockey.
#11 New York Islanders (last ranking: 9)
The play of rookie defenseman Matthew Schaefer has elevated teammates Bo Horvat, Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Anthony Duclair. There are still issues with the Islanders’ offense, but they are getting better at the right time. Oh, and they’re close to the playoffs. That means Mathew Barzal is heating up. New York will be a rough out in the playoffs if they clinch.
#10 Columbus Blue Jackets (last ranking: 27)
Buffalo and Ottawa may have dominated March in the Atlantic, but Columbus ran the month in the Metropolitan. The biggest reason for the Blue Jackets renewed success is coach Rick Bowness finally stabilizing the goaltending depth. Outside of who’s in net, defenseman Zach Werenski remains Columbus’ most important player. Werenski should be the favorite to win the Norris (best defenseman) trophy in a few months.
#9 Pittsburgh Penguins (last ranking: 15)
Nagging injuries for Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin interestingly made defenseman Erik Karlsson the best Penguins player and one of the hottest in March. Pittsburgh’s schedule is easier compared to what Detroit, Ottawa and Boston have to end the season. It would be a genuine surprise if the Penguins didn’t make the playoffs with Karlsson leading the way.
#8 Boston Bruins (last ranking: 14)
Amazing how wrong everyone can be on a team or group of players, present company included. Forward Morgan Geekie has thrived in Boston ever since he was traded from Carolina. Pavel Zacha is more efficient with the Bruins than with the Devils and defenseman Victor Arvidsson has rejuvenated his career. How did general manager Don Sweeney pull it off?
#7 Minnesota Wild (last ranking: 3)
Minnesota is easily the worst of the top three central division teams after a sub-.500 March. Injuries and lack of depth at forward and center doom the Wild to another first round exit. Still, credit coach John Hynes for how well he has done getting the most out of Minnesota’s lower lines. It would be hard for another coach to do what he has done with a hot-and-cold roster.
#6 Montreal Canadiens (last ranking: 6)
He won’t win MVP, but forward Cole Caufield becoming the first Canadien to score 40+ goals in a season since Vincent Damphousse during the 1993-94 season is a big deal. If you’re new to the NHL or a budding fan of ice hockey, Caufield is one of the more underrated scorers. What a time to watch this many skilled, talented players all in one timeline.
#5 Buffalo Sabres (last ranking: 18)
I don’t like breaking the numbering rule on here but what Buffalo has done this season is nothing short of miraculous. The conversation around the Sabres’ turnaround has been hard to pinpoint, but there is one good place to start: the play of goaltender Alex Lyon. Lyon was a free agent signing last offseason and started Buffalo’s good fortune by holding Edmonton to just three goals in a 4-3 OT win (he didn’t finish the game due to injury, so the win went to Colton Ellis). That started a ten game winning streak and where they are today.
#4 Dallas Stars (last ranking: 5)
Dallas had the potential to be the number one team in these rankings until the last two weeks. The Stars have seven losses in their last ten games despite being the second best team in the western conference and clinching a playoff spot. Dallas could have some anxiety before the postseason starts but that kind of thinking could cost them home-ice advantage against Minnesota. If the Stars lost that advantage, it could drastically affect which team wins the west. Right now, coach Glen Gulutzan has to show he was the right hire.
#3 Carolina Hurricanes (last ranking: 4)
Until Carolina proves they can make exorcise their past playoff demons, they’ll be second fiddle to Tampa Bay in the east for another postseason. The Hurricanes are peaking at the right time, but their March 24th road loss in Montreal after a dominant first period is why many analysts are still wary about picking them to win a championship under coach Rod Brind’Amour.
#2 Tampa Bay Lightning (last ranking: 2)
Of the last ten Stanley Cup winners:
- Nine were in the top ten on five-on-five goals for percentage
- eight were in the top 12 for five-on-five xGF%
- all were top 12 in five-on-five save percentage
- nine were top 12 in power-play and penalty-kill percentage
- nine were in the top half in power-play percentage
Tampa Bay is the only team that checks all of these heading into the playoffs. It is a another reason the Lightning are favored to make the Stanley Cup finals.
#1 Colorado Avalanche (last ranking: 1)
Colorado flipped a switch after their 2-1 shootout loss to Dallas on March 18th. The Avalanche were sleep-walking and needed to wake up. Although star defenseman Cale Makar is out for a few weeks with an upper body injury, I’m not sure there’s a team in the west that can beat Colorado four times if this is how Jared Bednar’s team plays moving forward.
JD's Sportscorner 