NHL Standings Shake-Up: Latest Power Rankings After a Thrilling Weekend

With the NHL season barreling toward its midpoint, the December 28, 2025 NHL standings paint a vivid picture of which clubs are surging and which ones are scrambling to keep their Stanley Cup Playoff hopes alive. In the East, the Detroit Red Wings have reclaimed Atlantic Division supremacy, banking 47 points through 39 games thanks to Alex DeBrincat’s torrid scoring pace and a 12-7-1 home record that’s made Little Caesars Arena a fortress. Montréal and Tampa Bay are hot on Detroit’s heels, while Buffalo’s stunning eight-game winning streak has vaulted the Sabres into the wild-card conversation after a sluggish autumn start. The Metropolitan Division race might be even tighter. The Carolina Hurricanes lead the pack with 49 points, powered by a league-best +18 goal differential, yet just nine points separate first from eighth. The New York Islanders’ balanced attack and Philadelphia’s bounce-back campaign under new coach John Tortorella have both turned heads, but Washington’s resurgent special-teams play keeps the Capitals firmly in the mix. Out West, the Colorado Avalanche are once again the NHL’s pace-setters. Jared Bednar’s squad boasts 61 points and a jaw-dropping 15-0-2 home mark, riding MVP-level performances from Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar. Dallas, Minnesota and expansion darlings Utah round out a Central Division that could send five teams to the postseason if current trends hold. Meanwhile, Vegas sits atop a chaotic Pacific Division, but Anaheim, Edmonton and Los Angeles are within striking distance, ensuring that every intra-division matchup feels like a four-point swing. Several statistical quirks jump off the page. Colorado’s league-leading +62 goal differential dwarfs Detroit’s Atlantic-high +12, revealing just how dominant the Avalanche have been in all three zones. In contrast, San Jose and Chicago sport double-digit negative differentials, underscoring defensive woes that threaten to sink their seasons despite occasional offensive fireworks. Goaltending is another separator: Carolina’s tandem of Pyotr Kochetkov and Frederik Andersen owns a combined .921 save percentage, while Vancouver’s crease carousel languishes near the bottom of the league charts. The wild-card picture shifts nightly, but as of today the Islanders and Panthers hold those coveted spots in the East, with Buffalo and Washington only a single win away from jumping the queue. Out West, Winnipeg clings to the second wild-card berth despite a −4 goal differential, proving that consistency, not flash, keeps teams afloat during the grind of an 82-game slate. Looking ahead, the schedule offers no respite. Detroit embarks on a daunting five-game Western road swing, while Edmonton faces a decisive back-to-back set against Vegas and Anaheim that could reshape the Pacific pecking order. With trade-deadline chatter already heating up and the standings tightening by the day, hockey fans can expect every shift in January to carry playoff implications. Keep refreshing those NHL standings pages—this year’s sprint to the postseason promises drama all the way to Game 82.