NHL Power Rankings: Rangers’ fast start meets a brutal setback, Flyers underwhelm early

Early-season NHL power rankings are often a snapshot of momentum, but this one comes with an unusually heavy caveat for the New York Rangers. Yahoo Sports’ league assessment credits the Rangers with exceeding expectations early in the 2026-27 season, then immediately turns the page to a more sobering storyline: the team is reportedly dealing with a season-ending injury to goaltender Igor Shesterkin.

That kind of development can change more than a backup plan. A starting goalie sets the tone for the way a team manages risk, the way the defense plays in front, and how quickly a club settles into defensive habits. In other words, a season-ending injury is not a minor bump in the standings, it is a reset button on the team’s day-to-day identity, even if the offense continues to generate chances.

The Rangers’ surprise factor matters because the franchise is not starting from a blank slate. Being labeled among the teams trending upward early suggests the roster has been finding ways to win, not just keeping games close. Yahoo’s framing implies New York has already proven it can compete at a high level against a range of opponents, which makes the Shesterkin development especially consequential for what comes next.

On the other side of the ledger, the Flyers are positioned as the type of team that has failed to deliver on the promise of an early season. In Yahoo Sports’ power rankings, Philadelphia’s “disappoint” label indicates that the club’s play through the opening stretch has not produced the consistency usually required to climb quickly in the crowded race for postseason spots.

Power rankings are inherently interpretive, not a direct reflection of final standings, but they do tend to capture the same underlying themes that decide long-term outcomes: shot quality, defensive stability, and goaltending reliability. For the Flyers, being flagged early suggests either those pillars are not lining up or the team is struggling to sustain the level needed to turn competitive performances into results.

For New York, the immediate watch item is how the goaltending equation is handled after Shesterkin’s reported season-ending injury. Even without spelling out the roster detail, the impact of the loss is clear, because the Rangers’ early success is being measured now against a new reality in net. For Philadelphia, the watch item is whether the Flyers can correct course quickly enough to avoid the early “hole” becoming too deep to climb later in the schedule.

As the season progresses, these early power rankings should be treated as a starting point rather than a verdict. The Rangers’ ceiling will depend heavily on their ability to keep results steady while the goalie situation adjusts, while the Flyers’ trajectory will depend on whether their early shortcomings are correctable with incremental improvements or whether they require more structural change.