Sunday Standings: Igor’s injury, Philadelphia’s slow start

Every team has played a handful of games in the 2026-27 season and while the exact order of the standings aren’t that important at this time of the year, we use Sundays to check in on the Metropolitan Division and see how things are going for the teams the Penguins are in the closest competition with for a playoff spot.

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Carolina Hurricanes – Well, all is well for the defending champions. Sebastian Aho has five goals and nine points in the six games, getting off to an electric start and maybe starting to reach that even higher level as one of the game’s top players. Overall, they’re picking up where they left off, at the very top. Hardly a surprise, but averaging almost four goals per game to start the year shows an unexpected and interesting new gear of production at the start of the year.

New York Rangers – The Rangers didn’t just lose a game to the Capitals this week, they lost franchise goalie Igor Shesterkin for the season to a leg injury. Brutal, brual stuff. NYR was off to a solid start in the first five games, winning four of them and seeing their new pieces integrate well. Vibes were up, Shesterkin even scored the first goalie goal in the long history of the club. Now, the calculus changes in a fundamental way to unexpectedly lose such a bedrock player. To make matters worse, backup Joonas Korpisalo is injured too, so the Rangers likely need to sign a goalie off free agency (aka an old guy who is well past prime and wasn’t signed over the summer). Can NYR rally and find a way to keep plugging along? It’s going to be an uphill climb.

Pittsburgh Penguins – The Pens have been all over the map in the first stretch of games. The good has been good, the bad has been bad and the ugly has been ugly. It’ll be worth seeing right now to see how quickly they can wake up some of their more talented players. Sidney Crosby and Rickard Rakell haven’t gotten going yet. Egor Chinakhov only has one goal. An extended road trip might be just what the doctor ordered to shake things up and hopefully get some of their veterans on track.

Washington Capitals – Washington hasn’t played a ton of games yet, they already have wins over division rivals Carolina, Pittsburgh and NYR so far, pretty impressive considering those teams haven’t picks up many losses so far. The line of Alex Tuch, PL Dubois and Tom Wilson has been too much to handle so far this year, given the size it’s going to be a challenge to slow the Caps down.

New Jersey Devils – Stop me if you’ve heard this before, the Devils are performing impressively in advanced metrics and failing to generate a lot of results. Picking up wins over doormats PHI and VAN have salvaged things somewhat, we’ll see if they can get on track and build upon their base. They arguably should be performing a little better in the standings given how well they’ve played at 5v5. By the way, Anthony Mantha has zero goals and even zero points in his first four games with NJ, they’ve used him a lot with star players like Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt, which is not really where you want Anthony Mantha. Put him on a third line, let him feast on easier competition. Or, don’t!

Columbus Blue Jackets – Columbus has alternated wins and losses each time out so far, and they have played so few games so far that it’s tough to get much of a read on them. One good thing for them is that younger players like Kent Johnson and Cole Sillinger were looking pretty good in the game against the Penguins. It’s going to be difficult for CBJ to get it in gear without getting some contributions from former first round picks like that, especially the ones that have been around for a few years and need to get it in gear.

New York Islanders – Rinse and repeat the first part from the Blue Jackets section here, the Islanders have alternated winning one game then losing the next and they’ve also only played four total games, so there’s not a lot to pickup on so far. Matthew Schaefer, still very good and fun to watch. Not so sure about the rest of the team. Nice to see Bo Horvat (who has four goals in the first gour games) avoid injury after taking a hit that got Frank Nazar suspended for two gams.

Philadelphia Flyers – The Flyers are prone to playing terribly for long stretches then getting their acts together and making a desperate run back. They certainly are doing that first part. Seven goals in the first six games? Ouch. They’re in complete shambles, the only question now is how deep of a hole they’ll dig and whether or not they have enough time try to scramble out of it. There’s still some runway for right now, but at this point Philadelphia needs to show signs of basic competency and build from there. For now, let’s just enjoy the turmoil and hope it lasts a while.