from Ryan Dixon of Sportsnet,

Who is on the rise and who’s primed for a fall? Time for a mid-summer power ranking.

1. Colorado Avalanche The 2022 champs didn’t advance past Round 1 in 2023, but the Avs are poised to make noise again. Colorado knows captain Gabriel Landeskog is going to be on long-term injured all season, so it can stuff his $7-million salary there. Ryan Johansen and Ross Colton give a nice, new look to the centre crew and Jonathan Drouin is a fun bounce-back bet. Unlike last season, the Avs should be rested and hungry when the puck drops in October.

2. Vegas Golden Knights Recency bias? Maybe. But the Knights have largely kept the band together and Jack Eichel just had his coming out party in the 2023 playoffs. Mark Stone missed half the season last year and the Knights still managed to win the Pacific Division. This balanced squad is going to be right back challenging for the Cup.

3. Edmonton Oilers You just knew Connor Brown was going to end up on the wing of his old major junior pal, Connor McDavid. A full year of Mattias Ekholm helps the ‘D’ corps, so as long as Jack Campbell is better in Year 2 with Edmonton and Stuart Skinner builds on his rookie success in the crease, the Oilers should be right there.

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