If the NHL season is a marathon, Nikita Kucherov’s second-half kick figures to be one for the ages.

On Tuesday night in Seattle, Kucherov recorded his first hat trick of the year and second five-point night in the past three months. His first came three days into the new year and since the calander flipped to 2026, Kucherov has a truly mind-bending 60 points in 27 outings.

To put that in perspective, Connor McDavid — second in total points during that stretch with 45 in 28 games — is playing at a 132-point clip in the second half of the year and he’s not even close to Kucherov’s production. 

We repeat: Connor freakin’ McDavid isn’t even close to Kucherov, who is putting up points at a 182-point pace in the back half of the season compared to, ho-hum, a 119-point pace in the first. 

No single player is a bigger second-half story than Kucherov, though — collectively — the Buffalo Sabres are worthy of some serious love.

The Sabres have a league-best .759 points percentage since Jan. 1 — which isn’t the true halfway point of the season, but more than half the league had played 40 games at that point — and if you don’t think that’s a big deal, you haven’t been paying attention to the hockey scene in Western New York for about 15 years. 

So, with a couple notable performances coming out of the Atlantic Division, we’re using this week’s edition of the power rankings to highlight a second-half story — maybe good a good one, maybe not — for all 32 teams in the league. 

1. Dallas Stars (42-15-10) Matt Duchene had a miserable first half, missing time with injury and registering just five points in the 15 games he played. Since Jan. 23, he’s second in team scoring with 21 points in 17 games. 

2. Buffalo Sabres (42-20-6) Take your pick with this team, but Rasmus Dahlin has 32 points in 29 outings from the back end in 2026. Ryan McLeod — who established a career high with 53 points last year — has gone to another level with 27 in hist past 29 games, so let’s give a stick tap to former GM Kevyn Adams for grabbing McLeod from Edmonton nearly two years ago. 

3. Colorado Avalanche (44-13-10) Colorado woke up on Jan. 1 with just two 60-minute losses in 39 contests. Since then, the Avs are 14-11-3, giving them just the 17^th-best second-half points percentage in the NHL (.554)

4. Carolina Hurricanes (43-19-6) Nikolaj Ehlers in his first 26 games with Carolina: 5-11-16. Nikolaj Ehlers since Jan. 1: 12-18-30 in 29 contests. 

5. Columbus Blue Jackets (35-21-11) Columbus is 16-2-4 since Rick Bowness was hired on Jan. 16 to replace Dean Evason, giving the Jackets the best points percentage in the league (.818) during that time. Charlie Coyle has 30 points in his past 28 outings.  

6. Minnesota Wild (39-18-12) GM Bill Guerin paid the freight to get Quinn Hughes just before Christmas and he’s been as good as anyone in Minnesota could have hoped for. The defenceman leads the Wild in scoring in 2026 with 37 points in 28 games. 

7. Tampa Bay Lightning (41-21-4) Darren Raddysh had 29 points in his first 33 games this year, when everyone was trying to figure out if his production was a blip or a breakout from the defenceman. The fact he’s kept that up and then some — 29 points in his past 26 games — makes it clear the pending-UFA has found a whole other gear during his age-29 season. 

8. New York Islanders (39-24-5) Matthew Schaefer and Ilya Sorokin are season-long stories for the Isles, but Mathew Barazal has really hit his offensive stride in the second half. After scoring at a 63-point pace in the first half, he’s kicked it up to a 96-point clip in the second. 

9. Pittsburgh Penguins (34-18-6) Pittsburgh came out of the Olympic break missing Sidney Crosby and watched Evgeni Malkin take a five-game suspension soon after. Credit the Pens, they went 5-3-3 in the games Crosby missed before his return Wednesday night in Carolina. That has kept Pittsburgh on firm ground in a playoff chase it could have easy slipped out of when its two best offensive players missed time. 

10. Montreal Canadiens (37-20-10) Cole Caufield buried an OT winner on Tuesday night to become the first 40-goal man in Montreal in over 30 years. Caufield has 19 goals in his past 19 games — and 21 since Jan. 1, more than every player in the NHL — and the Canadiens offence is tied for third in the NHL (3.79 goals per game) in the second half. 

11. Boston Bruins (37-23-8) Charlie McAvoy has had some awful injury luck in the past 12 months, including taking a puck in the face in November. The 28-year-old defenceman is playing some of the most productive hockey of his career right now, though, netting 31 points in 27 second-half games. Overall, the Bruins’ points percentage (.704) ranks fourth in the NHL in 2026. 

12. Anaheim Ducks (37-24-4) Jackson LaCombe continues to show why the Ducks were happy to lock him up on an eight-year extension just before the season. After beginning the year with 23 points in 41 outings, he’s got 24 in his past 27 showings. 

13. Ottawa Senators (34-24-9) Dylan Cozens has really hit his stride in the second portion of the year, scoring half his 24 goals in his past 22 outings. 

14. Detroit Red Wings (37-23-8) Unfortunately for the Wings, the story of the second half — as has been the case in recent campaigns — is a stumble that’s put their playoff hopes in jeopardy. Detroit is 6-7-4 in its past 17 contests, but there’s still time to right the ship. 

15. Vegas Golden Knights (31-23-14) Pavel Dorofeyev had 16 goals in his first 43 outings, with five coming in the first three games. In his past 25 contests, the Russian winger has scored 18 times.

16. Edmonton Oilers (34-26-9) The big development is, naturally, losing Leon Draisaitl for the remainder of the regular season with a division title and home-ice advantage up for grabs. Let’s give Evan Bouchard his due, though, for the incredible 41 points he’s put up in 28 games since Jan. 1. That leads all NHL defencemen in that span and maps out to a wild 120-point pace over 82 games. Bouchard scored at a 74-point pace in the first half. 

17. Philadelphia Flyers (32-23-12) The Flyers have gone 8-3-2 in their past 13 games to really torpedo their lottery odds while also not having any real shot at the playoffs. Sad as it is to say, the best thing Philly could have done in the past six weeks was to sink.

18. Utah Mammoth (35-27-6) Captain Clayton Keller played at a 68-point clip in the first half and has bumped that up to a 94-point pace in the second. 

19. Los Angeles Kings (28-24-15) The stories of the second half for L.A. are trading for an offensive star in Artemi Panarin just before the Olympic break and axing coach Jim Hiller right after the hiatus. We’ll see how it all works out for the club as it fights for a playoff spot, but Panarin has 10 points in his past seven games and the team is playing better hockey under interim bench boss D.J. Smith. 

20. Washington Capitals (34-27-8) Maybe the story of the second half in a lost season for Washington will be heralded defenceman Cole Hutson, who played 16:24 in his NHL debut on Wednesday and deposited an empty-netter in a 4-1 win over Ottawa. 

21. San Jose Sharks (32-28-6) Alex Nedeljkovic had an. 895 save percentage before 2026, but an impressive .910 mark in 13 games since. That’s especially important because Yaroslav Askarov has gone the other way, from .897 in the first half to .863 in the second. 

22. New Jersey Devils (35-31-2) Dougie Hamilton had just nine points through 39 contests as his name was a staple in trade rumours. Credit the veteran D-man for finding his focus, though, as he’s put up a stellar 21 points in his past 24 outings. 

23. Seattle Kraken (32-28-6) How can it not be Bobby McMann, who has goals in all three games (and four, in total) he’s played in for the Kraken since being acquired from Toronto. 

24. Winnipeg Jets (28-28-11) The 17 points Cole Perfetti has in his past 25 games represents at least some of the secondary offence the Jets simply weren’t getting at all in the first half. Perfetti, who was injured to start the year, recorded just nine points in his first 28 outings. 

25. St. Louis Blues (27-30-11) As Jordan Binnington trade rumours become a point of annual speculation, Joel Hofer continues to show he could be ready for a lead role. Hofer had an .897 SV% in his first 24 games, but a sparkling .924 mark in 13 since. 

26. Florida Panthers (33-31-3) For Florida, the second half has really been about succumbing to the inevitable and missing the playoffs. The Cats were one point out of the wild card on Jan. 1, but are second-last in the East now. In a year where Aleksander Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk and Seth Jones — among others — missed serious amounts of time, it was unreasonable to think the Panthers could find a way into the big dance. 

27. Nashville Predators (30-28-9) Roman Josi took a while to ramp up, but after scoring at a 46-point pace in his first 32 games, the Preds’ all-world D-man and captain has scored at a 96-point rate in 23 contests since. 

28. New York Rangers (28-32-8) Would you believe the Rangers have the best power play in the league since Jan. 1 at 30.9 per cent? New York was middle of the pack in the first half at 19.8 per cent. 

29. Toronto Maple Leafs (29-28-12) The tale of the second half in Toronto will be whether the tandem of Joseph Woll and Anthony Stolarz is so good it offsets the loss of Auston Matthews for the rest of the year. Strong play from the tenders could ultimately undue Toronto’s tank dreams. 

30. Chicago Blackhawks (25-30-12) Chicago was three points out of a playoff spot on Jan. 10, but a 6-11-5 downturn since then has made this another meaningless second half in Illinois. 

31. Calgary Flames (27-34-7) The second half finally featured a truly cathartic page-turning in Southern Alberta, as both MacKenzie Weegar and Nazem Kadri were dealt ahead of the deadline. There’s no hiding it now; it’s a full-blown youth movement in Calgary. 

32. Vancouver Canucks (21-38-8) Watching Liam Ohgren — acquired just before Christmas in the Hughes swap — play just over 15 minutes per night and show some offensive potential with eight points in his past 16 outings is one thing that can bring Canucks fans comfort in the second half.