NHL.com
Hurricanes rank: 6
Previous rank: 15
"They've won their first four games to match the best start in their history, which included rallying in the third period in each of the first three."
NHL.com's power ranking system compiles top-16 lists from 13 staff writers in order to amalgamate a ranking consensus. Among these lists, the Hurricanes ranked as high as 1 (Brian Compton and Adam Kimelman), as low as 15 (Nicholas J. Cotsonika) and nearly everywhere in between (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7, 8, 8, 12).
ESPN.com
Hurricanes rank: 3
Previous rank: 12
"It's the Hurricanes' world, we just live in it. The Canes are undefeated, at 4-0-0. They're averaging four goals per game. They're giving up just 2.75 goals per game. They held the Lightning without a shot for an entire period, and a total of two shots through two periods and an overtime. They're still "a bunch of jerks," doing their Storm Surge postgame celebration. But they're also the best team in the NHL in the first week of the season."
Sportsnet
Hurricanes rank: 2
Previous rank: 15
"In which we use the trends of hockey's first seven days to wildly and confidently extrapolate season-long conclusion: A resurgent James Reimer registers a sparkling 41-0-0 record with a .940 save percentage, cementing himself as the greatest backup goalie to ever walk the earth."
CBS Sports
Hurricanes rank: 1
Previous rank: 12
"If anyone expected Carolina to be one-and-done after last year, this hot start should plant serious doubts. Not only are the Hurricanes 4-0-0, but they've completed dominated play for long stretches. I mean, they held the Lightning (the Lightning!) to two shots in 40+ minutes of play."
Yahoo! Sports
Hurricanes rank: 1
Previous rank: 6
"Well, jeez. Not sure you can make a stronger statement in any game than to hold Tampa to two shots on goal in the last two periods plus overtime. Hurricanes did it. And oh yeah, they're 3-0-0 despite a sub-100 PDO because they really do have the puck that much."
