NHL.com
Hurricanes rank: 3
Previous rank: 6
"Their 6-1-0 record before losing to the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday was their best through seven games to start a season in history. Their previous best record through seven games was 5-2-0 in 1996-97, their final season as the Hartford Whalers."
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 (Tracey Myers), as low as 7 (Tim Campbell and Mike Morreale) and almost everywhere in between (2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 6).
NBC Sports
Hurricanes rank: 1
Previous rank: 9
"Anyone that thought this team's second half and postseason run was a fluke was mistaken. They are for real and they are not going away. If they get the goaltending they could be a serious contender to win it all."
ESPN.com
Hurricanes rank: 3
Previous rank: 3
"As reported by our own Emily Kaplan, coach Rod 'The Bod' Brind'Amour beat half the Hurricanes' roster with his time on the assault bike in offseason conditioning. 'You just see a lot of veins,' defenseman Haydn Fleury says. 'Some grunts. It's kind of scary, to be honest.'"
Sportsnet
Hurricanes rank: 5
Previous rank: 2
"Disturbing developments edition: Of all the playoff-positioned clubs in the East, the Hurricanes have been the least disciplined, taking an average of 9.8 penalty minutes a night. All those minors could catch up to them."
CBS Sports
Hurricanes rank: 1
Previous rank: 1
"The Canes finally lost a game (and to the Blue Jackets...yuck!) but their overall body of work is still so strong. They're for real so get used to it."
Yahoo! Sports
Hurricanes rank: 1
Previous rank: 1
"Yes, like the Lightning, they too lost to a low-talent team (Columbus) somehow. But it was the second night of a back-to-back for both teams and weird stuff happens in those games. I think after how the last few seasons have started, they take the plus-8 goal difference and plus-35 shot difference from six games and call it good."
