NHL Power Rankings - Teams

I know every hockey site does a power rankings, and well quite frankly I have always wanted to put in my two cents and have people comment on what I have to say; so here it is.


1. Nashville Predators: The Preds are off to an astonishing 5-0-3 record. Leading the way is there quality goaltending from Pekka Rinne (2-0-2 record with a 1.58 GAA and .955 SV%) and Anders Lindback (3-0-1 record with a 2.55 GAA and .920 SV%).  The have a balanced attack and solid defense and thats why they are off to such a hot start.


2. Detroit Red Wings: The Red Wings are off to a fast start 5-1-1, with their only loss in regulation coming to a Dallas Stars team that flew out of the gate.  


3. Los Angeles Kings: The Kings will be a team up here all season I think, even without Drew Doughty, one of the best defense in the NHL, they have played amazing.  Jonathan Quick has put to bed any rumors of a goalie controversy in LA thus far with his far superior play over Jonathan Bernier to date.


4. St. Louis Blues: TJ Oshie (1-7-8) is off to a hot start in the Blues first seven games, and Jaroslav Halak (4-1-1 record with a 1.81 GAA and .930 SV%) has been everything the blues could have wished for after trading for him this off season.


5. Calgary Flames: The Flames had a little trouble scoring goals to start the season, but currently is there anyone hotter than Rene Bourque and the Flames?  Kipper has looked good and is tied for the league lead in shut-outs with his two, already.


6. Tampa Bay Lightning: Steven Stamkos (8-7-15).  Thats all I have to say about the Lightning.


7. New York Rangers: No Gabby, no problem.  Off to a 4-2 start even without oft injured superstar Marian Gaborik, again most of the success can be attributed to Henrik Lundqvist's amazing goal-tending.


8. Boston Bruins: Tim Thomas coming of a horrible year last year has looked like the Vezina Trophy winner that he was in the 2008-09 season.  Bergeron has starting to score in the last week, and this team is looking good (all but their last season MVP Tuuka Rask) in their six games.


9. Montreal Canadians: The Canadians are looking pretty good this season, and Carey Price isn't getting boo'd like he was even in the pre-season.  Andrei Kostitsyn seems to be rejuvenated after his brother Sergei shipped out of town and is no longer a distraction.


10. Toronto Maple Leafs: Phil Kessel has been just what Brian Burke expected when he traded for him.  Kessel scored his seventh goal of the season on Tuesday against the Panthers


11. Dallas Stars: The Stars came out flying, 4-0-0 beating two teams ranked in the top five.  Since that great start they have gone 1-3-0 and that explains their free fall to the 11th spot.

12.Washington Capitals: Without a true number one goalie in Washington (I know they really didn't have one last year either) they have been alright, they will still be an offensive juggernaut when Mike Green comes back from injury and Nicklas Backstrom (8 games played, 1-3-4) starts to pick it up.


13. Pittsburgh Penguins: The Pens with Marc-Andre Fleury in net have been a team ranked in the bottom ten.  However, with Brent Johnson tending the goal, they have been a top five team.  So they current rank as the 13th team on my poll.  Crosby has been Crosby, racking up the points and they are soon to get Jordan Staal back, this team could be top five soon.


14. Philadelphia Flyers: The Flyers just need to stay afloat until they can get back their big stud on the defensive end, Chris Pronger.  With off season acquisition Nikolay Zherdev just getting accustomed to his new surroundings and team this team could be a team to be reckoned with this year if they can get any sort of consistent goal-tending.


15. New York Islanders: John Tavares is looking to have a second season in the NHL like Steve Stamkos pulled off last year in his second campaign. However Tavares can't do it all.  Case-in-point when he netted a hat-trick and they still lost 4-3.


16. Columbus Blue Jackets: The Jackets cannot score at all.  Nash their most prolific scorer has just three goals and CBJ has failed to score over three goals in everyone of their games this year.  Mason (3-3 Record) has been just alright in net  but recently has been outplayed by Mathieu Garon.

17. Chicago Blackhawks: The Blackhawks started pretty slow after their Stanley Cup Win last year.  But with Marty Turco getting on track and with Patrick Sharp and Marian Hossa with eight and seven goals respectively the Hawks have started to get on the winning track.


18. Carolina Hurricanes: Like most teams in the NHL, goal-tending is the key to wins with the 'Canes.  Cam Ward is coming off of a injury filled and inconsistent season in 2009-10 but he started off this year with back to back wins in Europe and has a 4-2 record overall.


19. Anaheim Ducks: In an attempt to spread out their offense, the Ducks moved Bobby Ryan to the second line center and it hasn't seemed to work out that well they haven't played particularly well. However, I believe the Ducks can score with anyone in the NHL.  The Ducks will boast one of, if not the best powerplay in the league this year.  Just look at who they have out their: Lubomir Visnovsky as the quarterback, Bobby Ryan, Ryan Getzlaf, Teemu Selanne and Corey Perry.


20. Minnesota Wild: Niklas Backstrom (3-2-2 record with a 2.25 GAA and .926 SV%) is coming of a bit of an off year and looking to bounce back this season. The Wild have become very strong up the middle (Cullen 3-6-9, Koivu 2-7-9) which has been a proven NHL success for years.


21. Vancouver Canucks: As expected the Sedin twins have accounted for most of the 'nucks offense going into Tuesday nights action, Daniel's seven goals ranked second in the NHL behind Patrick Sharp and Steven Stamkos' eight.


22. Colorado Avalanche:  Craig Anderson is again the man in Colorado.  Matt Duchene is trying to pull a Steven Stamkos in his second year and play like a force.  The Avs top combination of Chris Stewart and Paul Stastny have been playing very well.


23. San Jose Sharks: I'm pretty sure everyone reading this and everyone that pays attention to hockey realizes that the San Jose Sharks will not be this low for long.  I think they are thinking twice about letting Evgeni Nabokov go right about now.  Antti Niemi has not been good at all and at this point of the season is being vastly outplayed by Antero Niittymaki.


24. Atlanta Thrashers: An injury to Zack Bogosian is not what this club needed to start the season.  They are having trouble keeping the puck out of their net, and he is one of their top defense.


25. Phoenix Coyotes:  This team is hugely dependent on good goal-tending and solid defensive play.  Averaging over three goals against currently is not what the Coyotes were all about last year when they shocked the NHL and were one of the top teams in the league.


26. Ottawa Senators: As much as I hate to say it, the Sens have been awful.  They cannot afford to miss Jason Spezza for a long period of time or they will be in huge trouble and be looking at a lottery pick.


27. Buffalo Sabres: The Sabres and Ryan Miller are not looking like the Northeast Division Champs they were a year ago.  Miller really hasn't had that bad of a start as many people have blamed it on him. Tomas Vanek is playing like Tomas Vanek after an off year last year.


28. Edmonton Oilers: The Oilers are exciting with their fast, young team.  They have a proven winner backstopping them in Nikolai Khabibulin hasn't been that good, if you take out his 37 save shut out his numbers are not very good at all. Oilers Rookie Watch: Eberle: 3-2-5 Paajarvi: 2-2-4  Hall: 0-1-1


29. Florida Panthers: Florida has really been a team I can't gauge, They go 1-2  in Western Canada (beating the Flames, losing to Vancouver and Edmonton) then they kill the Lightning 6-0.  This team has to completely rely on Tomas Vokoun that is their only chance of moving forward.


30. New Jersey Devils: The Devils have been absolutely awful.  They have had problems with their defense, their 100 mililion dollar man (Ilya Kovalchuk), and the goal-tending has been awful (Martin Brodeur has not been his usual self).