[SPORTS] NHL Power Rankings – November 18th, 2010

Published on by DJ Sullivan

DJ on ICE: Hockey coverage with DJ Sullivan

Team Current Prior Record
Los Angeles Kings 1 5 12-5-0 LA has allowed a mere six goals in as many games, while piling up 21 over the same span.  The league’s 2nd best PK has something to do with that.  With an exciting team full of stars like Jack Johnson, Kopitar, Dustin Brown, and Ryan Smyth the next question is will they sell out games?  Justin Williams & Jarret Stoll continue to impress with 17 and 15 points respectively.
Washington Capitals 2 4 14-4-1 The Caps have the league’s best record and that counts for something.  Alexander’s (Semin and Ovi) have 10 and 13 goals respectively.  Only Steven Stamkos has more goals than Semin.
Detroit Red Wings 3 1 12-3-1 The factories may be idle in Detroit, but the Red Wings are still producing wins.  Todd Bertuzzi is a +11 and Nicklas Lidstrom is yet again a Norris candidate.  The Wings themselves are a Stanley Cup candidate.  I wish my team had Mike Modano as its third line center.
Philadelphia Flyers 4 13 12-5-2 The Flyers are a team that a hockey fan should love.  They’re winning, resigning good players (Jeff Carter, Claude Giroux), and beating the snot out of people (Shelley, Pronger, Carcillo)
Vancouver Canucks 5 7 10-5-3 The Canucks are Canada’s top team but still a step behind the elite level squads.  Brothers Daniel & Henrik Sedin each have 23 points.  Daniel has 12 goals, while American Ryan Kesler has 9 tallies.  Cory Schneider has been a pleasant surprise as backup netminders. (3-0-1, 1.59 GAA, 0.949 SV %.
Montreal Canadiens 6 9 12-5-1 The Canadiens will miss Andrei Markov on the blue line.  Markov is out with a knee injury.  Carey Price is out of the doghouse (for now) sporting a .930 SV% and 2.05 GAA.  Center Tomas Plekanec leads The Habs with 20 points (7+13)
San Jose Sharks 7 11 9-5-3 See, I told ya the Sharks wouldn’t be bottom feeding for long.
St. Louis Blues 8 3 9-5-3 TJ Oshie is injured and that’s bad because he used to assist on most of St. Louis’ goals.  The Blues still have Joraslav Halak but they’re   0-4-1 in last five including an 8-1 drubbing at the hands of the Columbus Blue Jackets.  Ouch!  The Blues allowed 4 late goals last night to turn a close game into a blowout loss against Detroit.  In positive news; the Blues recently signed Large American (6’3”, 225) David Backes to a 5 year extension.
New York Rangers 9 12 10-8-1 With a nice comeback effort against the Pens in Pittsburgh the Rangers have a three game win streak going.  The Rangers are balanced with two solid goaltenders (Lundqvist & Biron), scoring (Gaborik, Dubinsky, Callahan, Anisimov, Frolov) and a stout Defense (Marc Staal, Girardi, Rozsival, and Del Zotto)
Boston Bruins 10 2 10-5-1 Trouble in Canada, losing to Ottawa and Montreal.  Success in America, beating The Devils and Rangers. Marc Savard is still out with concussion as is David Krejci.  The Bruins are still stopping goals, but so are their opponents and that’s led to a less than stellar 4-3-1 record in November.
Anaheim Ducks 11 25 10-8-3 The Ducks may have the prettiest Ice Girls, but their record is an unattractive mess of Overtime losses and narrow victories.  Corey Perry leads the Ducks with 22 points (9+13) while forty year old Finn, Teemu Selanne is still producing (8+13).
Pittsburgh Penguins 12 10 10-8-2 Great teams don’t lose 2-1 leads to the Rangers.  Sid the Kid is the King of Pittsburgh with his 13 goals and 16 assists.  Another 100 point season for #87 is on the horizon, but the Pens must win more than every other game if they want to scare teams in the playoffs.  Jordan Staal is still nursing a hand injury.
Chicago Blackhawks 13 8 10-9-2 A 5-0 drubbing of Edmonton ended the Hawks November regulation win drought.  Patrick Sharp has 21 points (11+10) but he’s also a -10.  Even with the usual suspects scoring (Kane, Toews, Hossa, Sharp) the Hawks are only winning 50% and 50% isn’t gonna do it.
Minnesota Wild 14 15 9-6-2 The fans in Minnesota are yelling ‘Shooooooot!’, and with good reason.  The Wild are averaging a league low 24.7 shots per game.  Power play specialist, Pierre-Marc Bouchard is out with a concussion.
Dallas Stars 15 14 9-7-0 Texas Ranger fever is over, Cowboy fever never happened, and with losses in 3 of the last 4 games, fans will be faking a fever to stay away from Dallas Stars games.  LW Loui Eriksson is the brightest star in Dallas with 9 goals and 9 assists.
Ottawa Senators 16 27 9-9-1 Senator’s assistant coach, Luke Richardson endured an awful tragedy this week when his 14 year old daughter took her own life.  The hockey world grieves together on this one.

The Sens were 5-1 in November until this week in which they lost 5-1 and 7-1 to the Flyers and ‘Canes.
Columbus Blue Jackets 17 24 10-6-0 The Blue Jackets have the league’s worst power play at 9.5%.  November has been good to the League’s least recognizable team with wins against Montreal, LA, and St. Louis.
Florida Panthers 18 19 8-8-0 The only way they’re going to sell out American Airlines Arena is to put Lebron James on skates.  Tomas Vokoun is doing all he can, compiling a .924 SV%.  American David Booth has 5 goals and 5 assists.
Phoenix Coyotes 19 26 8-5-5 5-1-2 in November is nothing to shake a hockey stick at.  Shane Doan would be a hockey god if he played in the Northeast or Canada.  Radim Vrbata leads the Coyotes with 5 tallies.
Tampa Bay Lightning 20 6 9-7-2 Steven Stamkos is not a Young Star; he’s a STAR.  16 goals and 14 assists leads the NHL.  Third line Center Dominic Moore has 5 goals, but the top heavy Lightning are 2-5-1 in November. Center Vinny Lecavalier is out with a hand injury.
Colorado Avalanche 21 21 10-7-1 The Aves are supporting Obama’s health care plan because half the team’s in the hospital.

Rookies Jonas Holos and Kevin Shattenkirk have filled in admirably in the absence of injured starters.
Buffalo Sabres 22 29 7-10-3 The Sabres have impressive wins against Vancouver and the Caps.  Ryan Miller is back in net and Thomas Vanek is scoring.  The Sabres need to continue winning to prove their slow start was a simply a fluke.  Derek Roy is among the NHL’s elite in scoring. (9+13)
Nashville Predators 23 16 7-6-3 2-4 in November has dropped the Preds from middle to mediocre.  Center Matthew Lombardi is out with a concussion.  Cal O’Reilly leads the team with a modest 12 points (3+9).
Atlanta Thrashers 24 17 7-9-3 Ondrej Pavelec is over his fainting spells, but the ATL may be over the Thrashers soon if they keep losing games.  2-5-1 in November.  Defenseman Dustin Byfuglien was injured while blocking a shot last night.  Maybe he’ll switch back to offense again?
Calgary Flames 25 23 7-10-0 1-5 in November.  Olli Jokkinen may face suspension for a cross-check on the Coyotes Wotjek Wolski, and Jarome Iginla may face a trade if things don’t get better in Calgary.
Carolina Hurricanes 26 20 9-9-0 Carolina has been the recent recipient of two monstrous beat-downs (8-1, 2-7) at the hands of Philly and Montreal.  A shakeup came in the form of trading away Anton Babchuk and Tom Kostopoulos to Calgary for Ian White & Brett Sutter.
Toronto Maple Leafs 27 18 6-8-3 The Leafs are like the Chicago Cubs except without the ‘lovable’ prefix.  Took 7 games to get a W in November.  Captain Dion Phaneuf returns soon and hopes to spark the Leafs back to early season form.
New York Islanders 28 22 4-11-3 Scoring eight goals in eight games is a good recipe for losing ten games in a row.  Coach Scott Gordon is the year’s first coaching casualty.  It doesn’t help that Kyle Oksopo and Mark Streit are both on the shelf with shoulder injuries.
Edmonton Oilers 29 28 4-10-3 The Oilers are great… at starting brawls.  Check out hockeyfights.com for Oiler highlights.
New Jersey Devils 30 30 5-11-2 Times are STILL tough for the Devils.  Zach Parise is out for two more months with a torn meniscus.  Ilya Kovalchuk needs to score more than once every 5 games.  36 year old Jason Arnott is the only bright spot in a dark dark season for the Devils.

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