The eighth edition of the eDraft Power Rankings sees the NHL taking the shape that many had expected it to. There are finally some signs of life from the east with the Pittsburgh Penguins riding five consecutive wins to the top of the Eastern Conference.
The Montreal Canadiens, riding a season-high four game winning streak have announced their arrival on the scene with some scoring to go with their lights out defense. On the other end of the spectrum are the New York Islanders who continue to lose at a break neck pace. Eight consecutive losses on Long Island have put head coach Ted Capuano on the chopping block.
The Edmonton Oilers have shown some signs of life, which is probably just enough to convince management that they shouldn’t blow up their team. The poor Buffalo Sabres are still toiling in the NHL basement, with their odd yellow jerseys that are honestly starting to grow on me. What can I say; I have some weird fashion sense. After the initial shock, they are now surprisingly tolerable to me.
Enough about marginally acceptable third jerseys, here is our power ranking.
30. New York Islanders-Despite their talent, the Islanders can’t seem to shake out of the death spin that threatens to tank their season. With so much hope at the start of the year, the Isles are the biggest disappointment of the year.
29. Buffalo Sabres-In spite of the token hope-inspiring victory, the Sabres dreadful season continues to spiral downward. Scoring 1.68 goals per game will not win many games, and it hasn’t so far.
28. Florida Panthers-The Panthers keep plugging along, treading the line between mediocrity and terrible from week to week. There is some fight left in Florida and have been a handful for teams that expect a walkover when they lineup against them.
27. Edmonton Oilers-With six wins in their last ten games could there be hope for a turnaround in Edmonton? No, there isn’t. The arrival of Ilya Bryzgalov seemed to inspire Devan Dubnyk to actually play well, but don’t get too excited Oiler fans. At least Taylor Hall makes Edmonton fun to watch.
26. Calgary Flames-Wins over Phoenix and Los Angeles are a nice salve for the burn of a terrible season, but don’t expect the Flames to be competitive for long.
25. Ottawa Senators-If the Islanders are the biggest disappointment this year, the Senators are a close second. The Sens can’t seem to get on track and if they continue to struggle, Ottawa will get left behind by the top five teams in the Atlantic Division.
24. Nashville Predators-The Predators have looked bad in their last four games (all losses) after surprising everyone by remaining competitive. Rookie Marek Mazanec was on fire in November, but four consecutive losses to average and below teams (Edmonton, Philadelphia, Vancouver, Carolina) drop the Preds in our rankings.
23. Columbus Blue Jackets-As if the season wasn’t headed in the wrong direction already, the Jackets will now be without reigning Vezina Trophy winner Sergei Bobrovsky for the next four-to-five weeks.
22. New Jersey Devils-Scoring 2.2 goals per game isn’t going to cut it in the NHL for New Jersey. Their goaltending and defense is top ten (8th) in the league, but you won’t see wins unless you score.
21. Winnipeg Jets-Nothing new here. Jets still have the potential to beat the best teams on any given night and then lose badly to the worst teams the next night. As Ondrej Pavelec goes, so go the Jets.
20. Philadelphia Flyers-The Flyers aren’t any different than any other team between 22 and 16 on this list. They have saved themselves from a disastrous season, but have plenty of work to do if they want to make a playoff push.
19. Washington Capitals-With the potential to be so much better, Washington looks like they don’t even want to be playing for large portions of their games. They were flat against Carolina Tuesday and can’t seem to play good defense. Braden Holtby isn’t good enough for the defensive lapses that seem to happen every night.
18. New York Rangers-With the ink drying on Henrik Lundqvist’s contract extension, the Rangers and their franchise player can focus on getting back to the playoffs. Rick Nash is back and healthy, and the blue shirts look primed for a run up the standings in the east.
17. Carolina Hurricanes-The Canes have had back-to-back decisive wins over average teams (Washington and Nashville), but have looked really good doing so. I’m not ready to announce their arrival as a Stanley Cup contender, but Jeff Skinner has looked unstoppable lately.
16. Dallas Stars-The Stars seem to have hit a wall of sorts after moving themselves back into respectability. If they can get over the hump, they are right back into the playoff picture. They have taken points in eight of their last 10, but need to keep pushing to keep up with the top three in the Central.
15. Colorado Avalanche-A curious thing happened on Thursday night: Colorado got run out of Edmonton on the wrong side of an 8-2 decision. It’s a bad loss any way you slice it, but the fact that coach Patrick Roy left Semyon Varlamov in for all eight goals could be something to keep an eye on.
14. Toronto Maple Leafs-The Maple Leafs seem to be a different team at home than on the road. There seems to be a lack of urgency in Toronto that has kept the Leafs out of the top tier in the Eastern Conference. They sit in the middle of the road (literally 17th offense, 16th defense) on offense and defense and are good on the power play (3rd), bad on the penalty kill (24th). If they can hold on to a playoff spot, they don’t look consistent enough to do any real damage.
13. Detroit Red Wings-Missing your two best players, leaders, captain and alternate? No problem. Pavel Datsyuk is set to miss his sixth straight game Friday night and captain Henrik Zetterberg is out for at least two weeks with a herniated disk. Detroit has looked good on offense but shaky on defense, particularly with Jimmy Howard between the pipes. Goaltending controversy?
12. Tampa Bay Lightning-I’ll admit that I had written the Lightning off after the Stamkos injury, but how many more times can we count out right wing Martin St. Louis. Since Stamkos went down the Lightning are 4-5-1 and have been shut out three times. St. Louis has scored three goals and added five assists in those 10 games.
11. Vancouver Canucks-With a sparkling road record and home struggles it’s only a matter of time before the Canucks start winning on home ice. They have won their last two and are creeping up on the suddenly, less awesome Phoenix Coyotes. The race for the last spot in the Pacific could be a real dog fight (pun intended) between the Canucks and Coyotes.
10. Phoenix Coyotes-The Coyotes have played themselves out of the top three in the Pacific and are now trying to hold off the Coyotes for fourth place. Phoenix needs better play from Mike Smith and has to hope that their fourth ranked offense can keep the pace if he doesn’t find his “A” game.
9. Minnesota Wild-Josh Harding continues to amaze with his MVP caliber play, but the Wild offense needs to support their goaltender. At 2.4 goals per game Minnesota is only scoring slightly more than they are conceding (2.2 GAA).
8. Montreal Canadiens-Only the Penguins have been hotter than Montreal over the past two weeks. The Habs are finally scoring some goals and wining games against teams below them in the standings. An epic 2-1 win over rival Boston on Thursday propelled the Canadiens to the top of the Atlantic Division.
7. Los Angeles Kings-The Kings continue to take points (nine out of their last 10 games) and remain in the top tier of the Pacific Division, but their scoring needs to improve. Are we convinced that Ben Scrivens can continue his otherworldly play? His sample size says that we can now believe in Jonathan Quick’s backup. A troubling sign is that the Kings have scored four goals or more only twice since November 1.
6. Anaheim Ducks-Despite a home shootout loss to rival Los Angeles, I still have the Ducks ahead of the Kings. Things could change this weekend when Anaheim tests itself in Chicago on Friday night, then in St. Louis on Saturday night. The Ducks can score with anyone, but their defense has been suspect at times.
5. Boston Bruins-Even with the rivalry loss to Montreal, there is more reason to believe that Boston is the better team. The Bruins have been steady all year and will certainly be in the mix at the end of the season. If there is an opportunity for Boston to improve, it is scoring. However, if Jarome Iginla and Loui Eriksson can get going, the Bruins could separate themselves from the Atlantic.
4. San Jose Sharks-The Sharks certainly aren’t as bad as the 5-1 loss in Pittsburgh Thursday night, but they do seem to lack focus at inopportune times. They have two six-game win streaks, but have taken the night off a couple times against Chicago two weeks ago and then this week with the Penguins. As good as this team is, it is frustrating to see them play so poorly against other elite teams.
3. Chicago Blackhawks-Consecutive losses to Dallas and Minnesota brought the streaking Hawks to a halt. Things don’t get any easier as Chicago hosts Anaheim Friday night. The NHL’s highest scoring team will look to try to keep the goals coming against another elite Western Conference opponent in Anaheim.
2. St. Louis Blues-Alexander Steen is still scoring and the Blues still look like one of the top teams in the NHL. A deadly power play (25.5% success) and stingy defense make St. Louis a tough matchup for everyone.
1. Pittsburgh Penguins-Finally the Penguins seem to have put things together and piled up some wins. They seemed to be playing down to their “competition” in the Metropolitan Division, but now have put some space between themselves and second place. Their current five-game streak comes at a time when Evgeni Malkin has gone down with the dreaded “lower body injury”. However, I have always been of the belief that an injury to Malkin or Sidney Crosby typically brings out the best in the other. Look for Crosby to average three points a game over the next week and the Pens’ streak to continue. Seriously.
