With the events of the past week settling in, the NHL seems to be taking shape the way most people expected. There are a few notable exceptions, but the traditionally solid teams are starting to rise to the top. All of a sudden the Detroit Red Wings can’t win at home (0-1-6 since October 15), and the Minnesota Wild can’t lose (8-1-1 in their last 10 games).
The Steven Stamkos injury hasn’t adversely affected the Tampa Bay Lightning the way everyone expected it to. Other than the loss to Boston in the injury game, Tampa has won in Montreal and beaten last week’s number one team, Anaheim.
The Chicago Blackhawks took over possession of the Central Division, to no one’s surprise. Don’t look now but the Buffalo Sabres have a new/old coach in Ted Nolan, and also have back-to-back wins over Los Angeles and Toronto. It won’t help them rise to far in the rankings, but at least they won’t be last.
Here’s the power rankings for the seventh week of the season
30. Florida Panthers-With Kris Versteeg shipped off to Chicago for essentially a bag of pucks, the Panthers have officially started waving the white flag on the season.
29. Edmonton Oilers-Ilya Bryzgalov or not, the Oilers need to start taking account of their assets and moving some pieces around. Dallas Eakins looks like he could physically assault someone while he watches his team’s calamitous play. The fans of Edmonton and Eakins both deserve better.
28. Columbus Blue Jackets-Bad times in Columbus right now. Other than the All Star Game in 2015, the Jackets have had an awful November. Now news that Marian Gaborik is out for 4-6 weeks has the spiral downward looking even more grim. Not even Officer Sergei Bobrovsky can save them at this point.
27. Calgary Flames-The Flames are becoming the team that we expected them to be. They have shown some bright spots so far but have had some bad luck with injuries and inconsistent goaltending. Calgary has a couple of players that could have some trade value, but this season will be more about testing the young players on the roster.
26. Buffalo Sabres-Though they have been creeping up the standings, I’m not ready to buy in to the Sabres just yet. Consecutive wins are nice, and the team seems to have responded well to their new(ish) coach. You still have to believe that the Sabres have some assets to move sooner than later.
25. Nashville Predators-The losses are starting to mount for Barry Trotz and his Preds. Missing goaltender Pekka Rinne was inevitably going to cost Nashville, who anxiously await his return from hip/e-Coli issues. A silver lining would be Seth Jones who has been amazing so far.
24. New York Islanders-Possibly the biggest disappointment this season, the Isles have already had the Thomas Vanek/Matt Moulson trade blow up in their face, but continue to confirm that they want to win now. Goaltending has to be addressed for them to move forward.
23. Detroit Red Wings-Sorry Hockeytown, but the Wings have been a sorry bunch since they returned from a 3-1 road trip. They have drawn at least a point from their last four overtime/shootout losses, but that will provide very little solace for an angry Mike Babcock.
22. Philadelphia Flyers-The Flyers looked to be on a nice little run before their SO loss in Winnipeg. Nice to see some life from Broad Street after their awful start. A huge rivalry win in Pittsburgh announced to the NHL that Philly is not quite dead yet.
21. New Jersey Devils-Consecutive shutouts were a ice trip down memory lane for Martin Brodeur and company. A mid-week throw down on Broadway with the hated Rangers also provide a glimmer of hope for the New Jersey faithful. Don’t expect it to last though, as the Devils went back to their non-scoring ways at home to Los Angeles.
20. Carolina Hurricanes-The Canes have been an anomaly all year. At times they seem like they can’t get out of their own way but then they have huge wins over Anaheim and Colorado after a tough shootout loss at to Minnesota.
19. Winnipeg Jets-The Jets are as tough as any team in the NHL in their building. They have won four straight games, including three consecutive shootouts. Goaltending has been streaky with Ondrej Pavelec and could be what keeps them from the playoffs.
18. Ottawa Senators-It looks like Craig Anderson might finally show up this season. A huge win Friday night over Boston showcased the Senator net minder as the Sens beat Boston 4-2 on home ice. If they can get consistency from Anderson, the Senators contend for the Atlantic Division.
17. Montreal Canadiens-The Habs should be lower on this list, but their losses came against Colorado, St. Louis, and Minnesota last week. Some particularly listless play from Montreal could see them as the odd team out come playoff time.
16. New York Rangers-With a 7-3 record in their last 10, the Rangers have reminded the rest of the league that they have some depth, some talent and a really, REALLY good goaltender from Sweden named Henrik Lundqvist.
15. Vancouver Canucks-Three straight losses are never good, but against tough division opponents it’s good for Vancouver to know that two of three games could have gone either way til the very end.
14. Toronto Maple Leafs-Three consecutive losses, including a stinker in Buffalo have the Maple Leaf faithful calling for Rob Ford to replace Coach Randy Carlyle. Ok, so it’s not quite that bad, but Toronto needs to keep pace with the rest of the competitive crowd in the Atlantic
13. Dallas Stars-A nice three game win streak has the Stars sitting pretty in the Central. Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn showed some brilliant chemistry this week against Calgary and that is a huge deal in Big D.
12. Washington Capitals-The Russian machine never breaks. Such is the mantra for Alexander Ovechkin and the streaking Capitals. A Pittsburgh slump has the Caps nipping at the heels of the first place Pens.
11. Pittsburgh Penguins-A Friday win over Nashville got the Pens back in the win column after a three game slide. The Penguins are a streaky bunch and could very easily run ten games in a row. They blew a chance to put some space between themselves and the struggling masses early and it could cost them.
10. Los Angeles Kings-I made a bold prediction that the Kings would tank, and it appears that quite the opposite is happening. Make your own conclusions there, but Jonathan Quick is down and Ben Scrivens will have to be the man for Los Angeles to keep pace with the top heavy Pacific.
9. Boston Bruins-Four wins in five is a nice little run to keep pace with first place Tampa Bay, but the Bruins can’t afford to lose big games against division opponents like Ottawa. Boston can still keep their heads up though. Their goaltending and defense keep them in every game, but their special teams need some work.
8. Colorado Avalanche-Two consecutive defeats may or may not be cause for alarm, but the once red-hot Avalanche are now cooling off. It was to be expected, but how they react to this early adversity could define the team the rest of the way.
7. Phoenix Coyotes-The Coyotes continue to win the games that they should, and then struggle with the teams that sit above them in the standings. The good news for Phoenix and Coach Dave Tippett is that there aren’t too many teams above them at the moment.
6. Anaheim Ducks-A tough and puzzling three-game stretch bounced the Ducks from the top of the rankings, though they still are atop the Pacific Division. No panic here though, the Ducks will be just fine.
5. St. Louis Blues-A mid week rout of Colorado was clearly a statement by the Blues that they are a team to beat in the Central Division. With the Blackhawks taking over the lead in the division, St. Louis will be right behind them til the end.
4. Tampa Bay Lightning-It remains to be seen whether Tampa can win long-term without Steven Stamkos. So far the Lightning have won their last two games.
3. San Jose Sharks-The Sharks have rebounded after five straight losses with two solid wins to put themselves back near the top of the NHL.
2. Minnesota Wild-Solid goaltending and complete team play is the formula that Minnesota are riding to the top. The Wild have been arguably the NHL’s hottest team in November going 6-0-1 so far this month.
1. Chicago Blackhawks-The defending champs sit on top for the week. They look like they have finally put their foot on the gas and could start dominating. The addition of Kris Versteeg was a steal and makes them even more dangerous offensively.