Current NHL Power Rankings: Top-heavy West

By Pierre LeBrun (posted Jan. 5,2015)

Week:

Having wrestled control of the Power Rankings from Scott Burnside for January, it's time to change some things around. But not at the very top. There is no better team than the Chicago Blackhawks in this league.

2014-2015 Power Rankings: Week 13
RANK	TEAM / RECORD	TRENDING	COMMENTS
1	Chicago 26-11-2	-- Last Week: 1	A rival general manager said to me the other day: "I've seen them live a few times this year -- nobody is playing hockey like they are. Period." Enough said.
2	Anaheim 26-9-6	1 Last Week: 3	Ryan Getzlaf for MVP, anyone? Through a long list of injuries plus the mumps, the Ducks' star center has been the constant force behind the team's first-place push all season.
3	Nashville 25-9-4	1 Last Week: 2	Speaking of recognizing individual achievements, perhaps David Poile will get a look for the GM of the year award? After an aggressive yet under-the-radar offseason of moves, the veteran hockey man has the Predators -- out of the playoffs just last season -- challenging for the Presidents' Trophy.
4	Montreal 26-11-2	2 Last Week: 6	Well, I picked a Montreal-Chicago Stanley Cup finals in September and while the analytics community will keep saying the sexy stats are going to bring the Habs down (which they might), the Canadiens continue to defy -- winners of six straight, they're the hottest team in the NHL.
5	New York 26-12-9	4 Last Week: 9	OK, so they lost to the lowly Oilers on Sunday night. Hey, someone has to lose to them once in a while. That doesn't take away from the awesome season the Isles are having.
6	Pittsburgh 26-10-5	1 Last Week: 5	It was an aggressive move by GM Jim Rutherford to get his man two months before the trade deadline, adding top-six winger David Perron over the weekend. Perron should fit in well.
7	Tampa Bay 25-12-4	3 Last Week: 4	My favorite statistic is the 5-on-5 goals for/against ratio. To me, it tells you how a team is going to fare in the playoffs when special teams aren't as prevalent. The Lightning are second at 1.35, second only to the Predators (1.47).
8	New York 21-11-4	-- Last Week: 8	They have won 10 of their past 11 games, and although they continue to score at will (third with 3.08 goals per game), it's because of a better defensive commitment that they have caught fire. And goalie Henrik Lundqvist is his old terrific self.
9	St. Louis 23-13-3	2 Last Week: 11	Nothing like a good ol' thumping -- 7-2 over the Sharks in San Jose, no less -- to make you feel good about yourself again.
10	Vancouver 22-12-3	7 Last Week: 17	The Canucks followed a five-game losing skid by going 4-1-1, including an impressive 4-1 win at home against the Red Wings on Saturday night.
11	Detroit 20-10-9	4 Last Week: 7	The Red Wings began their six-game road trek with a loss in Vancouver, and continue their week with games in Edmonton, Calgary and Washington. This is a key stretch of the season for them.
12	Los Angeles 19-12-9	1 Last Week: 13	Anyone recognize the defending Cup champs at all in that sloppy 7-6 OT home loss to the Predators on Saturday? Yeesh. I have to think management will try a move at some point to shake things up.
13	Washington 20-11-7	1 Last Week: 14	Oh, wait, Winter Classic victories are worth only two points in the standings? I could have sworn they were worth more, considering all the hoopla.
14	Winnipeg 20-12-7	4 Last Week: 10	That was a huge win over the Maple Leafs on Saturday as the Jets try to hang in there with all their injuries.
15	Dallas 18-14-6	6 Last Week: 21	The Stars deserve some love with an 8-1-1 record in their past 10 games. We're beginning to see the team many of us thought we'd get back in the fall.
16	San Jose 20-14-5	4 Last Week: 12	And your roller-coaster Sharks followed up a 9-1-0 stretch by dropping four of their past five games, including getting pounded 7-2 at home by the Blues on Saturday night.
17	Columbus 17-17-3	2 Last Week: 19	So the Blue Jackets are 11-2-1 in their past 14 games, yet still eight points out of a playoff spot. This is why those U.S. Thanksgiving historical standings numbers are so relevant.
18	Florida 17-11-9	3 Last Week: 15	The ingredients should be there: a young, rising team with developing talent, good coach, good goalie, etc. But then you see this: 26th in goals per game. The young offensive talent needs to step up.
19	Boston 19-15-6	1 Last Week: 18	I should probably drop the Bruins farther, but I just can't bring myself to. Surely they are going to finally turn this around. They've dropped four of five games since the holiday break, although the past three losses were all in extra time. Sitting 21st in goals per game really stands out.
20	Calgary 21-16-3	-- Last Week: 20	Hard not to pull for those blue-collar Flames, but while they're trying to pull down the Jets and Sharks for a wild-card spot, they had better look over their shoulder at the hard-charging Stars.
21	Minnesota 18-15-4	1 Last Week: 22	You keep waiting for this team to figure it out.
22	Toronto 21-16-3	6 Last Week: 16	Well, that road trip was fun, eh?
23	Ottawa 16-15-7	1 Last Week: 24	Forget the playoffs.
24	Colorado 15-16-8	2 Last Week: 26	Showing signs of life but too little, too late.
25	Philadelphia 14-18-7	2 Last Week: 23	That was a scary incident for center Claude Giroux, whose ankle was cut by a skate on Friday. Thank goodness for those Kevlar-reinforced protective socks.
26	Arizona 15-19-4	1 Last Week: 27	New owner, same plan: Time to rebuild.
27	New Jersey 14-20-7	1 Last Week: 28	Turns out Peter DeBoer wasn't the problem. Shocking.
28	Carolina 12-23-4	1 Last Week: 29	Obviously way too late, but with Jordan Staal finally back, you get a sense this team would have been a bit better with its actual lineup.
29	Buffalo 14-23-3	4 Last Week: 25	Back to normal.
30	Edmonton 9-22-9	-- Last Week: 30	So, the Oilers didn't release Leon Draisaitl for the world juniors tournament, but at the end of the tournament, they sent him back to juniors. OK, then.
Biggest Jump: 7 Biggest Drop: 6