Current NHL Power Rankings: Stars the attraction

By Pierre LeBrun (posted Nov. 23, 2015)

If you believe that good things happen to good people, then you're happy that the Stars are doing what they're doing because their GM Jim Nill is about the nicest guy in hockey. He's also pretty darn smart about the game, which is why he's built a nice little club there. This week's Power Rankings:

2015-2016 Power Rankings: Week 7
RANK	TEAM / RECORD	TRENDING	COMMENTS
1	Dallas 17-4-0	1 Last Week: 2	The Stars are seventh in goals against per game (2.38) after finishing 26th (3.13) last season. Hence the marked improvement as a team and their transformation into a contender.
2	New York 15-3-2	1 Last Week: 1	Well, if Rick Nash's hat trick Saturday night means he's about to start piling up goals, brace yourselves. As if this team needed more help.
3	Montreal 16-4-2	-- Last Week: 3	The Habs swept the season series with the Islanders 3-0-0 and will try to go 2-0-0 against the mighty Rangers with a must-see showdown Wednesday at MSG. Losing Brendan Gallagher indefinitely hurts big time, though.
4	Washington 13-5-1	1 Last Week: 5	Leading scorer Evgeny Kuznetsov, 23, is on pace for a 90-point season, which would easily more than double his 37-point output from last season; his breakthrough year another reason this team is for real. That's a wicked one-two punch at center.
5	St. Louis 13-6-1	4 Last Week: 9	Vladimir Tarasenko's third-period goal Saturday night? Oh my goodness. I get in for free to watch NHL games. I would pay to watch him.
6	Minnesota 11-5-3	1 Last Week: 7	The Wild snapped a three-game funk with an impressive 4-0 pasting of a very good Predators squad Saturday night. The home stand continues with the Canucks, Jets and Stars this week.
7	Nashville 11-5-3	3 Last Week: 4	Ouch, back-to-back 4-0 losses this weekend and it doesn't get any easier Monday night at Madison Square Garden.
8	San Jose 13-8-0	7 Last Week: 15	The Sharks completed a perfect 6-0-0 road trip for the first time in franchise history. Guess that Patrick Marleau situation isn't a distraction at all.
9	Los Angeles 12-8-0	3 Last Week: 6	The Kings are no longer in first of the Plodding Pacific after weekend losses in Detroit and Carolina.
10	Chicago 11-8-2	2 Last Week: 8	The circus road trip began with a 1-1-1 trek through Western Canada; now comes the three-game trek through California to wrap it up.
11	Detroit 11-8-2	8 Last Week: 19	The Wings earned seven out of eight points in their last four games, including impressive weekend wins over the Kings and Blues. The great Pavel Datsyuk netted his first goal of the season Saturday at St. Louis in his sixth game back.
12	Tampa Bay 10-9-3	1 Last Week: 13	Turned the corner? Those were impressive wins over the Rangers and Ducks. The climb back up the standings has begun.
13	Ottawa 10-5-5	1 Last Week: 14	Back-to-back shutouts for Craig Anderson as the Senators head off for a three-game trip through Dallas, Colorado and Arizona.
14	New Jersey 11-8-1	4 Last Week: 10	Cory Schneider came to the rescue with 36 saves at Vancouver on Sunday night as the Devils stopped the bleeding after two losses in Alberta.
15	Pittsburgh 12-8-0	4 Last Week: 11	If the glass is half full, the Penguins in the opening quarter didn't play their best hockey but they did enough to pick up the points to sit third in the division. So imagine if they can get on track for real.
16	New York 10-8-3	4 Last Week: 12	On the bright side, after being swept in a home-and-home with the Habs this weekend, the Brooklyn boys don't have to play the Montrealers again in the regular season.
17	Boston 10-8-1	1 Last Week: 18	It won't make anyone in Beantown forget Tyler Seguin but Loui Eriksson with 18 points (9-9) in 19 games is easily on pace to have his best season to date with the Bruins.
18	Florida 8-8-4	2 Last Week: 20	We're still waiting for this improved club to take off, although launching 43 shots at the Rangers and still losing in overtime, you can't blame the effort.
19	Winnipeg 10-9-2	4 Last Week: 23	The Jets snapped a six-game skid with back-to-back wins over the Canucks and Coyotes. It's good to be home.
20	Vancouver 8-8-6	4 Last Week: 16	November can't end fast enough for the Canucks, who have three wins in 11 games this month.
21	Arizona 10-9-1	3 Last Week: 24	The Coyotes try to make it a perfect 3-0-0 against the division-rival Ducks on Wednesday night. That's a sentence two months ago I would not have predicted writing.
22	Anaheim 7-10-4	5 Last Week: 17	Speaking of which, will the real Ducks please stand up? I thought they had turned the corner last week but then they suffered a 5-0 drubbing in Tampa.
23	Calgary 8-12-1	7 Last Week: 30	Friday's win over the Blackhawks felt good for the desperate Flames. Now comes a three-game trip through Anaheim, Arizona and San Jose.
24	Buffalo 8-10-2	3 Last Week: 21	The Sabres are on a four-game winless streak (0-2-2), albeit against some mighty tough Western foes.
25	Toronto 7-10-4	3 Last Week: 28	What a story James Reimer has been so far this season, right? A forgotten man entering the season, he's taken the No. 1 job.
26	Carolina 7-10-3	1 Last Week: 25	Sunday's win over the Kings ended a five-game winless streak. Winnable games coming up this week against the Flyers, Oilers and Sabres.
27	Columbus 8-14-0	2 Last Week: 29	The Blue Jackets suffered a crushing loss on Sunday after being up 3-1 on the Sharks in the third period.
28	Edmonton 7-12-1	1 Last Week: 27	The 5-1 home crushing of the Devils on Friday night was timely as the Oilers are now on a five-game Eastern swing through Washington, Carolina, Detroit, Pittsburgh and Toronto, five games in eight days.
29	Colorado 7-12-1	7 Last Week: 22	The Avs started their road trip with three wins, then lost the next three, including stinkers in Toronto and Washington. Their seven-game trip wraps up Monday night in Winnipeg.
30	Philadelphia 6-9-5	4 Last Week: 26	After a 4-2-1 start, the Flyers have two wins in 13 games (2-7-4).
Biggest Jump: 8 Biggest Drop: 7