My
colleague Scott Burnside has handed over the Power Rankings duties to
me for the month of November. After consulting with my dog, Lulu LeBrun
(she's a 4-year-old Australian shepherd and she knows her hockey), I've
come up with this week's rankings.
I
was chatting with a GM from another team last week when, unsolicited,
he brought up the Caps. "They are just so good again. Deep, talent
everywhere. Going to be tough to beat," he said. Well, yeah, I mean, we
always say that. But is this finally the year? Perhaps.
It's funny -- back in August, when
Jimmy Vesey
picked the Blueshirts in his personal sweepstakes, I thought, "Why
them? They're in transition mode, you're not going to win there anytime
soon." Well, given the way the Rangers have exploded out of the gate, I
need to rethink that. They're so much fun to watch, and they lead the
NHL with 4.23 goals per game.
Welcome back, Sid! Rust? Ha. How about eight goals and two assists in six games since returning from a concussion.
Sidney Crosby
is just seven points off the NHL scoring lead despite having played
half the number of games most players have. Yeah, I think he has it in
him to reel in another scoring title this season.
Since
starting the season 0-2-0, the Hawks have gone 9-1-1, including six
consecutive wins. Hold off, perhaps, on those "window-closing"
narratives.
Jonathan Toews
and company have other plans. Hats off to GM Stan Bowman for
continually working his roster magic under massive cap constraints.
My
preseason pick to win the Stanley Cup has a big test on Monday night at
Florida against the rival Panthers. We need to see these two Florida
teams face off in a playoff series next spring, please!
OK,
I know this is a little harsh, given their league-leading record. But I
had to make the 10-0 pasting that Montreal suffered against the
Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday night count for something! The Habs had a nice bounce-back win the following night at home over a rested
Philadelphia Flyers team. You know
Carey Price and
Shea Weber were going to make sure that happened.
Four assists in two weekend victories by pending unrestricted free-agent blue-liner
Kevin Shattenkirk. A juicy matchup awaits Wednesday night at home against the rival Blackhawks.
The
Oilers snapped a three-game slide (0-2-1) on their recent road trip
with weekend wins against the Islanders and Red Wings. How much fun will
Tuesday's game at Pittsburgh be, as
Connor McDavid and
Sidney Crosby face off?
It was a night for the ages on Friday, with that monumental barrage of goals over the league-leading Canadiens. As I
tweeted that night,
it was as if Columbus took out 16 years of misery as a franchise on the
Habs that night. Here's hoping the Blue Jackets make the playoffs this
season. Their fans deserve it!
The
Sharks suffered three consecutive losses, including a 5-0 drubbing at
home Saturday night in another Stanley Cup final rematch with
Pittsburgh. They now embark on a six-game road trek to Washington,
Florida, Tampa Bay, Carolina, St. Louis and Arizona.
I'm
not exactly sure why Burnside had these guys third in the Rankings last
week. The Wild suffered losses to Buffalo and Colorado over the past
week. And while I think the Wild have the goods to be a playoff team,
they are going to have more weeks like that.
Things that make you go hmmm: Despite having the NHL's most offensively gifted defenseman in
Erik Karlsson (love having him on my fantasy team this season), the Sens are just 23rd on the power play. They were 26th last season.
The
Ducks have won three of four, and you get the sense that they will
start to resemble the team we know they can be soon. Anaheim starts a
three-game road trip on Wednesday at Columbus, followed by stops in
Carolina and Nashville.
The Devils bounced back after losses to both Florida teams with a 4-1 decision over Carolina despite being outshot 34-21.
Maybe the Kings don't need goaltending help after all. Veteran
Peter Budaj
has answered the bell of late, including backstopping the Kings to wins
over Pittsburgh and Calgary in their last two games. The Kings open a
five-game road trip in Toronto on Tuesday night.
After
opening the season 2-0-1, the Cats have dropped six of nine games. The
massive overhaul on the blue-line -- in combination with key injuries --
has had an impact.
The
Bruins have the 29th-ranked power play. A year ago, they started the
opening month with the hottest power play in the league.
Don't look now, but the Sabres have won four of their past five games and deserved to beat the Leafs in their lone defeat.
Robin Lehner has been terrific in goal.
The
Leafs' underlying stats suggested their slow start wasn't really
reflective of their overall play -- and now they're getting wins to back
that up. The NHL's youngest team is riding consecutive victories, with
visiting Los Angeles next up on the docket Tuesday night.
The
Flyers must have hated watching the Habs get pasted 10-0 in Columbus.
The Flyers just knew the Canadiens would rebound. Sure enough, Montreal
prevailed over Philly 5-4 in a fun game the next night.
A six-game win streak was followed by a five-game (0-4-1) winless streak. The Wings will be on that playoff bubble all season.
Injuries
have certainly influenced the early season for the Stars, who will no
doubt bounce back. But the home-and-home, weekend sweep at the hands of
Chicago hurt.
Still waiting for the team I
picked to win the Central Division before the season to wake up. Shootout losses to Arizona and Carolina didn't impress anyone.
Jacob Trouba kept losing money while the Jets just kept losing games. Saner minds prevailed on Monday when Trouba
signed a two-year, $6 million deal to return to Winnipeg's fold. The Jets need him, and he needs to play.
It's time to ride
Calvin Pickard (1.50 goals-against average, .946 save percentage) for a while over
Semyon Varlamov
(3.67 GAA, .881 SP). Varlamov has two more years, at $5.9 million per
on his deal after this season. I would shop him if I were Colorado.
Pickard looks legit.
The
Isles have dropped five of their past six games. Something's got to
give on Monday night when they host the struggling Canucks.
Man,
I was convinced the Flames would bounce back and make the playoffs this
season. It's early, but boy have they been inconsistent, especially
defensively. Calgary is sitting 28th with 3.57 goals against per game.
The Hurricanes have but one power-play goal in their last six games, and have gone 1 for 16 during that stretch.
The
Coyotes have been outshot in six consecutive games, although before
Sunday's loss at Anaheim they had pulled off wins over San Jose and
Nashville.
The
Canucks have gone eight games without a win (0-6-2) since starting the
season 4-0. At least they scored three goals on Saturday night in
Toronto after being shut out four of the five previous games.
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