NHL Power Rankin's (week of 3/29/10)

Hello, sports fans. And welcome to another edition of the Power Rankin's!

Alright, raise your hand if you didn't see this coming - I'm talking, of course, about the Detroit Red Wings and their late season burst. They miss out on this week's Big Mover award to Ottawa (up 6 spots to Detroit's 5), but breaking the Top 5 after languishing out of the playoffs through much of the year is worth top billing in this forum.

In the East, it's tough to tell whether anyone really wants the 8th and final playoff berth. Considering that team is now assured of playing Washington in the first round, I don't know that I can blame any of them (Philly, Boston, Atlanta, or Montreal). Boston is the only team that moved up in the Rankin's this week, though, so I'll give them the blog-label recognition.

We're coming down to it, folks. Two weeks left, and only nine playoff spots left (8, if you put Washington through to the second round right now...).

Also, don't forget to vote for your trophy winners on the Bettman's Nightmare homepage!

1) (1) Phoenix
2) (2) Washington
3) (7) San Jose
4) (4) Nashville
5) (10) Detroit
6) (3) Chicago
7) (8) Buffalo
8) (5) Vancouver
9) (6) Los Angeles
10) (9) Colorado
11) (11) Pittsburgh
12) (12) New Jersey
13) (13) Calgary
14) (16) St. Louis
15) (21) Ottawa
16) (15) Anaheim
17) (20) Boston
18) (14) Montreal
19) (19) Dallas
20) (17) Philadelphia
21) (18) Atlanta
22) (22) Minnesota
23) (23) NY Rangers
24) (24) Florida
25) (26) NY Islanders
26) (25) Carolina
27) (27) Columbus
28) (28) Tampa Bay
29) (29) Edmonton
30) (30) Toronto

NHL Power Rankin's (week of 3/22/10)

Its officially no longer a fluke, ladies and gentlemen (and Flyers fans): The Phoenix Coyotes are for real. For the 2nd straight week, the bane of hockey purists' existence stand atop the completely objective NHL Power Rankin's. They do so convincingly, as well, as the 'yotes rank no lower than 5th out of 30 teams in any of the 5 component indices comprising the Rankin's. Phoenix is on a 9 game winning streak, they lead the Pacific division with less than a dozen games remaining, they continue to win even as the pressure ratchets up as we approach the playoffs, and it is this observer's opinion that they have some of the best goaltending in the game. I'm not picking them to win the West yet, but if they get the right draw...

Nashville (another of those darned Gary Bettman plants designed to destroy Olde Tyme Hockey), takes home this week's Big Mover award, vaulting into the top 5 at #4 - up from 10th spot a week ago. Nashville just beat out their downside counterpart, Ottawa, who slid 5 spots during the week to number 21. Things are not going well in the capital.

Atlanta is also on the move after a home-and-home sweep against the Flyers and their problem-laden netminding condition. It was right before the Olympic break that my models had Atlanta stealing the 8th spot in the East. With Montreal playing well these days, I would pull things together quick if I were Boston & Philly.

1) (1) Phoenix
2) (2) Washington
3) (3) Chicago
4) (10) Nashville
5) (6) Vancouver
6) (5) Los Angeles
7) (4) San Jose
8) (9) Buffalo
9) (7) Colorado
10) (11) Detroit
11) (8) Pittsburgh
12) (12) New Jersey
13) (13) Calgary
14) (17) Montreal
15) (18) Anaheim
16) (15) St. Louis
17) (14) Philadelphia
18) (23) Atlanta
19) (21) Dallas
20) (19) Boston
21) (16) Ottawa
22) (20) Minnesota
23) (23) NY Rangers
24) (24) Florida
25) (25) Carolina
26) (26) NY Islanders
27) (28) Columbus
28) (27) Tampa Bay
29) (29) Edmonton
30) (30) Toronto

Power Rankin's (week of 1/25/10)

Chicago maintains top spot in this week's edition of The Power Rankin's. Phoenix, though, is rising fast. The Coyotes are the only team in the NHL to sport a top-10 ranking in all 5 contributing elements of the Power Rankin's index.

The past week's movers and shakers come from the Northeast Division. The Ottawa Senators have riden a 6-game win streak to the 15th slot in the Rankin's (up from 22nd last week). Their past week's results including 4 wins - 2 over division rival Boston. The Bruins, on the other hand, plummeted 9 slots to 22nd on the heels of 4 losses for the week, including 2 to the Blue Jackets and the Hurricanes (yuck!).

Sadly for Bettman's Nightmare's administrator, the Rangers remain a bottom-third team in the new week's results.

1) (1) Chicago
2) (3) Phoenix
3) (4) Washington
4) (8) Colorado
5) (7) San Jose
6) (2) Buffalo
7) (5) New Jersey
8) (9) Vancouver
9) (11) Los Angeles
10) (10) Pittsburgh
11) (6) Nashville
12) (12) Calgary
13) (14) Detroit
14) (15) Philadelphia
15) (22) Ottawa
16) (17) Anaheim
17) (19) Montreal
18) (23) Dallas
19) (18) Minnesota
20) (16) St. Louis
21) (20) NY Rangers
22) (13) Boston
23) (24) NY Islanders
24) (25) Florida
25) (21) Atlanta
26) (26) Tampa Bay
27) (27) Edmonton
28) (30) Carolina
29) (28) Columbus
30) (29) Toronto