As we look back on the first several weeks of the NHL season and where teams stand through those first few weeks, we begin to notice some trends. The Edmonton Oilers are likely to be bad again. The Detroit Red Wings are here to stay, likely until we're all dead.
NHL Power Rankings, Week 3: Attempting To Find Some Clarity
In this week’s NHL Power Rankings, we try to find some clarity as the NHL seasons passes from its infant stages to its toddler stages. Some teams are showing us their true colors early, but with others, we won’t know who they really are until puberty.
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The Philadelphia Flyers are the up-and-down mess they were last season and the Pittsburgh Penguins look ready for another playoff run. Some teams have fallen off a bit, like the Toronto Maple Leafs. Things are clearing up for us, something that will only continue as the 2010-11 season turns from infant to toddler.
But we don’t learn about who we really are until adolescence and beyond, of course, and as a result, there are some teams who still make us scratch us heads.
Look no further than the Dallas Stars right now. Our Power Rankings voters had this team, which came in at No. 1 in these Rankings last week, all across the board this time. The Stars had a 15th place vote and a 1st place vote, as well as votes in 9th, 8th, 7th, 6th, 5th and 4th places. Huh.
Our 70-plus team bloggers from around our great hockey network vote each week on our rankings. Since the NHL doesn’t put much emphasis on cross-conference play, and since the two conferences are vastly different and usually end up that way come mid-April, we take two polls each week -- one for the East, one for the West.
Bloggers in our network who cover a Western team vote in the Western poll, while bloggers who cover an Eastern team vote in the Eastern poll, so don’t try to argue that the opposite coast bias kept your team out of a spot. Bloggers with general, non-team sites are free to select the conference in which they vote.
So, here they are, SB Nation’s Week 3 NHL Power Rankings.
EASTERN CONFERENCE
| 15 | New Jersey Devils | In Lou We Trust | ||||
| 15 last week | We don't even have to write this because you already know, but Ilya Kovalchuk got paid to drink Sprite and eat popcorn on Saturday night. | |||||
| 2-6-1, 5 pts | ||||||
| 14 | Ottawa Senators | Silver Seven | ||||
| 13 last week | There are only three teams in the NHL who have scored less goals this season than the Ottawa Senators. | |||||
| 2-5-1, 5 pts | ||||||
| 13 | Atlanta Thrashers | Bird Watchers Anonymous | ||||
| 7 last week | Ondrej Pavelec will be back in goal sooner rather than later for the Thrashers after his scary injury a few weeks ago. | |||||
| 3-4-1, 7 pts | ||||||
| 12 | Florida Panthers | Litter Box Cats | ||||
| 10 last week | The Panthers raised their first-ever retired number to the rafters over the weekend. It doesn't belong to a player. | |||||
| 3-3-0, 6 pts | ||||||
| 11 | Carolina Hurricanes | Canes Country | ||||
| 12 last week | After seven games on the road to begin the season, the Hurricanes are finally back in Raleigh this week to play in front of the home fans. | |||||
| 4-3-0, 8 pts | ||||||
| 10 | Philadelphia Flyers | Broad Street Hockey | ||||
| 9 last week | Inconsistency plagues the Flyers yet again. It won't work two years in a row. | |||||
| 3-4-1, 7 pts | ||||||
| 9 | Buffalo Sabres | Die By The Blade | ||||
| 14 last week | Hey, well, uh, on the bright side, Thomas Vanek has goals in each of his last three games? | |||||
| 3-5-1, 7 pts | ||||||
| 8 | Montreal Canadiens | Habs Eyes On The Prize | ||||
| 6 last week | Montreal is converting at 6.9 percent on the power play. That is not a typo. Two goals in 29 chances. | |||||
| 5-2-1, 11 pts | ||||||
| 7 | New York Rangers | Blueshirt Banter | ||||
| 11 last week | Martin Biron has filled in nicely when Henrik Lundqvist has needed a rest early this season. That could be a great match on Broadway. | |||||
| 4-2-1, 9 pts | ||||||
| 6 | New York Islanders | Lighthouse Hockey | ||||
| 5 last week | The Islanders are likely playing over their injured little heads, but hard work can beat listless talent on a lot of nights in the NHL. | |||||
| 4-2-2, 10 pts | ||||||
| 5 | Toronto Maple Leafs | Pension Plan Puppets | ||||
| 2 last week | They've lost three straight, including an ugly one in Philadelphia on Saturday, and they seemingly can't put the puck in the net of late. | |||||
| 4-2-1, 9 pts | ||||||
| 4 | Washington Capitals | Japers' Rink | ||||
| 1 last week | The Caps are having trouble scoring. Yeah, we'll bet that won't last. | |||||
| 5-3-0, 10 pts | ||||||
| 3 | Tampa Bay Lightning | Raw Charge | ||||
| 4 last week | Simon Gagne has yet to score in six games. Like, not even a single point. | |||||
| 5-2-1, 11 pts | ||||||
| 2 | Boston Bruins | Stanley Cup of Chowder | ||||
| 8 last week | Tim Thomas looks like the Vezina Trophy winner he once was! Okay, maybe not THAT good, but he's been impressive. Somebody wants his job back. | |||||
| 4-2-0, 8 pts | ||||||
| 1 | Pittsburgh Penguins | Pensburgh | ||||
| 3 last week | The Pens haven't lost a game in regulation in their last five and they're doing it all behind goaltender Brent Johnson. | |||||
| 5-3-1, 11 pts | ||||||
WESTERN CONFERENCE
| 15 | Anaheim Ducks | Anaheim Calling | ||||
| 15 last week | Through nine games, the Ducks have given up 39.9 shots per game. | |||||
| 3-5-1, 7 pts | ||||||
| 14 | Edmonton Oilers | The Copper & Blue | ||||
| 11 last week | One way to rebuild: get the first overall pick in back-to-back seasons. | |||||
| 2-4-0, 4 pts | ||||||
| 13 | Phoenix Coyotes | Five For Howling | ||||
| 14 last week | Like an adolescent teenager, it's hard to understand these Coyotes. Perhaps this week's little road trip will help give us a glimpse into their world. | |||||
| 2-2-3, 7 pts | ||||||
| 12 | Minnesota Wild | Hockey Wilderness | ||||
| 13 last week | The best power play in the league is nothing at which to scoff. | |||||
| 3-3-2, 8 pts | ||||||
| 11 | Colorado Avalanche | Mile High Hockey | ||||
| 8 last week | The Kings and Avs faced off in a Twitter hash tag battle over the weekend. Any Tweets with #GoKings or #GoAvs earned a dollar towards local charities. | |||||
| 4-4-0, 8 pts | ||||||
| 10 | San Jose Sharks | Fear The Fin | ||||
| 7 last week | Calgary beat the Sharks by four on Sunday night. Not trying to take anything away from the Flames, but that was embarrassing. | |||||
| 3-3-1, 7 pts | ||||||
| 9 | Columbus Blue Jackets | The Cannon | ||||
| 12 last week | The Blue Jackets have knocked off last year's two Stanley Cup Finalists in back-to-back games. | |||||
| 5-3-0, 10 pts | ||||||
| 8 | Vancouver Canucks | Nucks Misconduct | ||||
| 6 last week | Is there a goalie controversy brewing in Vancouver? No, says Nucks Misconduct. | |||||
| 3-3-2, 8 pts | ||||||
| 7 | Dallas Stars | Defending Big D | ||||
| 1 last week | Nashville is the best team in the conference and Dallas hung right with them the other night before dropping the contest 1-0. | |||||
| 5-2-0, 10 pts | ||||||
| 6 | Chicago Blackhawks | Second City Hockey | ||||
| 5 last week | Patrick Sharp has eight goals and three assists in nine games. Marian Hossa has seven goals and four assists in nine games. | |||||
| 5-4-1, 11 pts | ||||||
| 5 | St. Louis Blues | St. Louis Game Time | ||||
| 9 last week | Jaroslav Halak is having fun in St. Louis. As a result, the Blues and their fans are too. | |||||
| 4-1-2, 10 pts | ||||||
| 4 | Calgary Flames | Matchssticks & Gasoline | ||||
| 10 last week | Look at Calgary, all the way up to number four. Rene Bourque has six goals in six games. | |||||
| 5-3-0, 10 pts | ||||||
| 3 | Los Angeles Kings | Jewels From The Crown | ||||
| 3 last week | Drew Doughty is on the IR with a concussion while Kings fans plot for any kind of revenge on Carolina's Erik Cole. | |||||
| 6-2-0, 12 pts | ||||||
| 2 | Detroit Red Wings | Winging It In Motown | ||||
| 2 last week | 3.29 goals per game so far this season. The Wings are good. Again. | |||||
| 5-1-1, 11 pts | ||||||
| 1 | Nashville Predators | On the Forecheck | ||||
| 4 last week | They have points in every game so far. Of course they're number one. | |||||
| 5-0-3, 13 pts | ||||||
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