Aggregated NHL Power Rankings, Week 26: Canucks Still Lead In Season’s Final Week

On the eve of the Stanley Cup playoffs, who’s hot and who’s not? It’s the penultimate edition of the Aggregated NHL Power Rankings.

by Mike Chen

Apr 8, 2011, 9:23 PM UTC

Getty Images

And down the stretch they come.

It's been a remarkable season, hasn't it? For both good and bad reasons, the 2010-11 NHL season will be noted for its extremely competitive stretch run (particularly in the Western Conference), emergence of players like Corey Perry, and, unfortunately, injuries. It's not quite over yet, though. With one weekend to go and playoff spots to still be solidified, let's take a look at how teams are doing on the eve of the NHL's final weekend.

Here are your rankings for this week:

Rank	Team	Last	Diff
1	Vancouver Canucks	1	0
2	San Jose Sharks	3	1
3	Washington Capitals	2	-1
4	Detroit Red Wings	5	1
6	Philadelphia Flyers	4	-2
5	Boston Bruins	7	2
7	Pittsburgh Penguins	6	-1
8	Nashville Predators	9	1
9	Los Angeles Kings	9	0
10	Phoenix Coyotes	8	-2
11	Anaheim Ducks	11	0
12	Tampa Bay Lightning	14	2
13	Chicago Blackhawks	13	0
14	New York Rangers	12	-2
15 (tie)	Buffalo Sabres	15	0
15 (tie)	Montreal Canadiens	16	1
17 (tie)	Calgary Flames	18	1
17 (tie)	Dallas Stars	17	0
19	Carolina Hurricanes	18	-1
20	Toronto Maple Leafs	21	1
21	St. Louis Blues	20	-1
22	New Jersey Devils	22	0
23	Atlanta Thrashers	23	0
24	Columbus Blue Jackets	26	2
25	Minnesota Wild	24	-1
26	New York Islanders	25	-1
27	Ottawa Senators	27	0
28	Florida Panthers	28	0
29	Colorado Avalanche	29	0
30	Edmonton Oilers	30	0

Two really notable things here: first, no team moved up or down more than two spots. Perhaps at this stage of the game, NHL power rankers have settled their picks into rough areas, so there’s not much movement. Second observation -- of the final ten spots, six teams showed no movement. Sorry Ottawa, Florida, Colorado, Edmonton, you’ve been the group of suck for some time now.

And back-handed congratulations to the New Jersey Devils, who look like they’ll finish the season in the higher 20s. Considering where we were in November and December, this is quite the accomplishment. Now let’s break it down by conference. First the Eastern Conference:

Rank	Team
1	Washington Capitals
2	Philadelphia Flyers
3	Boston Bruins
4	Pittsburgh Penguins
5	Tampa Bay Lightning
6	New York Rangers
7 (tie)	Buffalo Sabres
7 (tie)	Montreal Canadiens
9	Carolina Hurricanes
10	Toronto Maple Leafs
11	New Jersey Devils
12	Atlanta Thrashers
13	New York Islanders
14	Ottawa Senators
15	Florida Panthers

And the Western Conference:

Rank	Team
1	Vancouver Canucks
2	San Jose Sharks
3	Detroit Red Wings
4	Nashville Predators
5	Los Angeles Kings
6	Phoenix Coyotes
7	Anaheim Ducks
8	Chicago Blackhawks
9 (tie)	Calgary Flames
9 (tie)	Dallas Stars
11	St. Louis Blues
12	Columbus Blue Jackets
13	Minnesota Wild
14	Colorado Avalanche
15	Edmonton Oilers

Overall, those conference rankings look a heck of a lot like the actual standings. Not too surprising, eh? Now here’s your mega-spreedsheet, first by average:

Rank	Conference	Team	ESPN	CBS	THN	Sportsnet	SI	TSN	Ave	Std	Last
1	West	Vancouver Canucks	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	0	1
2	West	San Jose Sharks	2	3	3	3	3	4	3	0.632	3
3	East	Washington Capitals	3	2	2	2	2	11	3.666667	3.615	2
4	West	Detroit Red Wings	5	4	4	4	5	3	4.166667	0.753	5
5	East	Boston Bruins	4	9	8	7	8	2	6.333333	2.733	7
6	East	Philadelphia Flyers	6	10	6	6	4	6	6.333333	1.966	4
7	East	Pittsburgh Penguins	7	5	5	5	6	12	6.666667	2.733	6
8	West	Nashville Predators	8	6	11	8	11	7	8.5	2.074	9
9	West	Los Angeles Kings	9	7	9	9	9	14	9.5	2.345	9
10	West	Phoenix Coyotes	10	11	7	10	10	10	9.666667	1.366	8
11	West	Anaheim Ducks	11	8	12	12	12	8	10.5	1.975	11
12	East	Tampa Bay Lightning	12	16	10	11	7	17	12.16667	3.764	14
13	West	Chicago Blackhawks	16	14	14	14	14	5	12.83333	3.92	13
14	East	New York Rangers	15	12	13	13	17	9	13.16667	2.714	12
15	East	Buffalo Sabres	13	13	16	15	15	16	14.66667	1.366	15
15	East	Montreal Canadiens	14	15	17	16	13	13	14.66667	1.633	16
17	West	Calgary Flames	17	20	19	17	16	18	17.83333	1.472	18
17	West	Dallas Stars	18	18	20	18	18	15	17.83333	1.602	17
19	East	Carolina Hurricanes	19	17	15	19	19	20	18.16667	1.835	18
20	East	Toronto Maple Leafs	20	24	18	20	20	22	20.66667	2.066	21
21	West	St. Louis Blues	21	22	21	21	21	19	20.83333	0.983	20
22	East	New Jersey Devils	22	19	23	25	24	21	22.33333	2.16	22
23	East	Atlanta Thrashers	25	21	22	23	25	23	23.16667	1.602	23
24	West	Columbus Blue Jackets	24	26	25	24	23	24	24.33333	1.033	26
25	West	Minnesota Wild	23	29	26	22	22	26	24.66667	2.805	24
26	East	New York Islanders	27	25	24	27	26	25	25.66667	1.211	25
27	East	Ottawa Senators	26	23	27	26	27	28	26.16667	1.722	27
28	East	Florida Panthers	28	27	28	28	28	27	27.66667	0.516	28
29	West	Colorado Avalanche	29	28	29	29	29	29	28.83333	0.408	29
30	West	Edmonton Oilers	30	30	30	30	30	30	30	0	30

And by standard deviation:

Rank	Conference	Team	ESPN	CBS	THN	Sportsnet	SI	TSN	Ave	Std	Last
1	West	Vancouver Canucks	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	0	1
30	West	Edmonton Oilers	30	30	30	30	30	30	30	0	30
29	West	Colorado Avalanche	29	28	29	29	29	29	28.83333	0.408	29
28	East	Florida Panthers	28	27	28	28	28	27	27.66667	0.516	28
2	West	San Jose Sharks	2	3	3	3	3	4	3	0.632	3
4	West	Detroit Red Wings	5	4	4	4	5	3	4.166667	0.753	5
21	West	St. Louis Blues	21	22	21	21	21	19	20.83333	0.983	20
24	West	Columbus Blue Jackets	24	26	25	24	23	24	24.33333	1.033	26
26	East	New York Islanders	27	25	24	27	26	25	25.66667	1.211	25
15	East	Buffalo Sabres	13	13	16	15	15	16	14.66667	1.366	15
10	West	Phoenix Coyotes	10	11	7	10	10	10	9.666667	1.366	8
17	West	Calgary Flames	17	20	19	17	16	18	17.83333	1.472	18
17	West	Dallas Stars	18	18	20	18	18	15	17.83333	1.602	17
23	East	Atlanta Thrashers	25	21	22	23	25	23	23.16667	1.602	23
15	East	Montreal Canadiens	14	15	17	16	13	13	14.66667	1.633	16
27	East	Ottawa Senators	26	23	27	26	27	28	26.16667	1.722	27
19	East	Carolina Hurricanes	19	17	15	19	19	20	18.16667	1.835	18
6	East	Philadelphia Flyers	6	10	6	6	4	6	6.333333	1.966	4
11	West	Anaheim Ducks	11	8	12	12	12	8	10.5	1.975	11
20	East	Toronto Maple Leafs	20	24	18	20	20	22	20.66667	2.066	21
8	West	Nashville Predators	8	6	11	8	11	7	8.5	2.074	9
22	East	New Jersey Devils	22	19	23	25	24	21	22.33333	2.16	22
9	West	Los Angeles Kings	9	7	9	9	9	14	9.5	2.345	9
14	East	New York Rangers	15	12	13	13	17	9	13.16667	2.714	12
7	East	Pittsburgh Penguins	7	5	5	5	6	12	6.666667	2.733	6
5	East	Boston Bruins	4	9	8	7	8	2	6.333333	2.733	7
25	West	Minnesota Wild	23	29	26	22	22	26	24.66667	2.805	24
3	East	Washington Capitals	3	2	2	2	2	11	3.666667	3.615	2
12	East	Tampa Bay Lightning	12	16	10	11	7	17	12.16667	3.764	14
13	West	Chicago Blackhawks	16	14	14	14	14	5	12.83333	3.92	13

Biggest Outlier: We’ll take out TSN’s outlier ranking of fifth for Chicago and 11th for Washington, as TSN does the oft-mentioned objective formula. With that removed, Tampa Bay is in the teens except for Sports Illustrated, which put them way up at seven. Also, Minnesota got no love from CBS, as they ranked 29th while other outlets had them as high as 22.

Most Consensus: It looks like we’ll finish out with Vancouver being the best team (again) and Edmonton being the worst team (again). If anything, this inaugural year of Aggregated NHL Power Rankings has shown that the top and bottom remain more static than the middle of the pack, and as San Jose has risen to the top, they’ve gotten a near consensus as the second-best team in the league.

See More: