in NHL Articles

Wayne Gretzky returned behind the bench on Wednesday night for the Phoenix Coyotes, who are poised to make a run at a Western Conference playoff spot. While his coaching career has gotten off to a somewhat rocky start, it's a good bet that Gretzky will quickly develop into one of the NHL's finest bench managers.

The Great One's greatest strength as a player was his unique ability to know where the puck was going to be, rather than chasing it around the rink. If he can transfer that knowledge to his talented young team, they will emerge as a force to reckon with in the second half.

Meanwhile, the New York Rangers slipped a bit in the rankings following a 1-4 run in which they lost three home games, but their 6-2 thrashing of the Islanders on Wednesday night served notice that the Broadway Blueshirts are back on track. The best sign of all: the slumping Jaromir Jagr broke out with a four-point night, as did linemates Michael Nylander and Martin Straka.

So here’s how the teams line up. Our method for evaluating the teams includes each team's standings points-per-game average, their goals-for and goals-against, and their special teams effectiveness (including shorthanded goals for and against). Each team’s ranking from last week appears in parentheses.

1) Ottawa Senators – (LW: 1) – After rolling through November with an 11-1 record, the Sens appear to have finally hit a rough patch. Despite their unspectacular 6-3-3 December record, however, the Senators remain the NHL's best team.

2) Nashville Predators – (LW: 2) – Their Wednesday night loss to the Canucks notwithstanding, the Predators have a knack for coming out on top in close games. Their not-so-secret weapon is goaltender Tomas Vokoun, who appears to be fully recovered from his knee injury.

3) Detroit Red Wings – (LW: 3) – Detroit's success this season is due largely to the fact that nine different Wings have tallied 20+ points thus far this season, most in the NHL. In particular, the production of Jason Williams and former Ranger Mikael Samuelsson has been a very pleasant surprise.

4) Philadelphia Flyers – (LW: 7) – As expected, the Flyers have proven themselves to be the cream of the crop in the Atlantic Division. Antero Niittymaki appears to have stolen the starting job from the incumbent Robert Esche.

5) Carolina Hurricanes – (LW: 4) – With 25 points in his last 25 games, Justin Williams has quietly emerged as one of the 'Canes' most reliable scorers. And in similar stealth-like fashion, goaltender Martin Gerber has been absolutely stellar (.912 SV%, 2.66 GAA).

6) Buffalo Sabres – (LW: 6) – Martin Biron's winning streak is over; did the Sabres miss a golden opportunity to trade him when his value was at its highest? Getting a top-four defenseman in return for Biron could be all the Sabres need to ensure themselves of their first playoff berth since 2001.

7) Dallas Stars – (LW: 5) – One of the NHL's hottest teams, the Stars play better on the road than they do at home. Jason Arnott is finally living up to his enormous potential, and is on pace to top the 60-point mark for the first time since his rookie season (1993-94).

8) Vancouver Canucks – (LW: 8) – Markus Naslund once again leads the way for the Canucks, but it's the long-overdue contributions of the Sedin twins that give Vancouver the balanced attack they'll need if they're to retain their division lead.

9) Edmonton Oilers – (LW: 12) - He doesn't get much attention outside of Alberta, but defenseman Marc-Andre Bergeron's seven goals have him tied with Rob Blake, Wade Redden, and Zdeno Chara.

10) Los Angeles Kings – (LW: 13) – With 36 points in 38 games, Lubomir Visnovsky is second overall amongst NHL defensemen. Alexander Frolov has cooled off considerably, but Mike Cammalleri has helped pick up the slack.

11) Calgary Flames – (LW: 9) – A hip injury will keep Miikka Kiprusoff out of the Olympics. Could the injury derail the Flames' Stanley Cup aspirations? If Kiprusoff's 32-save victory over the Wild last night is any indication, the fabulous Finn has plenty of fight left in him.

12) New York Rangers – (LW: 10) – The top-heavy Rangers depend heavily on Jaromir Jagr, and the precipitous dip in his production over the past few weeks coincided with the team's first real slump of the season. The Blueshirts' four-goal outburst against the Islanders on Wednesday night, however, demonstrated that they appear to be ready to return to their winning ways.

13) Toronto Maple Leafs – (LW: 15) – Head coach Pat Quinn has separated the stellar defense pairing of Tomas Kaberle and Bryan McCabe in an attempt to give the Leafs' blue line a bit more balance.

14) Montreal Canadiens – (LW: 11) – Just 4-8-3 in their last 15 games, the Habs will need for Jose Theodore (.889 SV%) to return to Vezina Trophy-winning form. It's a good sign for the Habs that Sheldon Souray is finally starting to return to his 2003-04 form.

15) Colorado Avalanche – (LW: 16) – It appears that the Avs' goaltending controversy is over… for now. Vitaly Kolesnik has been sent back down to the AHL, and David Aebischer and Peter Budaj will once again share the net-minding duties.

16) Tampa Bay Lightning – (LW: 14) - Despite receiving a league-most 42 more power play opportunities than their opponents, the Lightning have given up three more goals than they've scored. If that power play differential starts to even out, the defending Cup champs will be in serious trouble.

17) Anaheim Mighty Ducks – (LW: 20) – Captain Scott Niedermayer has been everything the Ducks hoped for, while Teemu Selanne's return to All-Star form has been a pleasant surprise. INSIDE HOCKEY would like to take this opportunity to send Sandis Ozolinsh and his family our best wishes; he entered treatment in the Substance Abuse Behavioral Health program yesterday.

18) New York Islanders – (LW: 18) – With just one goal in 35 games, Janne Niinimaa has been a tremendous disappointment this season, and he has only himself to blame: he has only taken 19 shots on goal. You can't score if you don't shoot the puck.

19) Phoenix Coyotes – (LW: 21) – Wayne Gretzky returned behind the bench for the Coyotes last night. If team captain Shane Doan can start to up his production – he's scored seven points in his last three games – the Coyotes will make a run at the playoffs.

20) Minnesota Wild – (LW: 22) – The league's finest penalty killers, the Wild are a top-line forward away from playoff contention, and are without a doubt the league's best last-place team. Team USA member Brian Rolston has been a very pleasant surprise for the Wild this season.

21) Atlanta Thrashers – (LW: 23) – Goaltender Michael Garnett finally found his groove, just in time to step aside for Kari Lehtonen, who is set to return from a groin injury. The Thrashers could be one of the league's most dangerous teams in the second half of the season.

22) San Jose Sharks – (LW: 17) – The Thornton trade temporarily energized the Sharks, but they've been on the short end of the stick in three of their last four games. Not coincidentally, "Jumbo Joe" is riding a six-game goalless streak in which he's tallied only four assists.

23) New Jersey Devils – (LW: 19) – Brian Gionta has cooled off considerably, which is not good news for the Devils; he has been by far the team's most best player during what has been an increasingly troubling season for the perennial Cup contenders.

24) Boston Bruins – (LW: 25) – Marco Sturm has been a very pleasant surprise for the Bruins, tallying nine points in his first 10 games for the black and gold, while Brad Stuart's game-winning goal on Tuesday night is an indication that he is also starting to acclimate to his new surroundings.

25) Chicago Blackhawks – (LW: 24) – Tuomo Ruutu has begun working out with the team, but it appears that he'll be sent for a conditioning stint with the AHL's Norfolk Admirals before he'll be cleared to rejoin the Hawks, who desperately need his offensive skills.

26) Florida Panthers – (LW: 26) – Olli Jokinen and Roberto Luongo have been the subjects of numerous trade rumors over the course of the past few weeks, but the Panthers would be best served by instead building around their team captain and franchise netminder.

27) Washington Capitals – (LW: 27) – First-line center Jeff Halpern has launched 77 shots on goal thus far this season, but has scored only three goals. If his shooting percentage improves – as it should – Halpern will provide rookie Alexander Ovechkin with some much-needed goal scoring support.

28) Pittsburgh Penguins – (LW: 28) – The Pens have gone 2-10-2 in their last 14 games, and unless they make a meaningful commitment to play on both sides of the puck, their losing ways will continue. Last night's 6-2 victory over the Devils was decisive, but only because Marc-Andre Fleury stopped nearly everything the Devils fired his way, making 44 saves to get the win.

29) St. Louis Blues – (LW: 29) – The Blues appear to be on the verge of being sold to investors from Detroit. It will be interesting to see what direction the new ownership takes with the franchise; it's a good bet that a long-overdue rebuilding effort is forthcoming. And of course, the Blues' 25-year streak of making the playoffs is obviously in serious jeopardy.

30) Columbus Blue Jackets – (LW: 30) – The return of Rick Nash and some much-improved play from Nikolai Zherdev has energize the Blue Jackets' anemic offense, but it's probably too late to make a run at a playoff spot. Sergei Fedorov has been a tremendous disappointment thus far; in 19 games with Columbus, he has scored only one goal.

This article is courtesy of www.InsideHockey.com. You can hear Kevin Greenstein every Wednesday at 2:30pm EST on BetUS.com radio.