in NHL Articles

1) Carolina Hurricanes (2): Head coach Peter Laviolette, who will also be running the bench for Team USA at the Winter Olympics in Torino, has managed to get the most out of his hard-charging team.

2) Ottawa Senators (1): The Senators were reeling a bit, and Monday night's 5-0 loss to the Bruins in Ottawa did not exactly boost their confidence. But they rebounded nicely after giving up two early goals to the Penguins last night, coming away with a very impressive 7-2 victory.

3) Detroit Red Wings (5): GM Ken Holland is likely hoping that perennial back-up Manny Legace will remain healthy and effective in his first season as the official starter, since Chris Osgood has proven to be inadequate.

  4) Dallas Stars (6): The Stars are making a habit of winning close games, and that's why they remain atop the Pacific Division. They've come out on top in four straight overtime contests, and have won all eight shootouts in which they've participated.

5) Philadelphia Flyers (4): Despite suffering through a plethora of injuries, the Flyers have managed to remain ahead of their Atlantic Division competition. But needless to say, they are still hoping and praying that Peter Forsberg will be at full effectiveness when the playoffs begin.

6) Buffalo Sabres (7): With 37 saves on 39 shots, Miller led the Sabres to victory in Atlanta on Tuesday, perhaps proving to Team USA's (and Atlanta Thrashers') GM Don Waddell that he's the NHL's best American-born netminder. He followed up that impressive performance with a solid win over the Flyers last night.

7) Nashville Predators (3): The Predators acquired some much-needed scoring depth on Sunday night, when they traded Timofei Shishkanov to the Blues in exchange for Mike Sillinger. In 48 games with the Blues, Sillinger tallied 41 points, including a team-leading 11 power play markers.

8) New York Rangers (9): Jaromir Jagr leads the Rangers with 34 goals and 78 points, and he is on pace to set team records in nearly every major offensive category. Jean Ratelle currently holds the single-season record for points (109), while the 52 goals Adam Graves scored in 1993-94 is a franchise-best.

9) Calgary Flames (8): Rookie defenseman Dion Phaneuf has drawn favorable comparisons to a young Scott Stevens and is now a strong candidate to represent Team Canada in the Olympics if Bryan McCabe (groin) and Scott Niedermayer (knee) are unable to go.

10) Vancouver Canucks (10): Hard-hitting blueliner Ed Jovanovski will be out for the next 4-6 weeks, and so GM David Nonis will be looking to fortify the team's defense. The good news is that netminder Alex Auld has proven to be quite a capable injury replacement for Dan Cloutier.

11) Edmonton Oilers (13): In two separate trades over the past week, the Oilers have significantly upgraded their defense, adding former Blackhawk Jaroslav Spacek and former Penguin Dick Tarnstrom.

12) Colorado Avalanche (12): There was serious cause for concern about the goaltending in Denver, but Swiss goaltender David Aebischer has been a lot less poriferous of late; he set a franchise record with nine victories in January.

13) Los Angeles Kings (11): With 191 penalties in minutes (PIMs), super-pest Sean Avery is by far the NHL's leader; tied for a distant second are the Ducks' Todd Fedoruk and the Caps' Brendan Witt, both with 125.

14) Anaheim Mighty Ducks (16): The pressing concern in Anaheim right now is captain Scott Niedermayer. Will he go in for arthroscopic surgery on his knee and take the Olympic break to heal in time for the playoffs, or will he represent Team Canada?

15) Tampa Bay Lightning (17): There have been persistent rumors that Brad Richards could be had in a deal for a better goaltender, but if the Lightning want to win another Cup, they'd be wise to retain the 2004 Conn Smythe Trophy winner.

Please Note: Kevin Greenstein is the Editor-in-Chief of www.InsideHockey.com. He can be heard on BetUSradio.com at 2:30pm EST every Wednesday.

16) New Jersey Devils (14): Patrik Elias' line has been less dangerous of late, largely because opponents now know where to focus their attention. A second effective scoring line will be needed if the Devils want to reach the playoffs, much less get past the first round.

17) San Jose Sharks (15): The Sharks' season can be split in two: before and after the acquisition of Joe Thornton. And the two prime beneficiaries have been forward Jonathan "Chattanooga" Cheechoo (21 of his 28 goals) and defenseman Scott Hannan (-19 before, +17 after).

18) Toronto Maple Leafs (19): Bryan McCabe returned to the Leafs' lineup on Tuesday, and not a moment too soon; Toronto lost eight of nine games they played without him.

19) Montreal Canadiens (21): Earlier in the season, the Canadiens were nipping at the Senators' heels, but now their playoff hopes are dubious at best. Will Jose Theodore ever return to MVP form?

20) Minnesota Wild (18): The Wild's leader in virtually every crucial offensive category, Brian Rolston is enjoying a career year in his first season with the Wild.

21) Phoenix Coyotes (22): They battled hard against Vancouver on Tuesday night, but the Coyotes were clearly tired, and who could blame them? They were playing their seventh game in nine nights.

22) Boston Bruins (23): Given up for dead just a few weeks ago, the Bruins have come back to life, largely due to the heroic goaltending of career back-up (and minor leaguer) Tim Thomas.

23) Atlanta Thrashers (20): There were some initial concerns when Dany Heatley got off to a red-hot start in Ottawa, but summer acquisition Marian Hossa has emerged as the Thrashers' best all-around player, and according to well-respected analyst BillyJaffe, perhaps the best all-around player in the NHL.

24) New York Islanders (25): With three straight victories, the Islanders improbably found themselves back in the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff picture. But last night, an ugly loss to the Rangers knocked them right back to Earth.

25) Florida Panthers (24): Now that the Hurricanes have acquired Weight, the pursuit of Jokinen is expected to reach a fever pitch. But if the Panthers have any hopes of retaining goaltender Roberto Luongo, they'll likely need to re-sign Jokinen first.

26) Columbus Blue Jackets (28): That the Blue Jackets are 26th in our power rankings—yet ahead of two division rivals—means the Red Wings and Predators are enjoying the NHL's easiest schedules by a wide margin.

27) Washington Capitals (26): Super Russian rookie Alexander Ovechkin is out with a groin injury, which makes the Caps far less watchable and could put his Calder Trophy hopes in jeopardy.

28) Chicago Blackhawks (27): The news just keeps getting worse for the 'Hawks. They've already lost Tuomo Ruutu and Nikolai Khabibulin to injury, and now defenseman Adrian Aucoin will be out for over a month.

29) Pittsburgh Penguins (29): They played 15 games in January but won just twice, ensuring that this will be another playoff-less season for the Pens. The good news: they just might land top defense prospect Erik Johnson in June's Entry Draft.

30) St. Louis Blues (30): The trades of Weight and Sillinger have gotten the ball rolling on the Blues' rebuilding effort. As soon as Keith Tkachuk is healthy enough to play, he should be the next in line to be dealt away.

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