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Monday, October 18,
2010
By Kevin Kurz
Comcast
SportsNet
The NHL power rankings will be updated every Monday throughout
the season.
| 1 |
 |
Detroit
Red Wings (3-1-1) | Red Wings offense led so far by the line of Johan
Franzen, Valtteri Filppula and Todd Bertuzzi as Detroit looks as dangerous as
ever. |
| 2 |
 |
Washington Capitals (4-1-0) |
Young d-men Karl Alzner and John Carlson fitting in well
as Caps are riding a four-game winning streak after dropping their
opener. |
| 3 |
 | Chicago
Blackhawks (3-2-1) | Blackhawks offense looks potent with Marian Hossa leading
the way, and new goalie Marty Turco stops 68 of 73 shots in winning the last
two games. |
| 4 |  | Boston
Bruins (2-1-0) |
Tim Thomas and Tuukka Rask present coach Claude Julien
with the proverbial “good problem to have” in net as the Bruins get
set for a home-and-home with Washington this week. |
| 5 |  |
Vancouver Canucks (2-2-1) |
Backup goalie Cory Schneider gets the win for the Canucks
over Carolina as coach Alain Vigneault tries to get Roberto Luongo more rest
this season. |
| 6 |
 | Los Angeles
Kings (1-1-0) | The Kings have surrendered just six goals in four games,
and may soon be thankful they lost out on the Ilya Kovalchuk summer
sweepstakes. |
| 7 |
 | San Jose
Sharks (1-1-1) | Former Blackhawks and current Atlanta Thrashers Dustin
Byfuglien and Andrew Ladd help spoil the Sharks home opener after their trip to
Sweden. |
| 8 |
 |
Philadelphia Flyers (2-2-1) | A one-goal loss to Tampa Bay in Simon Gagne’s
return and blowout defeat at the hands of the Pittsburgh Penguins has the
Flyers falling in the rankings this week. |
| 9 |
 |
Pittsburgh Penguins (3-3-0) | The Penguns will have to cope with the loss of top
defenseman Zbynek Michalek for a few weeks, but a thrashing of the rival Flyers
shows they can still score with the best of them. |
| 10 |  |
Montreal
Canadiens (3-1-1) | Habs riding the quick start of Andrei Kostitsyn on
offense, while preseason question mark Carey Price has been steady in
net. |
| 11 |  |
Nashville
Predators (3-0-1) | One of just three teams left without a regulation loss,
although Preds blew a 2-0 third period lead to Washington before succumbing in
overtime. |
| 12 |  | Dallas
Stars (4-0-0) |
The undefeated Stars could have one of the deeper
offenses in the Western Conference, led by Brad Richards, who is off to a
scorching start. |
| 13 |  | Phoenix
Coyotes (1-2-1) |
There are reports that the Coyotes could be staying in
the desert for good under potential buyer Matt Hulsizer, which should help the
team re-establish a fan base and allow it to finally move
forward. |
| 14 |  |
St.
Louis Blues (2-1-1) | The Blues lead the NHL in shots per game, and are hoping
to finally get center Vladimir Sobotka (shoulder injury) in the lineup for the
first time since a trade with Boston. |
| 15 |  |
New
Jersey Devils (1-4-1) | The frontrunner so far for most disappointing team in the
league, the Devils have given up the most goals in the NHL with
21. |
| 16 |  | Toronto
Maple Leafs (4-0-0) |
The frontrunner so far for the biggest pleasant surprise
in the league, the Leafs will finally get defenseman Brett Lebda into their
lineup after he was hurt in the preseason. |
| 17 |  |
Colorado
Avalanche (3-2-0) | The early leaders in the Northwest, the Avalanche will
need more offense from their power play as well as guys like Milan Hejduk
(1g). |
| 18 |  |
Carolina
Hurricanes (2-2-0) |
The ‘Canes got hammered in Vancouver, but a 2-2
start to their season is already leaps and bounds better than their start in
2009-10. |
| 19 |  |
Buffalo
Sabres (1-4-0) |
Sophomore defenseman Tyler Myers has been brutal so far
this season, and his -7 rating is tied with two others for worst in the league.
The team itself hasn’t been much better. |
| 20 |  |
Atlanta
Thrashers (3-2-0) | A West Coast road trip in which the Thrashers won two of
three games is an encouraging sign for this retooled club. |
| 21 |  |
New York
Rangers (1-1-0) |
The Rangers may be in serious trouble with Marian
Gaborik, Chris Drury and Vaclav Prospal all out for extended periods of time.
This is a team with little offense depth to begin with. |
| 22 |  |
Ottawa
Senators (1-3-1) |
The Senators were outshot 40-19 by Montreal last season
in a 4-3 loss; a team that they took five of six games from last
season. |
| 23 |  |
Tampa
Bay Lightning (3-1-0) |
A nice win in Philly was followed by an ugly 6-0 defeat
to Florida, proving that although Tampa Bay already looks better than
last
year, the club still has lots of work to do. |
| 24 |  |
New York
Islanders (2-1-2) |
The surprise leaders in the Atlantic Division, the
Islanders look like a quick, hungry and aggressive hockey team. This
could be a
club on the rise this year – finally. |
| 25 |  |
Calgary
Flames (2-2-0) | It
took a little while, but the Flames exhibited some offensive skill with
five
goals against Edmonton, but…it was against Edmonton. Olli Jokinen
continues to look uninspired and a bad off-season
(re)addition. |
| 26 |  |
Anaheim
Ducks (2-3-1) |
A 2-0-1 stretch helps to temper a terrible start, and the team’s top line looks as strong as ever. There are some concerns on defense, however. |
| 27 |  | Florida
Panthers (2-2-0) | Tomas Vokoun leads the Panthers to back-to-back shutout
wins. He’ll have to play like that all season for Florida to have a
chance. |
| 28 |  |
Columbus
Blue Jackets (2-2-0) |
It’s too early to tell if the Blue Jackets will
resemble the team they were last season, or two years ago when they
secured a
playoff birth for the first time in their history. |
| 29 |  | Edmonton
Oilers (2-2-0) |
One of the keys with a young team is learning how to
maintain leads and put games away, something the Oilers have shown they
don’t know how to do just yet. |
| 30 |  |
Minnesota Wild (1-2-1) |
A bag skate from coach Todd Richards, in which several
teammates reportedly almost came to blows, is not a good sign this early
in the
season for our new cellar-dweller. |
Kevin Kurz covered the Philadelphia Flyers for seven seasons for the official team website as the managing editor and new media manager for philadelphiaflyers.com. He is currently a digital content producer for Comcast SportsNet.
Tags: nhl, power rankings, capitals, washington capitals, kevin kurz
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