PHN NHL Power Ranking Poll – 14 January 2015 Consistency and disappointment featured in this edition

This edition of the Pro Hockey News NHL Power Ranking Poll has some surprises and maybe not so surprising moves.  In the east, there is a settling in for the long haul to the post season as the New York Islanders remain one of the NHL’s biggest surprises and

PHN NHL Power Ranking Poll

best clubs.  In the west, the surprises are of a different nature as the Minnesota Wild continue their inexplicable meteoric crash and burn.

Adam Says: Mumps, groins and mono oh my. The Eastern Conference has become injury central. Key players on key teams are sitting on the shelf. Health could be the deciding factor in the second half.

1. Tampa Bay (+3)-This team continues to impress the masses. Just when you think they are taking a step back they step up and reel off points in eight of 11 games. The Lightning lead the league in goals scored and continue to mature as a group. This is fluid with possibly two key injuries happening in Monday’s game.
2. New York Islanders (+1)-They may not have the best offense or play the best defense, but the Islanders are winning tight games. Their .818 winning percentage in one-goal games is tops in the NHL.
3. Pittsburgh (-2)-The mumps put this team down for a good month. The Penguins are starting to get healthier, especially on offense. Everyone knows how dangerous this team can be at full strength and big things should be expected out of the black and gold in the second half.
4. New York Rangers (+3)-Looks like that Stanley Cup Final hangover has officially worn off. The team is grabbing points at will. The biggest surprise has to be Rick Nash becoming one of the best penalty killers in the league. Someone woke him up and taught him how to play in the defensive zone.
5. Montreal (+1)-Playing better on the road the past three weeks has helped the Habs. They are starting to look like a legitimate threat in the East with their offense becoming more consistent. Their defense continues to be tops in the conference, which will pay dividends down the stretch.
6. Washington (+2)-Braden Holtby was much maligned the first two months of the season for good reason. Barry Trotz ignored the doubters and gave the keys to his young goaltender and it has worked out. Holtby has been much better and has suffered only one regulation loss in his past 17 starts.
7. Boston (+4)-A lot like Pittsburgh, injuries have kept this team down. The tone in the media has been how bad this year has been for the Bruins. It feels people expect nothing but greatness from this team. Even in a so called down year, they are still squarely in the playoff hunt. Improving their play on the road will do wonders to their point total.
8. Florida (+1)-The Panthers are the classic wins in bunches and loses in bunches this year. Calling them streaky is another way to classify their play through the first half of the season. Roberto Luongo continues to relish his change of scenery. He continues to play at a high level and could just sneak this team into a playoff spot himself.
9. Detroit (-7)-The Red Wings tumble down the ladder because of Saturday night’s scene with Jimmy Howard. The team is classifying the injury as a slight groin tear. There is nothing slight for a goalie with that sort of injury. The next month or so will test young Petr Mrazek, who will play in his career high tenth game when he next takes the ice. Mike Babcock is used to playing a team through injuries and this will be one of the biggest tests of his Detroit tenure.
10. Toronto (-5)-High expectations, low output, media epicenter of hockey all equals a fired coach during the season. Toronto made Randy Carlyle the scapegoat for the poor first half. The Maple Leafs biggest second half story could be off the ice. The Babcock to Toronto speculation will grow with each loss in Ontario.
11. Ottawa (+2)-The Senators made the bold move of giving Dave Cameron the full time keys right away. He took over a .500 team and have since gone 6-5-3. The problem the Sens face is the wild card is starting to get too far away from them. They are dangerously close to being nearer the first draft pick vs. a playoff spot.
12. Columbus (+2)-Without sounding like a broken record, the Blue Jackets are starting to get healthy and back to full strength. The question is did they put themselves in too deep a hole to climb out of? Playing better on home ice after the All Star Break would be a good start to their success.
13. Philadelphia (-1)-The race to next coach being let go seems to be in Philadelphia and Minnesota. The Flyers are nothing short of a complete disappointment this season. The club has taken a huge step back on the ice and shows little signs of having the wherewithal to put together a long win streak.
14. New Jersey (+1)-Maybe Governor Christie needs to beings his mojo to Newark. It worked for one NFL playoff game and that could be the shot in the arm the Devils need. Scott Stevens and Adam Oates are the almost head coaches. GM Lou Lamoriello claims he will let those two run the ship, but if history is any indicator, Sweet Lou is one step away from coaching the team again. Dumpster fire seems to be an appropriate term for this organization.
15. Carolina (+1)-Sell, sell, sell.  Who wants a Carolina Hurricanes player for the rest of the season? They can be yours for the right expiring contract or good draft pick in the future. At least their home fans have seen decent play on home ice.
16. Buffalo (-6)-The Sabres have started to return to form. For a while it looked like they were going to play too well and miss out on a shot at the top draft pick in June. No worries Buffalo fans, the team is back in the battle for that spot. Losing seven in a row helps.

Lou says: We have some major moves in the west with this Power Ranking Poll. The west has had some of the steadiest play in the NHL this season mostly around the efforts of the Nashville Predators who are solid and have yet to lose two straight games all season. But there are also some teams failing to make the grade. So, without further ado here is the west.

1. The Nashville Predators replace the Anaheim Ducks at our number one position in the west.  The Predators are 29-9-4 through 42 games and lead the NHL in points.  Pekka Rinne has been a mainstay of the effort.  His lower body injury Tuesday will rattle some in Nashville though.  Carter Hutton may be relied more than anyone wants.
2. The Anaheim Ducks fall all the way to number two in our poll this time around; not for anything they have done or not done but simply because Nashville has been far more consistent.  The Ducks are better than any team in one-goal contests this season with more 20 wins coming in that fashion.  That resiliency will provide them a good foundation as the playoffs near and points become necessary.
3. The Chicago Blackhawks have had a bit of a dip since their loss in the Winter Classic to the Washington Capitals.  They are 6-4-0 in their last ten games.  Their constant sparring with the St Louis Blues should provide some level of urgency as the second half of the season wears on.
4. The Winnipeg Jets move all the way up to the fourth spot this time around because of the job head coach Paul Maurice has done with his assets.  This week he won his 500^th career NHL game and Jets have taken on the schemes he brought to Winnipeg last season.  Back-up goalie Michael Hutchinson is playing well enough to be named number one at some point with Ondrej Pavelec remains mired at .500 hockey.  But the rest of the team is pulling together and charging up the table.
5. The St Louis Blues remain enigma for us.  Martin Brodeur was brought in to support the net when Brian Elliot went down injury and the Blues seem willing to hold three goalies in their system in St Louis.  With Jake Allen in the mix, the Blues may be looking at trade chips later in the season.
6. The San Jose Sharks are in our sixth position mostly because they are the best of the rest at this time.  In their last ten they are only 4-5-1 but that is still better than most others.  They have been lucky to face substandard competition when they need a win but their record against the better clubs I the league suffers.
7. The Vancouver Canucks are mired in their own skid as the poll comes out and lost 5-1 to the Predators in their most recent game.  The offense has evaporated of late and the defense has been porous.  Ryan Miller, once the toast of Vancouver, has been ordinary or abandoned in some games leaving the net and him vulnerable.
8. The Calgary Flames had a brutal run as 2014 closed and have seemingly righted their ship with a 5-4-1 record over the last ten games.  The pieces are there and coach Bob Hartley has good control over the team.
9. The Los Angeles Kings took a big drop this poll that should have come sooner.  The offense still has not gotten on track and the defense is prone to the wave and weak stick check instead of the usual body checks from a team as big as the Kings.  Hard to image Darryl Sutter not looking to make some move before trade deadline.
10. The Dallas Stars have been unable to sustain any meaningful momentum going up the standings and remain in the 10^th spot in our poll and in the conference.  This is Jamie Benn’s team as captain but we remain skeptical of the long-term impact of Tyler Seguin on this or any club.
11. The Colorado Avalanche has shown glimpses of last season’s spirited run but not enough.  Their good games are usually followed but uninspired efforts.
12. The Arizona Coyotes have been a disappointment to everyone in the desert and GM Don Maloney will be looked on to make some kind of moves to improve this club, someday.
13. The Minnesota Wild are the biggest disappointment in the NHL this season and despite meltdown from head coach Mike Yeo in practice last week the team continues to spiral down.  Then again, a team that signs the likes of Thomas Vanek and still thinks it can win is terribly mistaken and misguided.
14. The Edmonton Oilers hold down the final spot in the poll because they just cannot string together enough wins to get out of the west’s basement spot.  Trades seem to have energized the bench but not enough to put many points on the table.  They remain with just 10 wins and that keeps them from jumping over the Wild and Coyotes.