SoB NHL Power Rankings 1-3-10

By John in Bruins, Featured ⋅ January 3, 2010 at 3:01am ⋅ Post a comment

The Winter Classic at Fenway Park highlighted recent NHL action (WEEI Sports Radio).

Hello, and welcome to SoB’s NHL power rankings. Four experts have ranked the top 10 NHL teams, and three have given their choices for top seeds in each conference by the time the next power rankings rolls along in two weeks. The results are quite interesting.

Two teams dropped off the rankings (including last time’s #5), two have moved by four spots, and one has moved by three. And to top it off, one team got two out of four first place votes, but finished fourth. The other two experts were highly displeased. That’s not to mention the 12 point difference between #8 and #9 that makes the total needed to make the top 10 less than last time.

A first place vote earns a team 10 points, a second place vote earns 9, and so on. Ties are broken based on who received the most first place votes, then the most second, and so on. The second tiebreaker is based on rank in the previous power ranking.

	Brian	Erikk	John	KC	SoB Composite	Last Time	Comments
#1	Washington Capitals	Chicago Blackhawks	San Jose Sharks	Washington Capitals	(1) Chicago Blackhawks (36)	#4, up 3	John – An NHL best 18-4-1 home record keeps the Blackhawks in 2nd in the West
#2	New Jersey Devils	San Jose Sharks	Chicago Blackhawks	Chicago Blackhawks	(1) San Jose Sharks (33)	#6, up 4	Brian – The Sharks are probably the most exciting team to watch these days, with the trio of Joe Thornton, Dany Heatley, and Patrick Marleau leading the charge.
#3	Chicago Blackhawks	New Jersey Devils	New Jersey Devils	New Jersey Devils	New Jersey Devils (33)	#1, down 2	Brian – The Devils aren’t going away, not with all-world goalie Martin Brodeur back at the top of his game.
#4	San Jose Sharks	Washington Capitals	Buffalo Sabres	San Jose Sharks	(2) Washington Capitals (30)	#3, down 1	John – Three consecutive losses has the Capitals faltering a bit in our rankings despite earlier successes, the epitome of the “What have you done lately?” mentality.
#5	Pittsburgh Penguins	Buffalo Sabres	Colorado Avalanche	Pittsburgh Penguins	Buffalo Sabres (20)	#7, up 2	Brian – Behind the stellar goaltending of a healthy Ryan Miller, the Sabres aren’t going to hand the B’s the Northeast Division crown without a fight.
#6	Buffalo Sabres	Pittsburgh Penguins	Phoenix Coyotes	Colorado Avalanche	Pittsburgh Penguins (19)	#2, down 4	John – Like Washington (but worse), Pittsburgh has lost four in a row, which has proven costly to them as far as SoB and the Devils are concerned.
#7	Phoenix Coyotes	Colorado Avalanche	Calgary Flames	Phoenix Coyotes	Colorado Avalanche (18)	#8, up 1	KC – This team’s going to the playoffs (harking back to a Jim Fassel reference from the NFL).
#8	Colorado Avalanche	Phoenix Coyotes	Washington Capitals	Boston Bruins	Phoenix Coytes (16)	#10, up 2	KC – Phoenix has as many wins (25) as the team is worth ($25.00).
#9	Los Angeles Kings	Nashville Predators	Pittsburgh Penguins	Buffalo Sabres	Calgary Flames (4)	NR	John – Calgary has impressively won four straight to pull within a game of the Avalanche for the Northwest title.
#10	Boston Bruins	Vancouver Canucks	Los Angeles Kings	Nashville Predators	Boston Bruins (4)	NR	Brian – Starting to show signs of last season’s dominance, the Bruins squeak their way into the Top 10 this time around. A tough January schedule could make or break this team.
Others earning votes:			Los Angeles Kings (3), Nashville Predators (3), Vancouver Canucks (1)

Table Legend:

A number in parentheses before a team name indicates the number of first place votes received.
A number in parentheses after a team name indicates total points received.

Leaders of the Conferences by Next Power Rankings?

	Erikk	John	KC
East	New Jersey Devils	New Jersey Devils	New Jersey Devils
West	Chicago Blackhawks	San Jose Sharks	San Jose Sharks

Tags: Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres, Calgary Flames, Chicago Blackhawks, Colorado Avalanche, Los Angeles Kings, Nashville Predators, New Jersey Devils, NHL Power Rankings, Phoenix Coyotes, Pittsburgh Penguins, San Jose Sharks, Vancouver Canucks, Washington Capitals

Discussion

One comment for “SoB NHL Power Rankings 1-3-10”

Hawks 3rd Brian? Really? Tied for 2nd in points, lead the league in goal differential.

Incidentally, the Blackhawks have played the 7th toughest schedule in the league while the Devils have played the 24th and the Caps the 28th.

Posted by Sav | January 3, 2010, 5:28 pm