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Carter Gaddis' NHL Power Rankings

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 23, 2007

1. RED WINGS: Simply rolling along toward a President's Trophy and home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs.

2. SENATORS: They are so good on the road (11-3-2) they can afford to be average at home. They aren't average at home, but they can afford to be.

3. WILD: If you didn't have Marian Gaborik (five goals Thursday) in your fantasy team's lineup this week, shame on you.

4. STARS: When are they going to trade G Mike Smith, already? Surely someone can come up with the scorer they need.

5. CANUCKS: G Roberto Luongo wasn't out injured for long, and they're back on track.

6. SHARKS: It's hard to say they're going to miss Jonathan Cheechoo (IR). His four goals didn't help much, anyway.

7. AVALANCHE: Hanging right in there with Minnesota, Vancouver in the Northwest, which could turn out to be hockey's toughest division.

8. BRUINS: They're within shouting distance of Ottawa in the Northeast Division, but they'd have to yell awfully loud.

9. DEVILS: Has anybody noticed that LW Zach Parise is on pace for 84 points (36 goals)?

10. CANADIENS: Like most teams in the Eastern Conference, they are riding this roller coaster of a season hoping it peaks sometime in early April.

11. FLAMES: Hard to believe they were virtually out of it two weeks ago. Now, they're threatening to make the Northwest a four-team race.

12. HURRICANES: It's hard to say Cory Stillman is taken for granted, especially around here. But who knew he had a 40-goal season in him? He's on pace for that now.

13. DUCKS: The defending champs gave up only 12 shots to Colorado in a victory on Wednesday. Now that's defense.

14. RANGERS: They're just kind of stumbling through December, which makes this look like just another underachieving team from New York.

15. BLUES: Ended a season-worst four-game losing streak with their second victory against Detroit this year. Go figure.

16. PENGUINS: Sidney Crosby dropped the gloves for the first time Thursday. It's fine, for a novelty, but he ought not make a habit of it.

17. PANTHERS: Can G Tomas Vokoun do for Florida what not even Roberto Luongo could do? Namely, make this a good team?

18. SABRES: They're still well back in the standings, but they're beginning to string together some victories. If G Ryan Miller gets hot, watch hot.

19. FLYERS: Just a dreadful couple of weeks for Philadelphia, which is starting to remind folks of the team that couldn't win to save its life last season.

20. OILERS: The team's first three-game win streak of the season began to stir hope in the northern reaches of Alberta.

21. LIGHTNING: Can G Karri Ramo help turn their season around?

22. MAPLE LEAFS: All those good feelings from earlier in the month began to drift away after they scored four goals combined in losses to Montreal, Carolina and Tampa Bay.

23. COYOTES: The fact that this team was above .500 this late in the season was not only unexpected, it was astounding. G Ilya Bryzgalov is the reason it's happening.

24. BLACKHAWKS: Things are starting to level off in Chicago, where the kids might be getting a little weary.

25. BLUE JACKETS: The good feelings of October and early November have given way to reality, and it's beginning to look like another non-playoff year for Columbus.

26. THRASHERS: The Lightning's lesson this week? If you're going to turn over the puck to anyone on Atlanta's team, make darn sure it isn't Ilya Kovalchuk!

27. ISLANDERS: It's not tough to predict that there's a 50-game suspension waiting out there somewhere one day for thug Chris Simon.

28. CAPITALS: Still mired down toward the bottom of the league in terms of points, but they are a much better team since Bruce Boudreau took over as coach.

29. PREDATORS: When this team goes bad, it goes really bad. Long losing streaks are the norm in Nashville.

30. KINGS: They can't score and they can't stop the puck. Not a good combination.

Carter Gaddis

POWER RANKINGS

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