Power Rankings - Nov. 24

Rick Nash celebrates one of his 10 goals with Columbus this season. (Photo by Bruce Kluckhohn/NHLI via Getty Images)

Ryan Dixon
2008-11-24 15:05:00

Life as a hockey fan in Ohio has typically brought more lows than highs. And, thus far, it has never involved a playoff game.

But this year’s version of the Columbus Blue Jackets is doing its best to change things and a pair of rookies are playing a huge role.

Center Derick Brassard is battling Chicago’s Kris Versteeg for the top spot among rookie scorers, while freshman goalie Steve Mason has debuted with a 4-1-1 record and already has his first big-league shutout.

Another rookie, Jakub Voracek, hasn’t looked out of place either and don’t forget about skilled Russian Nikita Filatov, an 18-year-old who bagged his first NHL marker during a four-game stint with the Jackets.

With the youth movement in full swing, meaningful games late in the season are right around the corner in Columbus.

THE HOCKEY NEWS POWER RANKINGS
RK.	TEAM	LW	OVERALL	L10	THE SCOOP
1		1	17-3-1	8-1-1	Patrick Marleau had 48 points last year; this season, he's on pace for 93
2		2	14-2-3	7-1-2	Little Jiri Hudler looks like he'll be the next Detroit player to make you wonder, 'Where'd they find this guy?'
3		3	14-3-4	9-0-1	Have played 21 games and lost only once by more than one goal
4		9	10-4-5	7-1-2	Martin Havlat is almost the forgotten man on this team
5		7	12-5-3	7-2-1	Dany Sabourin has done a nice job pinch hitting for the injured Marc-Andre Fleury
6		5	11-6-1	5-5-0	Can't be 28th in average goals for per game and expect to compete with the big boys for long
7		4	14-7-2	4-5-1	Hot start becoming a distant memory now
8		13	9-6-4	6-3-1	Jeff Carter is making good on all that offensive potential
9		6	11-6-3	6-2-2	Giving up just more than five goals per game in past four contests
10		8	11-5-3	4-4-2	Not having Mike Komisarek on the back end leaves a big, mean void
11		10	13-6-2	7-1-2	With Luongo, the Canucks are a top-five team on this list
12		11	11-8-3	5-3-2	Brendan Morrison hasn't supplied that secondary offense Anaheim was after
13		22	11-7-2	5-5-0	Always great to see a nice guy like Scott Clemmensen succeeding
14		15	10-9-1	5-5-0	Shea Weber could get 30 goals this year
15		14	11-8-2	5-5-0	Cam Ward looks great some nights, others, not so much
16		16	11-9-1	4-6-0	Mike Cammalleri has one goal in his past 10 games
17		17	9-8-3	5-2-3	Rick Nash has goals in his past five games
18		12	9-8-3	3-6-1	Lost seven of eight to officially enter a free-fall
19		18	7-8-5	3-5-2	Just when you thought Matt Stajan should never play above the third line he starts posting points
20		20	9-9-2	4-5-1	A healthy Sheldon Souray leads the team with four power play goals
21		26	8-8-3	5-3-2	Their silver and black third jersey would be better if it was simply the vintage Gretzky-era design
22		24	7-9-4	3-4-3	I don't know why Antoine Vermette hasn't developed into a top-six forward, but he definitely has not
23		21	6-9-4	3-5-2	Bad year got worse with the news Brenden Morrow is gone for the season with a torn ACL
24		28	8-8-2	3-5-2	Keeping their head above water despite a slew of injuries
25		25	9-10-0	4-6-0	Avs are 4-0 in shootouts this year
26		23	7-10-2	5-5-0	Kari Lehtonen is now on injured reserve with a back injury; seems like his career will never get on track
27		19	8-9-2	4-4-2	Young Yotes have dropped five straight
28		30	8-10-2	6-3-1	Lots of injuries, but Isles have actually gone 6-3-1 in their past 10
29		29	6-8-6	2-5-3	Things could get real ugly if Mike Smith's "lower-body injury" keeps him out of the lineup for too long
30		27	7-11-1	3-6-1	Three goals and nine points in just nine games for newcomer Bryan McCabe this year