Power Rankings - Dec. 22

The Anaheim Ducks sit fifth in the Western Conference with an 18-12-3 record. (Photo by Debora Robinson/NHLI via Getty Images)

Ryan Dixon
2008-12-22 14:59:00

Championships have a way of breeding loyalty.

Just as GMs find it hard not to reward the players who deliver a Stanley Cup, those of us identifying contenders find it hard to ignore recent Cup winners.

I give you Exhibit A: the Anaheim Ducks. Judged solely on the basis of this season, the Ducks are not a true top-flight team. They’ve got a great 1-2 blueline punch in Chris Pronger and Scott Niedermayer and some talented forwards, but they’re top-heavy compared to the likes of Detroit and their California cousins in San Jose.

Stellar defenseman Francois Beauchemin will likely miss the rest of the year with a knee injury and sniper Teemu Selanne is gone for at least a month with a cut on his left quadriceps.

Players like Bobby Ryan, who has been hot of late, and Brendan Morrison need to step up the secondary support for the Ducks’ Cup hopes to be legitimized.

Goalie Jonas Hiller has certainly pushed the boundaries of his backup role in the 15 games he’s played, posting the third-best goals-against average (2.07) and second-best save percentage (.936) in the entire league. 

THE HOCKEY NEWS POWER RANKINGS

RK.	TEAM	LW	OVERALL	L10	THE SCOOP
1		2	24-5-4	9-1-0	Very, very sad to see young Patrice Bergeron sidelined with another concussion
2		5	18-6-7	8-1-1	Ripped off seven straight wins, including a sweep in Western Canada
3		3	22-6-4	7-3-0	Smashed San Jose 6-0 to prove they still can't be trifled with
4		1	26-4-3	7-1-2	Into every season, a little rain must fall - or at least some light drizzle
5		4	18-8-7	7-1-2	Jeff Carter might well ride that wrist shot to a 60-goal season
6		9	19-9-3	7-2-1	A lot of people deserve credit here, but let's not forget to include coach Brent Sutter among them
7		13	18-11-4	5-2-3	Those who watch Calgary close say Robyn Regehr is really the Flames' best D-man
8		6	20-11-3	7-3-0	They're a lot more scary when Alexander Semin's back isn't acting up
9		8	22-12-2	5-5-0	No Mats means everyone else will have to be a bit better
10		11	18-9-6	5-3-2	Kovalev finally locating the net with three goals in past four games
11		10	17-11-4	4-5-1	Ready to welcome back skilled rearguard Ryan Whitney on Tuesday
12		7	18-12-3	6-4-0	Top goal-getter Teemu Selanne out more than a month after cutting his left quadriceps
13		15	15-13-4	7-2-1	Vokoun shuts out Avs, staking his own claim to what has been Craig Anderson's crease
14		21	16-13-5	4-3-3	Sergei Samsonov has eight points in nine December games
15		14	16-3-3	5-4-1	Power play operating at a horrid 13.3 percent; only Columbus is worse
16		12	18-12-3	4-5-1	Lots of talk about how Sundin is merely a point-per-game player, but this scribe has always viewed him as something more than that
17		19	16-13-4	6-2-2	Need to be better on the road as they head out on a three-game trip
18		17	16-13-4	5-4-1	Roy had eight points through 15 games; he's got 22 in 18 since and has a nine-game point streak going
19		22	13-13-6	6-4-0	Getting lots of goals and might need them if Toskala misses many games; Joseph's line is 0-4-1, .838, 4.34 and Pogge will play first NHL game Monday.
20		24	13-14-5	6-3-1	Can Brad Richards take control of this team and get back to being an elite point-producer? He's got six points in his past two games as Dallas creeps toward respectability
21		25	16-16-1	5-4-1	Wojtek Wolski the shootout king this year with goals on five of six attempts
22		23	12-14-5	4-5-1	Crossing their fingers captain Daniel Alfredsson won't be out too long with "upper-body" injury
23		18	14-14-3	5-4-1	Nilsson, Gagner and Cogliano have combined for a measly 33 points
24		16	16-14-2	2-7-1	Only win in past eight came against the Islanders
25		26	14-15-4	4-5-1	Looks like Derick Brassard's impressive rookie campaign ends early with shoulder surgery
26		20	13-14-6	3-4-3	What a nice pickup Kyle Quincey has been; the blueliner is tied for team assist lead with 16
27		27	13-17-3	3-6-1	Brad Boyes leads team with 31 points, but his minus-20 rating is second-worst in the entire league
28		28	11-17-4	3-6-1	Thrashers have a .150 winning percentage when trailing after one period
29		29	7-16-9	1-7-2	Exactly zero goals for Andrej Meszaros as a Bolt
30		30	10-20-3	1-8-1	Dropped nine in a row, giving up about 4.5 goals per game over that stretch

The Hockey News ranks the teams 1-30 each Monday based on a combination of last week’s play and a squad’s overall outlook.

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