The Hockey News: Power Rankings: Power Rankings: Late bloomers

Power Rankings: Late bloomers

Ilya Kovalchuk had seven points in five games before going down with an upper-body injury. (Photo by Michael Martin/NHLI via Getty Images)

Ryan Dixon
2009-03-16 14:34:00

Becoming the Ontario League’s all-time leading goal-scorer did nothing to endear John Tavares to the Atlanta Thrashers or New York Islanders.

OK, maybe it’s just a pure coincidence of timing, but the Isles and Thrashers have both been playing much better hockey lately – making the prospect of picking No. 1 overall slightly more remote.

As of Monday morning, the Isles still have a four-point “cushion” on last overall, but have gone 5-2-1 in March with a bunch of kids trying to convince management they’re NHLers.

Atlanta, meanwhile, has been all about credibility for more than a month now. After going 6-5-1 in February, the Thrashers have won five straight on the back of some incredible offensive output.

The only thing to stop Ilya Kovalchuk over his past 20-plus games is an upper-body injury, while Todd White has five goals and 16 points in his past 13 contests.

Currently 27th overall, if the Thrashers make up the four points between them and 25th place Ottawa, they won’t even have a mathematical shot at the first overall pick.

THE HOCKEY NEWS POWER RANKINGS
RK.	TEAM	LW	OVERALL	L10	THE SCOOP
1		1	45-20-3	8-2-0	Marty gunning for Roy's all-time wins record on St. Patrick's Day. How perfect is that?
2		5	46-15-9	7-2-1	Wings become first team in league history to top 100 points in nine straight seasons
3		2	36-23-9	7-2-1	All of a sudden just five points back of Calgary for the Northwest Division lead
4		4	45-13-10	4-5-1	Travis Moen has blended in well since coming over from the Ducks
5		8	43-21-6	5-4-1	After missing a season and a half with concussion-related injuries, defenseman Brian Pothier is back up with the Caps
6		3	37-26-8	8-0-2	Sidney Crosby is really clicking with new linemates Bill Guerin and Chris Kunitz; that's not good news for the rest of the East
7		13	36-26-6	6-4-0	Antoine Vermette has three goals and six points in five games with Columbus
8		11	45-17-9	4-5-1	Phil Kessel has goals in his past three games to provide something good for the faltering Bruins
9		6	40-23-6	5-5-0	Have lost 8-6 to both Toronto and Tampa this month
10		19	32-29-8	7-3-0	Have done well to get where they are, but nine of their final 13 games are on the road
11		12	37-21-10	5-4-1	Easy to forget how great it is Simon Gagne is simply healthy and in the league, let alone the fact he could net 80 points for the first time
12		14	36-26-8	5-3-2	Sean Avery can still stir this team's drink
13		7	36-28-7	5-3-2	Three-game road trip produced three tight, tough losses
14		9	34-30-5	7-2-1	All the talk early on was about Shea Weber, but Ryan Suter could well end up the Preds' highest-scoring defenseman this year
15		10	37-21-9	3-6-1	Starting to feel like a first round playoff win will be tough, especially if they line up against Vancouver
16		15	34-25-10	4-4-2	David Booth takes charge with nine points in his past four games
17		25	28-35-6	7-3-0	Now they're even winning on the road, sweeping a three-game trip out west
18		22	33-28-8	4-5-1	Coach Dave Tippett may have found something putting Brendan Morrison on the right side with center Mike Modano
19		18	34-27-8	4-4-2	Inability to beat East's bottom feeders could be reason Buffalo misses the playoffs
20		16	36-25-8	6-3-1	Who's left to fire?
21		17	32-27-9	3-2-5	Just one win in their past six, with three consecutive overtime defeats
22		21	32-31-6	4-5-1	Ducks are a very underwhelming 16-16-3 at home
23		26	28-30-10	6-3-1	With guys playing for jobs, results have been better
24		20	32-29-8	2-5-3	Falling behind in games and, subsequently, in the standings
25		24	28-29-13	6-3-1	After going to sleep for a couple months, rookie Mikhail Grabovski is back shakin' again
26		27	24-38-8	6-2-2	Peter Mannino stopped 40 shots in his first NHL start on Sunday, a 4-2 win over Chicago
27		28	23-32-14	4-4-2	Steven Stamkos is making some serious strides in the late stages of his rookie season
28		23	29-29-10	4-5-1	Dustin Brown picked the wrong time of year to go cold
29		29	31-38-1	3-7-0	Can't forget this team played without Joe Sakic and Paul Stastny for the vast majority of the year
30		30	28-35-6	2-7-1	How long can Shane Doan remain attached to this situation?

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.

For more great profiles, news and views from the world of hockey, Subscribe to The Hockey News magazine.

COMMENTS (22)

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cowtown Posted
(2009-04-30 08:10:04)

after losing to TB 8-6 and setting out on the road for 7 games, I stated right away that the Nucks would surpass the Flames and win the NW. Looks like this will become reality very soon. Calgary can barely muster some points at home now it seems - barely beating a tired Dallas team and then losing to a tired St. Louis team. Dixon, I hope you rank the Flames among the league's worst on Monday; that's where they should be ranked at the moment. A high school hockey team could beat this team at the moment.

Flamer89 Posted
(2009-04-30 08:09:07)

JAL - seriously? that's brutal! So basically CBJ will end up playing 40 games that were back-to-backs on the season! That's almost half a season! I assume their record has been pretty decent then on these back to back sets. Kudos to CBJ then - its not easy playing back-to-back games, and to have played that many and be in the position they are currently in, CBJ should be considered a threat/dark horse - whatever you want to call it - in the playoffs.

Doener19 Posted
(2009-04-30 08:08:36)

I hate Pitt but they have to be #1 right now. 8-0-2 in their past 10...can't argue with that

JAL Posted
(2009-04-30 08:08:33)

Flamer89 -- Hate to tell you, but Flames aren't even close to the most. Columbus has had 17 back to back sets, and has 3 more left. So almost half their schedule has been back to back games! --JAL

Flamer89 Posted
(2009-04-30 08:08:19)

Not trying to make excuses but....does/has any other team in the league have/had as many back-to-back sets as the Flames this season? The Flames have played 16 games so far (8 sets) of back-to-backs, and they still have 4 back-to-back sets to play (8 of remaining 12 games) including 3 straight back-to-back sets to close out the season. That seems kind of brutal. I haven't studied the other schedules - any team similar? Calgary's record for back-to-back has been brutal this year. They have a 5-11 record in these games. With games against the red hot Blues, Wings, Pens, Jackets, Sharks, and Canucks remaining, I gotta admit - holding on to the NW even with a current 5 point cushion is going to be a battle. Especially when you consider that the Canucks have games remaining against the likes of the Coyotes, Wild, Oilers, Ducks, and the Avalanche (x3!!!), sorry to the fans of these teams - no offense intended- but these are teams that the Nucks should definately beat, and with 1 game in hand and 1 left vs the Flames, it may not be so unrealistic that the Flames surrended the NW before the season is over. Hopefully not, but I think it'll be a battle for them.

Alex Posted
(2009-04-30 08:08:06)

Pens should be no.1 they have by far the better record and is the hottest team in the nhl right now

cotown Posted
(2009-04-30 08:07:40)

Hey, is Henry out there anywhere reading this? I just want to quote your comments of a couple of weeks ago: "Henry (Posted 2009-03-08 23:17:37)cowtown, those are some pretty stupid comments. Calgary has been locked in thrid place all year and not just because they lead their divsion but they can justify it by being ahead of 4th place in points all year. To suggest Vancouver can make up 8 points on the Flames and claim the title, HA! That one takes the cake. Do you have any idea how hard it is to make up that much ground? Ask a leaf fan, they're 9 points out of the playoffs, you must think they're going to make into the postseason and win the cup too!! lol Get real! Say hello to Captain Hook for me!" .......news flash Henry, Vancouver is now 3 points back with a game vs calgary left on the schedule. With the way the Nucks are playing, they may not lose another game this season (seriously). Still feel the same way?

Let's go Islanders. Posted
(2009-04-30 08:07:36)

As a suffering Islanders fan, it's good to see some late life in the team. Maybe Gordon's point about getting rid of the dead wood at the trade deadline had some merit. In another 2-3 years, perhaps the playoffs will return to Long Island, if and only if management doesn't blow it (again) and trade away the future (again)!

Nate Posted
(2009-04-30 08:07:05)

wow, for once I gotta say - I actually prefer TSN's rankings over THN's. TSN is usually completely out to lunch and THN's are usually more accurate. For the first time, I feel they have reversed this week. Poor job Dixon.

Jordon Posted
(2009-04-30 08:06:58)

Teams are rated this way for how they are playing at the moment, not where they are in the standings. Hence the reason why power rankings are put out WEEKLY. GO PENS!!

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