Power Rankings October 31, 2006
New Power Rankings are up (see link along top of page). Here are some notables:
1. Buffalo Sabres (+14 from last week): The statistics finally agree with the general assessment - the Sabres are the best team in the league. While their schedule has still be easier than the league average, their winning percentage, even though I don’t give them full credit for their three shootout victories, is unbelievable.
13. Pittsburgh Penguins (+13): If I take their offence vs. defence into consideration, the Penguins drop dramatically. However, they’ve taken advantage of a very easy schedule and the play of their youngsters is frightening to their opponents.
19. Chicago Blackhawks (-12): The loss of Michal Handzus, Martin Havlat and Nikolai Khabibulin have hurt the team tremendously. Can the rest of the team bounce back? Doesn’t look like it so far, as they failed to score even against Robert Esche and the struggling Flyers.
20. Boston Bruins (+7): Beating the Ottawa Senators helped. Their very difficult schedule helped, too. Zdeno Chara, Marc Savard, and especially Hannu Toivonen need to step up if this team has any hope of making the playoffs. Their schedule isn’t going to get any easier, either.
28. Columbus Blue Jackets (-14): Ugly drop (worst in the league). Giving up too many shots and not taking enough. Time of Nikolai Zherdev, Rick Nash, Anson Carter and more to step it up a notch. Or several.
30. Phoenix Coyotes (0): 30th in the league in anything is not where you want to be two weeks in a row. Will Yannic Perrault make a difference? Probably, not probably not enough.
Check out the full listing by clicking the tab above.