The power rankings have been like a game of musical chairs so far this season. Depending on the day, you would think your favorite team did what it took to crack the top six. But at the end of the week when the music stops, it took something like a Saturday night loss, a loss on the second night of a back-to-back to lose position. We are only a week or so away from the quarter mark of the season, and teams still have a lot of games to play before the playoffs roll around. So, unless you are a New Jersey Devils fan, don’t panic too much if your team has struggled so far where they had high expectations at the beginning of the season.
| Rank | Team | Last Week | Team Notes |
| 1 | STL | 3 | Good defense is what will help a team win. The Blues have three shutouts in last five games, and surrendered only four goals in the other two. Currently riding a seven-game win streak. |
| 2 | LA | 2 | Last week’s 1-0 win against Tampa was perhaps the best game at this point of the season. They remain at home this week against Dallas and New York Islanders. |
| 3 | WAS | 6 | I told them to show me the offense this week the way they did against Calgary and they delivered. They score five each against Toronto and Boston, and scored three against Philadelphia. They have four games week including tricky Saturday night game @ Buffalo and late Sunday afternoon home game vs Atlanta. Who made that schedule? |
| 4 | VAN | 19 | I said they would either sink or swim with their schedule last week. And they swam their way through with six straight wins. Schedule gets hard with a five-game east coast road trip over the next two weeks. |
| 5 | PHI | 8 | Flyers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky is is the best goalie you never heard of. If he’s available in your fantasy league, pick him up while you can. He’s 6-0-1 in his last seven games with the OTL coming last night against Washington. |
| 6 | DET | 7 | Jimmy Howard lost his first regular season game in regulation dating back to last season Saturday night against Vancouver. Should bounce back this week with three home games against two teams in the bottom six. |
| 25 | NSH | 9 | Two week ago they topped the rankings. Last week they dropped a couple games to fall to ninth in the rankings. I had no other choice but to put a team who’s stock has been dropping faster than gravity this low. An upset win Thursday @STL can help their stock. And please don’t blame their road trip due to the country music awards taking up their arena for two weeks for their five-game slide either. |
| 26 | PHX | 24 | I bet they hope Chris Osgood is in net tonight vs Detroit, which they scored three goals in five minute span en route to 4-2 win Oct. 28. Plays four games in six nights this week. |
| 27 | EDM | 28 | Taylor Hall seemed to find the back of the net in the last week. Finishes five-game road trip this week, which they began last night with win at Chicago. |
| 28 | BUF | 29 | Has a record of 2-5-1 in last eight games. At least they get to play New Jersey this week to have a chance at a win. |
| 29 | NYI | 23 | Lost seven games in a row. They also have second-worse goal differential in the league. Difficult west-coast trip on horizon for Islanders. |
| 30 | NJ | 30 | Only team that is still in the single digits in points. Parise out for three months with knee injury, and Brodeur is banged up as well. Who will they turn to if key players are injured? |
St. Louis has definitely been impressive so far. The defense and goaltending seem to be rock solid.