2009 NHL Power Rankings: Week 7

In Week 7's edition of the 2009 NHL Power Rankings we don't have as much movement as last week but there were some big jumps, both positive and negative, and have the Sharks in a very familiar place. (Hint: they dominated it last season)

The biggest loser in our NHL Power Rankings this week were the New York Rangers falling 6 spots to land at #12. The Rangers started off the season strong but have fallen on hard times due to their defensive play, or lack there of.

The biggest gainer in our NHL Power Rankings this week were the Washington Capitals, New Jersey Devils and Atlanta Thrashers all moving up 4 spots to end up at #5, #6 and #17. After a sluggish start considering they made it to game 7 in the Eastern Semi-Finals the Capitals are playing better thanks to the improved play of Jose Theodore and the Devils are establishing themselves as one of the top teams in the East yet again. Ilya Kovalchuk's return has seemed to spark the Thrashers as they've now won 4 games in a row.

Lets take a look at the rest of the league: NHL POWER RANKINGS for week 7.

Rank	Record	PRV	Comment
1	14-4-4	2	Rookie defenceman Jason Demers scored his first career NHL goal in the Sharks 4-3 OT loss to the Blackhawks Sunday night.
2	14-7-0	-	Injuries just keep piling up with young defenceman Alex Goligoski now gone for 2-3 weeks with a "lower body" injury.
3	12-4-2	2	Great start to the month of November for the Flames as they've gone 5-0-1 collecting 11 out of a possible 12 points.
4	12-5-3	3	Have started to struggle losing their last 3 games in a row.
5	12-4-4	4	Saw their 4 game winning streak come to an end with a 5-2 loss to the Devils. However the good news is it looks like Alexander Ovechkin will return to the lineup this week.
6	14-5-0	4	Have won all 6 of their games so far in the month of November.
7	11-5-1	-	Goaltender Ray Emery has had a solid start to the season with a 2.22 GAA, .923 SAV% and 11 wins in 16 games.
8	11-6-2	4	Were blown out in an embarrassing 9-1 loss to the Red Wings on Wednesday night.
9	12-5-2	2	Have now won 4 games in a row but face the dreaded Western Canadian road trip to Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver this week.
10	12-4-1	2	Are riding a 3 game winning streak heading into this week were they face the Panthers, Bruins and Senators.
11	13-7-2	3	So-so start to the month of November going 3-3 in their first 6 games.
12	11-8-1	6	Have lost 3 of their last 5 games and face a tough machup against the Capitals on Tuesday night.
13	10-5-3	1	Have finally started to get things going, mostly thanks to Henrik Zetterberg who piled up 9 points last week.
14	11-8-0	1	After a good October the 'Yotes haven't enjoyed the same success in November winning just 2 games so far.
15	7-4-6	-	Super sophomore Steven Stamkos is enjoying his second season in the league after a disappointing rookie season as he now has 21 points in 18 games.
16	11-10-0	1	Henrik Sedin seems to be playing just fine without his twin brother Daniel as Henrik now has 23 points in 21 games.
17	10-6-1	4	After slipping a little bit the Thrashers are getting hot again mostly thanks to the play of their most talented player Ilya Kovalchuk who had 8 points last week.
18	8-6-3	-	Will need to get some better goaltending from Pascal Leclaire if they want to have some success against the Leafs, Penguins and Sabres this week.
19	8-10-3	3	Been struggling lately winning just one of their last 6 games.
20	8-5-6	-	Are looking for their offence to come back to life as they have yet to score 4 or more goals so far in the month of November.
21	8-8-4	2	Saw their mini two game winning streak come to an end with a 1-0 shootout loss to the Panthers on Thursday.
22	9-8-1	1	Won two of their three games last week with Steve Sullivan scoring both goals in their 2-0 win over the Canadiens on Saturday.
23	8-6-7	2	Have been playing a lot better recently, mostly due to the solid play of Dwayne Roloson and John Tavares.
24	9-11-0	-	Different month, same result for the Habs as they continue to struggle with just two wins so far in the month of November.
25	7-9-2	2	Have been playing better as of late with back-to-back shootout wins over the Bruins and Islanders.
26	6-8-4	-	Picked up a nice 6-1 win over the Canucks and played well despite their two losses to the Predators and Sharks.
27	6-10-3	5	Find themselves on a three game losing streak after losses to the Devils, Blue Jackets and Red Wings.
28	7-11-2	1	Saw their mini two game winning streak come to an end with a 4-3 shootout loss to the Lightning.
29	3-10-5	1	Lost all three of their games to the Wild, Blackhawks and Flames.
30	3-12-4	-	Finally saw their 14 game losing streak come to an end with a 5-4 shootout win over the Wild.