NHL power rankings for start of January

By Rick Morris

NOTE: Previous rankings are in parentheses, from start of November to present.

TOP TIER

1 Chicago (6-3-1-1)

2 Anaheim (2-1-6-2)

3 Pittsburgh (5-12-7-7)

4 St. Louis (10-5-3-5)

5 San Jose (1-10-2-6)

6 Boston (12-11-4-4)

7 Vancouver (8-8-14-9)

8 Los Angeles (9-9-8-3)

SECOND TIER

9 Tampa Bay (11-7-13-14)

10 Montreal (13-17-12-10)

11 Colorado (3-2-5-8)

12 Phoenix (7-4-11-11)

THIRD TIER

13 Dallas (19-20-20-16)

14 Washington (20-15-15-15)

15 Detroit (14-14-9-13)

16 Toronto (4-13-16-17)

17 Minnesota (15-6-10-12)

FOURTH TIER

18 Philadelphia (29-27-21-23)

19 New Jersey (25-22-22-26)

20 Nashville (16-19-17-19)

21 Ottawa (21-18-24-22)

22 Winnipeg (18-21-18-20)

23 New York Rangers (23-16-19-25)

24 Columbus (26-26-26-21)

25 Carolina (24-23-23-18)

26 Florida (27-29-29-27)

27 Calgary (17-25-25-24)

28 New York Islanders (22-24-27-29)

29 Edmonton (28-28-28-28)

FIFTH TIER

30 Buffalo (30-30-30-30)

BIGGEST RISERS: New Jersey (7 spots), Philadelphia and Tampa Bay (5 spots), Pittsburgh (4 spots), Dallas (3 spots)

BIGGEST FALLERS: Carolina (7 spots), Los Angeles and Minnesota (5 spots), Calgary, Colorado and Columbus (3 spots)

RANKINGS BY DIVISION – 1 POINT PER RANKING SPOT FOR EACH INDIVIDUAL TEAM, DIVIDED BY THE NUMBER OF TEAMS, LOWEST SCORE IS BEST

1 CENTRAL 12.57

2 PACIFIC 12.85

3 ATLANTIC 16.63

4 METROPOLITAN 19.25

RANKINGS BY CONFERENCE

1 WEST 25.42

2 EAST 35.88