NHL power rankings for the start of January

By Rick Morris

NOTES: Rankings from start of season are in parentheses.

TOP TIER

1 Columbus (8-4)

2 Pittsburgh (6-5)

3 Chicago (1-1)

4 New York Rangers (2-2)

5 Minnesota (21-6)

6 San Jose (7-7)

7 Montreal (3-3)

8 Washington (9-8)

SECOND TIER

9 Edmonton (20-14)

10 Philadelphia (15-10)

11 Ottawa (5-11)

12 Anaheim (11-12)

13 Boston (14-13)

14 St. Louis (4-9)

THIRD TIER

15 Carolina (24-20)

16 Toronto (17-24)

17 Dallas (22-22)

18 Calgary (26-16)

19 Tampa Bay (10-17)

20 Florida (19-18)

21 Los Angeles (12-15)

22 Detroit (18-19)

23 Nashville (13-23)

24 Winnipeg (23-21)

25 Vancouver (25-26)

26 Buffalo (27-25)

27 New York Islanders (30-28)

28 New Jersey (16-27)

FOURTH TIER

29 Arizona (29-29)

30 Colorado (28-30)

BIGGEST RISERS: Toronto (8 spots), Carolina, Dallas and Edmonton (5 spots), Columbus and Pittsburgh (3 spots)

BIGGEST FALLERS: Los Angeles (6 spots), St. Louis (5 spots), Montreal (4 spots), Detroit and Winnipeg (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 METROPOLITAN 11.88

2 CENTRAL 16.57

3 ATLANTIC 16.75

4 PACIFIC 17.14

RANKINGS BY CONFERENCE

1 EAST 28.63

2 WEST 33.71