NHL power rankings for mid-March

By Rick Morris

NOTES: Rankings from start of season are in parentheses.

TOP TIER

1 Columbus (8-4-1-2-3-6)

2 Chicago (1-1-3-5-6-5)

3 Pittsburgh (6-5-2-4-4-3)

4 Washington (9-8-8-1-1-1)

SECOND TIER

5 San Jose (7-7-6-8-9-7)

6 New York Rangers (2-2-4-6-10-4)

7 Minnesota (21-6-5-3-2-2)

THIRD TIER

8 Montreal (3-3-7-7-5-8)

9 Anaheim (11-12-12-9-7-10)

10 Boston (14-13-13-12-13-11)

11 Ottawa (5-11-11-11-11-12)

12 Edmonton (20-14-9-10-8-9)

13 St. Louis (4-9-14-16-24-13)

14 Calgary (26-16-18-14-21-22)

15 Nashville (13-23-23-21-12-14)

16 New York Islanders (30-28-27-24-17-15)

17 Tampa Bay (10-17-19-25-25-21)

18 Los Angeles (12-15-21-20-19-17)

19 Toronto (17-24-16-15-15-19)

20 Philadelphia (15-10-10-17-14-16)

21 Florida (19-18-20-19-16-18)

22 Carolina (24-20-15-13-20-26)

23 Winnipeg (23-21-24-23-23-23)

24 Dallas (22-22-17-18-18-24)

25 Buffalo (27-25-26-27-27-27)

26 Detroit (18-19-22-28-28-28)

27 New Jersey (16-27-28-26-26-20)

28 Vancouver (25-26-25-22-22-25)

FOURTH TIER

29 Arizona (29-29-29-29-29-29)

FIFTH TIER

30 Colorado (28-30-30-30-30-30)

BIGGEST RISERS: Calgary (8 spots), Columbus (5 spots), Carolina and Tampa Bay (4 spots), Chicago (3 spots)

BIGGEST FALLERS: New Jersey (7 spots), Minnesota (5 spots), Philadelphia (4 spots), Edmonton, Florida, Vancouver and Washington (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 12.38

2 PACIFIC 16.43

3 ATLANTIC 17.13

4 CENTRAL 17.71

RANKINGS BY CONFERENCE

1 EAST 29.51

2 WEST 34.14

NBA power rankings for mid-March

By Rick Morris

NOTES: Rankings from start of season are in parentheses.

TOP TIER

1 San Antonio (3-2-3-3-2-2)

2 Golden State (1-1-2-2-1-1)

3 Cleveland (2-3-1-1-3-4)

4 Houston (9-4-4-4-4-3)

SECOND TIER

5 Boston (8-10-9-7-5-5)

6 Washington (23-17-12-13-9-6)

7 Utah (11-7-7-8-7-7)

8 LA Clippers (4-6-6-5-6-10)

9 Oklahoma City (10-9-8-11-12-12)

10 Toronto (5-5-5-6-8-11)

11 Memphis (7-8-11-10-11-8)

THIRD TIER

12 Indiana (14-14-20-15-13-13)

13 Atlanta (13-18-13-9-10-9)

14 Denver (20-21-18-23-15-14)

15 Miami (27-24-26-29-22-15)

16 Milwaukee (15-12-14-12-17-19)

17 Portland (17-19-23-19-19-17)

18 Detroit (18-16-21-22-20-18)

19 Chicago (6-15-16-16-14-16)

20 Dallas (29-29-28-28-23-20)

21 Minnesota (25-26-24-24-21-21)

22 Charlotte (12-11-10-14-16-23)

23 New Orleans (22-25-22-18-25-26)

24 New York (19-13-15-17-18-22)

25 Sacramento (24-22-17-20-27-24)

26 Philadelphia (30-30-29-25-24-25)

27 Orlando (21-20-19-21-26-27)

FOURTH TIER

28 Phoenix (26-27-27-27-28-29)

29 Los Angeles Lakers (16-23-25-26-29-28)

FIFTH TIER

30 Brooklyn (28-28-30-30-30-30)

BIGGEST RISERS: Milwaukee, New Orleans and Oklahoma City (3 spots)

BIGGEST FALLERS: Atlanta (4 spots), Chicago and Memphis (3 spots)

RANKINGS BY CONFERENCE – 1 POINT PER RANKING SPOT FOR EACH INDIVIDUAL TEAM, LOWEST SCORE IS BEST

1 WEST 219

2 EAST 246