NHL power rankings for mid-December

By Rick Morris

NOTES: Rankings from start of season are in parentheses.

TOP TIER

1 Tampa Bay (2-2-1)

SECOND TIER

2 Calgary (9-9-7)

3 Winnipeg (3-4-6)

4 Toronto (4-3-2)

5 Nashville (1-1-3)

6 Washington (17-17-8)

7 Anaheim (21-23-10)

8 Vegas (25-28-22)

9 Buffalo (15-5-4)

10 Colorado (8-16-5)

11 San Jose (16-12-13)

12 Montreal (13-13-17)

13 Edmonton (7-21-21)

14 Columbus (14-7-9)

15 Pittsburgh (12-30-25)

16 Boston (10-10-12)

17 Dallas (18-8-11)

18 Minnesota (5-6-16)

19 Vancouver (6-15-27)

20 NY Islanders (11-11-14)

21 New York Rangers (28-14-15)

22 Carolina (19-24-18)

THIRD TIER

23 Detroit (29-18-19)

24 Ottawa (23-20-20)

25 Florida (30-26-26)

26 Arizona (22-22-23)

27 New Jersey (27-29-28)

28 St. Louis (26-27-31)

29 Philadelphia (24-19-24)

30 Los Angeles (31-31-30)

31 Chicago (20-25-29)

BIGGEST RISERS: Edmonton and Vancouver (8 spots), Calgary and Montreal (5 spots), Anaheim, St. Louis and Winnipeg (3 spots)

BIGGEST FALLERS: NY Islanders and NY Rangers (6 spots), Buffalo, Colorado, Columbus and Philadelphia (5 spots), Boston, Carolina, Detroit and Ottawa (4 spots), Arizona (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 ATLANTIC 14.25

2 PACIFIC 14.50

3 CENTRAL 16.29

4 METROPOLITAN 19.25

RANKINGS BY CONFERENCE

1 WEST 30.79

2 EAST 33.50