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Our 70-plus team bloggers from around our great hockey network vote each week on our NHL power rankings. Since the NHL doesn't put much emphasis on cross-conference play, and since the two conferences are vastly different and usually end up that way come mid-April, we take two polls each week -- one for the East, one for the West.
Bloggers in our network who cover a Western team vote in the Western poll, while bloggers who cover an Eastern team vote in the Eastern poll, so don't try to argue that the opposite coast bias kept your team out of a spot. Bloggers with general, non-team sites are free to select the conference in which they vote.
So, here they are, SB Nation's Week 4 NHL Power Rankings.
Eastern Conference
| 15 | New Jersey Devils | In Lou We Trust | ||||
| 15 last week | As if things weren't bad enough, Zach Parise will miss three months after knee surgery. Will the Devils be in the race when he returns? | |||||
| 3-9-1, 7 pts | ||||||
| 14 | Buffalo Sabres | Die By The Blade | ||||
| 9 last week | Coach Lindy Ruff scratched Craig Rivet, the team's captain, in two games this week. Typically, that's a bad sign. | |||||
| 3-7-2, 8 pts | ||||||
| 13 | Ottawa Senators | Silver Seven | ||||
| 14 last week | The Senators have problems across the board: so much so that blogs hold polls to determine which problem is the most important. | |||||
| 5-6-1, 11 pts | ||||||
| 12 | New York Islanders | Lighthouse Hockey | ||||
| 6 last week | Four straight losses, of which in two the Isles were held to just a goal. That's enough for a six position plummet. | |||||
| 4-5-2, 10 pts | ||||||
| 11 | Carolina Hurricanes | Canes Country | ||||
| 11 last week | The 'Canes have won just 37.4 percent of their face-offs so far this season. That's not gonna cut it now, is it? | |||||
| 5-6-0, 10 pts | ||||||
| 10 | Florida Panthers | Litter Box Cats | ||||
| 12 last week | From the bizarre injury file: Stephen Weiss missed a game after hurting his ankle kicking a soccer ball around prior to a game this weekend. | |||||
| 4-5-0, 8 pts | ||||||
| 9 | Toronto Maple Leafs | Pension Plan Puppets | ||||
| 5 last week | The Leafs went eight straight periods of hockey without scoring a goal at one point this week. | |||||
| 5-5-1, 11 pts | ||||||
| 8 | Atlanta Thrashers | Bird Watchers Anonymous | ||||
| 13 last week | Despite being outscored in 5-on-5 play, the Thrashers have been dominant on the PK and the PP, which has buoyed them to early playoff position. | |||||
| 5-4-2, 12 pts | ||||||
| 7 | Pittsburgh Penguins | Pensburgh | ||||
| 1 last week | It might just officially be a goalie controversy in Pittsburgh. Fans are talking about playing him only against "inferior teams." | |||||
| 6-5-1, 13 pts | ||||||
| 6 | New York Rangers | Blueshirt Banter | ||||
| 7 last week | The sky is falling in New York. No, really. It is. | |||||
| 6-4-1, 13 pts | ||||||
| 5 | Boston Bruins | Stanley Cup of Chowder | ||||
| 2 last week | Tim Thomas, man. Tim Thomas. Who saw that coming? | |||||
| 6-2-0, 12 pts | ||||||
| 4 | Montreal Canadiens | Habs Eyes On The Prize | ||||
| 8 last week | What's the biggest reason for the Habs successful October? Despite the boo birds coming out in full effect at some points, Carey Price has been fantastic. | |||||
| 7-4-1, 15 pts | ||||||
| 3 | Washington Capitals | Japers' Rink | ||||
| 4 last week | Michal Neuvirth is it. He's played in all but one of the Caps games so far this season and he's 7-3-0 on the year. | |||||
| 7-4-0, 14 pts | ||||||
| 2 | Philadelphia Flyers | Broad Street Hockey | ||||
| 10 last week | A four-game winning streak has the Flyers turned around, with solid goaltending and balanced scoring setting the pace. | |||||
| 7-4-1, 15 pts | ||||||
| 1 | Tampa Bay Lightning | Raw Charge | ||||
| 3 last week | 19 points in 10 games? Yeah, Steven Stamkos is here to stay. If he keeps it up (why won't he?), the Lightning are going to be a very dangerous team this season. | |||||
| 7-2-1, 15 pts | ||||||
Western Conference
| 15 | Edmonton Oilers | The Copper & Blue | ||||
| 14 last week | Their hot start has cooled a bit, but the young Oilers seem to never give up. Just look at Tuesday's comeback against Vancouver as Exhibit A. | |||||
| 3-5-2, 8 pts | ||||||
| 14 | Minnesota Wild | Hockey Wilderness | ||||
| 12 last week | If nothing else, the Wild certainly have goaltending going for them. Niklas Backstrom basically beat the Sharks single-handedly on Tuesday night. | |||||
| 5-4-2, 12 pts | ||||||
| 13 | Phoenix Coyotes | Five For Howling | ||||
| 13 last week | The Coyotes have scoring issues, thanks to Shane Doan, Wojtek Wolski and Ray Whitney. Those guys need to get going. | |||||
| 3-4-3, 9 pts | ||||||
| 12 | Calgary Flames | Matchsticks & Gasoline | ||||
| 4 last week | The Flames had a multiple goal lead in three straight games. They lost all three games. | |||||
| 6-5-0, 12 pts | ||||||
| 11 | Columbus Blue Jackets | The Cannon | ||||
| 9 last week | If you get mathematical with it, the Blue Jackets are not as bad as you think they are. | |||||
| 7-4-0, 14 pts | ||||||
| 10 | Dallas Stars | Defending Big D | ||||
| 7 last week | James Neal loves doing those curls for the girls. | |||||
| 6-4-0, 12 pts | ||||||
| 9 | Anaheim Ducks | Anaheim Calling | ||||
| 15 last week | Coach Randy Carlyle called out... the San Jose Sharks for running up the score in the second period against the Ducks on Saturday. Uhhh. | |||||
| 4-7-1, 9 pts | ||||||
| Colorado Avalanche | Mile High Hockey | |||||
| 11 last week | The Avs played seven of their first 10 games on the road. Beginning last Saturday against Columbus, the Avs will played seven of nine at home. | |||||
| 6-4-1, 13 pts | ||||||
| 7 | San Jose Sharks | Fear The Fin | ||||
| 10 last week | Every two years on Election Day, the Sharks play the Wild. What's up with that? | |||||
| 5-4-1, 11 pts | ||||||
| 6 | Chicago Blackhawks | Second City Hockey | ||||
| 6 last week | It hasn't been a great start to the season in Chicago, but it's still early and with the turnover the 'Hawks experienced over the summer, it had to be expected. | |||||
| 7-6-1, 15 pts | ||||||
| 5 | Vancouver Canucks | Nucks Misconduct | ||||
| 8 last week | A hat trick on Tuesday helps, but Raffi Torres has six goals on the season already. Raffi Torres. | |||||
| 6-3-2, 14 pts | ||||||
| 4 | Nashville Predators | On the Forecheck | ||||
| 1 last week | The Preds offense is hurting, and the team isn't helped by injuries to Martin Erat, Marcel Goc and Matthew Lombardi. | |||||
| 5-2-3, 13 pts | ||||||
| 3 | St. Louis Blues | St. Louis Game Time | ||||
| 5 last week | The Blues are averaging 34.6 shots per game. They only allow 25.8 shots per game. That's a good way to win. | |||||
| 6-1-2, 14 pts | ||||||
| 2 | Los Angeles Kings | Jewels From The Crown | ||||
| 3 last week | Kings fans booed Ilya Kovalchuk every time he touched the puck when he was in LA this week. Sarcastic laughter or silence would've been a better tactic. | |||||
| 8-3-0, 16 pts | ||||||
| 1 | Detroit Red Wings | Winging It In Motown | ||||
| 2 last week | The Wings lost Jimmy Howard for two games and didn't miss a beat. | |||||
| 6-2-1, 13 pts | ||||||