Just because it’s Thanksgiving in America doesn’t mean that we don’t have this week’s Power Rankings. Today, all our American readers can be thankful for the NHL and our Power Rankings which has another team on top. When it came to picking the top team of heading into this week, I had two teams in mind but when one topped the other in a shootout, they clinched the top spot in the rankings for the first time this season.

#1 Philadelphia Flyers (Last Week #4)
Shockingly, after the weekend and having played the same number of games as Washington, the Flyers have scored more goals than any other team in the league. Granted, it’s by all of one, which conveniently was the margin of victory over the Caps last weekend. Yup, beat the Caps in the shootout and get top spot in the Power Rankings. The Flyers probably aren’t as deserving of being on top but Scott beat me in our Lowdown fantasy pool last week so his reward is seeing the Flyers on top. That and I don’t want to jinx my Wings.

#2 Detroit Red Wings (LW #3)
They’re the hottest team in the NHL and I think most of it is thanks to the leadership of the aging Nick Lidstrom. When I predicted that he’d win this year’s Norris Trophy as the league’s best defenceman, I did so out of sentimentality. I figured it would be nice to give the legend one last honour before he retired. And then he goes out and earns the damn award this season. Okay, we’re only a quarter of the way into the season but does anyone else have such a lead for an individual award? That’s what I thought.

#3 Washington Capitals (LW #1)
If you lay down and play dead against the New Jersey Devils of all teams, you don’t deserve to top the Power Rankings. Monday night, the Caps were demolished by the Devils 5-0. This is a Devils team that heading into the game that was one of if not the lowest scoring teams in the NHL. And if giving up five goals wasn’t bad enough, Washington got shutout by Johan Hedberg or whoever is the backup goalie is because Martin Brodeur was out with an elbow injury. Sorry, Washington, you might be one of the league’s better teams but you’ll convince no one of that with an effort like that.

#4 Los Angeles Kings (LW #2)
My favorite tweeter (or as John Cleese would put it, “twatter”) had this to say about Bristol Palin on Strictly Come Sequins: “Bristol Palin is fat, stupid and self-deluded: the American trifecta. She will go far.” Good old Buzz. He speaks the truth. Americans seem to value those three qualities because most Americans are fat, stupid and self-deluded. No wonder why she appealed to voters who voted Tea Party and non-Tea Party alike despite being described as lead-footed. Of course, we’ve missed two important points in this discussion: 1) Why should anyone care about a reality TV popularity contest framed inside a game show? and 2) How is the hell is Bristol Palin considered a star?

#5 Montreal Canadiens (LW #8)
I’ve finally picked up Ken Dryden’s book The Game. I’m not sure if I can call this an autobiography because he wrote it while he was 31 and it is really about a week in his life with all the funny and relevant stories to what he observed and what happened during that week. It’s amazing that a hockey player is as smart as Dryden. He’s able to paint a picture with words that most fiction writers can’t match on their best days. The guy is a certified genius. The Liberal party would have a majority government right now if Dryden was the party leader. He’s not only a hockey legend but probably smarter than Mike Ignatieff.

#6 Colorado Avalanche (LW #20)
Your 2011 All-Star Game voting fact of the paragraph (since I’ll probably drop some more fun facts later on): Chris Stewart has more write-in votes from fans than the three Florida Panthers that are actually on the ballot. Stewart has  9,762 votes from write-ins. The trio of Tomas Vokoun, Bryan McCabe and David Booth have a grand total of 9,722. If it wasn’t a trio of Panthers, I would be surprised that three players from the same team couldn’t garner enough fan support to get more votes than a write-in guy no matter how deserving. But seeing as the Panthers have all of 3,000 fans, I’m not shocked.

#7 Columbus Blue Jackets (LW #18)
Since Columbus is the only team in Ohio (For some strange reason. You’d think that they’d be able to support a couple of NHL franchises.), they lose their analysis time to Ohio’s newest Canadian hero. Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto crushed the competition en route to winning the 2010 National League MVP award. He becomes the third Canadian MVP in the MLB after Larry Walker and Justin Morneau. My question is how does Albert Pujols get the one first-place vote? Bunch of homers they’ve got in St. Louis.

#8 Boston Bruins (LW #11)
After Tuesday’s games, the #3 team in goal differential is Boston. Granted, that’s almost entirely because the Bruins have the fewest goals against in the league. Interestingly, the Bruins are 0.500 at home but five games above 0.500 on the road. Amazingly, the one team with a better road record is the Columbus Blue Jackets. Anyway, if the Bruins are playing this well on the road with that good a goal differential, their home record will improve at some point. The numbers say so but so does common sense.

#9 St. Louis Blues (LW #5)
I’ve got nothing for the Blues this week. Has Nelly been up to anything noteworthy lately? How about NASCAR’s Wallace brothers? The only noteworthy thing I can write about the Blues is that they’re undefeated in regulation at home. There’s nothing quite like sending the home fans home happy to encourage people to come out to the games. If you’re more likely than not to win at home, that’s gotta fill the seats.

#10 Pittsburgh Penguins (LW #12)
We’re just a little over a month away from the Winter Classic at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh. I honestly thought that the WC would be a gimmick game that would crash and burn against a full slate of college football bowl games. While it’s not an NFL-scale draw, it’s still the league’s biggest regular season game on the NHL slate. And it’s good to see it hold its own against the corrupt BCS system. Whether or not that had anything to do with the WC’s popularity is debatable but we can all agree on one thing: Outside in the middle of winter is where hockey belongs.

#11 Phoenix Coyotes (LW #10)
Coyotes enforcer Paul Bissonnette is probably the best NHL player on Twitter and has been using it to promote a write-in campaign for the All-Star Game. But that’s not the only thing that he’s made news for this week. He also had his CrackBerry stolen from him while he was in a Holt Renfrew store in Edmonton. The problem is that he’s got all sorts of contacts of NHLers and other famous people including Brody Jenner, Tom Green and Sidney Crosby. One of those things is not like the others, I would say. I’d admonish him for not having his phone better secured but I sure as shit don’t know how to put a password on it when you unlock it.

#12 Vancouver Canucks (LW #7)
Good news for Canadian university football fans, including myself: the 2011 Vanier Cup will be played in Vancouver on Grey Cup weekend. The increased exposure of the CIS game that came during the 2007 Grey Cup weekend in Toronto has yet to be matched over the last two years’ games in Hamilton and Quebec City. Sure, the VC won’t be the big draw in Vancouver but a combination of university fans, CIS diehards and curious folks already in town for the Grey Cup and willing to buy discount tickets to a national title game should make for a respectable turnout. That and I should mention that Canadian college football has a playoff system. Just saying.

#13 Tampa Bay Lightning (LW #14)
Somehow, someway, Steven Stamkos is only fourth in voting for forwards in All-Star balloting. Granted, he plays for Tampa so local fan support will be minimal. But you realize that even disregarding fan campaigns, we can’t trust fans to vote for All-Star starters. That’s why we need this captain’s pick system to divide the teams. Stamkos is behind Crosby and Ovechkin in voting for forwards which is understandable because they’re the faces of the NHL. But he’s also behind Jonathan Toews. Being on the cover of NHL 11 is not reason to be voted in as a starter in the All-Star Game!

#14 Anaheim Ducks (LW #6)
Poor Jackie is going to kill me one of these days. I bounce his Ducks around so much in the Power Rankings that you’d think they were an over-inflated basketball. Though he’s more likely to kill me for trying to gauge his reaction to my Power Rankings. That makes me think, there hasn’t been the sort of outcry from fans complaining about my rankings. For something so hotly searched on Google, the PRs just don’t get the sort of comments that some of the other ones get. Mind you, traffic has something to do with that. Just because some people click on us doesn’t mean we’re as popular as ESPN… The hockey-hating bastards. Yes, that’s an old and no longer apt stereotype but it’s still real to me dammit.

#15 Minnesota Wild (LW #18)
Since I talked about Ken Dryden in #5, I’ve had to save my GT5 hype for a bit. Yes, yesterday was the big day that I’ve been looking forward to for a couple of years. It was the release of Gran Turismo 5. I’ll have a review later but for now I’ll say it’s awesome. I can’t help but feel a little disappointed, though. The game is great but all this waiting and hype does lead to a little let down when it actually happens. Like with Mass Effect 2, I was so hyped with it but a little down while playing through it. Couldn’t explain it. Loved the game and I think it’s Game of the Year calibre. Maybe I’m just weird in that I love the wait and hype more than the payoff.

#16 New York Rangers (LW #9)
I’ll drop the link on Sunday but I’ll tease Down Goes Brown’s written version of hockey’s unwritten code. One heading of it is “Punishable Acts” which are violations of the code that are deserving of a punch in the face. The fifth bullet point reads “Being Sean Avery.” It’s funny because it’s true. The guy is such a hateful little douchejuice that you want to see him get drilled every chance that someone gets. But that’s also good for hockey. Rivalries and villans help sell the game to casual fans. Everyone should hate Avery and the more we hate him, the more it helps sell the NHL. Let’s hope that he keeps a job with the Rangers otherwise we’ll be short on our Avery bashing fun.

#17 Chicago Blackhawks (LW #15)
The Blackhawks are finally above 0.500. Okay, 0.500 is probably more of a relative thing in the NHL because of the occasional three-point game. I remember someone once telling me that the average points awarded per game is 2.2 rather than 2 (which is why I support a European-style 3 points per game system). Anyway, the Blackhawks are finally hovering closer to their real level of play right now. They’re likely to be a playoff team this year but will most likely scrape in by the skin of their teeth. Gotta love the cap right now.

#18 Dallas Stars (LW #24)
Congrats to Josh Hamilton who was just named the American League MVP. It’s good to have a feel-good story in baseball after years of stories about steroids and gambling. Okay, the gambling stories are fairly old but you get the point. Even if he’s a born-again Christian (if memory serves), I respect the fact that he’s turned around his life and made something of himself even though I’m not a fan of organized religion. Ozzie Guillen said that Hamilton could be one of the all-time greats. I hope Oz is right because he’s just what baseball needs right now.

#19 San Jose Sharks (LW #13)
Damn it, San Jose, stop proving me wrong. You’ve proven everyone else that predicts playoff success for you wrong so why shouldn’t you prove me wrong with my predictions of regular season success. Why does anyone believe in this franchise anymore? The front office clearly has no clue. You’ve got a good coach and a talented nucleus of Thornton and Marleau. You’ve got to blow the damn thing up. Fire the GM and rebuild from the net out. Say what you will about Nabakov in the playoffs, he could at least get it done in the regular season. This team is in classic Leafs purgatory right now: Needing to rebuild but not willing to give it a full go.

#20 Carolina Hurricanes (LW #23)
Even the home team fans are getting hyped for the All-Star Game. Cam Ward has more votes than Roberto Luongo. There are strong write-in campaigns for Chad LaRose and Jeff Skinner. I know that everyone craps on Carolina as not being a traditional hockey market that doesn’t support their franchise in the tough times (and rightly so) but at least they have fans that are getting out to vote. More than we can say for other teams’ fans. *COUGH* Florida. *COUGH*

#21 Nashville Predators (LW #19)
There are two teams this season that are undefeated in the shootout after at least three attempts. One, unsurprisingly, is the Los Angeles Kings. The other are these very Nashville Predators. I have no idea how they managed to pull that off but they have. And while wins are important, they’re really screwing themselves if they end up in a tiebreaker for a playoff spot at season’s end. After all, the new tiebreaker is most wins excluding shootout wins. That’s why Minnesota at 0-2 in the shootout are in a better position already than Nashville.

#22 Florida Panthers (LW #25)
Of all the places to hold it, I just can’t understand why NASCAR insists on holding their season-finale weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway which is about 25 miles from downtown Miami. Since when did Miami have any sort of history in stock car auto racing? Now Daytona, also in Florida, is NASCAR’s second home. So why aren’t spiritual stock car racing homes like Daytona, Charlotte or Atlanta hosting the final race of the season? Hell, even Las Vegas, which is quickly becoming a racing hotbed, would be a better choice to host the last race of the year. A poor call by the powers that be in NASCAR but they lucked out that they got a decent race.

#23 Buffalo Sabres (LW #22)
Just when things were looking up for the Sabres, Ryan Miller goes and reaggravates that hip injury that kept him out for most of the early part of this season. But that’s not the worst part of this re-injury. After all, they can call up Enroth from the AHL because playing Patrick Lalime is like guaranteeing a loss. No, I just traded for Miller in one of my fantasy pools and the deal didn’t go through until Monday. I couldn’t cancel it so I’m stuck with an injury liability and can’t replace him unless he goes on the injured list. Yup, screwed myself in a fantasy pool once again.

#24 Ottawa Senators (LW #17)
Remember a while back when I was hesitant to rank the Sens high because their goal differential made me think they weren’t that good? Guess what? At -16, they’re not that good. Granted, goal differential doesn’t mean everything. Florida is +5 but below Ottawa in the standings by a point (though with two games in hand). That’s a 21 goal differential difference with a one-point difference in the standings. The biggest reason for that is goaltending. When your team GAA is 3.25, you probably aren’t winning games.

#25 Atlanta Thrashers (LW #21)
The Thrashers were the last team to get a write-up this week. Unfortunately for me, it’ll show because I’m out of things to write about. The one thing about this year’s Thrashers we can all agree about is that they’re very fortunate that Kovalchuk decided that he wanted to go to a contending team and that Chicago completely screwed up long-term salary cap management. Sure they’re not on the same level as Chicago but they’re far better than the Devils at the very least.

#26 Calgary Flames (LW #26)
Alas, poor Cabbie! I knew him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy; he hath borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is! My gorge rises at it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know not how oft. Where be your gibes now? Sorry, if you didn’t understand that but Cabbie has left The Score television network. And so ends the only reason to watch that channel aside from OUA football games on mute and the occasional Iron Sheik appearance. Yes, I just dropped Shakespeare in the Power Rankings.

#27 Toronto Maples Leafs (LW #29)
STOP THE PRESSES! The Leafs are moving up the power rankings. Wins over New Jersey and Dallas will do that to you. Are they better than those two teams? Well, yes to New Jersey (Curse of Kovi) and no to Dallas (Richards, Eriksson and even Jamie Benn are better than anyone on the Leafs). But calling up Nazem Kadri and Keith Aulie aren’t as much the desperation moves that the Toronto sports media would have you believe. They’re contributing to the Leafs’ cause without being game-changing saviours. They’re roll players. Brian Burke is pretty good at finding those guys.

#28 Edmonton Oilers (LW #27)
Fun fact of the day: There’s a guy in our Lowdown Fantasy Hockey League #2 that goes by the username “jordan eberle.” Not only that but his email address is… Well, I’m not going to disclose any part of it here but suffice to say that it also sticks along the line of that username previously mentioned. Could this be the actual Jordan Eberle who is one of the unsung heroes of the Edmonton Oilers and playing in the shadow of Taylor Hall? Or, more likely, is it just some guy who now has a famous name? That makes me think, should I email the guy to see if he’s the NHL’s Eberle or save myself from looking like a fool and letting him be.

#29 New Jersey Devils (LW #28)
What do you get when you double 29? You get the place that Ilya Kovalchuk is in voting for forwards for the All-Star game. With a paltry 7,669 votes, in 58th place is the $100 million man, Ilya Kovalchuk. He’s behind a Jussi Jokinen write-in campaign. Hell, based on the last season and a half, I’d take Jussi for the All-Star team over Kovi any day of the week. You can call it the season from hell for one of the best snipers in the game right now but reputation is no reason to get a paid vacation to the Carolinas.

#30 New York Islanders (LW #30)
Here’s what you need to know about dealing with the Islanders franchise: If you criticize the team for a personnel move, such as firing the coach, you will have your press credentials pulled. Islanders blogger (and former Communications VP) Chris Botta claimed that the team was wrong to fire coach Scott Gordon because the problems with the team weren’t the man behind the bench. Apparently, that was enough for the organization to say “Don’t come back.” The irony is that Botta himself made the Islanders the first pro team to embrace blogger coverage of the team and even created a special press box for bloggers. I guess the medium is no longer the message for the Islanders.