NHL Power Rankings - Week 6: Penguins move into top 5, Sharks, Stars drop

1. Los Angeles Kings

The Kings were $160 dollars of cap space short of icing a sixth defenseman this weekend. When you can't find an extra in Los Angeles, you've got a problem. 

2. Chicago Blackhawks

Marian Hossa hit 1,000 points this week, remains an elite player, and is basically the NHL version of Mario in a Super Mario-brand party game. He's fast enough to skate around the Bowsers and big enough to out-muscle the Yoshis. 

3. Tampa Bay Lightning 

The Lightning have won six in a row and at some point in the next month will welcome a Norris Trophy-caliber, 6-foot-5 defenseman back into the lineup. Thanks for showing up, rest of the Eastern Conference.

4. St. Louis Blues

In the time it took you to read this sentence Vladimir Tarasenko scored two more goals, one of them a goal of the year contender. 

5. Pittsburgh Penguins

Marc-Andre Fleury isn't the only entity to capitalize on something that was good in 2009. Catch the sixth season of Community exclusively on Yahoo this winter!

6. Anaheim Ducks

Jason Labarbera is still starting games in the NHL, which proves that time is a flat circle. Also a flat circle: Ryan Getzlaf's cranium.

7. Boston Bruins

The Bruins are reportedly interested in acquiring a defenseman, ideally a right-handed shooter who can capably hold down a first-pairing role on a good team. Garth Snow knows just the guy. 

8. Minnesota Wild

Busy couple of weeks for the NHL Player Safety Department. Watch for Stephane Quintal's parody video called 'Too Many Cookes'.

(Courtesy: SlashGear)

9. New York Islanders

The New York Islanders are legitimately good, but they could still use some work on their hashtag game (#ThatsSoDanish? Really?). 

Not to mention their intermission interview segment game:

10. San Jose Sharks

From major junior to the NHL to the hectic world of corporate finance, it's been a roller coaster season for Sharks forward Barclay Goodrow - the man with the best name in hockey:

11. Montreal Canadiens

Some men were born to float:

12. New Jersey Devils

Here's a photograph of a much younger Jaromir Jagr napping on a bench with his mom.

(Courtesy: @NHLhistorygirl)

Presumably he was dreaming of outrageous, spinning feeds:

13. Washington Capitals

Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby was given the 'Honest Abe hat' following his club's 3-2 victory over the Blackhawks this weekend. 

It was especially fitting since Holtby's stellar performance broke a three-game streak of four score starts. 

14. Detroit Red Wings

The Detroit Red Wings are pretty imposing for a club with a well-below-average defense corps. Even their fans are upping their games:

It would seem that the photobomb skills of Red Wings fans have come a long way in the past few years. 

15. Nashville Predators 

At some point Nashville's stable of diminutive centers might get exposed against tough Western Conference opponents. Until then, maybe the excel set can stop arguing that Mark Giordano is better than Shea Weber.

16. Dallas Stars

This week Stars captain Jamie Benn made headlines by interviewing teammate Tyler Seguin for ESPN. His first question should've been: "Hey, so, can you play the point?"

17. Vancouver Canucks

This weekend Wayne Gretzky opined that Ryan Miller might be the best free agent signing of the salary cap era. No, really:

There's a reason Gretzky's office was located behind the net rather than in the slot, since he's clearly unfit to operate out of a front office.

18. New York Rangers

Rangers assistant coach Ulf Samuelsson was upset and "embarrassed" by his club's feckless outing on Sunday against the Edmonton Oilers. In unrelated news, every Rangers player has now sustained a severe knee injury.

19. Toronto Maple Leafs

Maple Leafs fans love to post screen caps of the NHL standings when the team is doing well early in the season, but I haven't seen a single facebook status update on the club's solid +5 goal differential - the fourth-best mark in the East.

20. Arizona Coyotes

If the Coyotes hope to claw their way back into the thick of it, goaltender Mike Smith is going to have to get past his early-season struggles and shake it off. 

Conveniently, Taylor Swift is playing two dates at the Gila River Casino Arena in Glendale, Ariz. this month. 

21. Philadelphia Flyers

This week, we learned that Michael Del Zotto gets undressed much more often on the ice than off of it. 

22. Ottawa Senators

The only thing standing between Chris Phillips and the all-time Ottawa games played record is prime minister Stephen Harper, who has been demanding term limits for Senators for years.

23. Florida Panthers

On a serious note: NHL referee Dan O'Rourke deserves daps for calling out Panthers forward Jussi Jokinen's embellishment on Sunday without resorting to the typical half-measure of also doling out a coincidental minor to Flames defender T.J. Brodie.

The Panthers didn't like it, but this should happen way more often.

24. Columbus Blue Jackets

As if the injuries haven't been hard enough on Jarmo Kekalainen, he recently learned that IKEA doesn't print their instructions in Finnish.

25. Edmonton Oilers

The Oilers are giving new meaning to the term western alienation.

26. Calgary Flames

The Flames lead the league in pluck, minus the p. Also, they lead all Canadian teams in "getting brutally outshot consistently."

27. Winnipeg Jets

Some teams can outperform weak underlying numbers thanks to stellar goaltending. Long term, the Jets aren't one of those teams.

28. Colorado Avalanche 

The things the Avalanche do well result in a 41.1 percent Score Tied Corsi For percentage.

29. Carolina Hurricanes

The Carolina Hurricanes called up a defenseman named Michal Jordan on Monday, which should work out well, so long as he isn't called upon to run the Hornets. 

30. Buffalo Sabres

In an attempt to give a more honest effort, the Sabres will wear throwback Washington Generals jerseys the next time they face the Penguins.