Power Rankings through December 11th

First off, you, dear reader, have my humblest apologies for the lack of update last week. I made a bonehead move and didn't save my name database and by the time I had everything set up again it was late in the week so I decided just to wait until the end of the weekend. In the future, I'll try to make updates every Sunday night and if that fails I'll make them on Monday with results through Sunday.

As I explained in the previous version, these rankings use a simple logit model to account for schedule, score effects and special teams. The numbers you see in the chart represent the expected even-strength score-tied Corsi/Fenwick if the team played each team once, at home and away, and the total number of shots per game stayed the same.

Before getting to the rankings, here are a few notes, comments and anecdotes.

- Things have stabilized for the most part. The average team's rating has moved up or down only 0.6 percentage points for both Corsi and Fenwick. That's with the addition of about 6-8 games per team.

- Minnesota continues to amaze and... bewilder. Their rating dropped off the most in the league since the previous version, going from a mighty expected Corsi rating of 45.1% down to 43.2%, a drop of 1.9 percentage points moving them down to worst in the league in both Corsi and Fenwick. Their record in that time? 7-0-0. Is Tebow secretly suiting up for them?

- The team with the second-biggest drop in rating is Washington. The model has the Caps' effects-adjusted Corsi at 50.4%, a drop of 1.2 percentage points. The last time I did these rankings was just before Boudreau was sent packing in favor of Hunter, so the change is all on Hunter's watch. The Capitals have put up a Corsi of 45.2 since Hunter took over. Six games is a meaningless sample size, but it'll be something to keep an eye on.

- Remember when people were talking about the Stanley Cup hangover for both Boston and Vancouver? With Boston's fantastic November and Vancouver's great last 4 or 5 weeks, both have pulled themselves up in the standings after somewhat slow starts. They are both in the top 5 in the Corsi ranking. I don't think anybody expected the Canucks, at least their skaters, to forget how to play hockey but that is an improvement for Boston - the Bs were pretty average last year.

Here is the table:

Corsi Rank	Team	Corsi	Fenwick	Fen Rank
1	DET	57.6	57.4	1
2	VAN	55.6	54.9	3
3	PIT	55.4	54.9	3
4	STL	54.9	55.8	2
5	BOS	54.1	53.3	7
6	CHI	52.6	53.9	5
7	COL	52.5	52.2	8
8	S.J	52.4	53.6	6
9	PHI	51.7	52	9
10	PHX	50.7	50.1	14
11	WPG	50.6	51.3	10
12	CBJ	50.4	50.5	13
12	N.J	50.4	50.6	12
12	WSH	50.4	49.9	15
15	L.A	50.2	49.1	18
16	MTL	50	50.8	11
17	FLA	49.9	49.5	16
18	OTT	49.8	49.3	17
19	CGY	49.5	49.1	18
20	TOR	48.7	48.2	21
21	BUF	48.3	46.3	26
22	DAL	48	48.8	20
23	CAR	47.7	47.4	23
24	EDM	46.6	47.9	22
25	NYI	46.2	46.6	25
26	T.B	46.1	46.3	26
27	NYR	46	46.8	24
28	NSH	45.5	45.4	28
29	ANA	44.8	44	29
30	MIN	43.2	43.9	30