Power Rankings

Senators replace Devils atop the list to begin the season

When we last turned off the lights at Power Rankings Central, the Devils were on top of the heap, and were making their plans to pass the Stanley Cup around the world in revelry.

Nearly four months later, the Cup has many new -- and likely R-rated -- stories surrounding it, and many family members and friends have smooched the silver.

As the curtain goes up on a new reason, the Ottawa Senators have jumped ahead of the defending champs by virtue of re-signing Bryan Smolinski, and handing a larger role to emerging stud Jason Spezza. Sure, Martin Havlat is holding out and Magnus Arvedson wasn't re-signed, but the Sens' depth is scary even without those two.

Meanwhile, New Jersey is minus Joe Nieuwendyk, Ken Daneyko and Oleg Tverdovsky, the former two of which were key veterans with six Stanley Cup rings between them. As long as Martin Brodeur is in goal, the Devils have a shot at the Cup. But the Devils' Big Four defenders (Scott Stevens, Scott Niedermayer, Brian Rafalski and Colin White) will have to shoulder more of the load this season while New Jersey breaks in youngsters David Hale and Paul Martin.

The Red Wings, Avalanche and Stars should provide a thrilling, down-to-the-wire race for the top spot in the West, but the real beasts are in the East again, and the Stanley Cup will be decided in the Eastern Conference finals.

SI.com's Jon A. Dolezar Rank LW Team 1 - Ottawa Senators (0-0) Considering that the last possible day of the 2004 Stanley Cup finals would be on June 7, it might not be a bad idea to book a hotel room near Parliament Hill for the biggest party -- and the first thing unanimously agreed upon in Ottawa -- for quite some time. 2 - New Jersey Devils (0-0) Losing Nieuwendyk hurts, but the team did OK without him in the Stanley Cup finals, and Igor Larionov may have one final decent season left in his old bones. Jersey will be there in the end, battling hard with Ottawa and Philadelphia in the East. 3 - Detroit Red Wings (0-0) It will be strange to watch the Red Wings try to win low-scoring games, but after filling Sergei Fedorov's salary slot with big, bruising Derian Hatcher, Detroit is going to think defense first for the first time in a long time. 4 - Colorado Avalanche (0-0) Colorado's top line of Peter Forsberg, Milan Hejduk and Alex Tanguay hopes to break out of their preseason slump when they combined for only seven points in 16 games. Here's guessing that they average slightly more than .4375 points per game as a line over the course of the season. 5 - Dallas Stars (0-0) Bill Guerin's injury killed the Stars in the playoffs against the Ducks, so his return to health is key. And Mike Modano could be poised for a Hart Trophy-worthy year, especially if he a) gets moved to wing permanently; b) plays center and skates the majority of the year with Guerin and Jere Lehtinen on his wings; or c) says "Screw defense!" and tries to score 50 goals. 6 - Philadelphia Flyers (0-0) The Flyers are banking on the fact that Roman Cechmanek being 2,402 miles away when the playoffs begin will solve their problems. If Jeff Hackett fails, expect him to take the brunt of the blame and be exiled to San Jose or some equally distant Western outpost next season. 7 - Tampa Bay Lightning (0-0) Vaclav Prospal was huge last season, but Vincent Lecavalier, Brad Richards and Martin St. Louis are all for real and will pick up the offensive slack, along with offseason acquisition Cory Stillman. If the defense holds up, the Lightning should win the Southeast again. 8 - St. Louis Blues (0-0) Getting a healthy Chris Pronger back is key, and the Blues' top three defensemen of Pronger, Al MacInnis and Barret Jackman is scary good. But the duo of Chris Osgood and Brent Johnson remains suspect in net. Don't be surprised if CuJo heads back to where it all began for him. 9 - Vancouver Canucks (0-0) Dan Cloutier peaked about six months too soon. Cloutier's November was amazing, but his Aprils haven't been so hot. With Johan Hedberg now in the fold, Marc Crawford has another option if Cloutier proves to be too shaky for what appears to be an otherwise Cup-contending roster. 10 - Anaheim Mighty Ducks (0-0) Thanks a lot, Adam Oates and Steve Thomas. Now don't let the door hit you in the ass on your way out. The Ducks got younger in the offseason, but did they get better? Their surprising Stanley Cup run will be a tough act to follow. 11 - New York Rangers (0-0) The playoff drought will end. If it doesn't, Glen Sather's tenure with the Blueshirts will. 12 - Los Angeles Kings (0-0) Once they get healthy -- OK, if they get healthy -- the Kings will be a fun team to watch. Andy Murray is among the league's best motivators, and getting to watch superpest Sean Avery play an entire season for Murray will be a treat. It's entirely possible that Murray will have a permagrin on his face during each of Avery's 20-odd shifts per game. 13 - Boston Bruins (0-0) Felix Potvin was the best they could do? I know Jeremy Jacobs always likes to do things on the cheap, but The Cat was really the best option? I'd like the Bruins' chances better if they went with Andrew Raycroft as their full-time starter and had kept Steve Shields to back him up. 14 - Edmonton Oilers (0-0) No team does more with less resources than the Oilers. If a new CBA evens the playing field for small-market (and Canadian) teams, the combination of Craig MacTavish and Kevin Lowe could bring a contender back to Edmonton. But living under these rules, the Oilers are a middle-of-the-pack team who will make another first-round exit. 15 - Washington Capitals (0-0) Jaromir Jagr is still capable of a 100-point season. But he sulked through much of the preseason, and still appears unhappy that the team tried to trade him in the offseason. The Caps will be lucky to make the postseason if Jarda goes in the tank ... or they could contend if he suddenly gets motivated and tries to prove he's worth the crazy jack he's getting paid. 16 - Toronto Maple Leafs (0-0) The Leafs' defense is below average with Ken Klee. Before they signed him, it was frighteningly bad. Robert Svehla deserves some of the blame for leaving the team high and dry by retiring. Ed Belfour was amazing last season, but even The Eagle will struggle behind this blueline bunch. 17 - Minnesota Wild (0-0) No Marian Gaborik equals no playoffs. See, now wasn't that simple? 18 - Buffalo Sabres (0-0) The Sabres were among the most active teams in the offseason, and better results should come of it. The additions of Chris Drury and Andy Delmore will upgrade the offense significantly. If the three-headed monster of Martin Biron, Mika Noronen and Ryan Miller can stay steady in the nets, Buffalo could be playoff-bound, just one year after nearly going the way of the dinosaur. 19 - New York Islanders (0-0) Steve Stirling led the Islanders to a perfect preseason. That will be something nice to reflect on in April when they miss the playoffs. 20 - Calgary Flames (0-0) Jarome Iginla could again contend for the Rocket Richard Trophy, but who will score other than Iggy? Steven Reinprecht is still recovering from shoulder surgery, and without Rhino to center the second line, the Flames' top line of Iginla, Craig Conroy and Dean McAmmond will get checked to death. 21 - Montreal Canadiens (0-0) The Habs need Jose Theodore to return to his 2001-02 form, because with the team in front of him, the 2002-03 version of Theodore would get battered again in 2003-04. 22 - San Jose Sharks (0-0) Nothing can be as bad as last season was for the Sharks. Heck, their 2002-03 season read like a script from Melrose Place. Only Mike Ricci and his crooked schnoz aren't quite as attractive as Heather Locklear and her perfect bod. 23 - Florida Panthers (0-0) The Panthers have more players into Hilary Duff than any other team. Florida's reliance on youngsters continues with the arrival of Nathan Horton, who had three goals and one assist in four preseason games. 24 - Columbus Blue Jackets (0-0) Ray Whitney's departure leaves a scoring void to fill, but Rick Nash proved as a rookie that he was ready to take on a bigger role. If the Jackets get Nikolai Zherdev out of his Russian army committment, their season outlook might improve. 25 - Atlanta Thrashers (0-0) A season of promise was shattered by Dany Heatley's violent car accident on Sept. 29. Even with the fiery Bob Hartley leading and inspiring them, it will be hard for the Thrashers to overcome Dan Snyder's death. And without Heatley for likely the entire season, Atlanta's playoff hopes are slim, at best. 26 - Nashville Predators (0-0) They still don't have enough scoring, but the Predators may have the league's newest phenomenon in Jordin Tootoo. The pint-sized fireball is poised to become the first Inuit to play in the NHL, and anyone who watched him play in the World Juniors last year realizes what an impact player he can be, with the emphasis being on impact. If nothing else, the Preds will make the highlight reels more often because of Tootoo's thunderous checks. 27 - Chicago Blackhawks (0-0) Chicago will have three exciting rookies to watch in Igor Radulov, Tuomo Ruutu and Pavel Vorobiev. The locker room will be a better place without Theo Fleury and Phil Housley. Unfortunately, the record will be much worse, as the 'Hawks go through growing pains with their young players. 28 - Carolina Hurricanes (0-0) Eric Staal led the NHL with seven goals in the preseason and could contend for the Calder Trophy if he remains on the Hurricanes' top line with Ron Francis and Jeff O'Neill. Jim Rutherford did a great job remaking the blueline with Bob Boughner, Danny Markov and Glen Wesley, but there isn't enough scoring in Raleigh to improve much from last year. 29 - Phoenix Coyotes (0-0) Well, the new jerseys are a nice start. The new arena is coming along well, too. Now about that team. ... The Coyotes have too many holes to be considered a playoff team, but a trade of Sean Burke could yield some additional pieces to rebuild around. New captain Shane Doan is poised for a breakout year, but the trade of former captain Teppo Numminen has left an inexperienced blueline behind, one that will make for a lot of long nights in net for Burke, Brian Boucher or Zac Bierk. 30 - Pittsburgh Penguins (0-0) It's going to be a long year in Pittsburgh for everyone not named Konstantin Koltsov. The speedy young Russian won the NHL equivalent of the lottery, getting the right wing spot on the Pens' first line with Martin Straka and Mario Lemieux. Sebastien Caron and Marc-Andre Fleury will keep the Pens in a lot of games, but they are going to see a lot of rubber, and their goals-against averages will reflect that.

Jon A. Dolezar covers the NHL for SI.com. The Power Rankings will appear every Tuesday during the regular season.