December 22, 2009
Player Power Rankings
Sid's Ascent

by Tom Awad

The Puck Prospectus metric GVT (goals versus threshold) allows us to compare players at every position to determine who the true leaders are. There wasn't much movement in the power rankings this week, with Sidney Crosby recapturing the top position among forwards and Henrik Lundqvist skyrocketing into the No. 10 spot.

For more on Lundqvist's recent magnificence, see E.J. Hradek's blog on the Monday 10.

Puck Prospectus: Player Power Rankings

While some top goalies struggled, the Rangers' Henrik Lundqvist shot up the rankings 17 spots this week.

Ryan Miller isn't letting go of the top spot any time soon, but the two goalies trailing him are putting up stellar stats, too.

Legend:

OGVT: Offensive GVT

GGVT: Goaltending GVT

DGVT: Defensive GVT

SGVT: Shootout GVT

GVT: Total GVT

Rank Player                   Last Week    OGVT/GGVT    DGVT    SGVT     GVT
1.   Ryan Miller, G, BUF       1           20.3         0.0     1.7     22.0 

Comment: You know it's a good season when a bad week for you is going 2-1 with a 0.927 save percentage. The Sabres are putting some distance between themselves and Ottawa and Boston atop the Northeast.

2.   Miikka Kiprusoff, G, CAL  2           15.3        -0.1    -0.7     14.5 

Comment: Saturday's loss to Nashville was the first time Kiprusoff let in three goals or more and stopped less than 90 percent of the shots he faced since Nov. 19 against Chicago (13 games).

3.   Sidney Crosby, F, PIT     6            8.5         2.2     2.5     13.1

Comment: The Penguins are looking unbeatable and Crosby is one big reason, with five points in three games (all wins) this week, including three on the power play, the Penguins' only weakness.

4.   Ilya Bryzgalov, G, PHO    3           12.8         0.5    -0.4     12.9 

Comment: Not Bryzgalov's best week, with a 1-2 record and an all-too-mortal 0.895 save percentage. It doesn't help that the Coyotes had to kill 17 penalties over the last three games.

5.   Marian Gaborik, F, NYR    4           10.4         2.4    -0.8     12.0 

Comment: Will John Tortorella's benchings and Thursday's 5-2 win over the Islanders mark a turning point for the Rangers? It would be nice to see Gaborik playing in April.

6.   Evgeni Nabokov, G, SJ     8           11.3        -0.2     0.9     12.0 

Comment: Though Nabokov only played in one of the Sharks' two games this week, a 4-1 win against Anaheim, it must have felt good to break the five-game losing streak.

7.   Alex Ovechkin, F, WAS     7           10.3         1.8    -0.2     11.9 

Comment: Down 2-0 against Edmonton Saturday, Ovechkin single-handedly turned the game around the way few other players can. He finished with two goals and an assist in the 4-2 victory.

8.   Zach Parise, F, NJ        5            7.3         2.8     1.7     11.7 

Comment: Parise has gone 10 games without a goal, but it doesn't feel like a slump: He's got seven assists over that period, and more importantly the Devils are 8-2.

9.   Henrik Sedin, F, VAN      9            8.6         2.1     0.0     10.7 

Comment: Sedin's Canucks are by far the best team currently out of the playoffs, having outscored their opposition by 19 goals and with the NHL's fourth-best offense, at 3.06 goals-per-game.

10.  Henrik Lundqvist, G, NYR 27           11.0        -0.5    -0.2     10.4 

Comment: Lundqvist was fantastic this week, stopping 122 of 129 shots for a 0.945 save percentage. It's a sure sign of how bad the rest of the Rangers have been that both Gaborik and Lundqvist make the top 10 even though the team is currently out of the playoffs.

A version of this story originally appeared on ESPN Insider .

Tom Awad is an author of Hockey Prospectus. You can contact Tom by clicking here or click here to see Tom's other articles.