Mike Brophy

Veteran hockey columnist Mike Brophy writes Mondays, Wednesdays and Friday on Sportsnet.ca and appears regularly on Hockeycentral.

1 Washington Capitals All eyes are on Alexander Ovechkin to see if he can overcome the disappointment of Russia's poor Olympic showing to lead the Caps to the Stanley Cup.

2. Chicago Blackhawks The high-flying Balckhawks are riding a four-game winning streak including three straight shootout victories.

3. San Jose Sharks Should the Sharks be concerned about the indifferent play of their top two stars, Joe Thornton and Evgeni Nabokov, at the Olympics given the team's history of playoff failures?

4. Los Angeles Kings There is a sense the Kings will do something big at the trade deadline to insure they not only make it to the playoffs, but stick around for a few rounds.

5. Phoenix Coyotes The Coyotes, despite two straight losses, remain one of the NHL's surprise teams, but they need to bolster the offence to be taken serious a month from now.

6. Ottawa Senators Alex Kovalev has come to life for the Senators with three goals and seven points in his last four games.

7. Pittsburgh Penguins With nine goals in his last seven games and an Olympic gold medal in hand, Sidney Crosby is primed to try to lead his club to back-to-back Cups.

8. Vancouver Canucks Roberto Luongo has the confirmation he was looking for; now can he do it in the Stanley Cup playoffs?

9. Colorado Avalanche The Avalanche is starting to show a little vulnerability with a 5-5 record in their last 10 games.

10. New Jersey Devils The Devils were certainly expecting more than one goal in six games from newcomer Ilya Kovalchuk.

11. Buffalo Sabres The Sabres will need Ryan Miller to be at his Olympic best for a significant playoff run.

12. Dallas Stars The Stars have settled on Marty Turco as their No. 1 goaltender and now it's time he reward them for the faith they have shown in him.

13. Calgary Flames Is the makeover complete? With a 4-3-3 record in their last 10 games, you'd think GM Darryl Sutter may have to do some more tinkering.

14. Nashville Predators Their top scorers have just 37 points so if the Predators are to be taken seriously David Poile had better bring in some offensive help.

15. Detroit Red Wings After an injury-filled season, the Red Wings have little time left to kick it into gear.

16. Philadelphia Flyers The Flyers departed for the break on a four-game winning streak and finally looking like a team that could be heard from in the playoffs.

17. Anaheim Ducks With 12 points in his last six games; Ryan Getzlaf looks primed to be the Ducks go-to guy down the stretch.

18. St. Louis Blues Chris Mason rolled off three straight wins to hit the 20-victory plateau.

Tampa Bay Lightning Just when it looked like the Lightning might make a charge up the standings they drop three in a row.

20. Montreal Canadiens No more time to coddle Carey Price; it's time to turn the crease over to Jaroslav Halak.

21. Minnesota Wild Martin Havlat, who has five points in seven games, needs to take his game to the next level for the Wild to be taken seriously.

22. Boston Bruins The Bruins dropped 10 in a row and looked like they were cooked, but four straight wins provides a huge sigh of relief.

23. New York Rangers Despite winning two in a row the sense is GM Glen Sather needs to be active at the deadline for the Blueshirts to make the playoffs.

24. Atlanta Thrashers It is going to take a miracle for the Thrashers to make the playoffs unless GM Don Waddel pulls a rabbit out of his hat this week.

25. Carolina Hurricanes The garage sale will continue as Jim Rutherford prepares his improving team for next year.

26. Columbus Blue Jackets It's Scott Howson's team now, but do the Blue Jackets have the money to bring in some help at the deadline?

27. Florida Panthers GM Randy Sexton is expected to clean house; something former GM Jacques Martin should have done a year ago.

28. New York Islanders John Tavares has 20 games left to get himself back into the rookie of the year race with Matt Duchene and Tyler Myers.

29. Toronto Maple Leafs Expect Brian Burke to continue tearing down his team in an effort to mold it in his image.

30. Edmonton Oilers Despite their 30th place standing, the Oilers could make huge strides next season depending on what GM Steve Tambellini does this week.