Don't know how many of you take stock in power rankings, but the SB Nation Hockey bloggers vote each week on the top ten teams in the league and the best in each conference.

Finally, we're back to a respectable spot so I feel okay posting this:

Western Conference Power Rankings
	Rk (Prv)	Team	Record	SB Nation Blog
	1 (1)	San Jose Sharks	14-4-4	Fear The Fin
	2 (5)	Chicago Blackhawks	12-5-2	Second City Hockey
	3 (2)	Calgary Flames	12-4-2	Matchsticks and Gasoline
	4 (10)	Detroit Red Wings	10-5-3	Winging It In Motown
	5 (4)	Los Angeles Kings	13-7-2	Battle of California
	6 (3)	Colorado Avalanche	12-5-3	Mile High Hockey
	7 (7)	Phoenix Coyotes	11-9-0	Five For Howling
	8 (8)	Dallas Stars	8-5-6	Defending Big D
	9 (6)	Columbus Blue Jackets	11-6-2	The Cannon
	10 (9)	Vancouver Canucks	11-10-0	Nucks Misconduct
	11 (12)	Nashville Predators	9-8-1	On the Forecheck
	12 (13)	St. Louis Blues	6-8-4	St. Louis Game Time
	13 (11)	Edmonton Oilers	8-10-3	The Copper & Blue
	14 (15)	Minnesota Wild	7-11-2	Hockey Wilderness
	15 (13)	Anaheim Ducks	6-10-3	Battle of California

The Wings didn't crack the Top 10 but I feel they're on the way to doing so. Just a side note, only Western Conference bloggers vote on the Western Conference while everyone votes on the Top 10, in case you were wondering about the results being different.

More photos » by Carlos Osorio - AP

6 months ago: Anaheim Ducks winger Drew Miller celebrates teammate center Todd Marchant's goal during the third overtime period of Game 2 of a second-round NHL hockey playoff series, Sunday, May 3, 2009 in Detroit. The Ducks defeated the Red Wings 4-3. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

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Today, the Red Wings claimed Drew Miller off of waivers from the Tampa Bay Lightning. Drew is the 25-year-old brother of Buffalo Sabres star goaltender Ryan Miller. Like Ryan, Drew Miller played at Michigan State, even serving a season as the Spartans captain.

He's played 67 NHL games over the past three seasons - most with the Ducks. He's entering the final season of a contract that pays him $525,000 at the NHL level (and $105,000 if he's demoted to the AHL). He will be a restricted free agent, giving the Red Wings the right to match any offer that he may receive in July. 

On the surface, it seems like a great depth move, especially given the rash of injuries our boys in the Winged Wheel have endured lately. With Johan Franzen, Valtteri Filppula, and Jason Williams all on long-term IR, there's more than enough cap space - and the need for bodies was becoming somewhat comical. 

He will be the 13th healthy forward when he joins the team tomorrow, in time for the game against the Canucks. Whether or not he plays remains to be seen, but NHL.com has him listed as #20 for the Red Wings. Take that, Robert Lang/Aaron Downey/Mickey Redmond/Brad May/Luc Robitaille!

Lots of Wings blogs have picked up the story - many with some great analysis of the move. Be sure to check them out:

Babcock's Death Stare

Bruce MacLeod

Motown Wings (who, by the way, called this waiver pick up yesterday)

Nightmare on Helm Street

Snapshots

The Production Line

Photo from detnews.com

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Continuing with the recent posts about Red Wings in this year's class of the Hockey Hall of Fame, Luc Robitaille was inducted with fellow Red Wings Brett Hull and Steve Yzerman. Robitaille's two years in Detroit were the least among the three former players inducted but that does not say he had a small impact on the club. 

When scoring 668 career goals and adding 726 assists, "luck" has nothing to do with it despite what his nickname may suggest. His 668 career goals are the most all-time for any left winger and 10th all time. Robitaille made the All-Star team 8 times, quite incredible for a guy drafted in the 9th round (171st overall) in 1984.

During his rookie year, in which he played 79 games, Luc scored 45 goals and tallied 39 assists. That blazing first season with the Kings earned him the Calder Trophy for top rookie, the only King to ever win it. Robitaille scored 40 or more goals during each of his first eight seasons in the NHL, all with the Los Angeles Kings.

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More photos » by Jerry S. Mendoza - AP

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As if a 5-1 loss wasn't bad enough, the Wings will now be without Jason Williams for at least two months. Williams had his right leg buckle underneath him in the second period and it was caught underneath the weight of his body as he fell. The injury is apparently to the lower part of the fibula which probably means the "at least two months" part will be closer to 4 months before he can fully recover. Here's what Babcock had to say following the game:

"Losing Willy was a blow to us," Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. "He's playing more minutes and in more situations than we anticipated. But that's just the way it's gone."

Williams was indeed playing more minutes and starting to adjust to the system again during his second stint with the team and was on one of the power-play units with his rocket of a shot. Detroit has already lost Johan Franzen and Valtteri Filppula to injury and the depth that was the strong point of the team last year is starting to show as the weakness in this season's team. When the Red Wings announce a call-up replacement for Willy, we'll be sure to fill you in. 

More photos » by Paul Sancya - AP

Pavel Datsyuk has started to get going.

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Actually, do look now. Things are starting to return to normal for this team as the season progresses. Following a 3-4-2 start, the Red Wings have turned it around by going 4-0-1 in their last five games contests. Four of the five teams they've played in those games were playoff teams last year, including knocking off last year's regular season conference champions in both the East and West. In fact, Detroit has earned points in 8 of its last 10 games--totaling 13 of a possible 20 points. What's behind the reason for the recent winning ways? Let's take a look at a few things:

• Coaching: You had to know that Mike Babcock could only tolerate the poor performance for so long before whippin' the boys into shape. To me, the biggest sign of this was yanking Chris Osgood from the net against Vancouver after surrendering two quick goals. Babcock showed that it doesn't matter how Cups you have; if you don't play well enough to be in there, you won't be. Same has been true as line-ups have been juggled very often to accommodate the up and downs of the players.
• Better execution: The first half of the season so far was filled with sloppy passing and ineffective chances in the offensive zone. The stars have stepped up following the loss of guys like Valtteri Filppula and Johan Franzen to injury and others to illness. In the past five games, Pavel Datsyuk has 8 points and is really finding his stride while carrying the team. That Henrik Zetterberg guy isn't that bad either...
• Just a matter of time: The least statistically tangible of the bunch, this is more for our own personal sanity. This team is too good to sit under .500 for too long so it's good to see that indeed the team is more on track than the beginning. A lot of new guys-so maybe the old saying that chemistry has to be built before you can win is ringing true. Bertuzzi's starting to factor into the equation and so is Williams. Datsyuk/Zetterberg can get the puck to these guys or benefit from their passing so it's good to see them getting going.
• Tightening of defensive/goaltending: Don't know if I have to go further than saying the defense is playing much much better and so is Chris Osgood. Being pulled like that in Vancouver will do a lot for motivation and drive any sort of complacency out the window. Nick Lidstrom is solid as always and the other guys are starting to come around in his footsteps.
  
• Hopefully it lasts is all I have left to say

What do you think about it?

More photos » by Nam Y Huh - AP

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Pavel Datsyuk is sitting for tonight's game against the Kings as a result of an undisclosed body injury. This means lines will be shuffled a bit in order to fill the spot.

Here's a look at the lines for tonight's game, thanks to Ansar Khan of MLive.com:

Bertuzzi-Zetterberg-Cleary

Leino-Filppula-Williams

Helm-Abdelkader-Eaves

Holmstrom-Draper-Maltby

Lidstrom-Rafalski
Kronwall-Stuart
Ericsson-Lebda

Osgood

As you can see, Brett Lebda, Kris Draper, and Kirk Maltby all return to the ice tonight after being out for different periods of time. I particularly like the idea of putting Filppula's line back together, I think they've worked particularly well together.

More photos » by Gary Malerba - AP

about 1 month ago: The Detroit Red Wings' Jason Williams, right, is congratulated by teammates Niklas Kronwall (55) center, and Valtteri Filppula (51), left, after scoring a goal on the Washington Capitals during the second period at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit Saturday, Oct. 10, 2009. (AP Photo/Gary Malerba)

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On a night in which all eyes were looking for Johan Franzen, the Red Wings got great help from the powerplay and two secondary scorers. Chris Osgood played a sharp game in net for the second straight night to allow his teammates to stay in this game against the high powered Caps offense.

Matt Bradley opened the game's scoring early in the first period with a hard slap shot from  the face-off circle that squirted underneath Chris Osgood's left arm and gave the Capitals the lead with only 3:58 played. Detroit played better defensively and was able to draw two consecutive powerplays. Although unable to convert on the two chances, the Wings eventually scored soon afterwards. Ville Leino buried a puck in the crease at 15:49 after several chances by other Wings players were stopped by Jose Theodore. Dan Cleary and Valtteri Filppula were credited with the assists on the Leino goal, his second of the season. 

Osgood stonewalled Alex Ovechkin in the low slot on a give-and-go as the Capitals had a powerplay following a bad penalty to Niklas Kronwall. With under a minute to play, Osgood's toe save was huge in getting the Wings to the locker room with a tie after one period. The Caps were unable to score on the remainder of the powerplay to start the second period following some good defensive play by the Wings in the defensive zone. 

Alexander Semin took his second penalty of the second period to put the Red Wings on the powerplay. If you've wondered why Jason Williams is on the point for the powerplay, cue the video replay of the goal he scored at 16:26 of the second period. Williams received a pass from Kronwall and absolutely ripped a shot over Theodore's and under the crossbar for a 2-1 Detroit lead. Nicklas Lidstrom took a hooking call as the second period came to a close as Osgood over pursued a pass to Semin and Lidstrom had no choice but to hook him to prevent a wrap-around goal. The Capitals took advantage of the powerplay in the third period as Brendan Morrison fired a slapshot past Osgood for a tied game, 1:25 into the fresh period. 

Washington defenseman Mike Green took a hooking call to put the Wings on the man advantage again. Tomas Holmstrom scored about 30 seconds into the powerplay on a one-time shot in the slot from a Pavel Datsyuk pass for a 3-2 Detroit lead at 13:07. With the game winding down, Datsyuk/Zetterberg/Bertuzzi put on a clinic in puck possession and offensive pressure--limiting the ability for the Capitals to get anything going offensively as the seconds ticked off the clock. Following a brief, high intensity flurry at the end of the game, the Red Wings were able to give the home crowd something to smile about as they closed the game out with a 3-2 victory. 

The Red Wings scored twice on five powerplay chances and used the bad penalties by the Caps to keep the pressure in the offensive zone. Detroit outshot Washington 37-24 including an 11-4 third period count. The next game is on Tuesday, October 13 at Buffalo. 

MrNorrisTrophy's Player of the Game: Pavel Datsyuk. Could pick Fil (2 A) or Ozzie (22 saves) but Datsyuk was the key to this game. He won 50% of face-offs, had 3 takeaways, 5 shots on goal, primary assist on the winning goal, 22 minutes of ice-time and was a nightmare to defend for the Caps. 

Pavel Datsyuk

#13 / Center / Detroit Red Wings

Height: 5-11

Weight: 194

Born: Jul 20, 1978

More photos » by NIKLAS LARSSON - AP

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Hey folks, I'm sure some of you are wondering how the line-up might shake out with Johan Franzen out of the picture. Well it seems that for now at least Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk have been reunited on the top unit. Here's a quick look at the Red Wings line-up (thanks to Ansar Khan as usual)

Holmstrom-Datsyuk-Zetterberg
Leino-Filppula-Cleary
Bertuzzi-Abdelkader-Williams
May-Draper-Eaves

The defensive pairings are the same as Chicago, with Meech in for Lebda. Osgood will be in net as expected. As you can see, there have been quite a few changes. I think Filppula with Leino and Cleary is an excellent second line and the Abdelkader line could find some unexpected chemistry. Also of note, is the debut of Patrick Eaves. Maltby will be a healthy scratch for Eaves to appear tonight.