So the NHL season is roughly 1 third the way into the 10/11 season and there have been some surprises and a few nasty shocks.

Here are my Top 5 Hot & Not Power Ranking for the first third of the season, counting 5 down to 1.

Hot

5: Montreal Canadiens (17-8-2)

The Habs lead the Northeast, yet for the 71 goals they have scored they have no individual player with more than 9 goals.  Scoring by committee has worked well for them so far, and between the pipes Price is proving the team made the right choice in sending Halak away.

4: Washington Capitals (18-8-2)

The Capitals are leading the Southeast and tied at the top of the Eastern Conference with 38pts.  Their great win/loss figures are slightly dampened by a recent rough patch where they have gone 5-4-1 in their last 10 games.  Ovechkin, who leads the team with 38pts only has 11 goals and went through a long game goal drought recently.

3: Detroit Red Wings (17-4-3)

If you had to guess the top 2 goal scorers on the Wings right now, could you do it?  Surprising to some, Dan Cleary and Johan Franzen top the goal scoring with 12 and 11 respectively.  The Wings are perennial contenders, but age may be slowly catching up to them.

2: Dallas Stars (16-8-1)

Going into this season I doubt anybody (but Stars fans) would have believed the Stars would be leading the highly talented Pacific Division at this point of the season.  Brad Richards, in a contract year leads the team with 11 goals and 30 points.  Their recent run of 6 straight wins has a lot of people sitting up and taking notice.

1: Pittsburgh Penguins (18-8-2)

An easy choice considering their recent run is now up to 9 straight wins.  While Malkin has been very quiet on the scoring front, Sidney Crosby has been destroying opponents and currently has 23 goals and 46 points from just 28 games.

Not

5: Toronto Maple Leafs (9-12-4)

The Leafs have looked good at times, but can never seem to get over the hump.  Their 22pts have them sitting 13th in the east, and while they’re not yet out of the game, they do need to get their game on if they want to push for the top 8.

4: Calgary Flames (11-14-2)

The Flames sit at the bottom of the West on 24pts, which is a little surprising to some.  Problems between the pipes and a slow start by key players has many fans calling for the coach to be removed.  All is not lost though.  If Iginla picks up his scoring and the team has extra help from depth players they could crawl back into the game.

3: San Jose Sharks (12-9-4)

Heading into this season the Sharks were one of the top teams people proclaimed to be favorites for the cup, but they have played like a team possessed by sluggishness and lack of desire to win.  While their 28pts has them 12th in the west, they are only 5 points back from 2nd place.  Heatley, Marleau and Thornton are leading the way on the score sheet.

2: New York Islanders (5-15-5)

After a number of bad years many thought this may be the year the Islanders bounce back.  This is not the case.  With only 2 players with more than 7 goals, their highest scorer with just 15pts and a combined plus/minus of a horrid minus 127 (-127), the Isles are in all sorts of trouble.

1: New Jersey Devils (8-16-2)

The 100 million dollar man has just 5 goals and 11 points this season and a shocking -15 plus/minus.  But Kovulchuk can not bear responsibility for this teams woes.  Salary cap issues and a coach who on most teams would have been shown the door weeks back are just part of the problem.  Kovulchuk has been placed on his off-wing and forced to learn a defensive game… in many ways he has been set up to fail on the scoresheet.  A change needs to happen soon if this team wants to save some grace.