Don't count out Bowman or his Red Wings in the West

Sporting News, The, Jan 1, 2001 by Larry Wigge

St. Louis: They think defense first as a team, but play the game at such a fast pace that it sometimes looks like they are a track team the way they move down the ice. You have to really keep your wits about you against the Blues. You have to get one man in hard against them and then block their passing lanes. But when you have defensemen as skilled as Chris Pronger and Al MacInnis, even then you don't always stop them.

San Jose: This team is for real. They play a gritty brand of defense--all hard work. Their turnaround started when Owen Nolan gained confidence that he was one of the top 10 players in the NHL. With him and Vincent Damphousse as their leaders, they have slowly added a good mix of players with draft choices like Jeff Friesen, Patrick Marleau and Marco Sturm up front and Marcus Ragnarsson and Brad Stuart on defense; And don't underestimate how good Evgeni Nabokov is. I saw him play quite a bit last season. And he was as good then as he is now.

Dallas: The Stars can't be taken lightly. They may not score a lot of goals, but they are always a threat in the playoffs because they have the ability to slow the game down and give up even fewer goals. Even with the change in rules, they seem to have been able to adjust to the way the game is played and translate that into wins."

Los Angeles: The Kings have great speed up front, and Rob Blake is having another banner season on defense. Andy Murray has this team playing very disciplined. They force you to make turnovers with their speed. The only question I see there is goaltending.

Of the other teams in the West, Bowman won't count out the Flames because of Calgary's play against Detroit this season. --L.W.

TSN's Power Poll

Rk.   Team                W-L-T-OL

 1.   St. Louis           22-4-4-0
 2.   Colorado            22-7-5-0
 3.   San Jose            21-7-4-0
 4.   Ottawa              19-8-6-0
 5.   New Jersey          16-11-5-0
 6.   Dallas              18-10-4-1
 7.   Phoenix             15-8-8-1
 8.   Los Angeles         15-11-7-1
 9.   Detroit             19-12-3-2
10.   Philadelphia        15-12-7-0
11.   Toronto             17-10-4-3
12.   Buffalo             17-11-3-1
13.   Vancouver           17-10-4-3
14.   Washington          14-12-7-1
15.   Edmonton            17-14-4-1
16.   Pittsburgh          14-13-6-1
17.   Atlanta             13-13-6-1
18.   Carolina            12-14-4-1
19.   N.Y. Rangers        16-18-1-0
20.   Nashville           12-16-6-1
21.   Anaheim             13-16-4-3
22.   Boston              12-15-4-3
23.   Tampa Bay           10-16-4-2
24.   N.Y. Islanders      10-17-4-2
25.   Calgary             11-15-6-4
26.   Chicago             12-18-2-2
27.   Minnesota           9-17-6-2
28.   Montreal            10-21-4-0
29.   Columbus            10-20-3-2
30.   Florida             6-15-7-5

Through last Thursday's games. The Power Poll is determined by Larry Wigge.

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