November 17, 2009
Player Power Rankings
Miller's Time

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. This week's MVP leaderboard continues to feature castoff backup goaltenders and young scorers. Reflecting their team's dominant run, two Devils have climbed into the top 10.

Puck Prospectus: Player Power Rankings

Although a few of the National Hockey League's brightest stars make the top 10, many new faces are atop the leaderboard in the early going.

   Player                  Off./Goalie GVT  Def. GVT  Shootout GVT  Total GVT 
1. Ryan Miller, G, BUF     11.1             0.1       1.6           12.8 
Miller leads the NHL in goals-against average, save percentage and wins. 
He's the Vezina leader at the quarter pole of the season. 

2. Evgeni Nabokov, G, SJ    9.7             0.1      -0.4            9.4 
The Sharks lead the NHL again, and Nabokov is one big reason. He gave up 
only five goals in regulation on 100 shots this past week. 

3. Craig Anderson, G, COL  10.4            -0.6      -0.8            9.0 
Anderson's hot start has cooled off, but Colorado remains atop the Northwest
for now. 

4. Antero Niittymaki, G, TB 8.5            -0.3       0.6            8.8 
Tied with Miller atop the league with a .939 save percentage. The Lightning
have climbed back into the playoff picture since turning over the No. 1
goaltender position to Niittymaki.
 
5. Anze Kopitar, F, LA      6.8             1.7       0.3            8.7 
In six of the Kings' past seven wins, Kopitar has netted at least two points.
In the other, he recorded an assist and the winning shootout goal. 

6. Alex Ovechkin, F, WAS    6.1             1.0       0.3            7.3 
Ovechkin's lone start this past week was so good that he's still No. 6 despite
being out for two weeks. 

7. Ilya Bryzgalov, G, PHO   6.0             0.5       0.6            7.1 
Bryzgalov is never mentioned among the league's elite, but he has never
recorded a save percentage worse than .906. 

8. Zach Parise, F, NJ       4.3             1.8       0.8            7.0 
With seven points in his past four games, Parise has pulled the Devils atop
the Eastern Conference.  

9. Martin Brodeur, G, NJ    5.2             0.4       1.3            7.0 
Brodeur is making a strong case to be Team Canada's starter in the 2010 
Olympics. 

10. Marian Gaborik, F, NYR  5.5             1.5      -0.2            6.7 
Gaborik already has exceeded his point total from last season. If he stays
healthy, 100 points is within reach. 

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.