It took more than half the season, but the Ottawa Senators have finally been ousted form the top spot in the Sun’s weekly power rankings. By virtue of their 8-2 trouncing of Montreal on Tuesday, the surprising Carolina Hurricanes have risen to the top. And making matters worse for the rest of their Eastern Conference competitors, the ‘Canes made an aggressive move to improve on Monday, snaring playmaking center Doug Weight from St. Louis in exchange for three players and three draft picks.

Here’s how the teams line up in the power rankings this week. Statistically, teams are measured from left to right in record (as of the start of play yesterday), standings points, goals scored, goals allowed, power play success, and penalty-killing success. Note that our statistics for special teams effectiveness also take shorthanded goals into account. Each team’s ranking from last week appears in parentheses.

1 CAROLINA HURRICANES (2) Head coach Peter Laviolette (who will also be running the bench for Team USA at the Turin Olympics) has managed to get the most out of his hard-charging team. 37-11-4 78 197 157 17.8% 85.0%

2 OTTAWA SENATORS (1) The Senators are reeling a bit, and Monday’s 5-0 loss to the Bruins in Ottawa didn’t boost their confidence. Look for GM John Muckler to make an aggressive move soon. 34-11-4 72 200 114 19.2% 89.6%

3 DETROIT RED WINGS (5) GM Ken Holland is likely hoping that perennial backup Manny Legace will remain healthy and effective between the pipes in his first season as the official starter. Chris Osgood has proven to be inadequate. 34-13-5 73 186 134 22.8% 88.2%

4 DALLAS STARS (6) The Stars have come out on top in four straight overtime games and have won all eight shootouts in which they’ve participated, which is why they remain atop the Pacific Division. 35-15-2 72 162 136 15.3% 85.3%

5 PHILADELPHIA FLYERS (4) Despite suffering through an injury-plagued sea son, the Flyers remain atop the Atlantic Division. They just better hope Peter Forsberg will be at full strength when the playoffs begin. 31-13-8 70 177 160 16.9% 83.3%

6 BUFFALO SABRES (7) With 37 saves on 39 shots, Ryan Miller led the Sabres to victory in Atlanta on Tuesday, perhaps proving that he is the NHL’s best Americanborn netminder. 32-15-3 67 164 140 18.5% 87.8%

7 NASHVILLE PREDATORS (3) The Predators acquired some much needed scoring depth on Sunday when they traded Timofei Shishkanov to the Blues for Mike Sillinger. In 48 games with the Blues, Sillinger tallied 41 points, including a team-leading 11 power play markers. 31-14-6 68 159 146 15.9% 86.5%

8 NEW YORK RANGERS (9) With 33 goals and 76 points, Jaromir Jagr is on pace to set team records in nearly every major offensive category. Jean Ratelle holds the record for points (109), while the Adam Graves’s 52 goals in 1993-94 is a franchise-best. 29-15-8 66 159 130 13.1% 84.9%

9 CALGARY FLAMES (8) Rookie defenseman Dion Phaneuf has drawn com parisons to a young Scott Stevens, and is now a strong candidate to represent Canada in the Olympics if Bryan McCabe (groin) and Scott Niedermayer (knee) can’t go. 30-16-6 66 139 129 16.9% 84.1%

10 VANCOUVER CANUCKS (10) Hard-hitting blueliner Ed Jovanovski will be out 4-6 weeks, so GM David Nonis will be looking to fortify the team’s defense. The good news is that netminder Alex Auld has proven a capable replacement for Dan Cloutier. 30-18-5 65 179 160 17.0% 82.5%

11 EDMONTON OILERS (13) In two separate trades during the past week, the Oilers have significantly upgraded their defense, adding former Blackhawk Jaroslav Spacek and former Penguin Dick Tarnstrom. 28-18-6 62 168 159 16.7% 86.5%

12 COLORADO AVALANCHE (12) There was serious cause for concern about the goaltending in Denver, but David Aebischer has improved of late, setting a franchise record with nine victories in January. 29-1-9-5 63 194 165 18.3% 88.3%

13 LOS ANGELES KINGS (11) With 191 penalties, super-pest Sean Avery is by far the NHL’s leader; tied for a distant second are the Ducks’ Todd Fedoruk and the Caps’ Brendan Witt with 125. 30-21-4 64 182 177 13.0% 82.3%

14 ANAHEIM MIGHTY DUCKS (16) The pressing concern in Anaheim is captain Scott Niedermayer. Will he go in for arthroscopic surgery on his knee and take the Olympic break to heal in time for the playoffs, or will he represent Team Canada? 24-17-10 58 147 137 13.5% 86.8%

15 TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING (17) Persistent rumors have Brad Richards in a deal for a better goaltender, but if the Lightning want to win another Cup, they’d be wise to retain the 2004 Conn Smythe Trophy winner. 28-21-4 60 154 148 12.1% 85.5%

16 NEW JERSEY DEVILS (14) Patrik Elias’s line has been less dangerous of late, mostly because opponents now know where to focus their attention. A second effective scoring line will be needed if the Devils want to reach the playoffs, much less get past the first round. 26-20-6 58 143 149 16.0% 82.3%

17 SAN JOSE SHARKS (15) The Sharks’ season can be split in two: be fore and after the acquisition of Joe Thornton. The two prime beneficiaries have been forward Jonathan Cheechoo (21 of his 28 goals) and defenseman Scott Hannan (-19 before, +17 after). 23-19-7 53 149 145 14.0% 82.0%

18 TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS (19) Bryan McCabe returned to the Leafs’ lineup on Tuesday, and not a moment too soon; The Leafs lost eight of nine games they played without him. 25-22-5 55 163 172 17.8% 84.6%

19 MONTREAL CANADIENS (21) Earlier in the season, the Canadiens were nipping at the Senators’ heels, but now their playoff hopes are dubious at best. Will Jose Theodore ever return to MVP form? 23-21-6 52 144 169 17.4% 81.7%

20 MINNESOTA WILD (18) The Wild’s leader in virtually every crucial offen sive category, Brian Rolston is enjoying a career year in his first season in Minnesota. 25-24-4 54 152 135 16.1% 90.5%

21 PHOENIX COYOTES (22) They battled hard against Vancouver on Tues day night, but the Coyotes were clearly tired, and who could blame them? They were playing their seventh game in nine nights. 26-25-3 55 156 170 15.6% 82.2%

22 BOSTON BRUINS (23) Left for dead just a few weeks ago, the Bruins have come back to life, largely due to the heroic goaltending of career backup Tim Thomas. 22-22-8 52 152 159 13.3% 85.7%

23 ATLANTA THRASHERS (20) There were some concerns when Dany Heatley got off to a red-hot start in Ottawa, but summer acquisition Marian Hossa has emerged as the Thrashers’ best player. 23-24-6 52 180 184 18.0% 81.2%

24 NEW YORK ISLANDERS (25) With three straight victories, the Islanders improbably find themselves in the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff picture, just six points back of the eighth-place Leafs with a game in hand. 23-25-6 49 148 179 15.5% 80.6%

25 FLORIDA PANTHERS (24) Now that Carolina has acquired Doug Weight, the pursuit of Olli Jokinen is expected to reach a fever pitch. But if the Panthers have any hope of retaining goalie Roberto Luongo, they’ll likely need to re-sign Jokinen first. 20-25-8 48 136 162 12.5% 83.1%

26 COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS (28) That Columbus is 26th in the rank ings and still ahead of two division rivals means the Red Wings and Predators are enjoying the NHL’s easiest schedules by a wide margin. 20-30-2 42 125 185 12.8% 83.7%

27 WASHINGTON CAPITALS (26) Super-rookie Alexander Ovechkin is out with a groin injury, which makes the Caps far less watchable and could put his Calder Trophy hopes in jeopardy. 18-28-5 41 139 192 10.6% 81.5%

28 CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS (27) The news just keeps getting worse for in Chicago. The Hawks already lost Tuomo Ruutu and Nikolai Khabibulin to injury. Now defenseman Adrian Aucoin will be out for more than a month. 17-28-6 40 129 173 9.7% 85.4%

29 PITTSBURGH PENGUINS (29) With two wins in January, the Pens en sured another playoff-less season. The good news: They just might land top defense prospect Erik Johnson in June’s Entry Draft. 12-30-10 34 144 204 15.7% 80.1%

30 ST. LOUIS BLUES (30) The trades of Weight and Sillinger have gotten the ball rolling on the Blues’ rebuilding effort. As soon as Keith Tkachuk is healthy enough to play, he should be the next in line to leave town. 12-30-8 32 128 185 14.5% 82.4%

Mr. Greenstein, the editor in chief of InsideHockey.com, ranks the NHL’s best and worst each week in The New York Sun.