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Ross D. Franklin/Associated Press

30. Arizona Coyotes

The season is not even two weeks old, and already 34-year-old goalie Mike Smith is on the injured reserve list, with a left knee injury. Arizona can ill-afford that kind of loss in key personnel again. Smith missed much of last season to injury as well, and the Coyotes eventually plummeted.

The Coyotes won just one of their first five games, though in fairness four of the five were on the road. With Smith out, and nobody seems sure just how long that will be, the Coyotes lack the kind of quality netminder that can make up for what was always probably going to be one of the lower-scoring teams in the league.

By the way, how is Dave Tippett's job always safe? His teams have failed to make the playoffs for four straight seasons. Coaches with much better records than that have been let go, but somehow Tippett is always secure in Arizona.

29. Calgary Flames

The Flames had four of their first six games at home, but entered Monday with a dismal 1-4-1 record overall, the latest setback a 6-4 loss to the Blues. The goaltending, which was supposed to have been bolstered by the addition of free agent Brian Elliott, has been terrible.

The Flames have already allowed a league-worst 27 goals. Elliott didn't even get the start Saturday against his former team, St. Louis. Meanwhile, youngster Johnny Gaudreau hasn't exactly impressed since signing a six-year, $40.5 million contract; Gaudreau had one goal and a minus-7 in the first six games.

28. Winnipeg Jets

Rumors continue to swirl about the potential availability of defenseman Jacob Trouba and goalie Ondrej Pavelec. And those, no doubt, are major, unwanted distractions for coach Paul Maurice and general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff.

Trouba has requested a trade, and is not even with the club. Cheveldayoff, known as one of the more deliberate GMs in the league, maintains he won't deal him for anything less than his desired value in return. Well, he better not wait too long. The club's won-loss record likely will be the ultimate arbiter of how fast deals get done, but Winnipeg's start was nothing to brag about. That includes Sunday's shutout loss in the Heritage Classic to Edmonton.

27. Carolina Hurricanes

After five games, they look like the same, old mediocre Hurricanes.

Carolina dropped to 1-2-2 with a 6-3 loss to the Flyers Saturday. They got out to a nice early lead, but the defense fell apart from there. It's going to be like this all year again probably. Carolina just doesn't have enough high-end talent and/or quality reserve depth to be a factor.

26. Columbus Blue Jackets

The Jackets got a nice 3-0 win over Dallas Saturday, to even their record at 2-2-0. So why are they so low in the rankings? Because we need to see more than just a four-game sample before buying in just yet.

Coach John Tortorella's team figures to be streaky much of the year. There certainly is good talent on hand, but this is a franchise that always seems to struggle out of the gate and one which still has never won a playoff series.