Here is the continuation of the best and worst current NHL teams. Rounding out the bottom of the pack are:

1. Montreal Canadiens

I’d go with a real splash here. As last year will attest, this team will go only as far as Carey Price’s play – he has to be magnificent this year to bring them into the playoffs. Currently in last place in the Northeast division, the undersized Habs are designed to succeed on the man advantage and in the finesse game. The problem is, they lack truly explosive players and depth. Scott Gomez, who somehow gets fifteen minutes of ice time a game, has one goal in last 56 games. Andrei Markov is missed direly on the blue line. And while I like both the addition of Erik Cole and the continued emergent play of P.K. Subban, this team seems woefully small and undermanned to do anything of note this season in a tough division.

2. Anaheim Ducks

Maybe they’re this low because I’m still bitter over the dropping of “Mighty” from their name. Or more realistically, it’s their recent stretch where they lost 16 of 18 games. Like the Habs, it is hard to keep them this low with all their top-end talent. But after their first two forward lines and their top defensive pairing, they lack punch. This season looks to spoil the end of Teemu Selanne’s Hall-of-Fame career, as well as a season in the prime of Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf, and Bobby Ryan’s careers.

3. New York Islanders

Another terrible season with terrible goaltending in a terrible arena under a terrible owner and General Manager. It’s a shame to see a classic team like the Isles fade like they have in the past decade.

4. Carolina Hurricanes

Now here’s another team that shouldn’t find themselves in this lowly place. With Eric Staal, Cam Ward, Jeff Skinner, and Thomas Kaberle, this team had the look of one that would compete for a playoff spot. Instead, they find themselves third-worst in goal differential (-25). They just fired their coach, Paul Maurice. I’m not so sure that fixes any of what ails this club.

5. Columbus Blue Jackets

This team has been spectacularly bad this year, garnering a league-worst 15 points in 24 games while sporting a -24 goal differential. This team is bad any way you slice it, and they should really do the honorable thing and sell off Rick Nash and Jeff Carter and save them from this mess.

Note: These rankings are based on statistics as of November 30, 2011.

Mark Bruso can be reached for comment at [email protected].