By Nick Obergan With the second extended absence of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin has reasserted himself as a dominant force in the NHL, looking like the same Malkin that won the Art Ross Trophy and was a Hart finalist in 2008-09. Malkin was ranked 17th through November, but has surged to #1, overtaking Jonathan Toews who dropped to #3 behind Malkin and teammate Marian Hossa. Speaking of surging, John Tavares has become an elite player this year, jumping from 45th to 4th in OCPR. The leader at the forward position last month, Phil Kessel, dropped to third place, as Chicago forwards (and OCPR staples) Jonathan Toews and Patrick Sharp have leaped ahead of him. On a per-game basis, only Crosby, Malkin and Claude Giroux have put up better numbers than Toews, while Sharp sits 9th and Kessel 12th in that regard. Defensively, young Swede Erik Karlsson, who leads all defensemen in scoring, has also leaped over some great players to lead in OCPR. He has established a bit of a cushion ahead of Shea Weber, Alexander Edler and Zdeno Chara, who dropped from 1st to 4th. Interesting to note that Nicklas Lidstrom is not the top ranked Detroit blueliner, but Ian White is; White is another in a long line of players having career seasons by playing beside Lidstrom. In net, Jonathan Quick has regained the lead among goaltenders, a spot he held in October. Jimmy Howard, the league leader in wins, dropped from 1st to 2nd, while Pekka Rinne is not far behind thanks to a heavy workload. Take a look at the extra links for Per Game rankings to see which skaters and goalies have the best per-game totals. All stats are as of January 26, 2012; all ranking totals are derived using the unique OCPR formulas. Forwards 1. Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh - 266.44 2. Marian Hossa, Chicago - 263.37 3. Jonathan Toews, Chicago - 252.97 4. John Tavares, NY Islanders - 252.72 5. James Neal, Pittsburgh - 245.17 6. Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit - 241.33 7. Daniel Sedin, Vancouver - 230.78 8. Patrick Sharp, Chicago - 228.98 9. Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay - 224.68 10. Anze Kopitar, Los Angeles - 224.40 Click Here for the top-100 Forwards in Total OCPR. Click Here for the top-100 Forwards in Per-Game OCPR. Defense 1. Erik Karlsson, Ottawa - 266.35 2. Shea Weber, Nashville - 246.91 3. Alexander Edler, Vancouver - 221.17 4. Zdeno Chara, Boston - 214.17 5. Duncan Keith, Chicago - 212.37 6. Dan Boyle, San Jose - 209.51 7. Ian White, Detroit - 209.10 8. Alex Pietrangelo, St. Louis - 206.77 9. Nicklas Lidstrom, Detroit - 200.43 10. Dion Phaneuf, Toronto - 199.49 Click Here for the top-100 Defensemen in Total OCPR. Click Here for the top-100 Defensemen in Per-Game OCPR. Goalies 1. Jonathan Quick, Los Angeles - 90.62 2. Jimmy Howard, Detroit - 87.49 3. Pekka Rinne, Nashville - 86.53 4. Henrik Lundqvist - 78.87 5. Craig Anderson, Ottawa - 73.34 6. Marc-Andre Fleury, Pittsburgh - 71.87 7. Antti Niemi, San Jose - 69.08 8. Tim Thomas, Boston - 68.53 9. Miikka Kiprusoff, Calgary - 65.96 10. Mike Smith, Phoenix - 64.02 Click Here for the top-40 Goalies. Click Here for the top-40 Goalies in Per-Game OCPR. Forward stats:Goals, assists, game-winning goals, plus/minus, shots on goal, shooting percentage, shifts per game, ice time per game, power play goals and assists, short-handed goals and assists, hits, blocked shots, giveaways, takeaways, missed shots, minor penalties taken, and face-off percentage. Defense stats:Goals, assists, plus/minus, shooting percentage, shifts per game, ice time per game, power play goals and assists, short-handed goals and assists, hits, blocked shots, giveaways, takeaways, missed shots and minor penalties taken. Goalie stats: Wins, losses, overtime losses, shutouts, goals against, save percentage, total saves, total goals allowed, as well as saves made and save percentage on the power play. -- Nick is an NHL Feature Writer for RealGM. You can reach him by email nick.obergan@realgm.com or on twitter @NickObergan.