Dolphin Ratings - National Hockey League

Explanation: Each team is listed with its record, overall score differential, and its ratings. Brief explanations of the ratings follow.

Schedule The number in this column is the effective opponent strength of a team. In other words, they would be expected to have the same record had they played all games against an opponent of this predictive rating at a neutral site. Because this calculation depends on the strength of the team in question, it is not possible to rank schedules using these values.
Expected Losses For college teams, this number is the number of losses an average ranked (top 15 hockey; otherwise top 25) team would be expected to have against the team's schedule. For pro teams, this is the number of losses an average team would be expected to have against the team's schedule. Unlike the schedule ranking, this value can be used to rank schedules.
Standard Ranks teams in an order such that a team is "probably better" than all teams ranked lower than it. This calculation uses margin of victory only for computing a team's opponents strengths; the team's rating itself is computed using only wins, losses, and ties relative to its schedule
Median Likelihood Determines the likely ratings for each team, based on its wins, losses, and ties relative to its schedule. This generally produces the same or similar ratings as the standard ranking.
Predictive Both schedule strength and rating vs. schedule strength are determined considering both the wins and losses and the score differentials. This rating contains none of the biases in the standard rating, but does weight recent games slightly more than past games since those are a better indication of the team's current strength. This rating is the best of the first three for seeing how good teams are, and thus is the best for predicting future results.
Improved RPI Rating The improved RPI formula is similar to the standard RPI, except that the schedule strength is carried out to infinite depth instead of ending with opponents' opponents, thus allows for a better comparison of isolated groups of teams than is given by the standard RPI calculation. It is similar to the simple rating, except that all games are given equal weight.
Scoring. This value indicates how many points a team would be expected to score if it played an identical team.
Offense. This combines the predictive and scoring ratings to measure how many points a team scores. The number is the predictive rating of an opponent against whom the team would be expected to score the league average number of points. This does not necessarily rate a team's offensive abilities, as a fast pace in basketball or big-play defense in football can make a team score more points.
Defense. This combines the predictive and scoring ratings to measure how many points a team allows. The number is the predictive rating of an opponent against whom the team would be expected to allow the league average number of points. The same caveat in the predictive-offense rating applies here.

In order to increase early-season stability, the three main rankings, the improved RPI, and the college pseudopoll include priors based on the previous season final predictive ratings and occasionally incorporating preseason predictions of various major publications. The other rankings for college sports do not include priors, and thus can be wildly unstable early in the year. A team whose rankings are affected by this prior is noted with a P following its rankings.

Full Ranking

                                             STANDARD   MED LIKELY  PREDICTIVE  IMPRVD RPI    SCORING     OFFENSE     DEFENSE 
TEAM            W  L  PF  PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
AVALANCHE      34 13 190 112  0.001 23.259    1  0.258    1  0.251    1  0.393    1 0.5554   17  1.098    1  0.415    1  0.372
LIGHTNING      31 17 170 121  0.013 24.148    2  0.178    2  0.167    2  0.222    2 0.5385   21  1.053    7  0.189    3  0.255
HURRICANES     31 19 173 145 -0.001 25.043    3  0.143    3  0.138    4  0.113    3 0.5316   11  1.127    9  0.171   12  0.056
RED WINGS      30 20 157 153 -0.026 24.696    4  0.099    4  0.103   16 -0.006    4 0.5226   20  1.067   19 -0.022   15  0.009
BRUINS         28 22 166 156  0.003 25.208    5  0.067    5  0.070   10  0.055    6 0.5153    7  1.180    8  0.179   21 -0.070
ISLANDERS      27 22 145 137  0.026 25.142    6  0.065    6  0.070    9  0.055    5 0.5155   29  0.934   24 -0.116    4  0.227
CANADIENS      28 22 172 167 -0.003 25.121    8  0.059    7  0.067   14  0.020    9 0.5125    2  1.246    3  0.229   28 -0.190
STARS          28 22 169 141 -0.008 24.897    7  0.060    8  0.065    3  0.132    7 0.5140   19  1.076   11  0.127    8  0.136
SABRES         27 22 163 153 -0.008 24.515   10  0.045    9  0.054   13  0.029    8 0.5128    9  1.173   10  0.144   22 -0.086
WILD           28 23 164 147 -0.008 25.422    9  0.046   10  0.053    5  0.098   11 0.5092   22  1.027   17  0.035    6  0.161
TEAM            W  L  PF  PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
DEVILS         26 24 131 151  0.049 26.319   11  0.035   11  0.046   24 -0.074   10 0.5104   30  0.888   29 -0.296    7  0.149
PANTHERS       25 23 146 160  0.024 24.754   12  0.026   12  0.035   21 -0.048   12 0.5090    8  1.179   14  0.075   25 -0.171
SHARKS         25 24 153 173  0.035 25.545   13  0.021   13  0.029   26 -0.094   13 0.5048    4  1.236   13  0.102   30 -0.291
DUCKS          25 24 163 175  0.007 24.941   15  0.011   14  0.014   23 -0.070   15 0.5029    1  1.329    2  0.251   32 -0.390
MAMMOTH        25 24 153 135 -0.001 24.600   14  0.012   15  0.011    8  0.058   14 0.5032   25  0.988   21 -0.052    5  0.167
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 24 24 161 147 -0.023 23.665   16 -0.007   16 -0.012    7  0.060   16 0.5001   10  1.127   12  0.118   17  0.002
MAPLE LEAFS    24 25 165 164 -0.009 24.510   17 -0.009   17 -0.014   15  0.014   17 0.4977    5  1.234    4  0.209   27 -0.180
CAPITALS       24 26 159 148 -0.001 25.100   18 -0.016   18 -0.025    6  0.063   18 0.4968   18  1.086   15  0.070   11  0.056
OILERS         25 26 171 160 -0.029 25.060   19 -0.017   19 -0.026   11  0.049   20 0.4943    6  1.197    6  0.195   23 -0.096
PREDATORS      23 26 141 166  0.012 25.158   21 -0.023   20 -0.026   30 -0.117   23 0.4914   12  1.124   22 -0.064   26 -0.171
TEAM            W  L  PF  PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
FLYERS         23 25 143 150 -0.007 24.137   20 -0.021   21 -0.026   19 -0.037   19 0.4957   23  1.019   23 -0.110   14  0.036
PENGUINS       23 25 156 147 -0.036 23.473   22 -0.029   22 -0.039   12  0.037   21 0.4935   15  1.105   16  0.068   16  0.007
SENATORS       23 26 163 164 -0.012 24.484   23 -0.031   23 -0.040   17 -0.008   22 0.4916    3  1.245    5  0.200   29 -0.217
BLUE JACKETS   22 27 149 164  0.015 25.127   24 -0.043   24 -0.051   25 -0.079   24 0.4887   14  1.114   20 -0.038   24 -0.120
KRAKEN         21 27 133 147 -0.021 23.869   25 -0.073   25 -0.081   22 -0.057   25 0.4822   28  0.937   27 -0.225   10  0.110
RANGERS        21 30 138 159  0.027 26.444   26 -0.084   26 -0.089   29 -0.110   26 0.4818   27  0.949   28 -0.264   13  0.043
FLAMES         21 28 127 145 -0.038 24.078   27 -0.093   27 -0.099   28 -0.107   27 0.4782   31  0.887   31 -0.330    9  0.116
KINGS          20 29 129 139  0.010 24.957   28 -0.093   28 -0.099   18 -0.025   28 0.4775   32  0.750   32 -0.394    2  0.343
JETS           20 29 147 151 -0.002 24.733   29 -0.100   29 -0.105   20 -0.038   29 0.4749   16  1.098   18 -0.016   19 -0.060
BLACKHAWKS     20 29 135 154 -0.038 24.088   30 -0.119   30 -0.121   27 -0.097   30 0.4725   24  0.998   25 -0.194   18  0.001
TEAM            W  L  PF  PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
BLUES          19 31 121 171 -0.019 25.091   31 -0.154   31 -0.146   31 -0.188   31 0.4685   26  0.975   30 -0.312   20 -0.064
CANUCKS        16 33 129 180 -0.004 24.966   32 -0.211   32 -0.198   32 -0.247   32 0.4587   13  1.120   26 -0.198   31 -0.296

PACIFIC DIVISION
                                             STANDARD   MED LIKELY  PREDICTIVE  IMPRVD RPI    SCORING     OFFENSE     DEFENSE 
TEAM            W  L  PF  PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
SHARKS         25 24 153 173  0.035 25.545   13  0.021   13  0.029   26 -0.094   13 0.5048    4  1.236   13  0.102   30 -0.291
DUCKS          25 24 163 175  0.007 24.941   15  0.011   14  0.014   23 -0.070   15 0.5029    1  1.329    2  0.251   32 -0.390
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 24 24 161 147 -0.023 23.665   16 -0.007   16 -0.012    7  0.060   16 0.5001   10  1.127   12  0.118   17  0.002
OILERS         25 26 171 160 -0.029 25.060   19 -0.017   19 -0.026   11  0.049   20 0.4943    6  1.197    6  0.195   23 -0.096
KRAKEN         21 27 133 147 -0.021 23.869   25 -0.073   25 -0.081   22 -0.057   25 0.4822   28  0.937   27 -0.225   10  0.110
FLAMES         21 28 127 145 -0.038 24.078   27 -0.093   27 -0.099   28 -0.107   27 0.4782   31  0.887   31 -0.330    9  0.116
KINGS          20 29 129 139  0.010 24.957   28 -0.093   28 -0.099   18 -0.025   28 0.4775   32  0.750   32 -0.394    2  0.343
CANUCKS        16 33 129 180 -0.004 24.966   32 -0.211   32 -0.198   32 -0.247   32 0.4587   13  1.120   26 -0.198   31 -0.296

CENTRAL DIVISION
                                             STANDARD   MED LIKELY  PREDICTIVE  IMPRVD RPI    SCORING     OFFENSE     DEFENSE 
TEAM            W  L  PF  PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
AVALANCHE      34 13 190 112  0.001 23.259    1  0.258    1  0.251    1  0.393    1 0.5554   17  1.098    1  0.415    1  0.372
STARS          28 22 169 141 -0.008 24.897    7  0.060    8  0.065    3  0.132    7 0.5140   19  1.076   11  0.127    8  0.136
WILD           28 23 164 147 -0.008 25.422    9  0.046   10  0.053    5  0.098   11 0.5092   22  1.027   17  0.035    6  0.161
MAMMOTH        25 24 153 135 -0.001 24.600   14  0.012   15  0.011    8  0.058   14 0.5032   25  0.988   21 -0.052    5  0.167
PREDATORS      23 26 141 166  0.012 25.158   21 -0.023   20 -0.026   30 -0.117   23 0.4914   12  1.124   22 -0.064   26 -0.171
JETS           20 29 147 151 -0.002 24.733   29 -0.100   29 -0.105   20 -0.038   29 0.4749   16  1.098   18 -0.016   19 -0.060
BLACKHAWKS     20 29 135 154 -0.038 24.088   30 -0.119   30 -0.121   27 -0.097   30 0.4725   24  0.998   25 -0.194   18  0.001
BLUES          19 31 121 171 -0.019 25.091   31 -0.154   31 -0.146   31 -0.188   31 0.4685   26  0.975   30 -0.312   20 -0.064

METROPOLITAN DIVISION
                                             STANDARD   MED LIKELY  PREDICTIVE  IMPRVD RPI    SCORING     OFFENSE     DEFENSE 
TEAM            W  L  PF  PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
HURRICANES     31 19 173 145 -0.001 25.043    3  0.143    3  0.138    4  0.113    3 0.5316   11  1.127    9  0.171   12  0.056
ISLANDERS      27 22 145 137  0.026 25.142    6  0.065    6  0.070    9  0.055    5 0.5155   29  0.934   24 -0.116    4  0.227
DEVILS         26 24 131 151  0.049 26.319   11  0.035   11  0.046   24 -0.074   10 0.5104   30  0.888   29 -0.296    7  0.149
CAPITALS       24 26 159 148 -0.001 25.100   18 -0.016   18 -0.025    6  0.063   18 0.4968   18  1.086   15  0.070   11  0.056
FLYERS         23 25 143 150 -0.007 24.137   20 -0.021   21 -0.026   19 -0.037   19 0.4957   23  1.019   23 -0.110   14  0.036
PENGUINS       23 25 156 147 -0.036 23.473   22 -0.029   22 -0.039   12  0.037   21 0.4935   15  1.105   16  0.068   16  0.007
BLUE JACKETS   22 27 149 164  0.015 25.127   24 -0.043   24 -0.051   25 -0.079   24 0.4887   14  1.114   20 -0.038   24 -0.120
RANGERS        21 30 138 159  0.027 26.444   26 -0.084   26 -0.089   29 -0.110   26 0.4818   27  0.949   28 -0.264   13  0.043

ATLANTIC DIVISION
                                             STANDARD   MED LIKELY  PREDICTIVE  IMPRVD RPI    SCORING     OFFENSE     DEFENSE 
TEAM            W  L  PF  PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
LIGHTNING      31 17 170 121  0.013 24.148    2  0.178    2  0.167    2  0.222    2 0.5385   21  1.053    7  0.189    3  0.255
RED WINGS      30 20 157 153 -0.026 24.696    4  0.099    4  0.103   16 -0.006    4 0.5226   20  1.067   19 -0.022   15  0.009
BRUINS         28 22 166 156  0.003 25.208    5  0.067    5  0.070   10  0.055    6 0.5153    7  1.180    8  0.179   21 -0.070
CANADIENS      28 22 172 167 -0.003 25.121    8  0.059    7  0.067   14  0.020    9 0.5125    2  1.246    3  0.229   28 -0.190
SABRES         27 22 163 153 -0.008 24.515   10  0.045    9  0.054   13  0.029    8 0.5128    9  1.173   10  0.144   22 -0.086
PANTHERS       25 23 146 160  0.024 24.754   12  0.026   12  0.035   21 -0.048   12 0.5090    8  1.179   14  0.075   25 -0.171
MAPLE LEAFS    24 25 165 164 -0.009 24.510   17 -0.009   17 -0.014   15  0.014   17 0.4977    5  1.234    4  0.209   27 -0.180
SENATORS       23 26 163 164 -0.012 24.484   23 -0.031   23 -0.040   17 -0.008   22 0.4916    3  1.245    5  0.200   29 -0.217

DIVISION                W   L   PCT  RNK RATING
ATLANTIC DIVISION     216 177 0.550    1  0.061
CENTRAL DIVISION      197 197 0.500    2  0.051
METROPOLITAN DIVISION 197 198 0.499    3 -0.007
PACIFIC DIVISION      177 215 0.452    4 -0.109

Home field advantage amounts to:
     0.062 points in main ratings (0.079 for semineutral)
     0.007 points in improved RPI (0.008 for semineutral)
Average of 1.00 points per score

Predict score:








Team Strength vs. Time Plot:






posted: Wed Jan 21 05:30:09 2026
games through: Tue Jan 20 2026

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