As always, I make the power rankings post on a Tuesday. Thus, at the time they're prepared, I have no idea yet if the Isles emerged victorious over the Leafs yet. (Ed. note: You wonderful innocent soul, you.) If they did, then these rankings would feel a little less terrible. (Ed.: Not today. Not after that.)
Weekly Round-Up of Opinion Polls
As always, we start off with a look around at how publications are gauging our team.
Date | Prior | |||
Site | Published | Ranking | Ranking | Comments |
CBS | 11/18/2013 | 25 | 24 | The Isles have been riding Kevin Poulin lately in net, but it still comes down to offense, which has to make up for league's fourth-worst D and worst PK. |
ESPN | 11/18/2013 | 19 | 22 | Nice win over Detroit on Saturday does not obscure the fact the Isles have yet to win more than two in a row this season and have won two in a row just once. |
TSN | 11/19/2013 | 25 | 25 | With G Evgeni Nabokov expected to be out for at least a month, a lot of responsibility falls on Kevin Poulin, who has been decent (.909 SV% in 8 GP), but faces a lot of pressure on a team that is struggling, 2-5 in their last seven. |
Fox Sports | 11/13/2013 | 25 | --- | GOOD NEWS: Kyle Okposo and Frans Nielsen scored 19 points in the first 18 games, joining John Taveras as elite offensive weapons. BAD NEWS: The Islanders allowed 16 goals during a four-game losing streak. BOTTOM LINE: Goaltender Evgeni Nabokov is floundering behind a suspect defense. The Islanders should have addressed those needs rather than trading for Thomas Vanek |
Sports Illustrated | 11/19/2013 | 24 | 25 | Is Kevin Poulin the real deal? He's been solid since being called on to fill in while starter Evgeni Nabokov nurses a groin injury, and has wo two of his last three outings. He's in his contract year (making just $577,000), so he has plenty of inspiration and incentive to build on that success. |
SB Nation | 11/19/2013 | 20 | 24 | The Islanders' only loss this week came against Los Angeles. Of course, Thomas Vanek is still out, which is unfortunate. |
Average | 23.0 | 24.0 | If a team plays games and nobody notices, do they make a sound? |
Kinda feels like nobody bothered to pay much attention to our club, as teams near the bottom of their division (but not quite at the bottom) are not usually worth talking about. As such, the Islanders end up right around the same position as they did in the prior week.
LHH Power Rankings
And now for our own calculations, which keeps in mind the quality of each win. The better the victim's record, the higher your power ranking points (last column) are:
W | L | OTL | Pts | PWR | ||
1 | St. Louis | 13 | 3 | 3 | 29 | 2288 |
2 | Phoenix | 14 | 4 | 3 | 31 | 2186 |
3 | Chicago | 14 | 3 | 4 | 32 | 2182 |
4 | Colorado | 14 | 5 | 0 | 28 | 2104 |
5 | San Jose | 13 | 3 | 5 | 31 | 2096 |
6 | Tampa Bay | 14 | 6 | 0 | 28 | 1993 |
7 | Minnesota | 13 | 4 | 4 | 30 | 1970 |
8 | Boston | 13 | 6 | 1 | 27 | 1945 |
9 | Anaheim | 15 | 6 | 2 | 32 | 1888 |
10 | Los Angeles | 14 | 6 | 1 | 29 | 1866 |
11 | Dallas | 11 | 7 | 2 | 24 | 1631 |
12 | Pittsburgh | 13 | 8 | 0 | 26 | 1611 |
13 | Nashville | 9 | 9 | 2 | 20 | 1588 |
14 | Detroit | 9 | 5 | 7 | 25 | 1578 |
15 | Toronto | 12 | 7 | 1 | 25 | 1558 |
16 | Vancouver | 11 | 8 | 3 | 25 | 1549 |
17 | Washington | 12 | 8 | 1 | 25 | 1488 |
18 | Winnipeg | 10 | 10 | 3 | 23 | 1453 |
19 | Ottawa | 8 | 8 | 4 | 20 | 1387 |
20 | Carolina | 8 | 9 | 4 | 20 | 1385 |
21 | Montreal | 10 | 9 | 2 | 22 | 1362 |
22 | New Jersey | 7 | 8 | 5 | 19 | 1327 |
23 | NY Rangers | 10 | 10 | 0 | 20 | 1290 |
24 | NY Islanders | 8 | 10 | 3 | 19 | 1265 |
25 | Calgary | 7 | 11 | 3 | 17 | 1208 |
26 | Florida | 5 | 12 | 4 | 14 | 1108 |
27 | Columbus | 7 | 10 | 3 | 17 | 1096 |
28 | Philadelphia | 7 | 10 | 2 | 16 | 1016 |
29 | Buffalo | 5 | 16 | 1 | 11 | 763 |
30 | Edmonton | 5 | 15 | 2 | 12 | 708 |
Much like the opinion polls, the Isles move up a single spot here. The victory against the Red Wings is the only reason why they moved up at all. Copper & Blue's calculations, meanwhile, have the Isles 20th. Their calcs are based on a multitude of things (which haven't been spelled out), including possession numbers, if I'm not mistaken. Maybe that gives us a little hope that the Isles are just somewhat unlucky.
Standings from an Alternate Universe
What if overtime/shootout games weren't worth more points than a regulation victory? Here's what would happen if the regulation wins were worth three, to make all games equal.
Atlantic | W | OTW | OTL | L | PTS |
Boston | 11 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 38 |
Tampa Bay | 8 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 36 |
Toronto | 9 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 34 |
Detroit | 8 | 1 | 7 | 5 | 33 |
Montreal | 9 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 31 |
Ottawa | 7 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 27 |
Florida | 4 | 1 | 4 | 12 | 18 |
Buffalo | 2 | 3 | 1 | 16 | 13 |
Metropolitan | W | OTW | OTL | L | PTS |
Pittsburgh | 12 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 38 |
Washington | 6 | 6 | 1 | 8 | 31 |
NY Rangers | 9 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 29 |
New Jersey | 7 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 26 |
Carolina | 6 | 2 | 4 | 9 | 26 |
NY Islanders | 5 | 3 | 3 | 10 | 24 |
Philadelphia | 7 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 23 |
Columbus | 6 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 23 |
Central | W | OTW | OTL | L | PTS |
Chicago | 11 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 43 |
Colorado | 13 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 41 |
Minnesota | 11 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 41 |
St. Louis | 11 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 40 |
Dallas | 7 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 31 |
Nashville | 8 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 28 |
Winnipeg | 5 | 5 | 3 | 10 | 28 |
Western | W | OTW | OTL | L | PTS |
Anaheim | 13 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 45 |
San Jose | 10 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 41 |
Phoenix | 9 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 40 |
Los Angeles | 8 | 6 | 1 | 6 | 37 |
Vancouver | 6 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 31 |
Calgary | 5 | 2 | 3 | 11 | 22 |
Edmonton | 3 | 2 | 2 | 15 | 15 |
The Isles would be nearly two full regulations victories behind third place (as opposed to only a half game in the NHL's current format). That's what happens when you cough up leads in the third period, and have to resort to extra time / skills competitions in order to get the job done.
Mad Libs Conclusion!
One more formatting note: In case you didn't know, the related links provided at the end of this post are usually inserted by either Dom or Dan. But I never know which one it will be, or if the links will be happy (a win!) or sad (fire everybody!) links. So here's my Mad LIbs styled lead-in....
And now, (Writer of the Day) will post links regarding the Isles' (game result), which will surely leave you feeling (adjective).
While you're at it, don't forget to (verb) the (plural noun), before your (significant other) complains that you're on this site too often. Have a (emotive adjective) day!
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