Programming Update, Binghamton radio, WHRW-FM 90.5: Steven Grill, who did Hockey Night on Long Island, invited me as a guest on his show on Binghamton University's WHRW 90.5FM called "The Sports Grill." I'll be on around 4:30 p.m. EST to discuss the coaching change. So if you want to hear my awkward pauses, listen live here.
How long is "interim?" This we do not know. We do know the man who now lives with that tag, Jack Capuano, inherits the 28th-30th-randed NHL team overall depending on your measure (TSN's ranking somehow had the Isles move up one spot this week). A dead heat at the bottom between New Jersey, the Oilers and the Isles. Even the Leafs struggles haven't brought them all the way down yet. Either way, at a virtual tie for 30th, the only way is up...or status quo.
This was discussed in comments last night, but Versus' debut of its "Overtime" show was excellent on coverage of the coaching move, featuring extended commentary from Billy Jaffe (blame extends to management/ownership -- "You can't win without spending a little"), Deb Placey (acknowledging peripheral issues affecting any coach in this position) and Bill Guerin ("It was time...Time for Phase II in the rebuild"). Good stuff if you saw it.
After the jump, the weekly media ranking (and commentary) followed by the Power Rankings as computed by ICanSeeforIslesandIsles. Since he's doing this for us, Also, I'm using his poll idea.
Survey of Media "Power" Rankings
| Outlet | Rank | Last Week | Their Commentary |
| CBSSports | 30 | 30 |
Things aren't getting any better for the Isles, now on a losing streak that has reached 10 games and cost coach Scott Gordon his job. |
| Col. Dispatc | 30 | 29 |
Don't be shocked by the Islanders' 10-game winless streak. This is their ninth double-digit streak since they joined the NHL in 1972-73. |
| ESPN | 29 | 27 | Dressing Rollie the Goalie for five straight games didn't help stop the pain. And after 10 straight losses, the Islanders also shook up their personnel by moving Scott Gordon into an advisory role and putting Jack Capuano behind the bench on an interim basis. |
| Sportsnett (Brophy) | 30 | 27 | Scott Gordon becomes the first coaching casualty of the season. |
|
TSN (Cullen) |
27 | 28 | Certainly the goaltending is a problem area, but no goaltender is going to win with a team that has scored eight goals in the last eight games. [Ed. note: The Islanders moved up in this one?!?!] |
| Average | 29.2 | 28.2 |
10-game winless streaks breed very bad things. |
Real Power Rankings
By ICanSee's formula, the Isles were at undisputed rock bottom before last night's games. In adding last night's results they inched up. (Capuano is already making a difference!)
Questions about this table? See the notes and comments in the original post.
| W | L | OTL | Pts | Played | Win Pct | Pts %/GP | PWR | ||
| 1 | Detroit | 11 | 3 | 1 | 23 | 15 | 0.767 | 0.3829 | 2142 |
| 2 | Los Angeles | 12 | 4 | 0 | 24 | 16 | 0.750 | 0.3898 | 2069 |
| 3 | St. Louis | 9 | 4 | 3 | 21 | 16 | 0.656 | 0.3755 | 1979 |
| 4 | Washington | 13 | 4 | 1 | 27 | 18 | 0.750 | 0.3723 | 1949 |
| 5 | Phoenix | 7 | 5 | 5 | 19 | 17 | 0.559 | 0.3479 | 1840 |
| 6 | Columbus | 9 | 6 | 0 | 18 | 15 | 0.600 | 0.3425 | 1822 |
| 7 | Philadelphia | 12 | 4 | 2 | 26 | 18 | 0.722 | 0.3519 | 1798 |
| 8 | Vancouver | 10 | 4 | 3 | 23 | 17 | 0.676 | 0.3438 | 1796 |
| 9 | Nashville | 7 | 5 | 3 | 17 | 15 | 0.567 | 0.3207 | 1761 |
| 10 | Montreal | 11 | 5 | 1 | 23 | 17 | 0.676 | 0.3369 | 1760 |
| 11 | Boston | 9 | 5 | 1 | 19 | 15 | 0.633 | 0.3308 | 1732 |
| 12 | San Jose | 9 | 5 | 2 | 20 | 16 | 0.625 | 0.3153 | 1701 |
| 13 | Anaheim | 10 | 7 | 2 | 22 | 19 | 0.579 | 0.3201 | 1700 |
| 14 | Colorado | 9 | 7 | 1 | 19 | 17 | 0.559 | 0.3146 | 1668 |
| 15 | Minnesota | 8 | 6 | 2 | 18 | 16 | 0.563 | 0.3073 | 1582 |
| 16 | Chicago | 9 | 9 | 2 | 20 | 20 | 0.500 | 0.2877 | 1557 |
| 17 | Tampa Bay | 8 | 7 | 2 | 18 | 17 | 0.529 | 0.2835 | 1528 |
| 18 | Dallas | 8 | 7 | 0 | 16 | 15 | 0.533 | 0.2719 | 1443 |
| 19 | Pittsburgh | 9 | 8 | 2 | 20 | 19 | 0.526 | 0.2697 | 1442 |
| 20 | Ottawa | 9 | 8 | 1 | 19 | 18 | 0.528 | 0.2683 | 1420 |
| 21 | Atlanta | 7 | 8 | 3 | 17 | 18 | 0.472 | 0.2759 | 1408 |
| 22 | NY Rangers | 10 | 7 | 1 | 21 | 18 | 0.583 | 0.2545 | 1323 |
| 23 | Calgary | 7 | 9 | 0 | 14 | 16 | 0.438 | 0.2367 | 1254 |
| 24 | Carolina | 8 | 9 | 0 | 16 | 17 | 0.471 | 0.2368 | 1231 |
| 25 | Florida | 7 | 8 | 0 | 14 | 15 | 0.467 | 0.2271 | 1196 |
| 26 | Buffalo | 7 | 9 | 3 | 17 | 19 | 0.447 | 0.2207 | 1141 |
| 27 | Toronto | 5 | 8 | 3 | 13 | 16 | 0.406 | 0.2213 | 1087 |
| 28 | NY Islanders | 4 | 10 | 3 | 11 | 17 | 0.324 | 0.1718 | 884 |
| 29 | Edmonton | 4 | 9 | 3 | 11 | 16 | 0.344 | 0.1618 | 883 |
| 30 | New Jersey | 5 | 11 | 2 | 12 | 18 | 0.333 | 0.1687 | 874 |
