Roster news from the Islanders: Dylan Reese and Rhett Rakhshani have been returned on loan to Bridgeport. Meanwhile, the Devils have put the aging, struggling Brian Rolston and his $5.06 million cap hit -- for this year and next -- on waivers. Rolston has as many points (4) as Trent Hunter.
In 28 games -- still tied for fewest in the league! -- the Islanders have 5 wins. My question to you: With 54 games to play, how many wins will they have, total, by the end of the season? Keep in mind that, remarkably, their best health is likely ahead of them.
After the jump, the weekly power rankings. As you'll see, the team the Islanders were trounced by last night is by this measure the second-strongest team in the league thus far (tied with hot Pittsburgh, trailing powerhouse Detroit).
Media Rankings Survey
Also known as "your weekly collection of ways to kick the Isles." The following were before last night's games:
Outlet | Rank | Last Week | Their Commentary |
CBSSports | 30 | 30 |
Dominik's note: I'm skipping their Isles comment and noting that the column suggests Bruce Boudreau could be fired even with his team in first place and with two major injuries -- but not until the New Year because the HBO has a program about the Winter Classic. Okay. |
Col. Dispatch | 30 | 30 |
[Not updated yet, but we know where they'll have the Isles.] |
ESPN | 30 | 30 | A woeful 0-5-0 so far in December ... well, you know the rest. |
Sportsnet (Brophy) | 30 | 30 | The sad sack Islanders blow a two-goal lead in losing their fifth straight game. |
TSN (Cullen) |
30 | 30 | The Islanders have one win in the last 20 games -- a home win over New Jersey on November 26. The good news is that their power play goal on Saturday ended a 12-game drought with the man advantage. |
Average | 30 | 30 |
Let down and hangin' around / Crushed like a bug in the ground |
NHL Power Rankings
Updated through Sunday's games. Formula and calculations courtesy of our user ICanSeeForIslesAndIsles. Explanation of how he does it is in the original post. If you have any questions about it, leave them in comments and he'll likely answer.
For reference, last week's -- where Nashville was 7th -- can be found here.
W | L | OTL | Pts | GP | Win % | %Pts/GP | PWR | ||
1 | Detroit | 19 | 6 | 3 | 41 | 28 | 0.732 | 0.3944 | 2205 |
2 | Nashville | 14 | 8 | 6 | 34 | 28 | 0.607 | 0.3521 | 1928 |
3 | Pittsburgh | 21 | 8 | 2 | 44 | 31 | 0.710 | 0.3602 | 1928 |
4 | Phoenix | 14 | 8 | 6 | 34 | 28 | 0.607 | 0.3496 | 1904 |
5 | Vancouver | 16 | 8 | 4 | 36 | 28 | 0.643 | 0.3350 | 1837 |
6 | Los Angeles | 16 | 10 | 1 | 33 | 27 | 0.611 | 0.3354 | 1826 |
7 | Philadelphia | 19 | 7 | 5 | 43 | 31 | 0.694 | 0.3446 | 1824 |
8 | St. Louis | 14 | 9 | 5 | 33 | 28 | 0.589 | 0.3390 | 1821 |
9 | Dallas | 17 | 10 | 2 | 36 | 29 | 0.621 | 0.3322 | 1813 |
10 | Columbus | 16 | 11 | 1 | 33 | 28 | 0.589 | 0.3324 | 1803 |
11 | Colorado | 15 | 10 | 4 | 34 | 29 | 0.586 | 0.3315 | 1786 |
12 | Tampa Bay | 16 | 10 | 4 | 36 | 30 | 0.600 | 0.3364 | 1774 |
13 | Chicago | 16 | 12 | 3 | 35 | 31 | 0.565 | 0.3170 | 1740 |
14 | Boston | 16 | 8 | 4 | 36 | 28 | 0.643 | 0.3300 | 1735 |
15 | San Jose | 15 | 10 | 4 | 34 | 29 | 0.586 | 0.3130 | 1714 |
16 | Atlanta | 16 | 11 | 3 | 35 | 30 | 0.583 | 0.3208 | 1713 |
17 | Washington | 18 | 11 | 3 | 39 | 32 | 0.609 | 0.3183 | 1709 |
18 | Anaheim | 16 | 13 | 4 | 36 | 33 | 0.545 | 0.3102 | 1685 |
19 | Montreal | 18 | 10 | 2 | 38 | 30 | 0.633 | 0.3198 | 1683 |
20 | Minnesota | 13 | 12 | 4 | 30 | 29 | 0.517 | 0.2966 | 1627 |
21 | NY Rangers | 18 | 13 | 1 | 37 | 32 | 0.578 | 0.2723 | 1464 |
22 | Carolina | 12 | 12 | 4 | 28 | 28 | 0.500 | 0.2699 | 1456 |
23 | Calgary | 12 | 15 | 3 | 27 | 30 | 0.450 | 0.2533 | 1396 |
24 | Edmonton | 11 | 13 | 5 | 27 | 29 | 0.466 | 0.2465 | 1362 |
25 | Florida | 13 | 15 | 0 | 26 | 28 | 0.464 | 0.2389 | 1316 |
26 | Toronto | 11 | 14 | 4 | 26 | 29 | 0.448 | 0.2496 | 1298 |
27 | Buffalo | 12 | 14 | 4 | 28 | 30 | 0.467 | 0.2367 | 1268 |
28 | Ottawa | 13 | 16 | 2 | 28 | 31 | 0.452 | 0.2293 | 1217 |
29 | New Jersey | 8 | 19 | 2 | 18 | 29 | 0.310 | 0.1715 | 907 |
30 | NY Islanders | 5 | 17 | 5 | 15 | 27 | 0.278 | 0.1506 | 811 |