NHL Power Rankings: Isles level off, Sens dropping

A bit hurried version of our weekly NHL Power Rankings post, with a media survey and our calculated "real" rankings after the jump. Some of the SBN writers still do a weekly poll, divided by conference. In media polls, Ottawa is dropping; in the SBN poll, they've already dropped to the bottom of the East.

Meanwhile, depending on when you see this, you can catch or view the archive of Michael Fornabaio's weekly Bridgeport chat at ConnPost.com.

Something interesting already from Fornabaio's chat, in terms of how things work and how the injury situation is evolving (i.e., Nabokov would've been a nice near-term insurance considering Nathan Lawson is hurt and Mikko Koskinen has been hurting) -- here is his answer to a question from Ray on how teams identify PTO prospects:

The AHL coach does a lot of the work in the moment. Calling his contacts, talking to the scouting staff, talking to people he knows and trusts in the ECHL/CHL and getting opinions. Sometimes the guy he wants is available, sometimes not, sometimes doesn't even want to come up.

Media Rankings Survey

Incredibly, in their lovely quips everyone is on Nabokov's side. It's understandable that Nabokov wanted to have a roster spot on a contender gift-wrapped for him. It's not understandable that he expected that to happen.

Real NHL Power Rankings

For reference: Last week's power ranking post is here.

In the true power rankings, the Islanders have slowed some, but they are inching closer to 26th-place Ottawa -- who define "stall" both in performance and in public perception. Fans are ready for a reset there; the rest of the TV-watching public might just benefit if they pick Pierre McGuire to push the button. I hope they hire him and that he does well enough to stay for a while.

A fun way these power rankings show things that it takes a week or so for the media to catch on to: In the media rankings, Atlanta is "dropping," whereas in our Power Rankings they'd already dropped to 20 by last week. Their power number is a little worse this week, but their rank remains the same.

As always, these are updated through Sunday's games. Formula and calculations courtesy of our own ICanSeeForIslesAndIsles -- who is also often the one you'll find compiling FIG picks in the game thread. 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.