Another week, another lone solace: At least they're not Columbus.
Or Ottawa or Winnipeg, by our calculations. But that's about it. Our opinion-free power rankings put the Senators and Jets -- and especially the Blue Jackets, my goodness the Blue Jackets -- performances thus far below the Islanders. So, yay?
Opinion-based media rankings put them in the 27-29 range, deservedly so, while Scott Cullen's formula at TSN still has them at a lofty 25th. These are all before last night's loss, mind you -- though last night, oddly, looked like a better team than the version that trotted itself out in orange and blue to the ugly figure of just one win in the last 11 games.
Well, at least Calvin De Haan's tests came back okay. Lines at today's practice are the same.
Oh, and some guy at ESPN who used to play says Capuano is on the hot seat.
Media Power Rankings
Not much to gripe about here. Can you figure out which commentary is different?
| Outlet | Rank | Last Week | Their Commentary |
| CBSSports | 28 | 28 |
Losers of nine of the past 10 and struggling to score goals. If John Tavares isn't creating offense for them, nobody is. |
|
THN (Proteau) |
27 | 23 |
Isles have played fewest games in the NHL (14), but no excuse for woeful offense (a league-worst 29 goals-for) |
|
ESPN (Burnside) |
29 | 29 | The Islanders continue to muddle along, rolling out three goaltenders and making a mess of what was a promising start to the season. They also have just one win in their past 10 outings. |
| CBC | 29 | 29 | Being home for three games is always a good thing if you're a team that's lost nine of your last 10 games. Unfortunately this may not apply to the Isles, who next face three streaking teams in the Canadiens, Rangers and Bruins. Only three players have put up 10 or more points. The combo of Michael Grabner and Matt Moulson have just nine goals between them in 14 games. Not good enough, as the Islanders once again claim their usual spot in the cellar of the East. |
|
TSN (Cullen) |
25 | 21 | Same old Islanders? Despite the promise coming into the season, one win in the last ten games leaves the Isles in familiar territory and they'll need significant improvement to alter their course. |
| Fox | 29 | 29 | The punchless Isles could really use some scoring from Kyle Okposo, but, sadly, it doesn’t look like the former top-10 pick is capable of replicating his 52 points from two years ago. |
| Average |
27.8 |
26 |
Obviously it's the offense -- unless I've written columns blaming the goaltending and need to stick to that. |
Real Power Rankings
| W | L | OTL | Pts | Win Pct | PWR | ||
| 1 | Washington | 10 | 4 | 1 | 21 | 0.700 | 2113 |
| 2 | Pittsburgh | 10 | 4 | 3 | 23 | 0.676 | 2060 |
| 3 | San Jose | 9 | 5 | 1 | 19 | 0.633 | 2020 |
| 4 | Phoenix | 8 | 4 | 3 | 19 | 0.633 | 1941 |
| 5 | Dallas | 11 | 5 | 0 | 22 | 0.688 | 1898 |
| 6 | NY Rangers | 9 | 3 | 3 | 21 | 0.700 | 1896 |
| 7 | Edmonton | 9 | 6 | 2 | 20 | 0.588 | 1870 |
| 8 | Los Angeles | 8 | 6 | 3 | 19 | 0.559 | 1854 |
| 9 | Chicago | 11 | 4 | 3 | 25 | 0.694 | 1834 |
| 10 | Philadelphia | 9 | 4 | 3 | 21 | 0.656 | 1828 |
| 11 | New Jersey | 8 | 6 | 1 | 17 | 0.567 | 1775 |
| 12 | Minnesota | 9 | 5 | 3 | 21 | 0.618 | 1766 |
| 13 | Detroit | 9 | 5 | 1 | 19 | 0.633 | 1738 |
| 14 | Nashville | 8 | 5 | 3 | 19 | 0.594 | 1692 |
| 15 | Florida | 8 | 5 | 3 | 19 | 0.594 | 1664 |
| 16 | Buffalo | 10 | 6 | 0 | 20 | 0.625 | 1660 |
| 17 | Tampa Bay | 8 | 6 | 2 | 18 | 0.563 | 1659 |
| 18 | Toronto | 10 | 6 | 1 | 21 | 0.618 | 1655 |
| 19 | St. Louis | 8 | 7 | 1 | 17 | 0.531 | 1633 |
| 20 | Boston | 8 | 7 | 0 | 16 | 0.533 | 1614 |
| 21 | Vancouver | 9 | 8 | 1 | 19 | 0.528 | 1581 |
| 22 | Anaheim | 6 | 8 | 3 | 15 | 0.441 | 1473 |
| 23 | Montreal | 7 | 7 | 2 | 16 | 0.500 | 1466 |
| 24 | Carolina | 6 | 8 | 3 | 15 | 0.441 | 1413 |
| 25 | Colorado | 8 | 8 | 1 | 17 | 0.500 | 1390 |
| 26 | Calgary | 7 | 8 | 1 | 15 | 0.469 | 1360 |
| 27 | NY Islanders | 4 | 7 | 3 | 11 | 0.393 | 1320 |
| 28 | Ottawa | 8 | 9 | 1 | 17 | 0.472 | 1284 |
| 29 | Winnipeg | 5 | 9 | 3 | 13 | 0.382 | 1167 |
| 30 | Columbus | 3 | 12 | 1 | 7 | 0.219 | 589 |
Our weekly "real" power rankings are courtesy of our own ICanSeeForIslesAndIsles (who is the one you'll find tirelessly compiling FIG picks in the game thread), conceived and delivers these week after week. They reflect games through Sunday.
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, llast week's post is here.