By standings points (26 points), the New York Islanders rank 28th overall (with games in hand on most of their neighbors -- or neighbours, for our northern friends). By points percentage (.433), they rank 27th as their 1-6 OT/SO record fails them.
User Note: The preview thread for tonight's game vs. the Jets is over here, below the Android app promo.
Most media place them just a little higher than that (average of 26th, in the table below), while the GM said earlier this month that now is the time to vault well above that and make a playoff push. They are nine points out of eighth, with one to four games in hand on the teams they need to leap.
For a quick look at how fans of tonight's opponent digested last weeks Jets power rankings, check out Arctic Ice Hockey. This is our weekly power rankings and media ranking survey. It's also a chance to consider how they rank by several measures -- here's Torgo's look at their season in 10-game segments -- and speculate how high or low they're capable of landing by the end of the season.
On that note, and speaking of Arctic Ice Hockey, I linked this "Fenwick Power Ranking" post in the game preview, but it's an interesting look because it ranks teams by even strength possession (which is a long-term determinant of wins) and not by wins (which are of course, the ultimate measure but in short-term are subject to bounces and refs and hexes resulting from our First Islanders Goal picks).
By that goalie- and special teams-independent measure they rank 20th.
Media Power Rankings
And now on to the media power rankings survey:
Outlet | Rank | Last Week | Their Commentary |
CBSSports | 24 | 24 |
The revolving door in the Islanders goal crease continued last week as Kevin Poulin became the fifth different goalie to start a game for the team this season. He stopped 26 of 29 shots in a 3-2 loss to the Dallas Stars. Five goalies in one year may seem like a lot (because it is) but they still need to use one more to match last season's total of six. |
THN (Proteau) |
27 | 27 |
Rick DiPietro injured again, Isles near bottom of standings again - it's Groundhog Year on Long Island for the umpteenth straight year |
ESPN (LeBrun) |
26 | 25 | Upset win over Minnesota on Saturday night ends four-game slide. |
CBC | n/a | n/a |
[gone dark and cold] |
TSN (Cullen) |
26 | 26 | Five games without a regulation win and probably no coincidence that the Isles are 1-for-20 (5.0%) with the man advantage in that time, since they had gone the previous five without a regulation loss while going 6-for-18 (33.3%) on the power play. |
Fox | 27 | 27 | John Tavares has been putting up a little bit of offense, but the Isles’ young crop of forwards hasn’t taken a significant step forward as expected. Their defense has allowed at least three goals in six of eight. |
Average |
26 |
25.8 |
Not much change as the Isles settle in familiar Nino-Strome territory. |
Real Power Rankings
Our weekly "real" power rankings are courtesy of Mike, or ICanSeeForIslesAndIsles (who is the one you'll find tirelessly compiling FIG picks in the game thread), conceived and delivers these week after week. They are calculated in true "power ranking" fashion -- i.e. how well teams fare based on their opponents' records.
W | L | OTL | Pts | Win Pct | PWR | ||
1 | Minnesota | 20 | 8 | 5 | 45 | 0.682 | 1957 |
2 | St. Louis | 19 | 9 | 4 | 42 | 0.656 | 1943 |
3 | Boston | 21 | 9 | 1 | 43 | 0.694 | 1940 |
4 | Chicago | 21 | 8 | 4 | 46 | 0.697 | 1931 |
5 | Philadelphia | 20 | 8 | 3 | 43 | 0.694 | 1929 |
6 | San Jose | 17 | 10 | 3 | 37 | 0.617 | 1881 |
7 | NY Rangers | 18 | 8 | 4 | 40 | 0.667 | 1879 |
8 | Detroit | 20 | 10 | 1 | 41 | 0.661 | 1867 |
9 | Florida | 18 | 9 | 6 | 42 | 0.636 | 1821 |
10 | Vancouver | 19 | 11 | 2 | 40 | 0.625 | 1725 |
11 | Pittsburgh | 18 | 11 | 4 | 40 | 0.606 | 1724 |
12 | Dallas | 18 | 12 | 1 | 37 | 0.597 | 1639 |
13 | Nashville | 17 | 11 | 4 | 38 | 0.594 | 1637 |
14 | New Jersey | 18 | 13 | 1 | 37 | 0.578 | 1608 |
15 | Phoenix | 16 | 13 | 3 | 35 | 0.547 | 1590 |
16 | Winnipeg | 15 | 13 | 4 | 34 | 0.531 | 1548 |
17 | Toronto | 16 | 13 | 3 | 35 | 0.547 | 1540 |
18 | Buffalo | 16 | 13 | 3 | 35 | 0.547 | 1533 |
19 | Los Angeles | 14 | 14 | 4 | 32 | 0.500 | 1528 |
20 | Washington | 16 | 14 | 1 | 33 | 0.532 | 1518 |
21 | Edmonton | 14 | 15 | 3 | 31 | 0.484 | 1480 |
22 | Montreal | 13 | 13 | 7 | 33 | 0.500 | 1477 |
23 | Ottawa | 15 | 14 | 4 | 34 | 0.515 | 1459 |
24 | Calgary | 14 | 15 | 4 | 32 | 0.485 | 1415 |
25 | Colorado | 15 | 17 | 1 | 31 | 0.470 | 1406 |
26 | Tampa Bay | 14 | 16 | 2 | 30 | 0.469 | 1396 |
27 | NY Islanders | 10 | 14 | 6 | 26 | 0.433 | 1340 |
28 | Carolina | 10 | 18 | 6 | 26 | 0.382 | 1203 |
29 | Anaheim | 9 | 18 | 5 | 23 | 0.359 | 1176 |
30 | Columbus | 9 | 20 | 4 | 22 | 0.333 | 956 |
For reference, here is last week's power rankings (Isles were 26th) post.