There were plenty of links to digest in the morning bits (while we weren't sacking those responsible for site delays) and last night's postgame, but here's plenty more along with our weekly NHL Power Ranking roundup.
- Dylan Reese is out 4-6 weeks with an MCL sprain. Milan Jurcina's elbow will determine whether another callup's needed for tomorrow vs. the Habs; Frans Nielsen's contract extension was formally announced today.
- The Skinny from last night's game points out this is just the second time the Islanders have had a five-game point streak this season.
- Afternoon audio: Catch Evgeni Nabokov on @NHLHomeIce at 4:25 with Scott Laughlin and then on @nhllive at 5:25 with @DebPlacey and @KenDaneykoMSG. Also the SNY metro hockey podcast is up.
- Comparing P.A. Parenteau and Matt Moulson from a fantasy point of view. Also from Dobber: Why are there fewer high scorers these days?
- And at Arctic Ice: Fun with charts - Alex Ovechkin: before and after
SatanDale Hunter - Copper & Blue: Wait, just how much of a draft edge has Ken Holland had?
Media NHL Power Rankings Survey
Here is our weekly roundup of media rankings and commentary, which were compiled before last nights victorious-but-frightening scoreless draw with the Flyers.
Outlet | Rank | Last Week | Their Commentary |
CBSSports | 23 | 25 |
John Tavares continues to be one of the hottest players in the NHL, adding four more goals and two more assists over his past five games. |
THN (Proteau) |
24 | 26 |
Matt Moulson an impressive plus-11 on inconsistent Isles; next best are John Tavares/Travis Hamonic (plus-4) |
ESPN (Burnside) |
23 | 28 | The Isles have put together a nice run of performances, going 6-2-2 in their past 10, which is typical of a franchise that has a knack for winning games when they don't matter. |
Sportsnet | 24 | 24 | John Tavares was named the NHL’s player of the month for January, and the Isles won a pair of road games last week. [Ed. note: Good talk, Russ.] |
TSN (Cullen) |
16 | 18 | One regulation loss in the last eight games for a very top-heavy team. Their top four forwards -- John Tavares, Matt Moulson, P.A. Parenteau and Kyle Okposo -- have combined for 65 points on 40 Islanders goals since the beginning of January. |
Fox | 24 |
26 | The Isles have five goals in their last 19 power plays and rank sixth in the league at 19.8 percent. |
Average |
22.3 |
24.5 |
Scott Burnside tempers praise with another insult-by-numbers shot, which is typical of a scribe who has a knack for choosing ancient punchlines over actual insight. |
For reference, here is last week's power rankings post.
For a more elaborate reaction to ESPN's troll in residence, we turn to mikb and his reaction when their rankings and rank commentary were posted earlier this week:
Seriously, [Avery] this guy. The Isles are only one point behind Tampa Bay: Burnside notes that the Lightning are "capable of making a surprise charge to the postseason from back in the pack." The Lightning are still eight points back of the Panthers for the division lead with Washington AND Winnipeg between them. They have the 26th-ranked power play (with Stamkos and St Louis!), the 24th-ranked penalty kill, the second-most goals permitted in the league (only Columbus has more, and they've played one more game). Even I wasn't as much of an Avery to the Columbus Dispatch as he is to the Islanders.
The point about the write-ups for the teams surrounding the Isles (above and below) resonates.
Speaking of da media, Neil Greenberg of 25 Under 25 infamy follows through on last night's tweeted promise of some Islanders praise. He says his ESPN Insider piece [$7 please] lists Frans Nielsen as a Selke candidate. I assume Nielsen was a candidate by this criteria last year as well, since Nielsen should be a Selke candidate for the past three seasons.
Real Power Rankings
And now on to our weekly "real" power rankings courtesy of Mike, or ICanSeeForIslesAndIsles (who is the one you'll find tirelessly compiling FIG picks in the game thread), who 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.
These reflect figures through Monday's games. For the first time in a while we have a little disparity between the media average and our own Power Ranking tally -- but in this instance the media rankings flatter the Isles (largely thanks to TSN rating the Isles highly).
W | L | OTL | Pts | Pct | PWR | ||
1 | This Thing That Should Not Be |
33 | 12 | 5 | 71 | 0.710 | 2128 |
2 | St. Louis | 30 | 14 | 7 | 67 | 0.657 | 1976 |
3 | Detroit | 35 | 17 | 2 | 72 | 0.667 | 1973 |
4 | Vancouver | 32 | 15 | 5 | 69 | 0.663 | 1960 |
5 | Boston | 33 | 16 | 2 | 68 | 0.667 | 1945 |
6 | San Jose | 29 | 15 | 6 | 64 | 0.640 | 1868 |
7 | Philadelphia | 30 | 16 | 6 | 66 | 0.635 | 1862 |
8 | Nashville | 32 | 17 | 4 | 68 | 0.642 | 1827 |
9 | Pittsburgh | 30 | 19 | 4 | 64 | 0.604 | 1794 |
10 | New Jersey | 30 | 19 | 3 | 63 | 0.606 | 1774 |
11 | Chicago | 29 | 17 | 7 | 65 | 0.613 | 1756 |
12 | Florida | 24 | 16 | 11 | 59 | 0.578 | 1722 |
13 | Los Angeles | 25 | 18 | 10 | 60 | 0.566 | 1712 |
14 | Toronto | 28 | 19 | 6 | 62 | 0.585 | 1706 |
15 | Minnesota | 25 | 19 | 8 | 58 | 0.558 | 1667 |
16 | Washington | 27 | 21 | 4 | 58 | 0.558 | 1649 |
17 | Ottawa | 27 | 21 | 7 | 61 | 0.555 | 1637 |
18 | Dallas | 27 | 22 | 2 | 56 | 0.549 | 1610 |
19 | Phoenix | 24 | 21 | 8 | 56 | 0.528 | 1604 |
20 | Colorado | 26 | 25 | 3 | 55 | 0.509 | 1563 |
21 | Calgary | 24 | 22 | 7 | 55 | 0.519 | 1536 |
22 | Winnipeg | 24 | 24 | 6 | 54 | 0.500 | 1477 |
23 | Tampa Bay | 23 | 23 | 5 | 51 | 0.500 | 1466 |
24 | NY Islanders | 21 | 22 | 8 | 50 | 0.490 | 1448 |
25 | Montreal | 20 | 24 | 9 | 49 | 0.462 | 1433 |
26 | Anaheim | 20 | 24 | 8 | 48 | 0.462 | 1413 |
27 | Buffalo | 22 | 24 | 6 | 50 | 0.481 | 1405 |
28 | Carolina | 20 | 25 | 9 | 49 | 0.454 | 1405 |
29 | Edmonton | 21 | 27 | 5 | 47 | 0.443 | 1400 |
30 | Columbus | 14 | 32 | 6 | 34 | 0.327 | 972 |
At the very very bottom ... my goodness, Columbus. A dropoff from 1400 to 972 is a guaranteed top-two pick, no?