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The Islander-Ranger game was tied 1-1 as I type this, so please excuse me if I get a bit SHOOT THE PUCK!!!! Sorry, where was I? Oh yeah, the rankings. As always, we first look at what others have been saying about the Islanders this past week:
Weekly Roundup of Opinion Polls
| Date | Prior | ||||
| Site | Published | Ranking | Ranking | Comments | |
| 1 | CBS | 10/28/2013 | 17 | 18 | Getting Thomas Vanek is definitely a plus but the Isles' problem hasn't been scoring, it has been defense and goaltending, where they're 11th in the East in goals against. |
| 2 | ESPN | 10/28/2013 | 18 | 18 | Well, that's one way to shake things up if you're a GM who's not happy with his team's play. |
| 3 | TSN | 10/28/2013 | 16 | 16 | Shocked the hockey world with their acquisition of Thomas Vanek from the Buffalo Sabres, which represents an upgrade, but doesn't fill defensive or goaltending holes for a team with two wins in the last eight games. |
| 4 | Fox Sports | --- | --- | 21 | Not updated yet. |
| 5 | Sports Illustrated | 10/29/2013 | 20 | 21 | Another up-and-down week for the Isles that featured a win over Pittsburgh and a loss to Philly (the Flyers are now 30-7-1-2 at Nassau Coliseum since the 2007-08 season) was all that GM Garth Snow could take. He expects better of this group than .500 hockey, and the addition of Thomas Vanek says he believes in its ability to win now. It's up to the players now to prove that they can. |
| 6 | SB Nation | 10/29/2013 | 16 | --- | Thomas Vanek is coming to town! Thomas Vanek is coming to town! Thom-- Matt Moulson scored two goals in his Buffalo debut? … Well, at least Thomas Vanek is coming to town! |
| Average | 17.4 | 18.8 | Vanek D-man Moulson something something. |
SB Nation's mothership has started their own rankings, so we'll add them in. The Isles actually bumped up a bit, and you have to wonder if it's all due to the signing of Vanek. Their play last week (one big victory but two losses against teams they arguably should have beaten) certainly shouldn't have. Let's see what the calculations yield...
LHH Power Rankings Table
| W | L | OTL | Pts | PWR | ||
| 1 | Colorado | 10 | 1 | 0 | 20 | 2405 |
| 2 | San Jose | 10 | 1 | 1 | 21 | 2404 |
| 3 | St. Louis | 6 | 1 | 2 | 14 | 2096 |
| 4 | Boston | 7 | 3 | 0 | 14 | 1974 |
| 5 | Anaheim | 9 | 3 | 0 | 18 | 1820 |
| 6 | Chicago | 7 | 2 | 3 | 17 | 1766 |
| 7 | Tampa Bay | 8 | 3 | 0 | 16 | 1723 |
| 8 | Toronto | 8 | 4 | 0 | 16 | 1651 |
| 9 | Los Angeles | 8 | 4 | 0 | 16 | 1614 |
| 10 | Detroit | 6 | 4 | 2 | 14 | 1550 |
| 11 | Phoenix | 7 | 3 | 2 | 16 | 1539 |
| 12 | Minnesota | 6 | 4 | 3 | 15 | 1446 |
| 13 | Vancouver | 9 | 4 | 1 | 19 | 1417 |
| 14 | Pittsburgh | 8 | 4 | 0 | 16 | 1376 |
| 15 | Nashville | 6 | 5 | 1 | 13 | 1367 |
| 16 | Montreal | 7 | 5 | 0 | 14 | 1295 |
| 17 | Calgary | 5 | 4 | 2 | 12 | 1275 |
| 18 | Dallas | 5 | 5 | 1 | 11 | 1263 |
| 19 | Winnipeg | 5 | 6 | 2 | 12 | 1191 |
| 20 | Carolina | 4 | 5 | 3 | 11 | 1136 |
| 21 | NY Islanders | 4 | 4 | 3 | 11 | 1129 |
| 22 | Ottawa | 4 | 5 | 2 | 10 | 1104 |
| 23 | Columbus | 5 | 6 | 0 | 10 | 1052 |
| 24 | Florida | 3 | 7 | 2 | 8 | 972 |
| 25 | New Jersey | 2 | 5 | 4 | 8 | 952 |
| 26 | Washington | 5 | 7 | 0 | 10 | 874 |
| 27 | NY Rangers | 3 | 7 | 0 | 6 | 792 |
| 28 | Edmonton | 3 | 8 | 2 | 8 | 783 |
| 29 | Philadelphia | 3 | 7 | 0 | 6 | 614 |
| 30 | Buffalo | 2 | 11 | 1 | 5 | 439 |
Yep. Purely objective calculations have the Isles lower than any opinion poll. It's also lower than Copper and Blue's power rankings, which have the Isles 17th (theirs are also based on a formula, but it's secret). Even if the Isles didn't make that blockbuster trade, this would likely still be the case. For whatever reason (I made a guess or two about why last week), the Isles are just getting a tiny bit more love than they deserve from the pundits.
And now, join us, if you will, for the standings if every game was weighted equally. It's time to EXIT... The Bettman Zone. (Do Do DO Do - Do Do DO Do!)
Standings from an Alternate Universe
| Atlantic | W | OTW | OTL | L | PTS |
| Toronto | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 22 |
| Boston | 7 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 21 |
| Montreal | 7 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 21 |
| Tampa Bay | 4 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 20 |
| Detroit | 5 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 19 |
| Ottawa | 3 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 13 |
| Florida | 2 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 10 |
| Buffalo | 1 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 6 |
| Metropolitan | W | OTW | OTL | L | PTS |
| Pittsburgh | 7 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 23 |
| Carolina | 4 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 15 |
| Columbus | 4 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 14 |
| NY Islanders | 3 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 14 |
| Washington | 3 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 13 |
| New Jersey | 2 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 10 |
| Philadelphia | 3 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 9 |
| NY Rangers | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 8 |
| Central | W | OTW | OTL | L | PTS |
| Colorado | 10 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 30 |
| Chicago | 5 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 22 |
| Minnesota | 6 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 21 |
| St. Louis | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 19 |
| Nashville | 5 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 18 |
| Dallas | 4 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 15 |
| Winnipeg | 3 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 15 |
| Western | W | OTW | OTL | L | PTS |
| San Jose | 9 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 30 |
| Anaheim | 7 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 25 |
| Phoenix | 7 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 23 |
| Vancouver | 4 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 23 |
| Los Angeles | 3 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 19 |
| Calgary | 5 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 17 |
| Edmonton | 2 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 10 |
The Isles would only be tied for third, and three regulation victories behind first. That's a much larger gap than last week, and the Isles even beat the first place team. Three points for a regulation victory really stretches things out (then again, putting together a small streak could make that gap disappear faster).
When we get closer to the end of the year, I'll keep track of who would clinch a playoff spot, and compare that to what's happening in Bettman's standings.
Of course, if the Isles continue to lose to last place teams, they won't do well in either universe.
More from Lighthouse Hockey:
- Islanders News: Battle of New York reactions
- Islanders-Rangers Post-Game Video: Capuano laments 'same mistakes' by defense
- Thomas Vanek Trade Reports: Sabres retained salary in offers to Islanders, Maple Leafs
- Battle of New York: Rangers win first meeting in Thomas Vanek's Islanders debut
- No Pizza For Spicoli: Saying Goodbye to Matt Moulson