:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/25999719/459743915.0.jpg)
I'm not usually one to do New Years resolutions, but I'll make an exception in this case. Despite having little down time during the holiday season, I managed to cobble together a power rankings post, in the hopes that putting it out there constitutes a way to exorcise the 2013 demons this team has had. [Well, that and exercise. While I usually keep myself at least kinda fit, I went to work today and forgot to wear a belt. If that wasn't bad enough, I realized that I didn't really need it anymore. Yikes.]
But enough Mike bashing. Let's get to the weekly Isles bashing.
Weekly Roundup of Opinion Polls
| Date | Prior | |||
| Site | Published | Ranking | Ranking | Comments |
| CBS | 12/30/2013 | 28 | 29 | The Islanders have shown some life with wins in three of five games, but even in the Metro they are close to out of it. MVP: John Tavares. It's tempting to say Kyle Okposo with his breakout campaign but the team goes as Tavares goes. |
| ESPN | 12/30/2013 | 29 | 30 | The Isles have actually managed to collect a few wins of late but the pressure is on GM Garth Snow to make something happen come trade deadline time. |
| TSN | 12/23/2013 | 29 | 29 | One regulation win in the past 16 games and they haven't been saved by C Ryan Strome, who has one point in his first four NHL games. |
| Fox Sports | 12/26/2013 | 30 | 28 | GOOD NEWS: They showed some rare life by winning 3-0 at Detroit, with veteran goaltender Evgeni Nabokov earning the shutout. BAD NEWS: That was just their third victory in 17 games. It is really, really hard to sustain such futility while playing in the Eastern Conference. BOTTOM LINE: Rather than build on last season’s breakout, the Islanders collapsed. There is no greater disappointment in the league. |
| Sports Illustrated | 12/17/2013 | 30 | 30 | The Isles snapped a pair of 10-game losing streaks—on the road as well as consecutive—with last Tuesday's 3-2 shootout win over the Sharks, then promptly dropped their next two matches, reassuring everyone that they're still as lousy as ever, thanks largely to an offense that has mustered only 11 goals this month. |
| SB Nation | 12/28/2013 | 28 | 29 | A big win over their chief rival in the Rangers and a 3-0 shutout win over the Red Wings capped off a very strong week for the struggling Islanders. |
| Average | 29.0 | 29.2 | ESPN must have confused them with the Rangers. |
Not all sites have updated yet, but what immediately sticks out is ESPN talking all Rangers about the Isles. Everyone else (rightfully) points out how bad we've been, and that recent wins are small baby steps for our club, but ESPN is all "they can still do this!" when they usually have the Isles dead in the water.
LHH Power Rankings
A mathematical approach to comparing all teams.
| W | L | OTL | Pts | PWR | ||
| 1 | San Jose | 25 | 8 | 6 | 56 | 2311 |
| 2 | St. Louis | 26 | 7 | 5 | 57 | 2262 |
| 3 | Chicago | 27 | 7 | 7 | 61 | 2211 |
| 4 | Anaheim | 28 | 8 | 5 | 61 | 2161 |
| 5 | Los Angeles | 25 | 10 | 4 | 54 | 2095 |
| 6 | Colorado | 23 | 11 | 4 | 50 | 2034 |
| 7 | Pittsburgh | 29 | 11 | 1 | 59 | 2028 |
| 8 | Boston | 26 | 11 | 2 | 54 | 1986 |
| 9 | Vancouver | 23 | 11 | 6 | 52 | 1904 |
| 10 | Phoenix | 19 | 10 | 9 | 47 | 1880 |
| 11 | Tampa Bay | 23 | 12 | 4 | 50 | 1863 |
| 12 | Dallas | 19 | 12 | 7 | 45 | 1841 |
| 13 | Montreal | 23 | 14 | 3 | 49 | 1760 |
| 14 | Minnesota | 20 | 16 | 5 | 45 | 1675 |
| 15 | Detroit | 18 | 13 | 9 | 45 | 1554 |
| 16 | Nashville | 17 | 18 | 4 | 38 | 1547 |
| 17 | Washington | 20 | 14 | 5 | 45 | 1544 |
| 18 | Toronto | 20 | 16 | 5 | 45 | 1537 |
| 19 | Winnipeg | 18 | 18 | 5 | 41 | 1502 |
| 20 | New Jersey | 16 | 16 | 8 | 40 | 1484 |
| 21 | Carolina | 14 | 16 | 9 | 37 | 1440 |
| 22 | NY Rangers | 19 | 19 | 2 | 40 | 1437 |
| 23 | Ottawa | 16 | 18 | 7 | 39 | 1400 |
| 24 | Philadelphia | 18 | 16 | 4 | 40 | 1381 |
| 25 | Florida | 15 | 20 | 5 | 35 | 1365 |
| 26 | Columbus | 17 | 18 | 4 | 38 | 1333 |
| 27 | Calgary | 14 | 19 | 6 | 34 | 1322 |
| 28 | NY Islanders | 12 | 21 | 7 | 31 | 1180 |
| 29 | Edmonton | 13 | 24 | 4 | 30 | 1033 |
| 30 | Buffalo | 11 | 24 | 4 | 26 | 1015 |
No movement for the Isles. At least they're not dropping lower than the Times Square ball.
Standings from an Alternate Universe
| Atlantic | W | OTW | OTL | L | PTS |
| Boston | 22 | 4 | 2 | 11 | 76 |
| Montreal | 18 | 5 | 3 | 14 | 67 |
| Tampa Bay | 14 | 9 | 4 | 12 | 64 |
| Detroit | 15 | 3 | 9 | 13 | 60 |
| Toronto | 12 | 8 | 5 | 16 | 57 |
| Ottawa | 13 | 3 | 7 | 18 | 52 |
| Florida | 11 | 4 | 5 | 20 | 46 |
| Buffalo | 4 | 7 | 4 | 24 | 30 |
| Metropolitan | W | OTW | OTL | L | PTS |
| Pittsburgh | 24 | 5 | 1 | 11 | 83 |
| NY Rangers | 16 | 3 | 2 | 19 | 56 |
| Philadelphia | 16 | 2 | 4 | 16 | 56 |
| Washington | 10 | 10 | 5 | 14 | 55 |
| Columbus | 14 | 3 | 4 | 18 | 52 |
| New Jersey | 11 | 5 | 8 | 16 | 51 |
| Carolina | 12 | 2 | 9 | 16 | 49 |
| NY Islanders | 8 | 4 | 7 | 21 | 39 |
| Central | W | OTW | OTL | L | PTS |
| Chicago | 23 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 84 |
| St. Louis | 20 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 77 |
| Colorado | 18 | 5 | 4 | 11 | 68 |
| Minnesota | 15 | 5 | 5 | 16 | 60 |
| Dallas | 15 | 4 | 7 | 12 | 60 |
| Nashville | 16 | 1 | 4 | 18 | 54 |
| Winnipeg | 11 | 7 | 5 | 18 | 52 |
| Western | W | OTW | OTL | L | PTS |
| Anaheim | 22 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 83 |
| San Jose | 17 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 73 |
| Los Angeles | 16 | 9 | 4 | 10 | 70 |
| Vancouver | 16 | 7 | 6 | 11 | 68 |
| Phoenix | 13 | 6 | 9 | 10 | 60 |
| Calgary | 7 | 7 | 6 | 19 | 41 |
| Edmonton | 9 | 4 | 4 | 24 | 39 |
Not only does this make us look bad (as always), but it also makes the Rangers look better. You know what? I'm done for this year. Here's hoping 2014 is better. As though it could get much worse, right?
/Ducks for cover
