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Final LHH NHL Power Rankings of 2012-13

As the last two playoff series get underway, we take one final fond look back at a bunch of opinions and computer calculations that mean absolutely nothing now.

By ICanSeeForIslesAndIsles
Get used to this, Nabby. The Pens were doing this to our fifth string goalies two years ago.
Get used to this, Nabby. The Pens were doing this to our fifth string goalies two years ago.
Marianne Helm

There I was, T-minus two hours and 10 minutes until the puck dropped for Game 1, suddenly realizing that in the excitement of the whole playoffs thing, I hadn't posted the final power rankings of the year. Oops.

Well, I know how much people enjoy what other sites are saying about our team - OK don't throw the tomatoes! I promise I'll keep this short so you can get back to your 25-hour-a-day LHH playoff gorge-fest.

Roundup of Weekly Opinion Polls

Site Ranking Prior Comments
CBS 15 11 Did the Isles let down after clinching? They were one of hottest teams but lost the final three. That could be a killer because it gives them the Pens in the opening round.
THN --- 12 (No rankings this week)
ESPN 14 11 The Isles surged into the playoffs for the first time since 2007 as if they belonged (which they do), and with John Tavares in the middle of serious Hart Trophy discussion.
TSN 15 13 Two regulation losses in the last 17 games landed the Islanders in the playoffs for the first time since 2007. It should be valuable experience for a young team, but if the Isles are going to do more than gain experience in a handful of first-round games, they'll have to find a way to slow down the Penguins.
Fox Sports 12 15 Congrats, Islanders. You made the playoffs for the first time since the 2006-07 season, and now you get to the face the Pens. The Islanders’ playoff run might not last long, but (outside losing three in a row to finish the season) credit New York for a great turnaround.
Average 14.0 12.4 Hooray for you! Now lose.

The playoffs matchup with the Pens is just about the perfect storm for the media at large. It provides them with both: (A) a feel-good story of a young team on the rise, and (B) a young virgin for their golden boy's ritual first-round sacrifice.

LHH Power Rankings

Calculated by yours truly. You know the drill.

Overall
EAST W L OTL Pts Win Pct PWR Rank
1 Pittsburgh 36 12 0 72 0.750 2175 2
2 Montreal 29 14 5 63 0.656 1828 6
3 Boston 28 14 6 62 0.646 1799 8
4 Toronto 26 17 5 57 0.594 1736 11
5 Ottawa 25 17 6 56 0.583 1690 13
6 NY Rangers 26 18 4 56 0.583 1658 14
7 NY Islanders 24 17 7 55 0.573 1616 16
8 Washington 27 18 3 57 0.594 1582 18
9 Buffalo 21 21 6 48 0.500 1528 20
10 Philadelphia 23 22 3 49 0.510 1506 21
11 New Jersey 19 19 10 48 0.500 1471 22
12 Winnipeg 24 21 3 51 0.531 1460 23
13 Carolina 19 25 4 42 0.438 1273 27
14 Tampa Bay 18 26 4 40 0.417 1114 29
15 Florida 15 27 6 36 0.375 1049 30

Right where you'd expect the Isles to be. And since it's the last post of the year, here's the Western Conference:

Overall
WEST W L OTL Pts Win Pct PWR Rank
1 Chicago 36 7 5 77 0.802 2344 1
2 Anaheim 30 12 6 66 0.688 2076 3
3 St. Louis 29 17 2 60 0.625 1876 4
4 Los Angeles 27 16 5 59 0.615 1846 5
5 Vancouver 26 15 7 59 0.615 1812 7
6 San Jose 25 16 7 57 0.594 1764 9
7 Detroit 24 16 8 56 0.583 1760 10
8 Columbus 24 17 7 55 0.573 1701 12
9 Minnesota 26 19 3 55 0.573 1629 15
10 Phoenix 21 18 9 51 0.531 1608 17
11 Dallas 22 22 4 48 0.500 1541 19
12 Edmonton 19 22 7 45 0.469 1392 24
13 Calgary 19 25 4 42 0.438 1308 25
14 Nashville 16 23 9 41 0.427 1294 26
15 Colorado 16 25 7 39 0.406 1253 28

Standings From an Alternate Universe

Again, no need to rehash this. Just finishing out an experiment I started a month or so ago:

(Number of points) (5) (4) (3) (2) (1) (0)
EAST RW OTW SOW SOL OTL RL Pts
1 Pittsburgh 31 2 3 0 0 12 172
2 Montreal 24 2 3 2 3 14 144
3 Boston 23 1 4 3 3 14 140
4 Toronto 24 2 0 5 0 17 138
5 Washington 20 4 3 0 3 18 128
6 NY Rangers 18 4 4 4 0 18 126
7 Ottawa 19 2 4 4 2 17 125
8 NY Islanders 18 2 4 3 4 17 120
9 Winnipeg 18 4 2 3 0 21 118
10 Philadelphia 20 2 1 2 1 22 116
11 New Jersey 16 1 2 7 3 19 107
12 Buffalo 13 1 7 4 2 21 100
13 Carolina 17 1 1 1 3 25 97
14 Tampa Bay 16 1 1 3 1 26 94
15 Florida 11 1 3 1 5 27 75

The Isles' stumble at the end of the year would have dropped them right into the same spot they finished in the real world. I should point out, however, that with Winnipeg and Philly finishing within a regulation win, the Isles likely wouldn't have rested some of their better defenders in those last two games.

Anyway, here's the West:

(Number of points) (5) (4) (3) (2) (1) (0)
WEST RW OTW SOW SOL OTL RL Pts
1 Chicago 25 5 6 5 0 7 173
2 Anaheim 23 1 6 3 3 12 146
3 Los Angeles 24 1 2 4 1 16 139
4 St. Louis 20 4 5 1 1 17 134
5 Vancouver 20 1 5 6 1 15 132
6 Detroit 20 2 2 5 3 16 127
7 Minnesota 19 3 4 2 1 19 124
8 San Jose 17 0 8 4 3 16 120
9 Columbus 14 5 5 4 3 17 116
10 Phoenix 16 1 4 6 3 18 111
11 Dallas 18 2 2 1 3 22 109
12 Calgary 17 2 0 3 1 25 100
13 Edmonton 15 2 2 3 4 22 99
14 Nashville 11 3 2 6 3 23 88
15 Colorado 11 3 2 2 5 25 82

Hmmm... now usually there's one more section, but I don't remember what it was... Oh, right, the bubble teams' remaining schedules. Well, we all know how that turned out!

No more of that. T-minus 1:45. Let's. Go. Islanders.

Postscript: The game hasn't started yet, right? Still 0-0?