:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/48513471/GettyImages-503295014.0.jpg)
My birthday is two days after New Year's, so while everyone else is recovering from their hangovers, I'm doing the same while getting birthday punches. Thanks to the holiday / birthday season, I haven't seen the Isles play in some two weeks. Judging by the tweets I've read, they've hung in games mostly thanks to Thomas Greiss.
Guess nobody's ever heard of Christmas magic, huh? Or birthday wishes. Or resolutions. Wait, what day is it again? My head/arms hurt.
Weekly Roundup of Opinion Polls
I'll update with CBS's rankings, if they come out (and: if I figure out how to edit a published article).
| Site | Updated | New Ranking | Prior Ranking | Comments |
| CBS | 1/5/2016 |
6 | 6 | The Islanders have won four of their last six, but none of the wins was as impressive as the 6-5 victory over the league-leading Stars. Injuries to Jaroslav Halak and now defenseman Johnny Boychuk will challenge this group going forward. |
| ESPN | 1/4/2016 | 7 | 10 | The Isles were blown out by the Penguins on Saturday but bounced back nicely with Sunday's win over the Stars. They'll miss Johnny Boychuk and need to get Jaroslav Halak back and in a groove, but they are slightly ahead of the other two New York-area teams as we head into 2016. |
| TSN | 1/4/2016 | 6 | 8 | Isles could stand to tighten up some defensively, as they've allowed 127 shots on goal in the past three games. With their big offensive guns struggling, they can't afford to get into trading chances like that. |
| Fox | 1/4/2016 | 7 | 10 | If you get in a goal-scoring affair with the Dallas Stars, it’s unlikely that you will come out on top, but that’s exactly what the Islanders did this week. |
| USA Today | 1/4/2016 | 7 | 8 | The Islanders' defense was dealt a huge blow when Johnny Boychuk was placed on the injured reserve list. |
| Average | 6.6 | 8.4 |
The best backups are the ones you never hear about. |
I'm surprised that the average opinion poll ranking is better than our own calculated one, given what people have told me about the Isles' recent run of play. These people rely on their eyes, until they don't.
LHH Power Rankings
for games through 1/4/15 Dammit! 1/4/16.
| (6) | (4) | (3) | (2) | (0) | |||||
| Reg | OT | OT | Reg | LHH | LHH | ||||
| GP | W | W | SO | L | L | Pts | Rating | ||
| 1 | Dallas Stars | 41 | 24 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 169 | 125.3 |
| 2 | Washington Capitals | 38 | 24 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 165 | 124.1 |
| 3 | Florida Panthers | 39 | 17 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 12 | 130 | 110.8 |
| 4 | Los Angeles Kings | 39 | 17 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 12 | 137 | 109.7 |
| 5 | Minnesota Wild | 38 | 19 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 11 | 133 | 109.0 |
| 6 | Montreal Canadiens | 40 | 19 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 15 | 131 | 108.2 |
| 7 | Boston Bruins | 37 | 17 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 14 | 118 | 106.6 |
| 8 | New York Islanders | 40 | 18 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 13 | 134 | 105.0 |
| 9 | Colorado Avalanche | 40 | 18 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 18 | 118 | 104.7 |
| 10 | St. Louis Blues | 42 | 18 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 14 | 137 | 102.6 |
| 11 | New York Rangers | 39 | 18 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 15 | 126 | 102.3 |
| 12 | Chicago Blackhawks | 40 | 15 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 13 | 129 | 101.9 |
| 13 | Pittsburgh Penguins | 38 | 15 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 15 | 116 | 101.6 |
| 14 | Nashville Predators | 39 | 16 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 13 | 121 | 99.3 |
| 15 | San Jose Sharks | 37 | 14 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 17 | 103 | 99.1 |
| 16 | Detroit Red Wings | 40 | 13 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 13 | 121 | 98.9 |
| 17 | New Jersey Devils | 40 | 12 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 15 | 116 | 98.1 |
| 18 | Winnipeg Jets | 39 | 17 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 19 | 111 | 98.0 |
| 19 | Arizona Coyotes | 39 | 15 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 16 | 115 | 97.3 |
| 20 | Ottawa Senators | 40 | 12 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 15 | 113 | 97.0 |
| 21 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 37 | 11 | 0 | 8 | 3 | 15 | 96 | 96.7 |
| 22 | Tampa Bay Lightning | 39 | 14 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 16 | 113 | 96.2 |
| 23 | Carolina Hurricanes | 40 | 12 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 17 | 103 | 91.8 |
| 24 | Calgary Flames | 38 | 9 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 18 | 94 | 90.3 |
| 25 | Anaheim Ducks | 38 | 15 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 15 | 109 | 89.8 |
| 26 | Vancouver Canucks | 40 | 11 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 16 | 99 | 89.3 |
| 27 | Philadelphia Flyers | 37 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 15 | 92 | 89.2 |
| 28 | Buffalo Sabres | 39 | 12 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 20 | 94 | 88.0 |
| 29 | Columbus Blue Jackets | 40 | 12 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 22 | 89 | 87.7 |
| 30 | Edmonton Oilers | 41 | 9 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 21 | 90 | 81.3 |
The win over the top-ranked Stars certainly helps, and results matter in these rankings, rather than Corsi. Three Atlantic teams are ranked higher than the Isles' own lofty position. The new resolution should be to start getting some points off of those teams. Meanwhile, it's not a happy time across Canada. Five of the seven Canadian teams are ranked 20th or worse, and the Jets aren't much higher, at 18th.
Overall, the table is a bit top-heavy at the moment. Not only are the Stars and Capitals a step above everyone else, but only 13 teams are above the average ranking score of 100. Another big gap appears between the 22nd and 23rd ranked teams. While I don't think all of the bottom eight teams were expecting to be in this position when this season started, their GMs might want to start thinking about the future, nevertheless.
Speaking of the future... Happy New Year, people! (Yeah bad segue, but my lunch break is over.)