New York Islanders Analysis

12/15/16 LHH Power Rankings: Against all odds, the Islanders rise to 22nd

The numbers can be funny sometimes. In our case, we're not laughing.

By ICanSeeForIslesAndIsles Dec 16, 2016, 10:29am EST

Despite going 1-2 this past week, the Isles still manage to rise a bit in our power rankings, mostly on the back of a higher strength of schedule. But first, let's check in on our favorite hot takists:

Weekly Roundup of Opinion Polls

Site	Updated	New Ranking	Prior Ranking	Comments
SportsNet	12/14/2016	26	27	John Tavares and the Islanders are rebounding from slow starts to the season. The captain had a five-game point streak going until Tuesday’s loss to the Capitals.
ESPN	12/13/2016	27	30	Captain John Tavares has three goals and two assists for five points to extend his point streak to five games. The Islanders are 5-1-1 in their past seven games and will face the Capitals and Blackhawks next.
TSN	12/12/2016	25	28	5-1-1 in the past seven games, the Islanders are digging out of a hole, but they’re in a tough spot trying to climb in the Metropolitation Division, the league’s best.
THN	12/14/2016	24	21	Islanders coach Jack Capuano threatened to make lineup changes after a 4-2 loss to Washington Tuesday, which came on the heels of a 6-2 loss to Columbus on the weekend. "I’m losing my patience a little bit with some of these guys, and you have to hold guys accountable. We’ve got some decisions that we need to make."
	Average	25.5	26.5	Wait… Who's losing patience here?!

Oh, so... no hot takes? Anyone? Huh, it's amazing what a playoff series win can do. Oh, well. On to our own number crunching.

LHH Power Rankings

For games through 12/14/16

						LHH	LHH
		GP	W	L	T	Pts	Rating
1	Columbus Blue Jackets	27	14	5	8	36	128.6
2	New York Rangers	31	19	10	2	40	120.8
3	Pittsburgh Penguins	29	15	7	7	37	117.3
4	Montreal Canadiens	29	17	6	6	40	115.5
5	Minnesota Wild	28	13	8	7	33	112.1
6	San Jose Sharks	30	14	11	5	33	111.9
7	Anaheim Ducks	29	14	9	6	34	111.3
8	Washington Capitals	28	14	7	7	35	109.5
9	Chicago Blackhawks	31	12	8	11	35	106.7
10	Boston Bruins	31	12	12	7	31	105.4
11	St. Louis Blues	30	12	10	8	32	104.3
12	Tampa Bay Lightning	30	13	13	4	30	102.8
13	Edmonton Oilers	32	13	12	7	33	101.6
14	Calgary Flames	32	11	14	7	29	100.0
15	Carolina Hurricanes	29	10	11	8	28	99.2
16	Nashville Predators	28	13	11	4	30	98.9
17	Ottawa Senators	30	11	11	8	30	98.6
18	Buffalo Sabres	28	9	11	8	26	98.0
19	Philadelphia Flyers	32	12	10	10	34	97.4
20	Toronto Maple Leafs	28	10	11	7	27	96.6
21	Dallas Stars	31	11	13	7	29	94.5
22	New York Islanders	28	8	12	8	24	91.8
23	Los Angeles Kings	28	8	12	8	24	89.4
24	New Jersey Devils	28	6	10	12	24	88.6
25	Detroit Red Wings	30	7	13	10	24	86.2
26	Florida Panthers	30	6	13	11	23	86.2
27	Colorado Avalanche	28	8	16	4	20	84.6
28	Winnipeg Jets	32	9	16	7	25	83.5
29	Arizona Coyotes	29	6	14	9	21	83.2
30	Vancouver Canucks	30	5	16	9	19	75.4

It isn't so much that the Isles moved up, but rather that other teams moved down. The Isles' ranking index stayed pretty steady (rising from a paltry 90.8 to a slightly less paltry 91.8) while the Kings, Devils and Red Wings drop under 90. Also, being in the lower third of the league, winning one out of three games against difficult opponents is pretty par for the course.

OK look things are pretty bleak around here. You try to find a positive slant!

Bettman Bonus Point Rant of the Week

Even with the current lack of good play, the Isles are still being improportionately hurt by Gary's accounting practices. Right now, they are chasing the East's ninth-place Capitals by four full wins with no games in hand. If ties after 60 minutes were recorded as exactly that, the Isles would be chasing Tampa Bay. The Isles would be only three full wins behind the Lightning, with two games in hand.

But, you know... Parity or something!

Final Note About These Articles Going Forwards

The SB Nation Mothership has decided to begin phasing out the old way of producing these articles, and the new way causes glitches here at work (I do these articles during lunch breaks, and currently starting a new Chorus article leads to a blank, unchanging screen with zero functionality). These articles might get shifted to the weekend, or perhaps biweekly. I'm going to continue to keep track of everything and will post whenever family permits.