Dolphin Ratings - National Hockey League

Explanation: Each team is listed with its record, overall score differential, and its ratings. Brief explanations of the ratings follow.

Schedule The number in this column is the effective opponent strength of a team. In other words, they would be expected to have the same record had they played all games against an opponent of this predictive rating at a neutral site. Because this calculation depends on the strength of the team in question, it is not possible to rank schedules using these values.
Expected Losses For college teams, this number is the number of losses an average ranked (top 15 hockey; otherwise top 25) team would be expected to have against the team's schedule. For pro teams, this is the number of losses an average team would be expected to have against the team's schedule. Unlike the schedule ranking, this value can be used to rank schedules.
Standard Ranks teams in an order such that a team is "probably better" than all teams ranked lower than it. This calculation uses margin of victory only for computing a team's opponents strengths; the team's rating itself is computed using only wins, losses, and ties relative to its schedule
Median Likelihood Determines the likely ratings for each team, based on its wins, losses, and ties relative to its schedule. This generally produces the same or similar ratings as the standard ranking.
Predictive Both schedule strength and rating vs. schedule strength are determined considering both the wins and losses and the score differentials. This rating contains none of the biases in the standard rating, but does weight recent games slightly more than past games since those are a better indication of the team's current strength. This rating is the best of the first three for seeing how good teams are, and thus is the best for predicting future results.
Improved RPI Rating The improved RPI formula is similar to the standard RPI, except that the schedule strength is carried out to infinite depth instead of ending with opponents' opponents, thus allows for a better comparison of isolated groups of teams than is given by the standard RPI calculation. It is similar to the simple rating, except that all games are given equal weight.
Scoring. This value indicates how many points a team would be expected to score if it played an identical team.
Offense. This combines the predictive and scoring ratings to measure how many points a team scores. The number is the predictive rating of an opponent against whom the team would be expected to score the league average number of points. This does not necessarily rate a team's offensive abilities, as a fast pace in basketball or big-play defense in football can make a team score more points.
Defense. This combines the predictive and scoring ratings to measure how many points a team allows. The number is the predictive rating of an opponent against whom the team would be expected to allow the league average number of points. The same caveat in the predictive-offense rating applies here.

In order to increase early-season stability, the three main rankings, the improved RPI, and the college pseudopoll include priors based on the previous season final predictive ratings and occasionally incorporating preseason predictions of various major publications. The other rankings for college sports do not include priors, and thus can be wildly unstable early in the year. A team whose rankings are affected by this prior is noted with a P following its rankings.

Full Ranking

                                             STANDARD   MED LIKELY  PREDICTIVE  IMPRVD RPI    SCORING     OFFENSE     DEFENSE 
TEAM            W  L  PF  PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
AVALANCHE      31  9 164  91 -0.003 19.889    1  0.251    1  0.210    1  0.315    1 0.5678   20  1.085    1  0.326    2  0.304
LIGHTNING      25 16 142 110  0.002 20.743    2  0.078    2  0.085    2  0.117    2 0.5288   17  1.092    9  0.137   11  0.097
STARS          25 16 143 113 -0.019 20.367    3  0.071    3  0.079    3  0.117    3 0.5245   18  1.091   10  0.136   10  0.098
HURRICANES     24 17 138 127  0.022 21.152    4  0.063    4  0.074    6  0.046    4 0.5235    8  1.164    7  0.155   18 -0.064
WILD           25 18 138 115 -0.004 21.636    5  0.054    5  0.064    4  0.114    5 0.5175   26  0.937   21 -0.048    4  0.276
ISLANDERS      23 19 120 120  0.030 21.848    6  0.036    6  0.047    8  0.018    6 0.5154   28  0.923   26 -0.160    6  0.196
DEVILS         22 19 113 121  0.038 21.535    7  0.029    7  0.041   20 -0.024    7 0.5136   29  0.905   28 -0.222    7  0.174
RED WINGS      24 19 131 138 -0.038 21.277    8  0.023    8  0.034   24 -0.048    8 0.5108   15  1.107   18 -0.009   21 -0.087
CANADIENS      22 19 137 138 -0.010 20.719    9  0.017    9  0.025   14 -0.001   13 0.5061    5  1.225    5  0.186   27 -0.189
PANTHERS       21 19 127 129  0.010 20.532   10  0.014   10  0.022   16 -0.007   10 0.5076    7  1.194    8  0.141   25 -0.155
TEAM            W  L  PF  PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
BRUINS         22 20 133 136 -0.000 21.386   11  0.012   11  0.019   18 -0.011    9 0.5076   10  1.145   14  0.074   22 -0.096
SABRES         21 19 125 126  0.001 20.389   12  0.011   12  0.019   19 -0.012   11 0.5070   13  1.119   15  0.041   20 -0.065
FLYERS         21 19 124 116 -0.016 20.063   13  0.008   13  0.014    9  0.017   12 0.5062   25  0.985   24 -0.091    8  0.125
DUCKS          21 20 139 146 -0.001 20.918   14  0.005   14  0.009   23 -0.047   14 0.5028    1  1.335    2  0.289   32 -0.382
SHARKS         20 21 127 146  0.033 21.540   15 -0.001   15  0.002   30 -0.080   16 0.4988    4  1.243   11  0.132   31 -0.292
CAPITALS       21 21 135 121 -0.006 21.180   16 -0.002   16 -0.003    5  0.070   15 0.5008   19  1.089   13  0.087   13  0.054
SENATORS       20 20 133 129 -0.021 20.018   17 -0.006   17 -0.007   11  0.004   17 0.4969    6  1.220    6  0.185   26 -0.177
OILERS         20 22 139 143 -0.002 21.335   18 -0.015   19 -0.021   15 -0.005   19 0.4942    2  1.269    3  0.241   30 -0.250
RANGERS        20 23 114 117  0.026 22.410   19 -0.016   18 -0.020   21 -0.040   18 0.4952   31  0.774   32 -0.378    3  0.298
PREDATORS      19 22 118 136  0.013 21.218   20 -0.019   20 -0.023   29 -0.070   22 0.4906   14  1.109   20 -0.030   24 -0.110
TEAM            W  L  PF  PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
PENGUINS       19 21 130 127 -0.028 19.874   21 -0.020   21 -0.028    7  0.020   20 0.4925   11  1.144   12  0.104   19 -0.064
BLUE JACKETS   18 22 123 132  0.014 20.650   22 -0.027   22 -0.034   22 -0.043   23 0.4898   12  1.119   17  0.010   23 -0.097
MAMMOTH        19 23 127 122  0.004 21.421   23 -0.029   23 -0.036   13 -0.001   21 0.4910   23  1.018   23 -0.069   12  0.068
MAPLE LEAFS    19 22 137 138 -0.036 20.280   24 -0.031   25 -0.040   17 -0.010   24 0.4891    3  1.246    4  0.205   29 -0.224
KRAKEN         18 21 103 115 -0.033 19.391   25 -0.032   24 -0.039   25 -0.049   26 0.4868   30  0.831   30 -0.328    5  0.229
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 17 22 122 123  0.001 19.826   26 -0.040   26 -0.049   10  0.015   25 0.4875   16  1.094   16  0.037   14 -0.008
KINGS          17 23 107 111  0.022 20.711   27 -0.041   27 -0.051   12  0.003   27 0.4824   32  0.762   31 -0.347    1  0.353
FLAMES         18 23 111 121 -0.050 20.120   28 -0.053   28 -0.063   27 -0.065   28 0.4788   27  0.926   29 -0.240    9  0.109
CANUCKS        16 25 117 143 -0.003 21.000   29 -0.080   29 -0.086   31 -0.109   29 0.4745    9  1.156   19 -0.010   28 -0.209
BLACKHAWKS     16 25 115 132 -0.020 20.636   30 -0.084   30 -0.091   28 -0.067   31 0.4709   22  1.043   25 -0.106   15 -0.028
TEAM            W  L  PF  PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
JETS           15 25 115 126  0.008 20.568   31 -0.088   31 -0.094   26 -0.058   32 0.4691   21  1.078   22 -0.055   17 -0.060
BLUES          17 26 107 146 -0.033 21.481   32 -0.089   32 -0.095   32 -0.125   30 0.4713   24  1.003   27 -0.212   16 -0.039

PACIFIC DIVISION
                                             STANDARD   MED LIKELY  PREDICTIVE  IMPRVD RPI    SCORING     OFFENSE     DEFENSE 
TEAM            W  L  PF  PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
DUCKS          21 20 139 146 -0.001 20.918   14  0.005   14  0.009   23 -0.047   14 0.5028    1  1.335    2  0.289   32 -0.382
SHARKS         20 21 127 146  0.033 21.540   15 -0.001   15  0.002   30 -0.080   16 0.4988    4  1.243   11  0.132   31 -0.292
OILERS         20 22 139 143 -0.002 21.335   18 -0.015   19 -0.021   15 -0.005   19 0.4942    2  1.269    3  0.241   30 -0.250
KRAKEN         18 21 103 115 -0.033 19.391   25 -0.032   24 -0.039   25 -0.049   26 0.4868   30  0.831   30 -0.328    5  0.229
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 17 22 122 123  0.001 19.826   26 -0.040   26 -0.049   10  0.015   25 0.4875   16  1.094   16  0.037   14 -0.008
KINGS          17 23 107 111  0.022 20.711   27 -0.041   27 -0.051   12  0.003   27 0.4824   32  0.762   31 -0.347    1  0.353
FLAMES         18 23 111 121 -0.050 20.120   28 -0.053   28 -0.063   27 -0.065   28 0.4788   27  0.926   29 -0.240    9  0.109
CANUCKS        16 25 117 143 -0.003 21.000   29 -0.080   29 -0.086   31 -0.109   29 0.4745    9  1.156   19 -0.010   28 -0.209

CENTRAL DIVISION
                                             STANDARD   MED LIKELY  PREDICTIVE  IMPRVD RPI    SCORING     OFFENSE     DEFENSE 
TEAM            W  L  PF  PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
AVALANCHE      31  9 164  91 -0.003 19.889    1  0.251    1  0.210    1  0.315    1 0.5678   20  1.085    1  0.326    2  0.304
STARS          25 16 143 113 -0.019 20.367    3  0.071    3  0.079    3  0.117    3 0.5245   18  1.091   10  0.136   10  0.098
WILD           25 18 138 115 -0.004 21.636    5  0.054    5  0.064    4  0.114    5 0.5175   26  0.937   21 -0.048    4  0.276
PREDATORS      19 22 118 136  0.013 21.218   20 -0.019   20 -0.023   29 -0.070   22 0.4906   14  1.109   20 -0.030   24 -0.110
MAMMOTH        19 23 127 122  0.004 21.421   23 -0.029   23 -0.036   13 -0.001   21 0.4910   23  1.018   23 -0.069   12  0.068
BLACKHAWKS     16 25 115 132 -0.020 20.636   30 -0.084   30 -0.091   28 -0.067   31 0.4709   22  1.043   25 -0.106   15 -0.028
JETS           15 25 115 126  0.008 20.568   31 -0.088   31 -0.094   26 -0.058   32 0.4691   21  1.078   22 -0.055   17 -0.060
BLUES          17 26 107 146 -0.033 21.481   32 -0.089   32 -0.095   32 -0.125   30 0.4713   24  1.003   27 -0.212   16 -0.039

METROPOLITAN DIVISION
                                             STANDARD   MED LIKELY  PREDICTIVE  IMPRVD RPI    SCORING     OFFENSE     DEFENSE 
TEAM            W  L  PF  PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
HURRICANES     24 17 138 127  0.022 21.152    4  0.063    4  0.074    6  0.046    4 0.5235    8  1.164    7  0.155   18 -0.064
ISLANDERS      23 19 120 120  0.030 21.848    6  0.036    6  0.047    8  0.018    6 0.5154   28  0.923   26 -0.160    6  0.196
DEVILS         22 19 113 121  0.038 21.535    7  0.029    7  0.041   20 -0.024    7 0.5136   29  0.905   28 -0.222    7  0.174
FLYERS         21 19 124 116 -0.016 20.063   13  0.008   13  0.014    9  0.017   12 0.5062   25  0.985   24 -0.091    8  0.125
CAPITALS       21 21 135 121 -0.006 21.180   16 -0.002   16 -0.003    5  0.070   15 0.5008   19  1.089   13  0.087   13  0.054
RANGERS        20 23 114 117  0.026 22.410   19 -0.016   18 -0.020   21 -0.040   18 0.4952   31  0.774   32 -0.378    3  0.298
PENGUINS       19 21 130 127 -0.028 19.874   21 -0.020   21 -0.028    7  0.020   20 0.4925   11  1.144   12  0.104   19 -0.064
BLUE JACKETS   18 22 123 132  0.014 20.650   22 -0.027   22 -0.034   22 -0.043   23 0.4898   12  1.119   17  0.010   23 -0.097

ATLANTIC DIVISION
                                             STANDARD   MED LIKELY  PREDICTIVE  IMPRVD RPI    SCORING     OFFENSE     DEFENSE 
TEAM            W  L  PF  PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
LIGHTNING      25 16 142 110  0.002 20.743    2  0.078    2  0.085    2  0.117    2 0.5288   17  1.092    9  0.137   11  0.097
RED WINGS      24 19 131 138 -0.038 21.277    8  0.023    8  0.034   24 -0.048    8 0.5108   15  1.107   18 -0.009   21 -0.087
CANADIENS      22 19 137 138 -0.010 20.719    9  0.017    9  0.025   14 -0.001   13 0.5061    5  1.225    5  0.186   27 -0.189
PANTHERS       21 19 127 129  0.010 20.532   10  0.014   10  0.022   16 -0.007   10 0.5076    7  1.194    8  0.141   25 -0.155
BRUINS         22 20 133 136 -0.000 21.386   11  0.012   11  0.019   18 -0.011    9 0.5076   10  1.145   14  0.074   22 -0.096
SABRES         21 19 125 126  0.001 20.389   12  0.011   12  0.019   19 -0.012   11 0.5070   13  1.119   15  0.041   20 -0.065
SENATORS       20 20 133 129 -0.021 20.018   17 -0.006   17 -0.007   11  0.004   17 0.4969    6  1.220    6  0.185   26 -0.177
MAPLE LEAFS    19 22 137 138 -0.036 20.280   24 -0.031   25 -0.040   17 -0.010   24 0.4891    3  1.246    4  0.205   29 -0.224

DIVISION                W   L   PCT  RNK RATING
CENTRAL DIVISION      167 164 0.505    1  0.064
METROPOLITAN DIVISION 168 161 0.511    2  0.019
ATLANTIC DIVISION     174 154 0.530    3  0.010
PACIFIC DIVISION      147 177 0.454    4 -0.102

Home field advantage amounts to:
     0.040 points in main ratings (0.079 for semineutral)
     0.006 points in improved RPI (0.008 for semineutral)
Average of 1.00 points per score

Predict score:








Team Strength vs. Time Plot:






posted: Sun Jan  4 05:30:13 2026
games through: Sat Jan  3 2026

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