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
RANGERS        3 6 21 21  0.024  4.621   29 -0.036   29 -0.030   11  0.004   28 0.4717   32  0.591   32 -0.506    1  0.514 P
CAPITALS       6 2 26 14 -0.015  3.895    3  0.046    3  0.049    3  0.073    6 0.5331   28  0.764   26 -0.268    2  0.414 P
KRAKEN         4 4 22 23  0.070  4.266   12  0.010   13  0.005   13  0.001   12 0.5045   30  0.749   29 -0.356    3  0.357 P
PREDATORS      3 5 19 25 -0.054  3.889   27 -0.031   27 -0.028   27 -0.032   26 0.4765   31  0.748   30 -0.389    4  0.326 P
AVALANCHE      5 3 28 19  0.076  4.171    7  0.034    7  0.035    1  0.094    5 0.5333   24  0.902   23 -0.100    5  0.288 P
BLACKHAWKS     4 4 25 20 -0.062  3.833   21 -0.013   21 -0.011   19 -0.014   21 0.4851   27  0.812   28 -0.305    6  0.277 P
FLYERS         3 4 19 18 -0.011  3.516   22 -0.016   22 -0.015   20 -0.015   20 0.4862   26  0.817   27 -0.302    7  0.271 P
FLAMES         1 8 16 34  0.080  4.968   32 -0.074   32 -0.074   31 -0.087   32 0.4398   29  0.752   31 -0.440    8  0.267 P
KINGS          3 5 22 27  0.179  4.637   19 -0.010   18 -0.006   15  0.000   16 0.4958   25  0.892   25 -0.205    9  0.205 P
PANTHERS       4 5 22 28 -0.014  4.515   18 -0.008   19 -0.006   26 -0.020   17 0.4942   23  0.991   24 -0.113   10  0.073 P
TEAM           W L PF PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
RED WINGS      5 3 24 25 -0.039  3.922   10  0.019   10  0.020   25 -0.020   10 0.5099   22  1.004   22 -0.098   11  0.057 P
DEVILS         7 1 31 19 -0.012  3.880    2  0.065    2  0.072    4  0.068    2 0.5582   16  1.079   13  0.079   12  0.056 P
SABRES         4 4 24 23 -0.039  3.922   17 -0.004   16 -0.003   22 -0.016   19 0.4891   21  1.012   21 -0.085   13  0.052 P
LIGHTNING      1 6 18 24  0.029  3.616   30 -0.054   30 -0.052   16 -0.001   30 0.4482   20  1.030   20 -0.049   14  0.046 P
PENGUINS       6 2 28 19 -0.067  3.741    6  0.041    6  0.043    7  0.049    3 0.5347   15  1.090   14  0.073   15  0.025 P
MAMMOTH        6 2 28 20 -0.038  3.871    5  0.042    4  0.045    8  0.014    7 0.5285   18  1.067   17  0.011   16  0.017 P
OILERS         4 4 24 25 -0.043  3.865   14  0.005   15  0.001    9  0.014   14 0.5029   19  1.067   18  0.010   17  0.017 P
CANUCKS        4 4 22 24 -0.003  4.049   15  0.002   14  0.003   23 -0.017   15 0.4981   17  1.070   19 -0.016   18 -0.018 P
WILD           3 5 21 27  0.059  4.254   23 -0.019   23 -0.017   21 -0.016   23 0.4814   14  1.093   16  0.012   19 -0.044 P
HURRICANES     6 1 29 19  0.115  3.739    1  0.071    1  0.075    2  0.076    1 0.5734   12  1.171   10  0.202   20 -0.050 P
TEAM           W L PF PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
JETS           6 2 28 19 -0.126  3.540    4  0.042    5  0.044    6  0.050    4 0.5340   11  1.174   12  0.179   21 -0.080 P
BLUE JACKETS   3 4 20 21  0.108  3.867   20 -0.010   20 -0.007   24 -0.017   22 0.4844   13  1.127   15  0.053   22 -0.087 P
STARS          3 4 22 26  0.024  3.606   16 -0.004   17 -0.004   18 -0.004   18 0.4925   10  1.258    9  0.234   23 -0.243 P
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 5 2 30 20 -0.107  3.114    8  0.034    8  0.034    5  0.061    8 0.5268    7  1.308    5  0.366   24 -0.244 P
CANADIENS      6 3 32 27 -0.077  4.242    9  0.028    9  0.028   14  0.000    9 0.5167    8  1.299    7  0.293   25 -0.293 P
BLUES          3 4 20 27 -0.122  3.204   24 -0.022   24 -0.017   29 -0.034   25 0.4787    6  1.313    8  0.278   26 -0.345 P
BRUINS         3 6 29 33  0.077  4.826   26 -0.029   26 -0.025   12  0.002   27 0.4733    5  1.345    6  0.357   27 -0.354 P
ISLANDERS      4 3 27 24 -0.014  3.476   11  0.016   11  0.012   10  0.006   11 0.5096    4  1.367    3  0.392   28 -0.379 P
SHARKS         1 7 23 37  0.111  4.544   31 -0.071   31 -0.070   32 -0.102   31 0.4404    9  1.291   11  0.180   29 -0.385 P
DUCKS          4 3 26 25 -0.002  3.568   13  0.009   12  0.008   28 -0.033   13 0.5043    3  1.377    4  0.367   30 -0.434 P
TEAM           W L PF PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
MAPLE LEAFS    3 5 27 30 -0.037  3.911   25 -0.026   25 -0.022   17 -0.003   24 0.4814    1  1.429    1  0.469   31 -0.476 P
SENATORS       3 5 24 34 -0.075  3.844   28 -0.035   28 -0.029   30 -0.059   29 0.4662    2  1.428    2  0.413   32 -0.530 P

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
KRAKEN         4 4 22 23  0.070  4.266   12  0.010   13  0.005   13  0.001   12 0.5045   30  0.749   29 -0.356    3  0.357 P
FLAMES         1 8 16 34  0.080  4.968   32 -0.074   32 -0.074   31 -0.087   32 0.4398   29  0.752   31 -0.440    8  0.267 P
KINGS          3 5 22 27  0.179  4.637   19 -0.010   18 -0.006   15  0.000   16 0.4958   25  0.892   25 -0.205    9  0.205 P
OILERS         4 4 24 25 -0.043  3.865   14  0.005   15  0.001    9  0.014   14 0.5029   19  1.067   18  0.010   17  0.017 P
CANUCKS        4 4 22 24 -0.003  4.049   15  0.002   14  0.003   23 -0.017   15 0.4981   17  1.070   19 -0.016   18 -0.018 P
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 5 2 30 20 -0.107  3.114    8  0.034    8  0.034    5  0.061    8 0.5268    7  1.308    5  0.366   24 -0.244 P
SHARKS         1 7 23 37  0.111  4.544   31 -0.071   31 -0.070   32 -0.102   31 0.4404    9  1.291   11  0.180   29 -0.385 P
DUCKS          4 3 26 25 -0.002  3.568   13  0.009   12  0.008   28 -0.033   13 0.5043    3  1.377    4  0.367   30 -0.434 P

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
PREDATORS      3 5 19 25 -0.054  3.889   27 -0.031   27 -0.028   27 -0.032   26 0.4765   31  0.748   30 -0.389    4  0.326 P
AVALANCHE      5 3 28 19  0.076  4.171    7  0.034    7  0.035    1  0.094    5 0.5333   24  0.902   23 -0.100    5  0.288 P
BLACKHAWKS     4 4 25 20 -0.062  3.833   21 -0.013   21 -0.011   19 -0.014   21 0.4851   27  0.812   28 -0.305    6  0.277 P
MAMMOTH        6 2 28 20 -0.038  3.871    5  0.042    4  0.045    8  0.014    7 0.5285   18  1.067   17  0.011   16  0.017 P
WILD           3 5 21 27  0.059  4.254   23 -0.019   23 -0.017   21 -0.016   23 0.4814   14  1.093   16  0.012   19 -0.044 P
JETS           6 2 28 19 -0.126  3.540    4  0.042    5  0.044    6  0.050    4 0.5340   11  1.174   12  0.179   21 -0.080 P
STARS          3 4 22 26  0.024  3.606   16 -0.004   17 -0.004   18 -0.004   18 0.4925   10  1.258    9  0.234   23 -0.243 P
BLUES          3 4 20 27 -0.122  3.204   24 -0.022   24 -0.017   29 -0.034   25 0.4787    6  1.313    8  0.278   26 -0.345 P

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
RANGERS        3 6 21 21  0.024  4.621   29 -0.036   29 -0.030   11  0.004   28 0.4717   32  0.591   32 -0.506    1  0.514 P
CAPITALS       6 2 26 14 -0.015  3.895    3  0.046    3  0.049    3  0.073    6 0.5331   28  0.764   26 -0.268    2  0.414 P
FLYERS         3 4 19 18 -0.011  3.516   22 -0.016   22 -0.015   20 -0.015   20 0.4862   26  0.817   27 -0.302    7  0.271 P
DEVILS         7 1 31 19 -0.012  3.880    2  0.065    2  0.072    4  0.068    2 0.5582   16  1.079   13  0.079   12  0.056 P
PENGUINS       6 2 28 19 -0.067  3.741    6  0.041    6  0.043    7  0.049    3 0.5347   15  1.090   14  0.073   15  0.025 P
HURRICANES     6 1 29 19  0.115  3.739    1  0.071    1  0.075    2  0.076    1 0.5734   12  1.171   10  0.202   20 -0.050 P
BLUE JACKETS   3 4 20 21  0.108  3.867   20 -0.010   20 -0.007   24 -0.017   22 0.4844   13  1.127   15  0.053   22 -0.087 P
ISLANDERS      4 3 27 24 -0.014  3.476   11  0.016   11  0.012   10  0.006   11 0.5096    4  1.367    3  0.392   28 -0.379 P

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
PANTHERS       4 5 22 28 -0.014  4.515   18 -0.008   19 -0.006   26 -0.020   17 0.4942   23  0.991   24 -0.113   10  0.073 P
RED WINGS      5 3 24 25 -0.039  3.922   10  0.019   10  0.020   25 -0.020   10 0.5099   22  1.004   22 -0.098   11  0.057 P
SABRES         4 4 24 23 -0.039  3.922   17 -0.004   16 -0.003   22 -0.016   19 0.4891   21  1.012   21 -0.085   13  0.052 P
LIGHTNING      1 6 18 24  0.029  3.616   30 -0.054   30 -0.052   16 -0.001   30 0.4482   20  1.030   20 -0.049   14  0.046 P
CANADIENS      6 3 32 27 -0.077  4.242    9  0.028    9  0.028   14  0.000    9 0.5167    8  1.299    7  0.293   25 -0.293 P
BRUINS         3 6 29 33  0.077  4.826   26 -0.029   26 -0.025   12  0.002   27 0.4733    5  1.345    6  0.357   27 -0.354 P
MAPLE LEAFS    3 5 27 30 -0.037  3.911   25 -0.026   25 -0.022   17 -0.003   24 0.4814    1  1.429    1  0.469   31 -0.476 P
SENATORS       3 5 24 34 -0.075  3.844   28 -0.035   28 -0.029   30 -0.059   29 0.4662    2  1.428    2  0.413   32 -0.530 P

DIVISION               W  L   PCT  RNK RATING
METROPOLITAN DIVISION 38 23 0.623    1  0.161
CENTRAL DIVISION      33 29 0.532    2  0.034
ATLANTIC DIVISION     29 37 0.439    3 -0.081
PACIFIC DIVISION      26 37 0.413    4 -0.106

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

Predict score:








Team Strength vs. Time Plot:






posted: Sat Oct 25 05:30:15 2025
games through: Fri Oct 24 2025

Back to Dolphin rankings main page.