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      27  9 142  80  0.002 18.001    1  0.215    1  0.190    1  0.304    1 0.5633   23  1.024    3  0.254    2  0.353
STARS          25 13 136 101 -0.006 19.033    2  0.128    2  0.121    2  0.153    2 0.5381   17  1.094    6  0.187   10  0.119
HURRICANES     22 14 121 106  0.021 18.543    3  0.088    3  0.090    6  0.066    3 0.5299   14  1.122    9  0.135   15 -0.003
WILD           22 16 117  99  0.002 19.204    4  0.057    4  0.061    3  0.104    4 0.5175   29  0.893   22 -0.095    3  0.304
ISLANDERS      20 17 107 104  0.056 19.632    6  0.043    6  0.048    8  0.038    5 0.5170   28  0.926   26 -0.125    5  0.200
LIGHTNING      20 16 117  95  0.020 18.484    5  0.044    8  0.046    4  0.099    6 0.5165   19  1.038   13  0.066    8  0.133
DUCKS          21 16 129 126 -0.008 18.756    7  0.043    5  0.049   17 -0.014    7 0.5161    1  1.318    1  0.309   32 -0.337
RED WINGS      22 16 120 122 -0.047 18.679    8  0.040    7  0.047   20 -0.034    8 0.5156    9  1.162   11  0.084   23 -0.152
PANTHERS       20 16 117 114  0.016 18.550    9  0.040    9  0.046   11  0.016    9 0.5154    4  1.216    4  0.204   24 -0.172
DEVILS         20 17 103 110  0.043 19.535   10  0.037   10  0.045   18 -0.022   10 0.5154   27  0.939   27 -0.170    9  0.126
TEAM            W  L  PF  PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
BRUINS         20 18 122 126  0.018 19.648   11  0.023   11  0.027   15 -0.006   11 0.5095    5  1.205    7  0.167   26 -0.179
FLYERS         19 17 111 102 -0.005 18.218   12  0.017   13  0.018    9  0.032   12 0.5075   26  0.944   24 -0.110    6  0.175
CAPITALS       19 18 117 103 -0.004 18.685   14  0.008   14  0.008    5  0.080   13 0.5040   18  1.048   15  0.058   11  0.102
CANADIENS      20 17 123 124 -0.031 18.383   13  0.016   12  0.020   14 -0.004   14 0.5034    3  1.228    5  0.199   28 -0.207
SABRES         18 18 112 117  0.002 18.420   15  0.000   15 -0.001   21 -0.034   15 0.5010   11  1.140   16  0.057   21 -0.126
OILERS         19 19 130 128 -0.001 19.303   16 -0.000   16 -0.002   10  0.018   16 0.5008    2  1.279    2  0.288   31 -0.252
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 17 18 110 104 -0.009 17.642   19 -0.011   19 -0.015    7  0.040   17 0.4988   20  1.036   17  0.005   13  0.076
RANGERS        19 20 104 105  0.016 20.190   17 -0.004   17 -0.006   23 -0.040   18 0.4986   31  0.779   31 -0.362    4  0.281
SENATORS       18 18 119 113 -0.019 18.044   18 -0.005   18 -0.007   12  0.014   19 0.4978    8  1.185    8  0.161   22 -0.134
SHARKS         17 20 109 129  0.034 19.504   20 -0.022   20 -0.020   31 -0.092   20 0.4926    7  1.194   12  0.067   30 -0.251
TEAM            W  L  PF  PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
MAMMOTH        18 21 116 112  0.005 19.935   21 -0.025   21 -0.030   13 -0.001   21 0.4925   24  0.985   23 -0.097   12  0.095
PREDATORS      16 20 103 121  0.022 18.804   22 -0.032   22 -0.034   25 -0.073   22 0.4872   15  1.103   21 -0.027   19 -0.119
CANUCKS        15 21 103 122  0.012 18.670   27 -0.054   27 -0.060   30 -0.090   23 0.4819   10  1.143   18  0.005   27 -0.185
BLUE JACKETS   15 21 108 125  0.014 18.673   25 -0.053   26 -0.059   28 -0.086   24 0.4817   13  1.138   19  0.003   25 -0.175
MAPLE LEAFS    16 20 115 121 -0.053 17.630   24 -0.050   24 -0.059   24 -0.043   25 0.4816    6  1.198   10  0.121   29 -0.207
JETS           15 20 103 107 -0.002 17.865   23 -0.047   23 -0.055   22 -0.036   26 0.4811   16  1.094   20 -0.002   17 -0.070
KRAKEN         15 20  89 107 -0.015 17.724   26 -0.053   25 -0.059   27 -0.076   27 0.4806   30  0.850   30 -0.322    7  0.170
KINGS          15 21  91  96 -0.009 18.230   28 -0.058   28 -0.067   16 -0.013   28 0.4773   32  0.675   32 -0.439    1  0.412
PENGUINS       15 21 110 119 -0.034 17.878   29 -0.066   29 -0.074   19 -0.030   29 0.4769   12  1.140   14  0.061   20 -0.121
FLAMES         15 22  98 113 -0.045 18.292   30 -0.081   30 -0.087   29 -0.090   30 0.4713   25  0.956   29 -0.219   14  0.039
TEAM            W  L  PF  PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
BLUES          14 24  95 131 -0.045 18.824   32 -0.120   31 -0.118   32 -0.137   31 0.4634   21  1.032   28 -0.177   18 -0.096
BLACKHAWKS     13 23  99 114 -0.045 17.789   31 -0.118   32 -0.120   26 -0.075   32 0.4622   22  1.031   25 -0.118   16 -0.033

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 16 129 126 -0.008 18.756    7  0.043    5  0.049   17 -0.014    7 0.5161    1  1.318    1  0.309   32 -0.337
OILERS         19 19 130 128 -0.001 19.303   16 -0.000   16 -0.002   10  0.018   16 0.5008    2  1.279    2  0.288   31 -0.252
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 17 18 110 104 -0.009 17.642   19 -0.011   19 -0.015    7  0.040   17 0.4988   20  1.036   17  0.005   13  0.076
SHARKS         17 20 109 129  0.034 19.504   20 -0.022   20 -0.020   31 -0.092   20 0.4926    7  1.194   12  0.067   30 -0.251
CANUCKS        15 21 103 122  0.012 18.670   27 -0.054   27 -0.060   30 -0.090   23 0.4819   10  1.143   18  0.005   27 -0.185
KRAKEN         15 20  89 107 -0.015 17.724   26 -0.053   25 -0.059   27 -0.076   27 0.4806   30  0.850   30 -0.322    7  0.170
KINGS          15 21  91  96 -0.009 18.230   28 -0.058   28 -0.067   16 -0.013   28 0.4773   32  0.675   32 -0.439    1  0.412
FLAMES         15 22  98 113 -0.045 18.292   30 -0.081   30 -0.087   29 -0.090   30 0.4713   25  0.956   29 -0.219   14  0.039

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      27  9 142  80  0.002 18.001    1  0.215    1  0.190    1  0.304    1 0.5633   23  1.024    3  0.254    2  0.353
STARS          25 13 136 101 -0.006 19.033    2  0.128    2  0.121    2  0.153    2 0.5381   17  1.094    6  0.187   10  0.119
WILD           22 16 117  99  0.002 19.204    4  0.057    4  0.061    3  0.104    4 0.5175   29  0.893   22 -0.095    3  0.304
MAMMOTH        18 21 116 112  0.005 19.935   21 -0.025   21 -0.030   13 -0.001   21 0.4925   24  0.985   23 -0.097   12  0.095
PREDATORS      16 20 103 121  0.022 18.804   22 -0.032   22 -0.034   25 -0.073   22 0.4872   15  1.103   21 -0.027   19 -0.119
JETS           15 20 103 107 -0.002 17.865   23 -0.047   23 -0.055   22 -0.036   26 0.4811   16  1.094   20 -0.002   17 -0.070
BLUES          14 24  95 131 -0.045 18.824   32 -0.120   31 -0.118   32 -0.137   31 0.4634   21  1.032   28 -0.177   18 -0.096
BLACKHAWKS     13 23  99 114 -0.045 17.789   31 -0.118   32 -0.120   26 -0.075   32 0.4622   22  1.031   25 -0.118   16 -0.033

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     22 14 121 106  0.021 18.543    3  0.088    3  0.090    6  0.066    3 0.5299   14  1.122    9  0.135   15 -0.003
ISLANDERS      20 17 107 104  0.056 19.632    6  0.043    6  0.048    8  0.038    5 0.5170   28  0.926   26 -0.125    5  0.200
DEVILS         20 17 103 110  0.043 19.535   10  0.037   10  0.045   18 -0.022   10 0.5154   27  0.939   27 -0.170    9  0.126
FLYERS         19 17 111 102 -0.005 18.218   12  0.017   13  0.018    9  0.032   12 0.5075   26  0.944   24 -0.110    6  0.175
CAPITALS       19 18 117 103 -0.004 18.685   14  0.008   14  0.008    5  0.080   13 0.5040   18  1.048   15  0.058   11  0.102
RANGERS        19 20 104 105  0.016 20.190   17 -0.004   17 -0.006   23 -0.040   18 0.4986   31  0.779   31 -0.362    4  0.281
BLUE JACKETS   15 21 108 125  0.014 18.673   25 -0.053   26 -0.059   28 -0.086   24 0.4817   13  1.138   19  0.003   25 -0.175
PENGUINS       15 21 110 119 -0.034 17.878   29 -0.066   29 -0.074   19 -0.030   29 0.4769   12  1.140   14  0.061   20 -0.121

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      20 16 117  95  0.020 18.484    5  0.044    8  0.046    4  0.099    6 0.5165   19  1.038   13  0.066    8  0.133
RED WINGS      22 16 120 122 -0.047 18.679    8  0.040    7  0.047   20 -0.034    8 0.5156    9  1.162   11  0.084   23 -0.152
PANTHERS       20 16 117 114  0.016 18.550    9  0.040    9  0.046   11  0.016    9 0.5154    4  1.216    4  0.204   24 -0.172
BRUINS         20 18 122 126  0.018 19.648   11  0.023   11  0.027   15 -0.006   11 0.5095    5  1.205    7  0.167   26 -0.179
CANADIENS      20 17 123 124 -0.031 18.383   13  0.016   12  0.020   14 -0.004   14 0.5034    3  1.228    5  0.199   28 -0.207
SABRES         18 18 112 117  0.002 18.420   15  0.000   15 -0.001   21 -0.034   15 0.5010   11  1.140   16  0.057   21 -0.126
SENATORS       18 18 119 113 -0.019 18.044   18 -0.005   18 -0.007   12  0.014   19 0.4978    8  1.185    8  0.161   22 -0.134
MAPLE LEAFS    16 20 115 121 -0.053 17.630   24 -0.050   24 -0.059   24 -0.043   25 0.4816    6  1.198   10  0.121   29 -0.207

DIVISION                W   L   PCT  RNK RATING
CENTRAL DIVISION      150 146 0.507    1  0.070
METROPOLITAN DIVISION 149 145 0.507    2  0.013
ATLANTIC DIVISION     154 139 0.526    3  0.004
PACIFIC DIVISION      134 157 0.460    4 -0.096

Home field advantage amounts to:
     0.034 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: Wed Dec 24 05:30:11 2025
games through: Tue Dec 23 2025

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