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
BRUINS          9  3 48 26  0.038  5.948    1  0.146    1  0.137    1  0.213    1 0.5545   16  1.135    6  0.271    8  0.156 P
OILERS          8  3 49 39 -0.013  5.341    2  0.117    2  0.107    6  0.095    2 0.5480    2  1.429    2  0.547   29 -0.356 P
MAMMOTH         8  4 46 40  0.075  6.284    3  0.106    3  0.099   10  0.065    3 0.5451    6  1.268    5  0.294   21 -0.164 P
LIGHTNING       7  4 38 34  0.089  5.803    4  0.094    4  0.087    7  0.084    4 0.5353   13  1.153   12  0.164   15  0.004 P
HURRICANES      9  4 51 33 -0.108  5.732    5  0.094    5  0.084    2  0.147    5 0.5331   17  1.125    9  0.193   13  0.101 P
WILD            8  5 41 30  0.040  6.555    8  0.078    8  0.069    3  0.131    6 0.5303   29  0.841   21 -0.151    2  0.414 P
SENATORS        8  4 38 34 -0.039  5.759    6  0.086    6  0.077   13  0.028    7 0.5272   12  1.171   13  0.131   18 -0.075 P
STARS           7  4 32 20  0.026  5.474    7  0.080    7  0.072    4  0.127    8 0.5209   32  0.445   31 -0.535    1  0.789 P
CAPITALS        6  4 34 32  0.015  5.030    9  0.056    9  0.046   14  0.022    9 0.5209   10  1.211   11  0.177   20 -0.133 P
KRAKEN          7  5 45 42 -0.037  5.820   13  0.038   12  0.028   18 -0.013   10 0.5189    4  1.395    3  0.391   30 -0.417 P
TEAM            W  L PF PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
RANGERS         7  6 41 36  0.053  6.697   12  0.038   13  0.027    9  0.066   11 0.5165   22  0.992   20 -0.048    6  0.179 P
GOLDEN KNIGHTS  8  5 47 38 -0.099  5.891   10  0.052   11  0.040   11  0.047   12 0.5150   15  1.136   14  0.106   16 -0.012 P
DEVILS          7  4 36 32 -0.107  5.013   11  0.051   10  0.041   19 -0.014   13 0.5129   19  1.072   19 -0.034   14  0.005 P
MAPLE LEAFS     7  6 50 41  0.024  6.534   14  0.031   14  0.020    8  0.077   14 0.5094    5  1.282    4  0.324   23 -0.171 P
SHARKS          6  6 37 43  0.124  6.721   15  0.013   15  0.012   25 -0.090   15 0.5072   14  1.150   18 -0.013   22 -0.167 P
PANTHERS        6  6 34 36 -0.076  5.674   18 -0.013   18 -0.018   22 -0.053   16 0.5004   24  0.902   25 -0.269    7  0.163 P
AVALANCHE       6  6 49 40  0.028  6.034   16  0.009   16  0.006    5  0.105   17 0.4980    1  1.553    1  0.739   31 -0.528 P
CANADIENS       6  5 36 36 -0.110  5.016   17 -0.001   17 -0.006   21 -0.027   18 0.4963   18  1.116   17  0.007   17 -0.061 P
BLUES           5  6 35 35  0.048  5.709   19 -0.018   19 -0.022   15  0.004   19 0.4927    8  1.237   10  0.192   24 -0.184 P
DUCKS           5  6 32 37 -0.004  5.577   22 -0.031   22 -0.038   24 -0.090   20 0.4907    9  1.218   15  0.074   27 -0.253 P
TEAM            W  L PF PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
ISLANDERS       5  6 32 29 -0.020  5.360   20 -0.030   21 -0.038   12  0.028   21 0.4864   28  0.878   23 -0.214    5  0.270 P
BLUE JACKETS    4  5 22 30 -0.016  4.521   21 -0.030   20 -0.037   26 -0.108   22 0.4854   26  0.895   29 -0.331   11  0.116 P
PENGUINS        5  7 40 40 -0.020  5.900   23 -0.050   24 -0.059   16 -0.005   23 0.4798    7  1.250    8  0.200   25 -0.211 P
PREDATORS       4  7 31 35  0.136  6.129   24 -0.052   23 -0.054   17 -0.010   24 0.4789   23  0.949   22 -0.173    9  0.153 P
FLAMES          4  6 23 39 -0.068  4.872   26 -0.062   26 -0.067   30 -0.167   25 0.4754   21  1.017   24 -0.251   19 -0.082 P
JETS            4  7 27 31  0.052  5.752   25 -0.061   25 -0.067   20 -0.016   26 0.4721   30  0.813   28 -0.328    4  0.297 P
SABRES          4  7 31 41 -0.067  5.332   27 -0.078   27 -0.086   28 -0.119   27 0.4714   11  1.203   16  0.025   28 -0.264 P
KINGS           2  7 21 32  0.131  5.058   28 -0.098   28 -0.104   23 -0.080   28 0.4642   27  0.892   27 -0.307   10  0.147 P
RED WINGS       4  7 29 34 -0.169  4.813   29 -0.104   29 -0.114   27 -0.115   29 0.4615   25  0.897   30 -0.336   12  0.106 P
FLYERS          3 10 24 42  0.044  6.907   31 -0.147   31 -0.156   29 -0.151   30 0.4491   31  0.599   32 -0.676    3  0.374 P
TEAM            W  L PF PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
BLACKHAWKS      3  8 24 43 -0.023  5.616   30 -0.128   30 -0.136   32 -0.250   31 0.4454   20  1.063   26 -0.279   26 -0.220 P
CANUCKS         2 11 37 60  0.070  7.118   32 -0.186   32 -0.197   31 -0.193   32 0.4368    3  1.402    7  0.219   32 -0.606 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
OILERS          8  3 49 39 -0.013  5.341    2  0.117    2  0.107    6  0.095    2 0.5480    2  1.429    2  0.547   29 -0.356 P
KRAKEN          7  5 45 42 -0.037  5.820   13  0.038   12  0.028   18 -0.013   10 0.5189    4  1.395    3  0.391   30 -0.417 P
GOLDEN KNIGHTS  8  5 47 38 -0.099  5.891   10  0.052   11  0.040   11  0.047   12 0.5150   15  1.136   14  0.106   16 -0.012 P
SHARKS          6  6 37 43  0.124  6.721   15  0.013   15  0.012   25 -0.090   15 0.5072   14  1.150   18 -0.013   22 -0.167 P
DUCKS           5  6 32 37 -0.004  5.577   22 -0.031   22 -0.038   24 -0.090   20 0.4907    9  1.218   15  0.074   27 -0.253 P
FLAMES          4  6 23 39 -0.068  4.872   26 -0.062   26 -0.067   30 -0.167   25 0.4754   21  1.017   24 -0.251   19 -0.082 P
KINGS           2  7 21 32  0.131  5.058   28 -0.098   28 -0.104   23 -0.080   28 0.4642   27  0.892   27 -0.307   10  0.147 P
CANUCKS         2 11 37 60  0.070  7.118   32 -0.186   32 -0.197   31 -0.193   32 0.4368    3  1.402    7  0.219   32 -0.606 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
MAMMOTH         8  4 46 40  0.075  6.284    3  0.106    3  0.099   10  0.065    3 0.5451    6  1.268    5  0.294   21 -0.164 P
WILD            8  5 41 30  0.040  6.555    8  0.078    8  0.069    3  0.131    6 0.5303   29  0.841   21 -0.151    2  0.414 P
STARS           7  4 32 20  0.026  5.474    7  0.080    7  0.072    4  0.127    8 0.5209   32  0.445   31 -0.535    1  0.789 P
AVALANCHE       6  6 49 40  0.028  6.034   16  0.009   16  0.006    5  0.105   17 0.4980    1  1.553    1  0.739   31 -0.528 P
BLUES           5  6 35 35  0.048  5.709   19 -0.018   19 -0.022   15  0.004   19 0.4927    8  1.237   10  0.192   24 -0.184 P
PREDATORS       4  7 31 35  0.136  6.129   24 -0.052   23 -0.054   17 -0.010   24 0.4789   23  0.949   22 -0.173    9  0.153 P
JETS            4  7 27 31  0.052  5.752   25 -0.061   25 -0.067   20 -0.016   26 0.4721   30  0.813   28 -0.328    4  0.297 P
BLACKHAWKS      3  8 24 43 -0.023  5.616   30 -0.128   30 -0.136   32 -0.250   31 0.4454   20  1.063   26 -0.279   26 -0.220 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
HURRICANES      9  4 51 33 -0.108  5.732    5  0.094    5  0.084    2  0.147    5 0.5331   17  1.125    9  0.193   13  0.101 P
CAPITALS        6  4 34 32  0.015  5.030    9  0.056    9  0.046   14  0.022    9 0.5209   10  1.211   11  0.177   20 -0.133 P
RANGERS         7  6 41 36  0.053  6.697   12  0.038   13  0.027    9  0.066   11 0.5165   22  0.992   20 -0.048    6  0.179 P
DEVILS          7  4 36 32 -0.107  5.013   11  0.051   10  0.041   19 -0.014   13 0.5129   19  1.072   19 -0.034   14  0.005 P
ISLANDERS       5  6 32 29 -0.020  5.360   20 -0.030   21 -0.038   12  0.028   21 0.4864   28  0.878   23 -0.214    5  0.270 P
BLUE JACKETS    4  5 22 30 -0.016  4.521   21 -0.030   20 -0.037   26 -0.108   22 0.4854   26  0.895   29 -0.331   11  0.116 P
PENGUINS        5  7 40 40 -0.020  5.900   23 -0.050   24 -0.059   16 -0.005   23 0.4798    7  1.250    8  0.200   25 -0.211 P
FLYERS          3 10 24 42  0.044  6.907   31 -0.147   31 -0.156   29 -0.151   30 0.4491   31  0.599   32 -0.676    3  0.374 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
BRUINS          9  3 48 26  0.038  5.948    1  0.146    1  0.137    1  0.213    1 0.5545   16  1.135    6  0.271    8  0.156 P
LIGHTNING       7  4 38 34  0.089  5.803    4  0.094    4  0.087    7  0.084    4 0.5353   13  1.153   12  0.164   15  0.004 P
SENATORS        8  4 38 34 -0.039  5.759    6  0.086    6  0.077   13  0.028    7 0.5272   12  1.171   13  0.131   18 -0.075 P
MAPLE LEAFS     7  6 50 41  0.024  6.534   14  0.031   14  0.020    8  0.077   14 0.5094    5  1.282    4  0.324   23 -0.171 P
PANTHERS        6  6 34 36 -0.076  5.674   18 -0.013   18 -0.018   22 -0.053   16 0.5004   24  0.902   25 -0.269    7  0.163 P
CANADIENS       6  5 36 36 -0.110  5.016   17 -0.001   17 -0.006   21 -0.027   18 0.4963   18  1.116   17  0.007   17 -0.061 P
SABRES          4  7 31 41 -0.067  5.332   27 -0.078   27 -0.086   28 -0.119   27 0.4714   11  1.203   16  0.025   28 -0.264 P
RED WINGS       4  7 29 34 -0.169  4.813   29 -0.104   29 -0.114   27 -0.115   29 0.4615   25  0.897   30 -0.336   12  0.106 P

DIVISION               W  L   PCT  RNK RATING
CENTRAL DIVISION      45 47 0.489    1  0.071
ATLANTIC DIVISION     51 42 0.548    2  0.040
METROPOLITAN DIVISION 46 46 0.500    3  0.007
PACIFIC DIVISION      42 49 0.462    4 -0.150

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

Predict score:








Team Strength vs. Time Plot:






posted: Mon Oct 26 05:30:12 2026
games through: Sun Oct 25 2026

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