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      11  9 81 63 -0.043  9.431   13  0.042   14  0.031    6  0.174   16 0.5055    2  1.420    1  0.601   26 -0.253 P
DUCKS          10  9 71 70 -0.040  9.211   17  0.006   18  0.005   19 -0.032   19 0.5009    1  1.475    2  0.475   31 -0.538 P
LIGHTNING      13  6 74 57  0.030  9.447    4  0.209    3  0.209    5  0.194    3 0.5435    7  1.291    3  0.443   19 -0.055 P
OILERS         14  6 81 58 -0.075  9.053    6  0.181    6  0.177    4  0.231    6 0.5335    9  1.219    4  0.384   13  0.077 P
CAPITALS       10  7 58 58  0.096  9.119    9  0.130    9  0.125   13  0.038    8 0.5297    5  1.324    5  0.332   27 -0.256 P
HURRICANES     15  5 82 46 -0.044  9.171    1  0.252    1  0.249    1  0.332    1 0.5526   18  1.086    6  0.318    3  0.346 P
KRAKEN          9  8 58 61 -0.027  8.377   16  0.016   16  0.016   23 -0.068   15 0.5063    4  1.341    7  0.250   30 -0.386 P
BRUINS         13  6 70 46  0.017  9.296    5  0.198    5  0.197    3  0.241    5 0.5428   19  1.062    8  0.199    5  0.284 P
MAPLE LEAFS     8 13 69 75  0.013 10.685   25 -0.124   25 -0.128   22 -0.065   25 0.4715    6  1.291    9  0.184   28 -0.315 P
MAMMOTH        10 10 66 69  0.071 10.567   15  0.028   15  0.030   17  0.011   14 0.5072    8  1.226   10  0.174   22 -0.152 P
TEAM            W  L PF PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
DEVILS         14  6 73 57  0.017  9.974    2  0.229    2  0.225    7  0.153    4 0.5434   14  1.110   11  0.170   10  0.137 P
CANADIENS      12  7 67 57 -0.014  9.226    8  0.134    8  0.128   10  0.120    9 0.5268   13  1.122   12  0.151   12  0.090 P
PENGUINS        7 12 61 67 -0.003  9.526   26 -0.140   27 -0.146   21 -0.056   26 0.4714   10  1.204   13  0.078   23 -0.191 P
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 13  7 69 54 -0.041  9.457    7  0.149    7  0.144    9  0.137    7 0.5301   21  1.025   14  0.050    7  0.225 P
SENATORS       12  8 64 60 -0.039  9.623   10  0.095   10  0.089   12  0.039   10 0.5182   15  1.104   15  0.047   15  0.030 P
JETS            9 11 61 68  0.103 10.880   20 -0.017   20 -0.011   18 -0.025   20 0.4986   12  1.141   16  0.029   20 -0.080 P
CANUCKS         3 17 56 90  0.060 10.919   32 -0.359   32 -0.363   31 -0.311   32 0.4251    3  1.347   17  0.014   32 -0.636 P
WILD           14  7 70 46  0.061 10.636    3  0.210    4  0.206    2  0.313    2 0.5461   31  0.803   18 -0.020    1  0.647 P
PANTHERS       11  9 65 60 -0.117  9.062   18  0.005   17  0.006   20 -0.032   17 0.5047   17  1.086   19 -0.045   18 -0.018 P
BLUES           9 10 54 55  0.082 10.120   19 -0.003   19 -0.001   16  0.015   18 0.5025   22  1.018   20 -0.080   11  0.110 P
TEAM            W  L PF PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
PREDATORS      10  9 59 53  0.117 10.259   11  0.076   11  0.069    8  0.144   12 0.5126   28  0.899   21 -0.086    2  0.375 P
SABRES          8 11 55 68 -0.109  8.862   24 -0.122   24 -0.126   27 -0.185   24 0.4770   11  1.144   22 -0.126   25 -0.243 P
RANGERS        11  9 59 56  0.010 10.007   12  0.064   12  0.055   11  0.050   11 0.5127   26  0.934   23 -0.141    6  0.241 P
ISLANDERS       8 10 54 54  0.018  9.103   21 -0.054   21 -0.052   15  0.017   21 0.4868   25  0.959   24 -0.146    9  0.180 P
KINGS           5 12 47 60 -0.029  8.516   29 -0.208   29 -0.215   28 -0.189   29 0.4533   16  1.099   25 -0.186   24 -0.192 P
STARS          10  8 52 49 -0.057  8.538   14  0.035   13  0.036   14  0.021   13 0.5083   30  0.855   26 -0.257    4  0.300 P
RED WINGS       7 13 55 64 -0.057  9.714   28 -0.183   28 -0.188   24 -0.148   28 0.4632   24  0.968   27 -0.301   17  0.004 P
BLUE JACKETS    7 10 42 54  0.004  8.698   22 -0.086   22 -0.086   26 -0.172   22 0.4790   29  0.897   28 -0.405   14  0.061 P
SHARKS          8 13 53 74 -0.035 10.575   27 -0.149   26 -0.144   30 -0.277   27 0.4682   23  0.988   29 -0.407   21 -0.147 P
FLAMES          8 11 47 66 -0.039  9.445   23 -0.093   23 -0.094   29 -0.216   23 0.4781   27  0.905   30 -0.439   16  0.008 P
TEAM            W  L PF PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
BLACKHAWKS      5 14 42 78  0.002  9.973   30 -0.248   30 -0.252   32 -0.395   30 0.4467   20  1.032   31 -0.474   29 -0.317 P
FLYERS          5 16 47 69  0.055 11.193   31 -0.273   31 -0.279   25 -0.167   31 0.4455   32  0.769   32 -0.537    8  0.202 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
DUCKS          10  9 71 70 -0.040  9.211   17  0.006   18  0.005   19 -0.032   19 0.5009    1  1.475    2  0.475   31 -0.538 P
OILERS         14  6 81 58 -0.075  9.053    6  0.181    6  0.177    4  0.231    6 0.5335    9  1.219    4  0.384   13  0.077 P
KRAKEN          9  8 58 61 -0.027  8.377   16  0.016   16  0.016   23 -0.068   15 0.5063    4  1.341    7  0.250   30 -0.386 P
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 13  7 69 54 -0.041  9.457    7  0.149    7  0.144    9  0.137    7 0.5301   21  1.025   14  0.050    7  0.225 P
CANUCKS         3 17 56 90  0.060 10.919   32 -0.359   32 -0.363   31 -0.311   32 0.4251    3  1.347   17  0.014   32 -0.636 P
KINGS           5 12 47 60 -0.029  8.516   29 -0.208   29 -0.215   28 -0.189   29 0.4533   16  1.099   25 -0.186   24 -0.192 P
SHARKS          8 13 53 74 -0.035 10.575   27 -0.149   26 -0.144   30 -0.277   27 0.4682   23  0.988   29 -0.407   21 -0.147 P
FLAMES          8 11 47 66 -0.039  9.445   23 -0.093   23 -0.094   29 -0.216   23 0.4781   27  0.905   30 -0.439   16  0.008 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
AVALANCHE      11  9 81 63 -0.043  9.431   13  0.042   14  0.031    6  0.174   16 0.5055    2  1.420    1  0.601   26 -0.253 P
MAMMOTH        10 10 66 69  0.071 10.567   15  0.028   15  0.030   17  0.011   14 0.5072    8  1.226   10  0.174   22 -0.152 P
JETS            9 11 61 68  0.103 10.880   20 -0.017   20 -0.011   18 -0.025   20 0.4986   12  1.141   16  0.029   20 -0.080 P
WILD           14  7 70 46  0.061 10.636    3  0.210    4  0.206    2  0.313    2 0.5461   31  0.803   18 -0.020    1  0.647 P
BLUES           9 10 54 55  0.082 10.120   19 -0.003   19 -0.001   16  0.015   18 0.5025   22  1.018   20 -0.080   11  0.110 P
PREDATORS      10  9 59 53  0.117 10.259   11  0.076   11  0.069    8  0.144   12 0.5126   28  0.899   21 -0.086    2  0.375 P
STARS          10  8 52 49 -0.057  8.538   14  0.035   13  0.036   14  0.021   13 0.5083   30  0.855   26 -0.257    4  0.300 P
BLACKHAWKS      5 14 42 78  0.002  9.973   30 -0.248   30 -0.252   32 -0.395   30 0.4467   20  1.032   31 -0.474   29 -0.317 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
CAPITALS       10  7 58 58  0.096  9.119    9  0.130    9  0.125   13  0.038    8 0.5297    5  1.324    5  0.332   27 -0.256 P
HURRICANES     15  5 82 46 -0.044  9.171    1  0.252    1  0.249    1  0.332    1 0.5526   18  1.086    6  0.318    3  0.346 P
DEVILS         14  6 73 57  0.017  9.974    2  0.229    2  0.225    7  0.153    4 0.5434   14  1.110   11  0.170   10  0.137 P
PENGUINS        7 12 61 67 -0.003  9.526   26 -0.140   27 -0.146   21 -0.056   26 0.4714   10  1.204   13  0.078   23 -0.191 P
RANGERS        11  9 59 56  0.010 10.007   12  0.064   12  0.055   11  0.050   11 0.5127   26  0.934   23 -0.141    6  0.241 P
ISLANDERS       8 10 54 54  0.018  9.103   21 -0.054   21 -0.052   15  0.017   21 0.4868   25  0.959   24 -0.146    9  0.180 P
BLUE JACKETS    7 10 42 54  0.004  8.698   22 -0.086   22 -0.086   26 -0.172   22 0.4790   29  0.897   28 -0.405   14  0.061 P
FLYERS          5 16 47 69  0.055 11.193   31 -0.273   31 -0.279   25 -0.167   31 0.4455   32  0.769   32 -0.537    8  0.202 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
LIGHTNING      13  6 74 57  0.030  9.447    4  0.209    3  0.209    5  0.194    3 0.5435    7  1.291    3  0.443   19 -0.055 P
BRUINS         13  6 70 46  0.017  9.296    5  0.198    5  0.197    3  0.241    5 0.5428   19  1.062    8  0.199    5  0.284 P
MAPLE LEAFS     8 13 69 75  0.013 10.685   25 -0.124   25 -0.128   22 -0.065   25 0.4715    6  1.291    9  0.184   28 -0.315 P
CANADIENS      12  7 67 57 -0.014  9.226    8  0.134    8  0.128   10  0.120    9 0.5268   13  1.122   12  0.151   12  0.090 P
SENATORS       12  8 64 60 -0.039  9.623   10  0.095   10  0.089   12  0.039   10 0.5182   15  1.104   15  0.047   15  0.030 P
PANTHERS       11  9 65 60 -0.117  9.062   18  0.005   17  0.006   20 -0.032   17 0.5047   17  1.086   19 -0.045   18 -0.018 P
SABRES          8 11 55 68 -0.109  8.862   24 -0.122   24 -0.126   27 -0.185   24 0.4770   11  1.144   22 -0.126   25 -0.243 P
RED WINGS       7 13 55 64 -0.057  9.714   28 -0.183   28 -0.188   24 -0.148   28 0.4632   24  0.968   27 -0.301   17  0.004 P

DIVISION               W  L   PCT  RNK RATING
CENTRAL DIVISION      78 78 0.500    1  0.066
METROPOLITAN DIVISION 77 75 0.507    2  0.044
ATLANTIC DIVISION     84 73 0.535    3  0.041
PACIFIC DIVISION      70 83 0.458    4 -0.166

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

Predict score:








Team Strength vs. Time Plot:






posted: Fri Nov 13 05:30:13 2026
games through: Thu Nov 12 2026

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