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      23  9 128  74  0.001 15.856    1  0.178    1  0.161    1  0.288    1 0.5559   19  1.048    2  0.265    2  0.310
HURRICANES     21 11 108  90  0.028 16.454    2  0.128    2  0.124    5  0.082    2 0.5414   16  1.097   10  0.119   13  0.045
STARS          21 12 111  89 -0.016 16.346    3  0.097    3  0.097    4  0.104    3 0.5310   20  1.047   13  0.080   12  0.128
ISLANDERS      19 14 100  93  0.096 17.894    4  0.083    4  0.086    7  0.072    4 0.5285   26  0.980   21 -0.030    9  0.174
DUCKS          19 13 114 107  0.024 16.523    5  0.070    5  0.075   12  0.010    5 0.5254    1  1.304    1  0.313   32 -0.294
BRUINS         19 14 109 105  0.042 17.237    6  0.064    6  0.070   10  0.035    6 0.5250    7  1.190    5  0.188   18 -0.119
LIGHTNING      18 14 104  83  0.050 16.689    7  0.055    7  0.059    3  0.116    7 0.5209   24  1.004   16  0.041    7  0.191
WILD           19 14  99  87 -0.009 16.480    8  0.050    8  0.054    6  0.078   10 0.5169   27  0.889   26 -0.126    4  0.283
CAPITALS       18 14 106  83  0.018 16.258    9  0.048    9  0.050    2  0.134    8 0.5175   23  1.018   14  0.076    6  0.191
DEVILS         18 15  97 103  0.047 17.390   10  0.044   10  0.049   17 -0.016    9 0.5170   21  1.043   24 -0.044   14  0.012
TEAM            W  L  PF  PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 16 15  96  90  0.017 15.843   11  0.017   11  0.015    8  0.054   11 0.5090   25  1.001   20 -0.023   11  0.132
PANTHERS       16 15  98  99  0.009 15.839   12  0.015   12  0.014   15 -0.004   13 0.5052    6  1.190    7  0.149   20 -0.158
CANADIENS      17 15 105 113 -0.035 15.830   13  0.013   14  0.012   22 -0.044   16 0.5005    3  1.260    4  0.201   31 -0.288
RED WINGS      18 15 104 109 -0.071 15.843   14  0.013   13  0.013   24 -0.053   12 0.5054    9  1.187   12  0.096   27 -0.201
FLYERS         16 15  92  88 -0.003 15.669   15  0.011   15  0.010   14  0.005   14 0.5047   28  0.888   28 -0.201    5  0.210
SHARKS         16 17  96 110  0.055 17.581   16  0.005   16  0.006   25 -0.067   15 0.5017   15  1.113   19 -0.011   19 -0.124
RANGERS        16 17  88  88  0.034 17.220   17 -0.001   17 -0.002   18 -0.018   17 0.4989   31  0.774   30 -0.345    3  0.309
JETS           15 16  96  96 -0.018 15.526   18 -0.014   18 -0.017   20 -0.026   18 0.4934    8  1.187    9  0.123   24 -0.175
MAMMOTH        16 18 106 101 -0.010 17.087   19 -0.019   19 -0.026   13  0.005   19 0.4922   18  1.073   17  0.013   16 -0.002
KINGS          14 17  83  82 -0.000 15.674   20 -0.029   20 -0.037   11  0.022   22 0.4865   32  0.699   31 -0.382    1  0.425
TEAM            W  L  PF  PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
SENATORS       14 17  98 102 -0.012 15.608   21 -0.034   21 -0.039   21 -0.032   20 0.4888    4  1.211    8  0.148   28 -0.212
PENGUINS       14 17  99  96 -0.032 15.257   22 -0.039   22 -0.045    9  0.037   23 0.4853   13  1.132   11  0.117   17 -0.044
OILERS         15 18 110 114 -0.034 16.302   23 -0.041   23 -0.046   19 -0.024   21 0.4870    2  1.261    3  0.222   30 -0.269
SABRES         14 18  98 109 -0.008 16.234   24 -0.045   24 -0.049   26 -0.068   24 0.4840   10  1.163   15  0.050   26 -0.186
MAPLE LEAFS    14 17 102 102 -0.061 14.960   25 -0.046   25 -0.053   16 -0.013   25 0.4829    5  1.198    6  0.151   25 -0.176
BLUE JACKETS   13 19  96 112  0.015 16.567   26 -0.062   26 -0.065   27 -0.090   26 0.4776   12  1.135   18 -0.006   23 -0.173
PREDATORS      12 19  87 109  0.017 16.123   27 -0.073   27 -0.076   29 -0.101   27 0.4722   14  1.119   22 -0.036   22 -0.165
KRAKEN         12 18  74  93 -0.034 14.915   28 -0.079   28 -0.081   30 -0.101   28 0.4721   30  0.812   32 -0.388    8  0.187
BLACKHAWKS     13 19  91  98 -0.060 15.505   29 -0.085   29 -0.088   23 -0.044   29 0.4714   22  1.024   25 -0.095   15  0.006
CANUCKS        12 20  89 112 -0.008 16.375   30 -0.096   30 -0.093   31 -0.131   30 0.4685   11  1.139   23 -0.043   29 -0.219
TEAM            W  L  PF  PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
FLAMES         13 20  84  97 -0.061 16.032   31 -0.100   31 -0.099   28 -0.093   31 0.4673   29  0.862   29 -0.327   10  0.141
BLUES          12 21  84 118 -0.058 16.151   32 -0.127   32 -0.121   32 -0.146   32 0.4608   17  1.079   27 -0.131   21 -0.162

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          19 13 114 107  0.024 16.523    5  0.070    5  0.075   12  0.010    5 0.5254    1  1.304    1  0.313   32 -0.294
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 16 15  96  90  0.017 15.843   11  0.017   11  0.015    8  0.054   11 0.5090   25  1.001   20 -0.023   11  0.132
SHARKS         16 17  96 110  0.055 17.581   16  0.005   16  0.006   25 -0.067   15 0.5017   15  1.113   19 -0.011   19 -0.124
KINGS          14 17  83  82 -0.000 15.674   20 -0.029   20 -0.037   11  0.022   22 0.4865   32  0.699   31 -0.382    1  0.425
OILERS         15 18 110 114 -0.034 16.302   23 -0.041   23 -0.046   19 -0.024   21 0.4870    2  1.261    3  0.222   30 -0.269
KRAKEN         12 18  74  93 -0.034 14.915   28 -0.079   28 -0.081   30 -0.101   28 0.4721   30  0.812   32 -0.388    8  0.187
CANUCKS        12 20  89 112 -0.008 16.375   30 -0.096   30 -0.093   31 -0.131   30 0.4685   11  1.139   23 -0.043   29 -0.219
FLAMES         13 20  84  97 -0.061 16.032   31 -0.100   31 -0.099   28 -0.093   31 0.4673   29  0.862   29 -0.327   10  0.141

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      23  9 128  74  0.001 15.856    1  0.178    1  0.161    1  0.288    1 0.5559   19  1.048    2  0.265    2  0.310
STARS          21 12 111  89 -0.016 16.346    3  0.097    3  0.097    4  0.104    3 0.5310   20  1.047   13  0.080   12  0.128
WILD           19 14  99  87 -0.009 16.480    8  0.050    8  0.054    6  0.078   10 0.5169   27  0.889   26 -0.126    4  0.283
JETS           15 16  96  96 -0.018 15.526   18 -0.014   18 -0.017   20 -0.026   18 0.4934    8  1.187    9  0.123   24 -0.175
MAMMOTH        16 18 106 101 -0.010 17.087   19 -0.019   19 -0.026   13  0.005   19 0.4922   18  1.073   17  0.013   16 -0.002
PREDATORS      12 19  87 109  0.017 16.123   27 -0.073   27 -0.076   29 -0.101   27 0.4722   14  1.119   22 -0.036   22 -0.165
BLACKHAWKS     13 19  91  98 -0.060 15.505   29 -0.085   29 -0.088   23 -0.044   29 0.4714   22  1.024   25 -0.095   15  0.006
BLUES          12 21  84 118 -0.058 16.151   32 -0.127   32 -0.121   32 -0.146   32 0.4608   17  1.079   27 -0.131   21 -0.162

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     21 11 108  90  0.028 16.454    2  0.128    2  0.124    5  0.082    2 0.5414   16  1.097   10  0.119   13  0.045
ISLANDERS      19 14 100  93  0.096 17.894    4  0.083    4  0.086    7  0.072    4 0.5285   26  0.980   21 -0.030    9  0.174
CAPITALS       18 14 106  83  0.018 16.258    9  0.048    9  0.050    2  0.134    8 0.5175   23  1.018   14  0.076    6  0.191
DEVILS         18 15  97 103  0.047 17.390   10  0.044   10  0.049   17 -0.016    9 0.5170   21  1.043   24 -0.044   14  0.012
FLYERS         16 15  92  88 -0.003 15.669   15  0.011   15  0.010   14  0.005   14 0.5047   28  0.888   28 -0.201    5  0.210
RANGERS        16 17  88  88  0.034 17.220   17 -0.001   17 -0.002   18 -0.018   17 0.4989   31  0.774   30 -0.345    3  0.309
PENGUINS       14 17  99  96 -0.032 15.257   22 -0.039   22 -0.045    9  0.037   23 0.4853   13  1.132   11  0.117   17 -0.044
BLUE JACKETS   13 19  96 112  0.015 16.567   26 -0.062   26 -0.065   27 -0.090   26 0.4776   12  1.135   18 -0.006   23 -0.173

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         19 14 109 105  0.042 17.237    6  0.064    6  0.070   10  0.035    6 0.5250    7  1.190    5  0.188   18 -0.119
LIGHTNING      18 14 104  83  0.050 16.689    7  0.055    7  0.059    3  0.116    7 0.5209   24  1.004   16  0.041    7  0.191
PANTHERS       16 15  98  99  0.009 15.839   12  0.015   12  0.014   15 -0.004   13 0.5052    6  1.190    7  0.149   20 -0.158
CANADIENS      17 15 105 113 -0.035 15.830   13  0.013   14  0.012   22 -0.044   16 0.5005    3  1.260    4  0.201   31 -0.288
RED WINGS      18 15 104 109 -0.071 15.843   14  0.013   13  0.013   24 -0.053   12 0.5054    9  1.187   12  0.096   27 -0.201
SENATORS       14 17  98 102 -0.012 15.608   21 -0.034   21 -0.039   21 -0.032   20 0.4888    4  1.211    8  0.148   28 -0.212
SABRES         14 18  98 109 -0.008 16.234   24 -0.045   24 -0.049   26 -0.068   24 0.4840   10  1.163   15  0.050   26 -0.186
MAPLE LEAFS    14 17 102 102 -0.061 14.960   25 -0.046   25 -0.053   16 -0.013   25 0.4829    5  1.198    6  0.151   25 -0.176

DIVISION                W   L   PCT  RNK RATING
METROPOLITAN DIVISION 135 122 0.525    1  0.067
CENTRAL DIVISION      131 128 0.506    2  0.046
ATLANTIC DIVISION     130 125 0.510    3 -0.019
PACIFIC DIVISION      117 138 0.459    4 -0.103

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

Predict score:








Team Strength vs. Time Plot:






posted: Mon Dec 15 05:30:10 2025
games through: Sun Dec 14 2025

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