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  0.000 15.809    1  0.178    1  0.164    1  0.291    1 0.5555   20  1.046    2  0.264    2  0.317
CAPITALS       18 14 106  83  0.020 16.244    9  0.046    9  0.051    2  0.136    9 0.5176   23  1.016   14  0.075    6  0.197
LIGHTNING      18 14 104  83  0.053 16.706    7  0.062    8  0.061    3  0.119    8 0.5216   25  1.001   16  0.040    5  0.197
STARS          21 12 111  89 -0.017 16.308    3  0.098    3  0.098    4  0.105    3 0.5309   21  1.044   13  0.077   12  0.133
HURRICANES     20 11 105  88  0.029 15.921    2  0.116    2  0.115    5  0.081    2 0.5388   15  1.111    9  0.135   13  0.028
ISLANDERS      19 14 100  93  0.103 17.946    4  0.087    4  0.089    6  0.075    4 0.5293   26  0.982   23 -0.026    9  0.177
WILD           18 14  93  85 -0.013 15.923   10  0.036   10  0.042    7  0.061   10 0.5128   28  0.862   27 -0.174    4  0.296
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 16 15  96  90  0.017 15.819   12  0.015   12  0.015    8  0.055   11 0.5089   24  1.002   22 -0.023   11  0.133
BRUINS         19 13 107  99  0.037 16.588    5  0.081    5  0.082    9  0.051    5 0.5287   11  1.167    5  0.174   18 -0.072
PENGUINS       14 16  95  91 -0.035 14.689   19 -0.026   19 -0.035   10  0.039   20 0.4893   16  1.109   12  0.089   17 -0.012
TEAM            W  L  PF  PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
KINGS          14 17  83  82 -0.001 15.637   21 -0.029   21 -0.037   11  0.022   23 0.4865   32  0.699   32 -0.382    1  0.426
DUCKS          19 13 114 107  0.027 16.532    6  0.076    6  0.077   12  0.011    6 0.5258    1  1.307    1  0.317   31 -0.295
FLYERS         16 14  90  85 -0.010 15.051   11  0.017   11  0.020   13  0.005   12 0.5078   27  0.903   28 -0.185    7  0.195
MAMMOTH        15 18 101  97 -0.018 16.449   23 -0.035   23 -0.040   14  0.000   22 0.4880   19  1.051   21 -0.019   14  0.020
PANTHERS       16 15  98  99  0.012 15.845   13  0.013   13  0.015   15 -0.003   14 0.5058    6  1.188    8  0.146   20 -0.153
DEVILS         18 14  96 101  0.061 17.003    8  0.058    7  0.066   16 -0.005    7 0.5229   18  1.073   17  0.001   16 -0.011
OILERS         15 17 109 110 -0.034 15.760   20 -0.027   20 -0.036   17 -0.007   19 0.4900    3  1.276    3  0.258   30 -0.272
MAPLE LEAFS    14 17 102 102 -0.061 14.934   24 -0.047   24 -0.054   18 -0.013   24 0.4831    5  1.196    7  0.147   24 -0.173
RANGERS        16 17  88  88  0.033 17.177   17  0.000   17 -0.002   19 -0.019   16 0.4987   31  0.774   30 -0.347    3  0.310
JETS           15 16  96  96 -0.022 15.457   18 -0.013   18 -0.019   20 -0.028   18 0.4929    7  1.185   10  0.118   25 -0.174
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 -0.010 15.604   22 -0.034   22 -0.039   21 -0.032   21 0.4892    4  1.211    6  0.148   27 -0.211
BLACKHAWKS     13 19  91  98 -0.061 15.470   29 -0.086   29 -0.090   22 -0.045   29 0.4712   22  1.022   25 -0.100   15  0.009
RED WINGS      18 15 104 109 -0.067 15.869   14  0.012   14  0.014   23 -0.052   13 0.5058    8  1.184   11  0.093   26 -0.196
CANADIENS      16 15 101 112 -0.032 15.371   16  0.001   16  0.002   24 -0.060   17 0.4974    2  1.277    4  0.206   32 -0.327
SHARKS         16 17  96 110  0.056 17.562   15  0.004   15  0.007   25 -0.068   15 0.5018   14  1.114   18 -0.011   19 -0.125
SABRES         13 18  95 108 -0.001 15.806   25 -0.056   25 -0.060   26 -0.079   25 0.4800    9  1.176   15  0.055   28 -0.214
KRAKEN         12 17  73  90 -0.027 14.467   27 -0.065   27 -0.069   27 -0.087   27 0.4763   30  0.830   31 -0.357    8  0.182
BLUE JACKETS   13 19  96 112  0.017 16.555   26 -0.061   26 -0.066   28 -0.090   26 0.4780   12  1.132   19 -0.011   23 -0.170
FLAMES         13 20  84  97 -0.069 15.904   30 -0.105   30 -0.103   29 -0.097   30 0.4662   29  0.861   29 -0.334   10  0.139
PREDATORS      12 19  87 109  0.012 16.035   28 -0.075   28 -0.078   30 -0.104   28 0.4718   13  1.119   24 -0.041   22 -0.167
TEAM            W  L  PF  PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
CANUCKS        11 20  87 111 -0.013 15.799   31 -0.115   31 -0.109   31 -0.143   31 0.4622   10  1.167   20 -0.019   29 -0.266
BLUES          12 21  84 118 -0.058 16.117   32 -0.130   32 -0.123   32 -0.148   32 0.4608   17  1.078   26 -0.136   21 -0.161

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
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 16 15  96  90  0.017 15.819   12  0.015   12  0.015    8  0.055   11 0.5089   24  1.002   22 -0.023   11  0.133
KINGS          14 17  83  82 -0.001 15.637   21 -0.029   21 -0.037   11  0.022   23 0.4865   32  0.699   32 -0.382    1  0.426
DUCKS          19 13 114 107  0.027 16.532    6  0.076    6  0.077   12  0.011    6 0.5258    1  1.307    1  0.317   31 -0.295
OILERS         15 17 109 110 -0.034 15.760   20 -0.027   20 -0.036   17 -0.007   19 0.4900    3  1.276    3  0.258   30 -0.272
SHARKS         16 17  96 110  0.056 17.562   15  0.004   15  0.007   25 -0.068   15 0.5018   14  1.114   18 -0.011   19 -0.125
KRAKEN         12 17  73  90 -0.027 14.467   27 -0.065   27 -0.069   27 -0.087   27 0.4763   30  0.830   31 -0.357    8  0.182
FLAMES         13 20  84  97 -0.069 15.904   30 -0.105   30 -0.103   29 -0.097   30 0.4662   29  0.861   29 -0.334   10  0.139
CANUCKS        11 20  87 111 -0.013 15.799   31 -0.115   31 -0.109   31 -0.143   31 0.4622   10  1.167   20 -0.019   29 -0.266

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  0.000 15.809    1  0.178    1  0.164    1  0.291    1 0.5555   20  1.046    2  0.264    2  0.317
STARS          21 12 111  89 -0.017 16.308    3  0.098    3  0.098    4  0.105    3 0.5309   21  1.044   13  0.077   12  0.133
WILD           18 14  93  85 -0.013 15.923   10  0.036   10  0.042    7  0.061   10 0.5128   28  0.862   27 -0.174    4  0.296
MAMMOTH        15 18 101  97 -0.018 16.449   23 -0.035   23 -0.040   14  0.000   22 0.4880   19  1.051   21 -0.019   14  0.020
JETS           15 16  96  96 -0.022 15.457   18 -0.013   18 -0.019   20 -0.028   18 0.4929    7  1.185   10  0.118   25 -0.174
BLACKHAWKS     13 19  91  98 -0.061 15.470   29 -0.086   29 -0.090   22 -0.045   29 0.4712   22  1.022   25 -0.100   15  0.009
PREDATORS      12 19  87 109  0.012 16.035   28 -0.075   28 -0.078   30 -0.104   28 0.4718   13  1.119   24 -0.041   22 -0.167
BLUES          12 21  84 118 -0.058 16.117   32 -0.130   32 -0.123   32 -0.148   32 0.4608   17  1.078   26 -0.136   21 -0.161

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       18 14 106  83  0.020 16.244    9  0.046    9  0.051    2  0.136    9 0.5176   23  1.016   14  0.075    6  0.197
HURRICANES     20 11 105  88  0.029 15.921    2  0.116    2  0.115    5  0.081    2 0.5388   15  1.111    9  0.135   13  0.028
ISLANDERS      19 14 100  93  0.103 17.946    4  0.087    4  0.089    6  0.075    4 0.5293   26  0.982   23 -0.026    9  0.177
PENGUINS       14 16  95  91 -0.035 14.689   19 -0.026   19 -0.035   10  0.039   20 0.4893   16  1.109   12  0.089   17 -0.012
FLYERS         16 14  90  85 -0.010 15.051   11  0.017   11  0.020   13  0.005   12 0.5078   27  0.903   28 -0.185    7  0.195
DEVILS         18 14  96 101  0.061 17.003    8  0.058    7  0.066   16 -0.005    7 0.5229   18  1.073   17  0.001   16 -0.011
RANGERS        16 17  88  88  0.033 17.177   17  0.000   17 -0.002   19 -0.019   16 0.4987   31  0.774   30 -0.347    3  0.310
BLUE JACKETS   13 19  96 112  0.017 16.555   26 -0.061   26 -0.066   28 -0.090   26 0.4780   12  1.132   19 -0.011   23 -0.170

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      18 14 104  83  0.053 16.706    7  0.062    8  0.061    3  0.119    8 0.5216   25  1.001   16  0.040    5  0.197
BRUINS         19 13 107  99  0.037 16.588    5  0.081    5  0.082    9  0.051    5 0.5287   11  1.167    5  0.174   18 -0.072
PANTHERS       16 15  98  99  0.012 15.845   13  0.013   13  0.015   15 -0.003   14 0.5058    6  1.188    8  0.146   20 -0.153
MAPLE LEAFS    14 17 102 102 -0.061 14.934   24 -0.047   24 -0.054   18 -0.013   24 0.4831    5  1.196    7  0.147   24 -0.173
SENATORS       14 17  98 102 -0.010 15.604   22 -0.034   22 -0.039   21 -0.032   21 0.4892    4  1.211    6  0.148   27 -0.211
RED WINGS      18 15 104 109 -0.067 15.869   14  0.012   14  0.014   23 -0.052   13 0.5058    8  1.184   11  0.093   26 -0.196
CANADIENS      16 15 101 112 -0.032 15.371   16  0.001   16  0.002   24 -0.060   17 0.4974    2  1.277    4  0.206   32 -0.327
SABRES         13 18  95 108 -0.001 15.806   25 -0.056   25 -0.060   26 -0.079   25 0.4800    9  1.176   15  0.055   28 -0.214

DIVISION                W   L   PCT  RNK RATING
METROPOLITAN DIVISION 134 119 0.530    1  0.072
CENTRAL DIVISION      129 128 0.502    2  0.037
ATLANTIC DIVISION     128 124 0.508    3 -0.021
PACIFIC DIVISION      116 136 0.460    4 -0.098

Home field advantage amounts to:
     0.040 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: Sun Dec 14 05:30:15 2025
games through: Sat Dec 13 2025

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