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
CANUCKS        2 3 21 25  0.027  2.588   24 -0.045   24 -0.039   26 -0.079   22 0.4834    1  1.535    3  0.559   32 -0.717 P
AVALANCHE      3 1 23 11 -0.135  1.666    5  0.071    5  0.056    1  0.160    7 0.5299    2  1.520    1  0.776   28 -0.455 P
OILERS         3 1 22 16 -0.072  1.815    7  0.065    7  0.049    6  0.079    5 0.5353    3  1.511    2  0.681   30 -0.523 P
CANADIENS      1 3 14 19  0.061  2.096   26 -0.056   26 -0.059   24 -0.050   28 0.4636    4  1.482    4  0.509   31 -0.609 P
KINGS          0 3  9 15  0.093  1.619   29 -0.072   29 -0.085   22 -0.043   29 0.4581    5  1.404    5  0.403   29 -0.490 P
PENGUINS       2 3 20 16 -0.037  2.366   23 -0.039   23 -0.038   13  0.030   24 0.4832    6  1.304    6  0.339   25 -0.278 P
SABRES         2 2 10 15 -0.129  1.799   20 -0.027   20 -0.013   25 -0.076   19 0.4947    7  1.245   10  0.154   27 -0.306 P
MAMMOTH        3 2 18 14 -0.014  2.413   14  0.023   13  0.016   14  0.024   12 0.5141    8  1.207    7  0.205   19 -0.157 P
RED WINGS      1 3 10 14 -0.037  1.942   28 -0.067   28 -0.073   27 -0.093   27 0.4674    9  1.188   14  0.063   24 -0.248 P
KRAKEN         3 2 21 14 -0.135  2.172   17 -0.000   17 -0.001   16  0.007   18 0.4999   10  1.187    9  0.161   18 -0.148 P
TEAM           W L PF PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
SHARKS         3 1 12 14 -0.006  2.023   12  0.031   11  0.030   29 -0.134   15 0.5081   11  1.186   17  0.019   26 -0.288 P
DUCKS          3 1 14 11  0.151  2.234    8  0.048    6  0.050   20 -0.017    6 0.5330   12  1.182   12  0.131   20 -0.165 P
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 4 1 21 13 -0.136  2.128    2  0.090    2  0.070    5  0.082    3 0.5404   13  1.151    8  0.191   16 -0.027 P
DEVILS         1 2  6 13 -0.152  1.339   25 -0.047   25 -0.048   28 -0.118   26 0.4685   14  1.147   20 -0.013   22 -0.222 P
HURRICANES     3 2 18 14 -0.072  2.273   10  0.039   12  0.029    8  0.073   11 0.5153   15  1.113   11  0.134   15  0.011 P
PREDATORS      2 2 12 11  0.069  2.092   18 -0.005   18 -0.006   18 -0.008   20 0.4906   16  1.088   16  0.023   17 -0.040 P
FLAMES         0 4  6 23  0.035  2.120   31 -0.099   31 -0.120   32 -0.201   31 0.4353   17  1.081   24 -0.178   23 -0.223 P
BLACKHAWKS     1 4 10 21  0.047  2.674   30 -0.088   30 -0.102   31 -0.195   30 0.4494   18  1.070   25 -0.186   21 -0.204 P
CAPITALS       3 1 14  9  0.223  2.312    1  0.090    1  0.076    2  0.091    1 0.5439   19  1.069   13  0.100   12  0.083 P
SENATORS       3 1 12  9 -0.038  1.884    6  0.066    8  0.049   12  0.037    9 0.5233   20  1.030   19 -0.001   13  0.075 P
TEAM           W L PF PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
LIGHTNING      3 1 11  9  0.057  2.019    4  0.078    3  0.070    3  0.086    2 0.5412   21  1.023   15  0.040   10  0.133 P
BRUINS         3 2 15 12  0.129  2.710    9  0.046    9  0.041   10  0.063    8 0.5281   22  1.019   18  0.011   11  0.114 P
BLUE JACKETS   2 1 10  9 -0.138  1.316   15  0.005   15  0.007   23 -0.047   16 0.5053   23  0.998   21 -0.122   14  0.029 P
ISLANDERS      2 2 13  8 -0.132  1.730   21 -0.036   21 -0.021   15  0.023   21 0.4899   24  0.933   22 -0.127    7  0.173 P
MAPLE LEAFS    2 3 14 15 -0.015  2.440   22 -0.038   22 -0.034   19 -0.012   23 0.4833   25  0.920   23 -0.177    8  0.153 P
BLUES          1 3  9 13 -0.007  1.990   27 -0.059   27 -0.065   21 -0.035   25 0.4703   26  0.915   26 -0.206    9  0.135 P
JETS           3 2 13 15  0.073  2.619   11  0.038   10  0.034   17  0.004   10 0.5194   27  0.852   27 -0.235    6  0.243 P
WILD           2 2 11  8  0.139  2.177   13  0.023   14  0.011    7  0.075   13 0.5134   28  0.717   29 -0.304    4  0.455 P
RANGERS        4 2 17 11  0.127  3.229    3  0.081    4  0.066    4  0.083    4 0.5359   29  0.713   28 -0.301    3  0.467 P
FLYERS         0 5  6 19  0.055  2.668   32 -0.113   32 -0.143   30 -0.152   32 0.4305   30  0.633   31 -0.614    5  0.309 P
TEAM           W L PF PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
STARS          2 2 10  6 -0.137  1.706   19 -0.007   19 -0.008    9  0.068   17 0.5034   31  0.523   30 -0.496    2  0.631 P
PANTHERS       2 2  8  8  0.064  2.062   16  0.005   16  0.006   11  0.038   14 0.5117   32  0.229   32 -0.765    1  0.841 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
CANUCKS        2 3 21 25  0.027  2.588   24 -0.045   24 -0.039   26 -0.079   22 0.4834    1  1.535    3  0.559   32 -0.717 P
OILERS         3 1 22 16 -0.072  1.815    7  0.065    7  0.049    6  0.079    5 0.5353    3  1.511    2  0.681   30 -0.523 P
KINGS          0 3  9 15  0.093  1.619   29 -0.072   29 -0.085   22 -0.043   29 0.4581    5  1.404    5  0.403   29 -0.490 P
KRAKEN         3 2 21 14 -0.135  2.172   17 -0.000   17 -0.001   16  0.007   18 0.4999   10  1.187    9  0.161   18 -0.148 P
SHARKS         3 1 12 14 -0.006  2.023   12  0.031   11  0.030   29 -0.134   15 0.5081   11  1.186   17  0.019   26 -0.288 P
DUCKS          3 1 14 11  0.151  2.234    8  0.048    6  0.050   20 -0.017    6 0.5330   12  1.182   12  0.131   20 -0.165 P
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 4 1 21 13 -0.136  2.128    2  0.090    2  0.070    5  0.082    3 0.5404   13  1.151    8  0.191   16 -0.027 P
FLAMES         0 4  6 23  0.035  2.120   31 -0.099   31 -0.120   32 -0.201   31 0.4353   17  1.081   24 -0.178   23 -0.223 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      3 1 23 11 -0.135  1.666    5  0.071    5  0.056    1  0.160    7 0.5299    2  1.520    1  0.776   28 -0.455 P
MAMMOTH        3 2 18 14 -0.014  2.413   14  0.023   13  0.016   14  0.024   12 0.5141    8  1.207    7  0.205   19 -0.157 P
PREDATORS      2 2 12 11  0.069  2.092   18 -0.005   18 -0.006   18 -0.008   20 0.4906   16  1.088   16  0.023   17 -0.040 P
BLACKHAWKS     1 4 10 21  0.047  2.674   30 -0.088   30 -0.102   31 -0.195   30 0.4494   18  1.070   25 -0.186   21 -0.204 P
BLUES          1 3  9 13 -0.007  1.990   27 -0.059   27 -0.065   21 -0.035   25 0.4703   26  0.915   26 -0.206    9  0.135 P
JETS           3 2 13 15  0.073  2.619   11  0.038   10  0.034   17  0.004   10 0.5194   27  0.852   27 -0.235    6  0.243 P
WILD           2 2 11  8  0.139  2.177   13  0.023   14  0.011    7  0.075   13 0.5134   28  0.717   29 -0.304    4  0.455 P
STARS          2 2 10  6 -0.137  1.706   19 -0.007   19 -0.008    9  0.068   17 0.5034   31  0.523   30 -0.496    2  0.631 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
PENGUINS       2 3 20 16 -0.037  2.366   23 -0.039   23 -0.038   13  0.030   24 0.4832    6  1.304    6  0.339   25 -0.278 P
DEVILS         1 2  6 13 -0.152  1.339   25 -0.047   25 -0.048   28 -0.118   26 0.4685   14  1.147   20 -0.013   22 -0.222 P
HURRICANES     3 2 18 14 -0.072  2.273   10  0.039   12  0.029    8  0.073   11 0.5153   15  1.113   11  0.134   15  0.011 P
CAPITALS       3 1 14  9  0.223  2.312    1  0.090    1  0.076    2  0.091    1 0.5439   19  1.069   13  0.100   12  0.083 P
BLUE JACKETS   2 1 10  9 -0.138  1.316   15  0.005   15  0.007   23 -0.047   16 0.5053   23  0.998   21 -0.122   14  0.029 P
ISLANDERS      2 2 13  8 -0.132  1.730   21 -0.036   21 -0.021   15  0.023   21 0.4899   24  0.933   22 -0.127    7  0.173 P
RANGERS        4 2 17 11  0.127  3.229    3  0.081    4  0.066    4  0.083    4 0.5359   29  0.713   28 -0.301    3  0.467 P
FLYERS         0 5  6 19  0.055  2.668   32 -0.113   32 -0.143   30 -0.152   32 0.4305   30  0.633   31 -0.614    5  0.309 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
CANADIENS      1 3 14 19  0.061  2.096   26 -0.056   26 -0.059   24 -0.050   28 0.4636    4  1.482    4  0.509   31 -0.609 P
SABRES         2 2 10 15 -0.129  1.799   20 -0.027   20 -0.013   25 -0.076   19 0.4947    7  1.245   10  0.154   27 -0.306 P
RED WINGS      1 3 10 14 -0.037  1.942   28 -0.067   28 -0.073   27 -0.093   27 0.4674    9  1.188   14  0.063   24 -0.248 P
SENATORS       3 1 12  9 -0.038  1.884    6  0.066    8  0.049   12  0.037    9 0.5233   20  1.030   19 -0.001   13  0.075 P
LIGHTNING      3 1 11  9  0.057  2.019    4  0.078    3  0.070    3  0.086    2 0.5412   21  1.023   15  0.040   10  0.133 P
BRUINS         3 2 15 12  0.129  2.710    9  0.046    9  0.041   10  0.063    8 0.5281   22  1.019   18  0.011   11  0.114 P
MAPLE LEAFS    2 3 14 15 -0.015  2.440   22 -0.038   22 -0.034   19 -0.012   23 0.4833   25  0.920   23 -0.177    8  0.153 P
PANTHERS       2 2  8  8  0.064  2.062   16  0.005   16  0.006   11  0.038   14 0.5117   32  0.229   32 -0.765    1  0.841 P

DIVISION               W  L   PCT  RNK RATING
CENTRAL DIVISION      17 18 0.486    1  0.056
ATLANTIC DIVISION     17 17 0.500    2  0.012
METROPOLITAN DIVISION 17 18 0.486    3  0.009
PACIFIC DIVISION      18 16 0.529    4 -0.097

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

Predict score:








Team Strength vs. Time Plot:






posted: Sat Oct 10 05:30:15 2026
games through: Fri Oct  9 2026

Back to Dolphin rankings main page.