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
OILERS         30 32 220 210 -0.032 30.323   20 -0.030   21 -0.040   13  0.029   21 0.4926    1  1.323    2  0.336   29 -0.279
DUCKS          34 27 205 212  0.007 30.926   10  0.071   10  0.081   21 -0.052   10 0.5139    2  1.305    5  0.232   31 -0.336
CANADIENS      33 27 213 200  0.021 30.574   11  0.067   11  0.077   10  0.068   11 0.5121    3  1.275    3  0.312   25 -0.176
SHARKS         30 29 186 207  0.009 30.042   14  0.013   14  0.017   25 -0.106   15 0.5019    4  1.242   15  0.094   30 -0.307
MAPLE LEAFS    27 35 198 215  0.003 31.325   25 -0.074   25 -0.084   20 -0.050   24 0.4848    5  1.217   13  0.118   27 -0.218
SENATORS       29 31 201 193  0.013 30.412   18 -0.010   18 -0.016   12  0.046   19 0.4971    6  1.205    8  0.198   23 -0.106
BRUINS         34 26 202 188  0.003 30.154    7  0.085    9  0.090    8  0.072    8 0.5164    7  1.184    9  0.196   20 -0.053
PANTHERS       30 31 186 205  0.020 31.267   17 -0.000   17  0.000   22 -0.069   17 0.5009    8  1.182   18  0.053   26 -0.192
SABRES         36 25 209 183  0.013 30.828    5  0.128    5  0.127    7  0.110    5 0.5238    9  1.170    7  0.217   19  0.003
PREDATORS      27 34 179 210  0.006 31.036   24 -0.065   24 -0.072   27 -0.131   25 0.4848   10  1.155   20 -0.043   28 -0.218
TEAM            W  L  PF  PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 29 33 205 197 -0.017 30.703   23 -0.043   23 -0.054   14  0.027   22 0.4918   11  1.150   14  0.109   21 -0.054
HURRICANES     39 22 214 175 -0.011 30.217    3  0.190    3  0.182    4  0.149    3 0.5338   12  1.141    6  0.219   13  0.079
BLUE JACKETS   31 29 192 191  0.005 30.289   13  0.020   13  0.025   16 -0.003   13 0.5043   13  1.135   17  0.061   22 -0.066
CANUCKS        18 43 157 230 -0.003 30.998   32 -0.271   32 -0.278   32 -0.308   32 0.4507   14  1.117   27 -0.268   32 -0.349
PENGUINS       31 29 204 175 -0.035 29.196   15  0.009   16  0.005    6  0.121   16 0.5018   15  1.111   10  0.154   12  0.087
LIGHTNING      38 21 210 158  0.009 29.593    2  0.201    2  0.193    2  0.223    2 0.5373   16  1.099    4  0.241    3  0.204
CAPITALS       31 32 199 189 -0.007 31.420   19 -0.011   19 -0.016   11  0.053   18 0.4991   17  1.092   16  0.063   15  0.043
AVALANCHE      41 19 230 149 -0.004 29.639    1  0.247    1  0.244    1  0.377    1 0.5459   18  1.083    1  0.376    1  0.379
WILD           36 26 209 180 -0.009 30.779    6  0.101    6  0.104    5  0.130    7 0.5178   19  1.079   12  0.124    9  0.137
BLUES          23 38 159 210 -0.013 30.564   31 -0.182   30 -0.172   31 -0.174   30 0.4680   20  1.068   25 -0.193   24 -0.155
TEAM            W  L  PF  PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
STARS          38 23 212 165 -0.031 29.684    4  0.154    4  0.148    3  0.177    4 0.5267   21  1.061   11  0.149    4  0.204
MAMMOTH        32 29 193 169  0.008 30.744   12  0.029   12  0.036    9  0.071   12 0.5072   22  1.014   19 -0.012    6  0.155
JETS           24 36 171 186 -0.009 30.063   28 -0.139   28 -0.138   24 -0.085   28 0.4749   23  1.008   24 -0.175   17  0.005
FLYERS         28 32 177 188  0.012 30.518   21 -0.031   20 -0.038   19 -0.043   20 0.4928   24  1.006   23 -0.136   14  0.051
RED WINGS      35 27 185 187  0.009 31.401    8  0.084    7  0.093   17 -0.007    9 0.5161   25  0.985   21 -0.125   11  0.110
BLACKHAWKS     23 38 163 195 -0.016 30.451   30 -0.181   31 -0.173   28 -0.135   31 0.4676   26  0.966   28 -0.274   18  0.004
ISLANDERS      35 27 183 177  0.008 31.326    9  0.084    8  0.091   15  0.027    6 0.5178   27  0.950   22 -0.131    5  0.184
KRAKEN         29 32 173 179 -0.033 29.899   22 -0.042   22 -0.052   18 -0.027   23 0.4910   28  0.933   26 -0.203    7  0.150
RANGERS        23 37 160 190  0.036 31.213   27 -0.136   27 -0.136   29 -0.143   27 0.4757   29  0.933   29 -0.320   16  0.033
DEVILS         31 31 160 186  0.026 31.976   16  0.009   15  0.014   26 -0.116   14 0.5034   30  0.858   30 -0.375    8  0.144
TEAM            W  L  PF  PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
FLAMES         24 36 149 181 -0.031 29.586   29 -0.157   29 -0.150   30 -0.164   29 0.4718   31  0.840   32 -0.443   10  0.115
KINGS          24 36 155 179  0.016 30.663   26 -0.121   26 -0.124   23 -0.073   26 0.4766   32  0.799   31 -0.395    2  0.249

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         30 32 220 210 -0.032 30.323   20 -0.030   21 -0.040   13  0.029   21 0.4926    1  1.323    2  0.336   29 -0.279
DUCKS          34 27 205 212  0.007 30.926   10  0.071   10  0.081   21 -0.052   10 0.5139    2  1.305    5  0.232   31 -0.336
SHARKS         30 29 186 207  0.009 30.042   14  0.013   14  0.017   25 -0.106   15 0.5019    4  1.242   15  0.094   30 -0.307
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 29 33 205 197 -0.017 30.703   23 -0.043   23 -0.054   14  0.027   22 0.4918   11  1.150   14  0.109   21 -0.054
CANUCKS        18 43 157 230 -0.003 30.998   32 -0.271   32 -0.278   32 -0.308   32 0.4507   14  1.117   27 -0.268   32 -0.349
KRAKEN         29 32 173 179 -0.033 29.899   22 -0.042   22 -0.052   18 -0.027   23 0.4910   28  0.933   26 -0.203    7  0.150
FLAMES         24 36 149 181 -0.031 29.586   29 -0.157   29 -0.150   30 -0.164   29 0.4718   31  0.840   32 -0.443   10  0.115
KINGS          24 36 155 179  0.016 30.663   26 -0.121   26 -0.124   23 -0.073   26 0.4766   32  0.799   31 -0.395    2  0.249

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
PREDATORS      27 34 179 210  0.006 31.036   24 -0.065   24 -0.072   27 -0.131   25 0.4848   10  1.155   20 -0.043   28 -0.218
AVALANCHE      41 19 230 149 -0.004 29.639    1  0.247    1  0.244    1  0.377    1 0.5459   18  1.083    1  0.376    1  0.379
WILD           36 26 209 180 -0.009 30.779    6  0.101    6  0.104    5  0.130    7 0.5178   19  1.079   12  0.124    9  0.137
BLUES          23 38 159 210 -0.013 30.564   31 -0.182   30 -0.172   31 -0.174   30 0.4680   20  1.068   25 -0.193   24 -0.155
STARS          38 23 212 165 -0.031 29.684    4  0.154    4  0.148    3  0.177    4 0.5267   21  1.061   11  0.149    4  0.204
MAMMOTH        32 29 193 169  0.008 30.744   12  0.029   12  0.036    9  0.071   12 0.5072   22  1.014   19 -0.012    6  0.155
JETS           24 36 171 186 -0.009 30.063   28 -0.139   28 -0.138   24 -0.085   28 0.4749   23  1.008   24 -0.175   17  0.005
BLACKHAWKS     23 38 163 195 -0.016 30.451   30 -0.181   31 -0.173   28 -0.135   31 0.4676   26  0.966   28 -0.274   18  0.004

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     39 22 214 175 -0.011 30.217    3  0.190    3  0.182    4  0.149    3 0.5338   12  1.141    6  0.219   13  0.079
BLUE JACKETS   31 29 192 191  0.005 30.289   13  0.020   13  0.025   16 -0.003   13 0.5043   13  1.135   17  0.061   22 -0.066
PENGUINS       31 29 204 175 -0.035 29.196   15  0.009   16  0.005    6  0.121   16 0.5018   15  1.111   10  0.154   12  0.087
CAPITALS       31 32 199 189 -0.007 31.420   19 -0.011   19 -0.016   11  0.053   18 0.4991   17  1.092   16  0.063   15  0.043
FLYERS         28 32 177 188  0.012 30.518   21 -0.031   20 -0.038   19 -0.043   20 0.4928   24  1.006   23 -0.136   14  0.051
ISLANDERS      35 27 183 177  0.008 31.326    9  0.084    8  0.091   15  0.027    6 0.5178   27  0.950   22 -0.131    5  0.184
RANGERS        23 37 160 190  0.036 31.213   27 -0.136   27 -0.136   29 -0.143   27 0.4757   29  0.933   29 -0.320   16  0.033
DEVILS         31 31 160 186  0.026 31.976   16  0.009   15  0.014   26 -0.116   14 0.5034   30  0.858   30 -0.375    8  0.144

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      33 27 213 200  0.021 30.574   11  0.067   11  0.077   10  0.068   11 0.5121    3  1.275    3  0.312   25 -0.176
MAPLE LEAFS    27 35 198 215  0.003 31.325   25 -0.074   25 -0.084   20 -0.050   24 0.4848    5  1.217   13  0.118   27 -0.218
SENATORS       29 31 201 193  0.013 30.412   18 -0.010   18 -0.016   12  0.046   19 0.4971    6  1.205    8  0.198   23 -0.106
BRUINS         34 26 202 188  0.003 30.154    7  0.085    9  0.090    8  0.072    8 0.5164    7  1.184    9  0.196   20 -0.053
PANTHERS       30 31 186 205  0.020 31.267   17 -0.000   17  0.000   22 -0.069   17 0.5009    8  1.182   18  0.053   26 -0.192
SABRES         36 25 209 183  0.013 30.828    5  0.128    5  0.127    7  0.110    5 0.5238    9  1.170    7  0.217   19  0.003
LIGHTNING      38 21 210 158  0.009 29.593    2  0.201    2  0.193    2  0.223    2 0.5373   16  1.099    4  0.241    3  0.204
RED WINGS      35 27 185 187  0.009 31.401    8  0.084    7  0.093   17 -0.007    9 0.5161   25  0.985   21 -0.125   11  0.110

DIVISION                W   L   PCT  RNK RATING
ATLANTIC DIVISION     262 223 0.540    1  0.077
CENTRAL DIVISION      244 243 0.501    2  0.043
METROPOLITAN DIVISION 249 239 0.510    3  0.009
PACIFIC DIVISION      218 268 0.449    4 -0.131

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

Predict score:








Team Strength vs. Time Plot:






posted: Thu Mar  5 05:30:07 2026
games through: Wed Mar  4 2026

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