NHL Power Rankings: February 13th

NBC Sports

Welcome to my weekly NHL power rankings. These power rankings were developed with a simple philosophy in mind: the only thing that matters in the NHL is PLAYOFF SUCCESS! You may be thinking, “yeah, that’s great and all, I know no one gives a flying fart about who wins the President’s Trophy, but how do we predict playoff success by watching the regular season?” Good question. Maybe we look at the “grittiest” teams? Or possibly we look for teams with players who “know how to win”?

Nah, sorry folks, you won’t find any narratives here. I’m a data-driven guy, so I took a data-driven approach to this problem. Here is my rough methodology:

  1. Quantify which teams were most successful in previous NHL playoffs. I came up with an equation to represent this numerically, but it boils down to this: the farther the team progressed in the playoffs, the more successful they were rated.
  2. Determine which regular season stats correlated strongest to playoff success. I used the Pearson correlation coefficient for this.
  3. Build a model using the most correlated stats from step 2 as input variables. I left out standings variables (wins, losses, points, etc.) because I wanted the model to focus more on the on-ice results instead of overfitting to how many wins a team had.

I have a couple of graphics at the end of the rankings that you can reference if you want to learn more about the model-building process, but enough nerdy stuff. Let’s get to the rankings!

I hope you enjoyed the rankings! Perfect, eh? 🙂 The below figure shows how the rankings have changed as the season has progressed.

And finally, here are those extra nerdy details I promised.

You can find me on Instagram and Twitter if you want more data-driven insights into the NHL.

Stanley Cup Aspirations Cue’ the Duck Boats Pod

The boys are back after a long break but have plenty to talk about as the playoffs are in full swing. We go series by series, looking at how teams have fared so far and who will come out on top. Thanks for listening! Please rate and review our show on your favorite listening platform. Check out our partner's website at www.insidetherink.com for all your latest hockey news.
  1. Stanley Cup Aspirations
  2. The Final Countdown
  3. Here Come the Playoffs
  4. Home Stretch
  5. Kevy Cooks

Discover more from Inside The Rink

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Leave a Reply

Colorado Avalanche Sign Brent Burns

Colorado Avalanche Sign Brent Burns

The Colorado Avalanche add to the defensive core with the addition of Brent Burns on a one-year deal.

Read More
San Jose Sharks and New Jersey Devils Swap AHL Forwards

San Jose Sharks and New Jersey Devils Swap AHL Forwards

San Jose Sharks and New Jersey Devils Swap AHL Forwards

Read More
Vladislav Gavrikov skating for the Los Angeles Kings

Opinion: A Quick Analysis of The New York Rangers

Going into the offseason, it was clear that New York Rangers General Manager Chris Drury had to make a lot tough decisions and changes. After being the best team in the league in the 2023-24 season, the Blueshirts missed the Stanley Cup playoffs in convincing fashion last season. They were inconsistent all year long and […]

Read More