Hockey Wilderness Power Rankings: 12-16-2011

by BReynolds on Dec 16, 2011 1:30 PM CST in Features

This matchup would be hugely popular on Twitter. Anywhere else? Not at all.

The amount of credence given to any NHL Power Rankings is based on the ability of the author to make their case. Some writers use advanced stats, some use gut feelings, other just go off the standings. No matter what their rationale, they are nearly always... wrong.

So, when we do ours, we use metrics that never fail. Number of letters in names, size of the defensemen, even the Russian language. The Russian alphabet has always been known as the best way to rate hockey teams. These metrics are never, ever wrong. The proof is in the pudding, and there is no way to argue with a ranking based on sweater numbers.

It's just statistically impossible.

This week's rankings take us to a topic very near and dear to the editorial staff's hearts. Social media. Make the jump.

This week, we look to Twitter for the answers. There are few better places to go for answers these days. Needing a way to rank the teams using Twitter, we settled on two scores. First, Their TWIT score. A team's TWIT is determined by rounding up to the nearest 10K numbers of followers. This gives a nice number to work with.

To break the ties this week, we then turned to how many times the team account has actually communicated with their fans. After all, what good is Twitter if you don't use it? This second score gives you a good idea of the direct conversation between teams and fans, giving a small look into how much the team may actually care.

With that, here are your rankings:

Eastern Conference:

Rank	Team	Twitter	TWITS	CONVS	Last Week	Change
1	Canadiens	@CanadiensMTL	21	10321	10	+9
2	Penguins	@PGHPenguins	15	9780	4	+2
3	Bruins	@NHLBruins	12	14451	13	+10
4	Maple Leafs	@MapleLeafs	11	12885	9	+5
5	Flyers	@NHLFlyers	9	8042	11	+6
6	Rangers	@TheNYRangers	7	15189	1	-5
7	Capitals	@WashCaps	7	10096	6	+1
8	Sabres	@SabresDotCom	5	10995	15	+7
9	Jets	@NHLJets	5	1387	2	-7
10	Lightning	@TBLightning	4	11710	12	+2
11	Devils	@NHLDevils	4	10196	3	-8
12	Senators	@NHL_Sens	4	8349	8	-4
13	Islanders	@NYIslanders	3	19023	7	-6
14	Panthers	@FLAPanters	3	6223	14	-
15	Hurricanes	@NHL_Canes	3	5087	5	-10

This ranking should give the fans in Toronto some real shame. How in the world do they get nearly doubled up by the Habs? That's just embarrassing. Pull it together Leafs fans.

Western Conference:

Rank	Team	Twitter	TWITS	CONVS	Last Week	Change
1	Canucks	@VanCanucks	20	12917	4	+3
2	Blackhawks	@NHLBlackhawks	12	14682	7	+5
3	Red Wings	@DetroitRedWings	11	14441	13	+10
4	Oilers	@NHL_Oilers	9	8736	8	+4
5	Flames	@NHLFlames	8	10084	15	+10
6	Sharks	@SanJoseSharks	6	2835	9	+3
7	Kings	@LAKings	5	10531	14	+7
8	Ducks	@AnaheimDucks	4	9017	2	-6
9	Wild	@MNWild	4	7717	1	-8
10	Stars	@DallasStars	4	6099	6	-4
11	Avalanche	@Avalanche	4	3108	5	-6
12	Blue Jackets	@BlueJacketsNHL	3	9436	12	-
13	Predators	@PredsNHL	3	5515	10	-3
14	Coyotes	@PhoenixCoyotes	2	5083	11	-3
15	Blues	@St_Louis_Blues	1	2513	3	-12

This is just brutal. The Canucks? The CANUCKS? Oh Western conference fans... you fail. As a collective group, you all fail. Please go and follow all of the Western teams, except the Nucks. This has to be corrected.

That does it Wilderness... The Canucks and the Habs take the top spots this week. The disappointment level this week is huge. Americans and Western conference fans should all be ashamed of themselves.

Any thoughts for next week's rankings?

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Comments

For me

The Absolute Worst Matchup. My two most hated teams. Period. Yuck.

I'm that ''ignorant dumbass'' who writes with the ''whiny idiot homer'' over at Hockey Wilderness.

Twitter: BubbleWild48

by JSLandry on Dec 16, 2011 1:34 PM CST reply actions

Next week..

The rankings should be based on what percentage of headline news you take up on NHL.com per week.

Regressing to the top of the league.

by GerDevine on Dec 16, 2011 1:38 PM CST reply actions

Oh come on now...

The Panthers would top that one so easily…

"Believe in the system. For it shall bring light when there is dark, food when there is hunger, and shots when there are passes. This is the divine process." Yeo 4:18

by NorthernStar on Dec 16, 2011 1:50 PM CST up reply actions

If you were smart you’d secure yourself a seat on the RatWagon now.

Your 2011 Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins

Hockey Blog Adventure is my blog but I'm way more active on Twitter.) GO BRUINS! (and Wild!)

by Cornelius Hardenbergh on Dec 17, 2011 7:45 AM CST via iPhone app up reply actions

How about some kind of ratio of points in the standings : man games lost due to injury. Obviously a lower number would be better.

2010-2011 Minnesota Wild Fantasy League Champion
President/CEO of the Tutu Many Slapshots fantasy hockey club

by Chris Winner on Dec 16, 2011 1:54 PM CST reply actions

I thought about the man games. Not easy to find accurate numbers.

Editor:Hockey Wilderness Editor:In Lax We Trust Now with more Twitterness: ReynoldsSBN

Master of unsustainable passive regression.

by BReynolds on Dec 16, 2011 2:17 PM CST up reply actions

Yeah I suppose that would be difficult. Then there’s the fact that the Wild inflated their number by using Almond’s missed games when he was hurt even though he wasn’t going to play with the big club.

2010-2011 Minnesota Wild Fantasy League Champion
President/CEO of the Tutu Many Slapshots fantasy hockey club

by Chris Winner on Dec 16, 2011 3:53 PM CST up reply actions

Hahaha awesome, well done

Unashamed Alex Burrows Fanboy, MN Wild Lover, and believer in the FLA Cats Blueprint

by JMarushin on Dec 16, 2011 2:29 PM CST reply actions

How about number of man games lost to suspension. Should give us an idea of who Shanahan is rooting for…

by eamon17 on Dec 16, 2011 2:56 PM CST reply actions

Spoiler alert: it’s the Bruins.

Your 2011 Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins

Hockey Blog Adventure is my blog but I'm way more active on Twitter.) GO BRUINS! (and Wild!)

by Cornelius Hardenbergh on Dec 17, 2011 8:06 AM CST via iPhone app up reply actions

Rankings by quality of national anthem singers!

by BlizzardWizard on Dec 16, 2011 3:20 PM CST reply actions

Yeah, the Canucks are going to win that one too.

by timprov on Dec 16, 2011 3:33 PM CST up reply actions

Rankings

by furthest distance from Rogers Arena

"Believe in the system. For it shall bring light when there is dark, food when there is hunger, and shots when there are passes. This is the divine process." Yeo 4:18

by NorthernStar on Dec 16, 2011 8:28 PM CST up reply actions

How dare you sully the good name of Rene Rancourt?

Plus the Canucks’ USA anthem guy is right out of the end of a medicine ad on the radio. Or an auction-caller.

Your 2011 Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins

Hockey Blog Adventure is my blog but I'm way more active on Twitter.) GO BRUINS! (and Wild!)

by Cornelius Hardenbergh on Dec 17, 2011 8:07 AM CST via iPhone app up reply actions

I'd be a biased homer on that one, too

I went to college with the guy who used to do the national anthem at the X.

by dlfedie on Dec 17, 2011 7:51 PM CST up reply actions

I think to be fair you should use a tweets/followers ratio.

This would be more useful as a rate stat than a counting stat. It appears every Islanders fan has been tweeted a very personable average of 6.3 times, while Jets fans sit at a woeful 0.25, showing that the new team may care about them even less than the old one does.* Yet the Jets are ahead in your rankings.

In fact, one could reason that as there are no Phoenix fans, the Coyotes must have been tweeting to Jets fans, and at four times the frequency of the Jets!

by timprov on Dec 16, 2011 3:32 PM CST reply actions