The NHL Season is here. Training camps and preseason are over. There are a lot of familiar faces in new places to begin the season.
The start of a new season brings hope as teams look to build toward the playoffs and dethrone the Stanley Cup Champion Vegas Golden Knights.
Welcome to the divisional rankings. We’ll look at both the Eastern and Western Conferences, ranking teams in each of the four divisions. We first looked at the Metro and Atlantic Divisions. Now we move out West looking at the Central Division.
NHL Central Division Rankings
1. Dallas Stars (Last year finished Second)
The Dallas Stars finished second in the division and went all the way to the Western Conference Final, losing to Vegas in six games. That series was not even that close. We know what head coach Pete DeBoer does in his first season but can he get the Stars back to the promised land is the real question. They are everyone’s darling this year in the NHL Central Division and rightfully so.
In between the pipes, they have one of the best goalies in the division in Jake Oettinger. Look, Oettinger did not have the best postseason last year. He was dealing with an injury, but that does not mean he cannot bounce back and have a stellar season. That defense in front of is good with Miro Heiskanen leading the way. The question will be how much can they protect Ryan Suter as he was exposed in the playoffs.
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Offensively, the Stars are really good. They added Matt Duchene to this lineup, who was bought out by Nashville. Roope Hintz, Jason Robertson, and Joe Pavelski are one of the best lines in hockey. Now that Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin are more role players than guys the team has to rely on, which makes adding Duchene even more valuable. Not to mention the emergence of Wyatt Johnston and the addition of Mason Marchment really helped this team. Just imagine if they add Patrick Kane.
2. Colorado Avalanche (Last year finished First)
The Colorado Avalanche finished first last year, but not addressing the second-line center position really hurt this team. Again, they will be without Gabriel Landeskog for the season. We will see if he comes back for the playoffs. That is still up in the air, but it is doubtful right now. That means Ryan Johansen will have to fill that void. We are going to see if he can. If the Avalanche get the Johansen from a few years ago, they have a shot to go far, if they don’t, it will be an area they will be addressing at the trade deadline.
As far as the rest of the offense, they still have Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen, two studs in the NHL. The addition of Jonathan Drouin will be interesting as Drouin and MacKinnon were teammates in junior in Halifax. The chemistry is there between those two. Miles Wood, Ross Colton, and Tomas Tatar are added for bottom-six depth. Artturi Lekhonen and Valeri Nichushkin have been great adds along the way. The secondary scoring is finally there. Can they stop the puck.
Defensively, the Avalanche are excellent with Cale Makar, Devon Toews (who needs a new contract), Bowan Byram, Josh Manson, Jack Johnson, and Samuel Girard. The question is, can Alexandar Georgiev be the number one they expected him to be? He had a decent season, but he did not have a great playoff and that is what they brought him for. With no Pavel Francouz for a while, Georgiev is shouldering the load.
3. Minnesota Wild (Last year finished Third)
Then there are the perennial bridesmaids the Minnesota Wild. Look, the Wild have a chance to get to the top of the NHL Central Division because of their goaltending duo of Filip Gustavsson and Marc-Andre Fleury. However, costly coaching mistakes hurt this team during the playoffs last year along with the offense not showing up. It did not help when their best player Kirill Kaprizov was injured right before the playoffs. But the Wild are hoping to change this year.
GM Bill Guerin continued to work his magic in the off-season and right before the season extending Mats Zuccarello, Marcus Foligno, and Ryan Hartman. In addition, they added Pat Maroon for depth in the bottom six to be more physical. The offense needs to be able to finish in the playoffs. They have good young players in Matt Boldy and Joel Eriksson-Ek to go along with Kaprizov, Zuccarello, Hartman, Foligno and Marcus Johansson. The question will be can Marco Rossi take the next step for this team this season?
Again, it will come down to defense and goaltending for the Wild. We know what is in the organization depth-wise for goalies. The Wild can’t add much because of the cap situation the are in because of those buyouts, but in order for this team to go far they have to avoid the two-three matchup. Even if they do it will not be easy.
Here is where things get interesting in the NHL Central Division because four through six could end up in any order.
4. Winnipeg Jets (Last year finished Fourth)
Writing this order, before the news of Connor Hellebuyck and Mark Scheifele being extended by the Winnipeg Jets, it made sense to have the Jets here. They are just a little better than the other two teams below them. Look they had a great season last year. Well, at least the first half before their epic collapse where they almost missed the playoffs. And people expected a lot of changes in Winnipeg this year.
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Who knew if the coach would be back after his tirade after the playoffs where the Jets lost in five games to the Golden Knights? We knew Blake Wheeler was done in Winnipeg and we also knew that players did not want a rebuild. So GM Kevin Cheveldayoff retooled on the fly trading Pierre-Luc Dubois and getting three good players in Gabriel Vilardi, Alex Iafallo, and Rasmus Kupari. It keeps the Jets competitive.
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Hellebuyck is one of the best goalies in the NHL. Having Laurent Brossoit will help shoulder the load so he isn’t worn out come the playoffs. Offensively with Scheifele and Kyle Connor, Cole Perfetti, and Adam Lowry, the Jets can score. The question will be on defense. That unit is not the greatest outside of Josh Morrissey. They need more from Neal Pionk and Nate Schmidt to be successful. But Winnipeg flipped the hockey world on its head what they did on October 9th.
5. Nashville Predators (Last year finished Fifth)
Following the Jets are the Nashville Predators. Another team that had a lot of changes this offseason, especially in the offseason. David Poile is out and Barry Trotz is the new general manager. Another former Predators player is the head coach – Andrew Brunette. Trotz is setting the tone even before the season even started bringing in the right character guys.
Trotz cleaned the house by buying out Matt Duchene and trading Ryan Johansen. The buyout will hurt the Predators in a couple of years, but if the cap goes up the hit won’t be as bad. Trotz brought in Ryan O’Reilly, Luke Schenn, and Denis Gurianov. Gurianov went through waivers but could end up being an underrated signing. Of course, the Predators still have Filip Forsberg on the roster. And now we might see the Predators open it up on the ice as it is a young team of Cody Glass, and Philip Tomasino to go with Gustav Nyquist, this is a solid team.
Defense and goaltending is a staple of this team. Roman Josi and Tyson Barrie are a rock-solid pair. The addition of Ryan McDonagh was good. Hopefully, he can stay healthy. The question is can they get more from Dante Fabbro? Again, Juuse Saros keeps them in any game. If the Predators struggle does Trotz move him? Something to keep an eye on.
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6. St. Louis Blues (Last year finished Sixth)
Then there are the St. Louis Blues. What do we make of this team? Jordan Binnington is still there. But so is Joel Hofer. The Blues did not have a great season last year and tried to unload Torey Krug during the offseason but were unsuccessful. It will be interesting to see what the Blues do this season.
St. Louis still has a lot of money tied into the players on the back end which includes Justin Faulk, Krug, and Nick Leddy. Colton Parayko and Marco Scandella. Again it will come down to saves. St. Louis was not a great defensive team last year. However, head coach Craig Berube needs to get more out of this unit for the Blues to have a shot in a tough division.
Offensively let’s see what this team is made of with Pavel Buchnevich, Robert Thomas, and Jordan Kyrou upfront. Thomas and Kyrou are getting paid as difference-makers and leaders of the offense. Brayden Schenn is the new captain playing alongside Brandon Saad. It will be interesting to see how Kevin Hayes works out in St. Louis. And what about Jakub Vrana, who is trying to find his way still in the NHL? There is potential there, but maybe not this year.
7. Arizona Coyotes (Last year finished Seventh)
Just imagine if the Coyotes could get this arena situation settled. They could be like Tampa West. Who wouldn’t want to play in Arizona? However, nobody does right now. That being said GM Bill Armstrong is building a good, young, and exciting team in Arizona. The Coyotes could make noise this year. No, were are not saying playoffs but they may do better than seventh in the NHL Central Division
Armstrong has given Andre Tourigny time to build with this team similar to what we see in Buffalo with Don Granato. Just look at the players on this team Clayton Keller, Barrett Hayton, Logan Cooley (with a highlight reel goal already), Matias Maccelli, Jack McBain, and Lawson Crouse. The Coyotes added a nice group of veterans Jason Zucker, Alexander Kerfoot, Nick Bjugstad, Sean Durzi, and Matt Dumba.
It will not be easy but we know what Karel Vejmelka can do between the pipes. Connor Ingram is not so bad either. The Coyotes will be better than most expect this season as this young team grows together.
8. Chicago Blackhawks (Last year finished Eighth)
It’s no surprise the Chicago Blackhawks will finish last in the NHL Central Division. But it is building toward the future in Chicago. It is all about Connor Bedard this season in Chicago. Right. All eyes will be on him. Since getting the number one overall selection and fans knowing who the team was going to get ticket sales jumped. It is hard to get a ticket in Chicago to watch this kid play.
And Bedard is a kid with tremendous upside and skill. He is a generational talent for a reason. But the Blackhawks surrounded him with guys like Taylor Hall, Nick Foligno, Corey Perry, and Tyler Johnson to protect him. Maybe Johnson not so much. But these guys along with Seth Jones will show him how to be an NHL player. What the life is like and the adjustments.
Bedard is expected to put up 70-80 points this season. Again we will see. But Chicago is not very good and really it is all about him. Maybe we’ll see guys like Hall get point totals they have not reached in a while because of Bedard. We will find out.
