Quite possibly the least threatening division in the league, and yet still containing what are arguably the two most dangerous teams in the western conference, the Central is a land of contrasts. The Stars have a star at every position and a pipeline full of hotshot prospects looking to make a name for themselves. The Avalanche have star power, chemistry, and proof of concept making them dangerous not just on any given night, but more importantly favorites in almost any series. The Wild have a certified game breaker and arguably the best checking center in the league, Winnipeg have a once great goalie and a high end 2C, and St Louis, Nashville, and Arizona are all trying to figure out who they are and whether or not they should change their major to Communications. And then, you know, there’s Chicago, just sittin’ there, with that stupid “we won the lottery” look on their face. Disgusting. Let’s boogie.
Note: Unless other wise noted all contract information is courtesy of CapFriendly.com, all advanced stats are courtesy of Evolving-Hockey.com, and all traditional counting stats are courtesy of Hockey-Reference.com, without whom all of this would be impossible.
Dallas Stars
All About Eve (1950)
Contender Status: Conference Favorite
Boy how the simple passage of time can change things, eh? After an improbable run to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2020, it looked like the Stars were set to take a big step back. Instead they took a rather minor one, finishing 5th in the Central the following season and missing the playoffs. They drafted potential offensive dynamos in Wyatt Johnson and Logan Stankoven with their first two picks in the draft that year and will be hoping the two youngsters can provide the depth scoring punch that this lineup is so desperately in need of. As nice as it may have been for Stars fans to see a resurgent Jamie Benn, it should not by any means be viewed as predictive. Nor for that matter should Joe Pavelski’s second prime be met with anything but gratitude and humility. Still, a team built around Roope Hintz, Miro Heiskanen, Jake Oettinger, and Jason Robertson is good enough to cause problems for most teams on most nights, no matter how much Peter DeBoer may try to ruin it for everyone.
Team MVP: Jason Robertson, LW – 45, 79, 109. 17, 41, 46. Folks, there is quite simply no other way to say it, Jason Robertson winning a Hart trophy is damn near an inevitability. He’s just that good. What he lacks in skating ability he makes up for in smarts, skill, and tenacity. The kid is a menace and a monster and I love him. Oh, and he’s the best player to ever come out of Southern California. Kid is the truth.
X-Factor: Logan Stankoven, C – The Stars consider themselves amongst the league’s upper echelon, and a quick look at their roster gives you no reason to try and disabuse them of that notion. Still, if they are to meet their own lofty expectations it will require a substantial impact from at east one of their other young players. The former Kamloops standout has has scored at every level he’s played so far, and Jim Nill will be expecting him to continue to do so once he hits the NHL full-time.
Mock Trade: Adam Henrique (F) (50% retained) – FOR- Radek Faksa (F) & DAL 2024 1st Round Pick
Colorado Avalanche
How the West Was Won (1963)
Contender Status: Conference Heavy Weight
This team is in a very interesting place. They just extended Devon Toews, an absolutely crucial member of that team, they added Colton Ross and Miles Wood to shore up their depth, and they brought in Ryan Johansen (BOOOOOOOO!) and Jonathan Drouin with the hope of injecting some more talent into their top-six. They are also going to be without Gabe Landeskog until the playoffs at the absolute earliest. This team is going to be counting on Georgiev to continue to perform well in order to have a real chance at winning another cup. Fortunately for him, and them, Bednar is a really good coach and the top of that roster is as potent as ever. They may no the favorites to come out of the West, or even the Central for that matter, but none of that matters once the playoffs hit. And in Denver, that’s the part of the calendar they’re going to be focused on.
Team MVP: Nathan MacKinnon, C – Combining speed, skill, physicality, and apparently a deep-seeded loathing for any foods that don’t fit the Atkins Diet, MacKinnon is the gold standard for superstars in this league as far as I’m concerned. While it may seem hard to imagine, there was a time where his production wasn’t quite in line with the premier high-end forward he has become. But after six straight seasons of point per game play, all that is well and truly behind him. The 28 year old pivot has already done enough to ensure he gets into the hall, now it’s just about whether or not he becomes a no question first ballot guy.
X-Factor: Ryan Johansen, C – Ryan Johansen sucks and I hate him. But I’m also an adult, so I reached out to friend/nemesis Bryan Bastin from OnTheForecheck, to help me out.
“Ryan Johansen is, unfortunately, no longer the Ryan Johansen of old, but that does not mean that he can’t be a game-changer for the Avalanche. In fact, playing with Colorado might be the best possible use for him. Despite Johansen never seeming like an analytics darling, what he does best can’t really be captured by analytics anyways, and that’s his ability to facilitate plays with his linemates. In his time with Nashville, Johansen thrived as the team’s best passer and frequently made incredible plays to setup the likes of Filip Forsberg, Matt Duchene and others. Unfortunately, that reputation as a facilitator (instead of a shooter like he was in Columbus) may have been forced on him. As you can see below, once Johansen was able to play for a coach that wasn’t opposed to creating offense like Laviolette, he was able to get back to his game and saw some improvement. Time will tell if he can regain his old, goal-scoring ways, but there isn’t a better place in the league for him to take that chance than the high-flying Avalanche. If he still can’t score goals like you’d want to see, you can’t lose with him creating plays for the likes of MacKinnon and Makar.”
The brand is strong, this man really found a graph. We return now to our regularly scheduled programming.
Mock Trade: Brett Leason (F) & BOS 2024 2nd Round Pick -FOR- COL 2024 1st Round Pick
Minnesota Wild
Beauty and the Beast (1991)
Contender Status: Playoff Team
I remain furious that this team didn’t trade for Tomas Hertl at the 2022 trade deadline and I refuse to get over it. “COPE!” you shout, but nay, I never will. Because this team has everything they need to win a ring other than a legitimate number one center. They have a strong and dynamic blueline, high-end playmakers on the wing, one of the best checking centers in the league, and a promising young goalie. And all of that with a pair of oliphaunt sized buyout penalties on their books. Damn you Doug Wilson, damn you indeed. Marco Rossi has potential to be sure, but I must admit that my patience for him to reach his potential wanes more and more the older Joel Eriksson Ek gets, to say nothing of perhaps the most underappreciated number one defenseman in the league in Jared Spurgeon. Kaprizov and Boldy are rock stars and Ryan Hartman is one of my favorite out of their depth players in the league, but goodness gracious can we throw these guys a bone and get them a top-32 pivot already?
Team MVP: Kirill Kaprizov, LW – 234 points, including 114 goals, in 203 games is a hell of a start to your NHL career, eh? The one they call “The Thrill” has provided the offensive firepower the Wild have needed for years. His incredible offensive talent allows a team with an incredibly strong supporting cast to assert themselves as a divisional power. Until and/or unless someone else can help carry the offensive burden for this team, the Wild will go about as far as the Russian superstar can take them.
X-Factor: Marco Rossi, C – The Wild have basically spent two plus decades looking for a legit first line center. Taken with the 9th overall pick in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, the Austrian center should be given every opportunity to seize the role. Between cap constraints and a lack of any notable competition, if Rossi fails to live up to his draft day expectations, Minnesota are going to be in a bad way, and fast.
Mock Trade: Jacob Perreault (F) -FOR- MIN 2024 2nd Round Pick
Winnipeg Jets
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Contender Status: Fringe Wildcard Team
This team is a mess. I have no clear idea of what they think they are or what they they think they can achieve. But they just handed Mark Scheifele and Connor Hellebuyck matching seven year, $59.5million dollar deals, so they must think it is at least relatively promising. Joshua Morrissey and Kyle Connor are good players, though whether or not the former can be as good as he was last year going forward remains to be seen, and there is a handful of decent role players throughout the lineup. Ultimately, the question for Winnipeg remains the same one that’s plagued them for the last half dozen years at least. Can you win a ring with Scheifele as your number one center, and if not, who do you have to supplant him in that role? As of now, the answers seem to be No and Nobody.
Team MVP and X-Factor: Connor Hellebuyck, G – He’s the best player on the team and he plays the most important position. If he isn’t able to continue his high level of play over the next handful years, then nothing else really matters to be honest. The moment he falls off the team is all but doomed. They simply do not have the quality of roster around him to overcome him regressing to even slightly above average. They will be a relevant team for as long as he’s a top 7-ish netminder. Well, even then, they’ve managed not to be even when he was decidedly no worse than third or fourth in the league. Fun times abound in Manitoba.
Mock Trade: Isac Lundestrom (F) -FOR- Logan Stanley (D) & WPG 2024 3rd Round Pick
Arizona Coyotes
My Fair Lady (1964)
Contender Status: Fringe Wildcard Team
The Coyotes aren’t Good yet, and they likely won’t be for a few more years, but the division continues to erode around them and that leaves them in an interesting and enviable position. The questions surrounding this team are going to be simple and straightforward and will decide the fate of this team moving forward.
- How long until the rest of the roster catches up to Keller, and to a lesser extent Schmaltz, and allows this team to actually compete again at a high level for a sustained period of time? (Couple years if you ask me).
- How good is Logan Cooley really? (Boy he seems to a high-end, high-octane offensive dynamo at the least).
- Will GM Bill Armstrong be able to sit on his hands long enough that he doesn’t try to power-shift out of the final stages of this rebuild? (I have no clue but most GMs can’t so…)
Team MVP: Clayton Keller – Keller took a bit of step back there after a strong rookie campaign that saw him tally 23 goals and 42 assists en route to a third place finish in Calder voting for 2017-18. He is of course, not without some justification in doing so as the team languished under the incredible mismanagement of wunderkind John Chayka before now GM Bill Armstrong was brought in to revive the organization. After a hyper productive 22-23 season that saw him net 37 goals and 86 points in 82 games, it seems that the Missouri native is back on track to being a consistent performer.
X-Factor: Logan Cooley – Taken 3rd overall in the 2022 Entry Draft, the ‘Yotes newest Yinzer will be expected to lead Phoenix into their next (first?) era of high-flying hockey and legitimate contention. There seemed to be a hiccup when it sounded like Cooley was going to return to college instead of joining the team, taking him down the path of becoming a potential college free agent in the summer of 2024 but that nightmare seems to have been avoided. Now it’s up to the organization to prove to him he made the right choice.
Mock Trade: Cam Fowler (D) -FOR- TOR 2024 2nd Round Pick
Nashville Predators
The Exorcist (1973)
Contender Status: Late Lottery Team
In one summer the Predators were tasked with replacing their top two centers, their second best defenseman, and their head coach. On top of all of this, this will be the first time in the history of the franchise they go into a season with a general manager not named David Poile. They’ve still got a few players who can help them mitigate some of the innate tumultuousness of this offseason in the likes of Roman Josi, Filip Forsberg, and Juuse Saros. Now just how far they can carry the rest of this roster is a point of some concern given that all three of those players had career years two seasons ago and all it got them was a first round ass kicking at the hands of the soon to be Stanley Cup champion Avalanche.
Team MVP: Roman Josi, D – I’m sure you were expecting to see Saros named here, and I honestly can’t say I blame you. But the truth of the matter is as good as the Finnish Phenom is, and he really is exactly as good as Preds fan will tell you, we’ve seen the limitations that naturally occur for teams whose best player is their goalie. Unless that is, there is enough supplemental talent on the roster to actually get something out of the opportunities that having an elite netminder can provide. This is where Roman Josi enters the picture. He’s the team’s best offensive player and any success they have over the full course of a season is in large part due to his heroics from the backend.
X-Factor: Ryan O’Reilly, C – O’Reilly had an underwhelming regular season last year, recording only 16 goals and 14 assists in 53 games between Toronto and St. Louis last year. He did have a better showing in the playoffs however, scoring 3 goals (two of which were power play goals) and 6 assists while averaging almost 20 minutes a night in 11 games for the Maple Leafs. He’s no longer the dark horse MVP candidate caliber player he once was, but if he can bring a strong and dependable two-way game to this team’s top line it will be a go a long way to helping his team win games.
Mock Trade: Brayden Tracey (F) -FOR- NSH 2024 2nd Round Pick
St Louis Blues
Mystic River (2003)
Contender Status: Lottery Team
I honestly have no idea what the Blues are expecting from themselves this season. The best case, like everything goes perfect best case, scenario would seem to be getting swept in the first round by either Vegas or Dallas. They have a competent team and a seemingly competent coach, and a giant question mark in goal. What they don’t have, unfortunately, is a difference maker on the backend nor enough difference makers up front to make a reasonable and cogent argument that they can be more than an also-ran in arguably the league’s weakest division. Sure, Dalibor Dvorsky is an exciting young prospect, but one player does not a pipeline make. I’ve always liked Brayden Schenn, and Torey Krug seems like a solid dude and good second pair guy, but that just isn’t enough for me to see them as more than the 9th overall pick in the upcoming draft.
Team MVP: Jordan Kyrou, RW – Kyrou and fellow resident young person Robert Thomas are the future of this franchise and will be integral to whatever heights the Blues are able to reach over the next decade. They are also however, playing with an expectation to be impact players right now, and they have they matching 8 year $65million contracts to prove it. Kyrou was the team’s only 30 goal scorer last year, and with Tarasenko gone, Craig Berube will be looking to his young star winger to take on an even bigger role in getting St Louis on the board on a game by game basis.
X-Factor: Jordan Binnington, G – Boy, that contract extension Doug Armstrong gave Binnington TWO YEARS AFTER he led the team to the Stanley Cup sure looks like a mistake don’t it? One has to wonder if it was any other market whether or not Armstrong would still have his job. Anyways, Jordan Binnington’s post-cup run play has shown him to be exactly as middling and mediocre as his pre-cup run reputation suggested. If the Blues are going to have any chance of surprising the league in the next few years, they’re going to need their number one goaltender to play like a number one goaltender.
Mock Trade: Ryan Strome (F) & PIT 2024 3rd Round Pick -FOR- Jakub Vrana (F) & Kasperi Kapanen (F)
Chicago Blackhawks
Platoon (1986)
Contender Status: Lottery Team
Even if you remove Connor Bedard from the conversation, you are still left with one of the best prospect pools in the NHL with names like Korchinski, Moore, and Nazar. Now take Connor Bedard off of the roster, and what do you have? You’re ultimately left with a who’s who of the last decade with the likes of Tyler Johnson, Nick Foligno, Seth Jones, and Taylor Hall. This year is going to be all about seeing what Bedard has in him from the jump. Surrounding him with as many mean old guys as you possibly can while refraining from signing anyone to a deal that lasts beyond the summer of 2025 makes all the sense in the world to me. But what that also means, is that this team is not going to be even remotely competitive this year when Bedard isn’t on the ice.
Corey Perry is going to score 25 goals this year.
Team MVP: Kyle Davidson, GM – I mean look, Chicago finished third from the bottom and won the draft lottery, which both does and doesn’t have all that much to do with him. But he’s drafted well over the last two years and accumulated a wealth of draft picks in the early rounds of the next three drafts that would make Smaug consider relocating. There’s still plenty of work to be done, but Kyle from Chicago has done just about everything right so far, much to the chagrin of basically everyone not in walking distance of a fresh bottle of Malört.
X-Factor: Connor Bedard, C – The kid is supposed to be generational and special. This year will be about finding out exactly how true that is. He’s the choice here for so many reasons not the least of which is, it’s basically up to him to decide how long this Chicago rebuild lasts.
Mock Trade: ANA 2026 4th Round Pick -FOR- Corey Perry (F)