Welcome to the FanIQ NHL Season Previews. We'll be doing these division previews all week. Now we move onto the Western Conference. Up today, the Central Division.
The Russian Five are long gone but the Swedish Nine are now part of the Red Wings. Led by Lidstrom and Zetterberg, Detroit captured its first cup since 2002 last season. With the addition of Marian Hossa, the future looks no different. But the Central division has been known as one of the weakest divisions in the NHL as the Red Wings usually run away with the division title. However, last season, it was the Nashville Predators who had the best record among Central Division competition, followed the young and talented Blackhawks. Chicago even owned the Red Wings earlier in the season and ended up taking five of the eight season series games. But Columbus has jumped into the picture this year as well with the addition of a few free agents. How many teams from this division can make the playoffs this year? Can anyone rise to the occasion and knock off the mighty Red Wings? Can Chicago make the playoffs this year? Or will Columbus earn its first trip to the Stanley Cup Playoffs in its team’s history?
5th Place: St. Louis Blues
Goaltending, goaltending, goaltending. The one position that has not been all that great for the Blues over the past few years. Manny Legace enjoyed a lot of success with the Detroit Red Wings over his career and signing him before the ’07 season was the best move the Blues could make. But after Legace looked tired at the end of last year, St. Louis went out and traded for Chris Mason. With two decent goaltenders, the Blues give themselves a much better chance defensively this upcoming season.However, the words ‘youth movement’ say it all this year in the Gateway City. With all the somber performances the Blues have turned out over the past few years, they certainly have gathered a few good prospects. One of the best young guys on the team is forward TJ Oshie (right), a star and the University of North Dakota. Lars Eller is another prospect signed to an entry-level contract that the Blues have high hopes for.
For now, the rookies and other young guys will have to be led by the veterans on the team that are on their way out. Keith Tkachuk and Paul Kariya are going to need to show the way. Andy McDonald and Brad Boyes, who had 43 goals and led the league in game winning goals a year ago, are expected to contribute a great deal on offense. St. Louis is hoping Lee Stempniak can score an upwards of 30 goals again, which he accomplished two years ago.
The defense is led by Barrett Jackman and Eric Brewer. Erik Johnson is another solid defenseman but is injured and projected to be out for the year. Beyond that, the Blues defense looks questionable. Even so, the Central division will be much more competitive (at least between the lower teams) than in years past. The Blues wont finish above 80 points, especially if they have a second half collapse like they did last year.
4th Place: Columbus Blue Jackets
If the Blue Jackets miss the playoffs again this year, it will be the eighth consecutive year, tying the Washington Capitals for new team failures. This year may not be the year, but it will happen eventually as the Blue Jackets made big changes and they made many of them.
The first move was shipping second star forward Nikolai Zherdev and Dan Fritchie to the New York Rangers in return for Christian Backman and Fedor Tyutin. They also signed Mike Commodore to help replace Ron Hainsey and veteran Dick Tarnstrom who departed from the team.
Then they began to bring in some forwards, forwards who had proven themselves more so than the current team. Gilbert Brule was traded to Edmonton for Raffi Torres, a good young player who was essential to the Oiler’s 2005-06 Cup run. Then RJ Umberger, who had one heck of a playoffs last season for Philadelphia, and Kristian Huselius, one of the Jarome Iginla’s main men, were brought in.
Combined with the young talent already there in like Nikita Filatov and Jakub Voracek, Columbus should improve the 29th ranked offense from last year by a good margin. Don’t forget about Rick Nash (below), the superstar and centerpiece on the team who will continue to be the most talented and dominant Blue Jacket. And since I mentioned his name, I must follow suit with this video or else I would be breaking a big rule.
One change not needed and not taken was that of goaltending. The Jackets were tied ninth in the league last season in defense and re-upping Pascal LeClaire’s contract was the right move. He returns his 2.25 GAA and nine shutouts to the team which may only improve this season. The Blue Jackets should be better this season, but still miss the playoffs with only about 85 points.
3rd Place: Nashville Predators
The Predators have made the playoffs for four consecutive years, but this year, the chance of a fifth consecutive year, is in serious question. Head Coach Barry Trotz is the longest tenured coach of an NHL expansion team but will have his hands full in the 2008-09 season.
Nashville did absolutely nothing to improve their team during the offseason. Instead, they parted ways with defenseman Marek Zidlicky, veteran Martin Gelinas, Darcy Hordichuk and Jan Hlavac. To make matters even worse, Alexander Radulov (56 points last season) decided he wanted to play in Europe, and left. The absence of all five players left a good deal of salary cap open to resign two of the best young defensemen in the league, Shea Weber and Ryan Suter. Also on defense is veteran Dan Hamhuis, another hard hitting defenseman that contributes to the toughness of the Predators.
On offense, the only new addition is Ryan Jones, a rookie out of Miami (Ohio). Steve Sullivan is a long shot to start the season because of nagging back problems that have kept him out since the 2007 season. David Legwand and Jason Arnott will be the team leaders and hopefully the team leaders in scoring. If they aren’t, this team is in some trouble. Beyond Martin Erat and JP Dumont, the Predators do not have any big time players to step in and fill the position. Secondary scoring from everyone will be the number one key for the Predators this season.
For the third straight season, Nashville presents a different starting goaltender. This year it is Dan Ellis, standout in last year’s playoffs against the Detroit Red Wings. He led the league in goals against average and set the franchise record in shutouts and there are high hopes he can do it again. Even if he does, the Predators will really be fighting for a playoff spot, even more so than last season. I see them finishing with points in the mid to high 80’s, just missing the playoffs and ending the streak.
2nd Place: Chicago Blackhawks
Last season was a coming out party for Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. Helped along by Patrick Sharp, the Blackhawks just missed the playoffs by three points and were tied for ninth place with two other teams. Big splashes in free agency and front office moves should be enough for the Blackhawks to slip into the playoffs for the first time in a long while.The biggest acquisition was not the signing of defenseman Brian Campbell (right) or goaltender Christobal Huet. It was Scotty Bowman. The greatest coach in NHL history who won nine Stanley Cups was hired on as the senior advisor of hockey operations. This guy obviously knows the game and just might be the most knowledgeable person in the organization.
Back to the ice, the defense may prove to be one of the strong suits for Chicago, which has finished 20th or below for the past four seasons. Brian Campbell certainly got his money, but it should be well earned. In the prime of his career, Campbell is one of the best offensive defensemen in the league is accompanied by some good young talent. Duncan Keith, who earned an NHL All Star selection last year, had a career year with a +30 rating. But can he do it again? Probably not, but with an improving Brent Seabrook and James Wisniewski on defense, they should be able to pick up some slack.
Then there is the offense led by Toews and Kane. Toews missed much of last season with an injury so when producing at full health, there’s no knowledge of how well he can do. Kane’s leading 72 points has a good chance to be bettered next season, but these two will need help. The aforementioned Patrick Sharp needs to match his 36 goals from last year and Martin Havlat just needs to play. Injuries have kept him on the bench since coming over from Ottawa in 2006. A key departure who the Blackhawks are without is Robert Lang. Although his point production has been declining, he can still lead and influence the group of young guys.
Nikolai Khabibulin is out and Christobal Huet is in. Khabibulin was placed on waivers yesterday and youngster Corey Crawford will most likely be the backup. Just hope nothing happens to Huet for the Hawks sake, or else they will be in a world of hurt. The Blackhawks will finally make the playoffs this year, finishing out the year with about 95 points.
1st Place: Detroit Red Wings
I’m not sure where to even start here. The defending Stanley Cup Champions looked like they would be able to repeat before free agency even started. Then they went out and stole Marian Hossa (right) and Ty Conklin from Pittsburgh. Many people throughout the hockey world are ready to give out the cup to them again which I can see happening, barring any injuries. On offense the Wings are led by Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk, need I say more? Tomas Holmstrom continues to piss off the entire league by parking his butt in front of opposing goaltenders, and that’s not going to change. Johan Franzen seems to have taken to Holmstrom’s style as well as being a big, tough forward who is hard to nock off the puck. If he carries on his production from last year’s playoffs, Detroit could own the best two lines in the NHL now with the addition of Hossa.
Six-time Norris Trophy winner Nicklas Lidstrom still leads the defense with Brian Rafalski. Brad Stuart was resigned the first day of free agency to give Detroit one of the deepest defenses in hockey. Behind Stuart are Niklas Kronwall, Brett Lebda, Andreas Lilja, and Chris Chelios. Fighting for spots as well are Derek Meech, Jonathan Ericsson, and Kyle Quincey. I’d say a plague is about the only thing that can hurt this defense with the depth they have.
In goal, the Red Wings made a move in acquiring Ty Conklin basically saying they don’t think Jimmy Howard is ready for the NHL yet. Because Hasek retired, Conklin will be the full time backup to Chris Osgood, who is playing the best hockey in his life at 35 years young. The Red Wings set an NHL record for the best record in the first half of the season last year and if it weren’t for their 11 game winless streak, they may have set the single season record. This year, they have another shot at it. Look for them to finish around 120 points, a good ten points above the rest of the league.
Detroit (35)
Chicago (3)
Nashville (1)
Columbus
St. Louis (1)
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