HockeyBuzz Hotstove: The Hotstove: Projecting the Central Division

HockeyBuzz Hotstove: The Hotstove: Projecting the Central Division
- Travis.Yost

You gotta think the Blues have to be the favorites in the central if there is a season this year.. Chicago is still good, only question is the goaltending. Detroit and Nashville have big holes to fill. Columbus will be bad for a while.

St. Louis
Chicago
Detroit
Nashville
Columbus

The turnover in this division is insane.

You gotta think the Blues have to be the favorites in the central if there is a season this year.. Chicago is still good, only question is the goaltending. Detroit and Nashville have big holes to fill. Columbus will be bad for a while.

St. Louis
Chicago
Detroit
Nashville
Columbus
- tomburton99

I think Columbus could surprise a few teams, depending on how their goalies play. They got a good team consistent of second line two-way guys, and their defense is pretty good as well. I don't think they will be in the basement, but I don't think they make the playoffs. If I'd have to guess, I'd say that either Nashville or Detroit will wind up finishing lower than them this year.

I think Columbus could surprise a few teams, depending on how their goalies play. They got a good team consistent of second line two-way guys, and their defense is pretty good as well. I don't think they will be in the basement, but I don't think they make the playoffs. If I'd have to guess, I'd say that either Nashville or Detroit will wind up finishing lower than them this year.
- _Zippy_

Jackets are just going to have a very . . . hard . . . time . . . scoring . . . goals.

St. Louis
Chicago
Nashville
Detroit
Columbus

Maybe only 2 playoff teams instead of the usual 4

I think Columbus could surprise a few teams, depending on how their goalies play. They got a good team consistent of second line two-way guys, and their defense is pretty good as well. I don't think they will be in the basement, but I don't think they make the playoffs. If I'd have to guess, I'd say that either Nashville or Detroit will wind up finishing lower than them this year.
- _Zippy_

I agree. In fact, I don't see CBJ finishing in the cellar this year.

I agree. In fact, I don't see CBJ finishing in the cellar this year.
- Travis Yost

they will be better at keeping pucks out of the next especially in the coming years with Johnson, Murray and Erixon to build around. I don't see them getting better this year though.

I think Columbus could surprise a few teams, depending on how their goalies play. They got a good team consistent of second line two-way guys, and their defense is pretty good as well. I don't think they will be in the basement, but I don't think they make the playoffs. If I'd have to guess, I'd say that either Nashville or Detroit will wind up finishing lower than them this year.
- _Zippy_

Nashville with Weber, Blum, Ellis and Rinne is better then what the jackets have right now. The wings are the biggest question mark. the now have big holes on the blueline without Lidstrom and Stuart.

Nashville with Weber, Blum, Ellis and Rinne is better then what the jackets have right now. The wings are the biggest question mark. the now have big holes on the blueline without Lidstrom and Stuart.
- tomburton99

Losing Stuart's addition by subtraction, IMO. Think he can be replaced internally.

Not sure what San Jose saw in him.

I agree. In fact, I don't see CBJ finishing in the cellar this year.
- Travis Yost

I find them to be like last years Senators. Everyone was so quick to say they were in the basement, but no one ever took the time to actually look at their roster. The roster was more then capable of being a playoff team, and it showed. Same with the Blue Jackets, just last year, some people had them making the playoffs.

As for the lines:

Umberger-Brassard-Prospal
Dubinsky-Johansen-Atkinson
Foligno-Anisimov-Dorsett
MacKenzie/Boll/Letestu/Gillies

Wisnewski-J. Johnson
Tyutin-Murray
Nikitin-Aucoin/Moore

Nothing flashy, but a consistent group of two-way forwards. They won't have any guys scoring 80 points, it'll be done by committee.

Nashville with Weber, Blum, Ellis and Rinne is better then what the jackets have right now. The wings are the biggest question mark. the now have big holes on the blueline without Lidstrom and Stuart.
- tomburton99

Blum and Ellis are still pretty big question marks, are they not?

Nashville not only has question marks on the back-end but they lost a lot forward-wise. They are counting on a lot of young guys up front to get it done as well as on defense. They are pretty hit or miss here.

Detroit's defense took a major hit, but they still have a very deep and talented forward group, especially if guys like Nyqvist and Brunner play to expectations. Defense is their only real concern.

When I look at Columbus, the main problem I see is lack of top-end talent, but they certainly look better on defense than Detroit and have more reliable depth than Nashville.

CBJ will be better than last year, but still last in the division.
Nashville lost lots of offence but I don't think Suter is that big a hit to their team, lots of young D to pick up the slack.
Detroit is finally going to miss the playoffs, leadership and a once in a generation player is gone.
Chicago got younger be default which should be better for the team, unless they decide to Patrick Kane all season.
St louis should be just fine, the only worry for them is if Hitchcock gets tuned out like he has in the past. And injury, but that's every team.

St. Louis
Hawks
Nashville
Detroit
CBJ

Jackets are just going to have a very . . . hard . . . time . . . scoring . . . goals.

St. Louis
Chicago
Nashville
Detroit
Columbus

Maybe only 2 playoff teams instead of the usual 4
- John Jaeckel

agree w/ your assessment w/ 2 comments. if the hawks are better in goal they will win. hitch will begin to wear the blues down by years end. the central still gets 3 teams in and the wings miss the playoffs for the 1st time since ???????

agree w/ your assessment w/ 2 comments. if the hawks are better in goal they will win. hitch will begin to wear the blues down by years end. the central still gets 3 teams in and the wings miss the playoffs for the 1st time since ???????
- predswilrule

89-90 is your answer.

Central Division -
St Louis
Nashville
Chicago
Detroit
Columbus

St Louis - not great improvement but with the rest of the teams losing this seems easy
Nashville - Losing Suture "Ouch" Signing Hannan, having Josi and Ellis, partially replaceable, Nashville is 2
Chicago - With Detroit losing Lidstrom, Chicago can bounce ahead
Detroit - Losing out on improvement so the downward spiral begins the once dynasty is dropping for now
Columbus - Improves on last year, with defense but losing Nash with Johansen starting to begin, hurts and last is on horizon, Watch-out Mackinnon is a possibility here.

St. Louis
Chicago
Detroit
Nashville
Columbus


I think the Blues will regress a bit, but still win the division. Chicago still has a great core, but goaltending, grit an depth could be better. I struggled with Nashville and Detroit, I believe Detroit still has the better team, but they're getting older and their defense is a mess but it just doesn't feel right having them finish 4th in the division. I expect them to make a trade before the season or very early into the season for a top 4 d-man which will help soften the blow. Nashville obviously lost Suter, but I could easily see them finishing 3rd in the division with Trotz's system and great team depth. I agree that Columbus will be improved(can't get much worse), but I'm still not sold on their goaltending and they obviously lack a game breaker type of forward.

I think this division will have 3 playoff teams. The Blues, Hawks and one of the Wings/Preds. I could maybe see 4 teams again if the Preds and Wings don't regress as much as expected and if the NW only has the Canucks again, but that's highly unlikely.

Blues
Hawks
Preds
Red Wings
Blue Jackets

Blues: Hitchcock consistently gets 3 solid seasons before getting tuned out, so that's not really a concern. Top 10 prospect in the league (Tarasenko) should easily replace what they've lost. Young players improved, injured players healthy, team could be pretty dominate this year... but it's tough to picture both goalies being in the top 5 GAA again.

Hawks: Same problems they had last year, same strengths they had last year, but weaker competition from Det & Nash means a bump in points. Will be nipping at the Blues heals for division lead all year.

Preds: Ryan who? Barry Trotz don't care, Barry Trotz don't give a $&%#. I think Trotz will find a way to keep this team, especially with Weber and Rinne still going, in the hunt for a playoff spot, in the 6-8 range.

Red Wings: Will be close with the Preds, fighting for a playoff spot in the 6-8 range as well, fighting 5 or 6 teams for 3 spots. But I think losing Lidstrom will be a huge effect in the locker room, not just on the ice, and this will be a different team than the Red Wings we're used to (hating).

Columbus: Better than last year, still no where near competitive. Average defense, below average goaltending, and the committee they plan on getting scoring from seems weak as well.

CHI
STL
DET
NSH
CBJ

Could see STL in the top though, but CHI has a pretty decent team other than goaltending.

DET lost a lot but I think they could still shock. Holland and Babcock are smart men and who knows what they will do.

NSH - Loss players brought no one in, Captain may or may not want to actually be there. They'd be last if it were for the circus know as CBJ.

I think Columbus could surprise a few teams, depending on how their goalies play. They got a good team consistent of second line two-way guys, and their defense is pretty good as well. I don't think they will be in the basement, but I don't think they make the playoffs. If I'd have to guess, I'd say that either Nashville or Detroit will wind up finishing lower than them this year.
- _Zippy_

Surprise how so? They going to play naked and scare the other teams?

Maybe they creep to 29th.

agree w/ your assessment w/ 2 comments. if the hawks are better in goal they will win. hitch will begin to wear the blues down by years end. the central still gets 3 teams in and the wings miss the playoffs for the 1st time since ???????
- predswilrule

OK, but they won't be in all likelihood. The only plausible ways that happens is Crawford has a big rebound year, closer to his rookie year, and/or because the Hawks are slightly better and deeper on D with Oduya and Brookbank essentially replacing Lepisto and O'Donnell.

In my mind, Crawford, Leddy and Viktor Stalberg being better and more consistently better is the difference between the Hawks being a bubble team and a legitimate contender for a deep playoff run.

As a Blues fan its hard to say but I think the blues overachieved just a bit last year. Goaltending won them a lot of games last year as their offense didnt score that much in all honesty. While I dont see the goalie tandem repeating last years feats, I think a full year of Peron and the addition of Tarasenko may add what we were missing last year offensively. I predict a 105-107 point season.

Dang pretty much every team in that division got worse by a decent amount besides the blues. jackets will be cellar again. I think they a building the right way through D, but right now they have nothing, just more nothing then they had for the past few years. I think we see teams like Ana and SJ have a bounce back year with Pho being awful this year. What happened to AK47 in Nash?

Dang pretty much every team in that division got worse by a decent amount besides the blues. jackets will be cellar again. I think they a building the right way through D, but right now they have nothing, just more nothing then they had for the past few years. I think we see teams like Ana and SJ have a bounce back year with Pho being awful this year. What happened to AK47 in Nash?
- Meeqsb

Went out for drinks at the wrong time and got caught.

Gotta feel sorry for the BJ's, they had what looked like a franchise goalie and then he crumbled. Blues will be fighting the yotes for cellar honours. no way smith has the same year as last year.

Went out for drinks at the wrong time and got caught.

Gotta feel sorry for the BJ's, they had what looked like a franchise goalie and then he crumbled. Blues will be fighting the yotes for cellar honours. no way smith has the same year as last year.
- Troutback

yeah but he has a nice group of blueliners infront of him. Bob/Mason don't. CLB is going to be poor this year.

Went out for drinks at the wrong time and got caught.

Gotta feel sorry for the BJ's, they had what looked like a franchise goalie and then he crumbled. Blues will be fighting the yotes for cellar honours. no way smith has the same year as last year.
- Troutback

Hope you meant Blue Jackets....