Factoring in the season-to-date, recent form and post deadline rosters, we share our thoughts on which team is best inside the Central Division.
Todd Cordell
The Colorado Avalanche.
They have dealt with a ton of key injuries this season. Mikko Rantanen (24), Gabriel Landeskog (16), Nazem Kadri (15), Cale Makar (10) and Philipp Grubauer, among others, have all missed sizable chunks of games. It hasn’t mattered.
Colorado still owns a remarkably strong 40-18-8 record, and they sit just two points back of St. Louis for top spot in the Central.
The injury bug is currently as bad as its been all year and yet the Avalanche are 3rd in points, 2nd in Goals For%, 3rd in Scoring Chance For% and 4th in Corsi For% over the last 25 games. They’re finding ways to get results time and time again despite missing an abundance of regulars from their lineup.
I like the firepower, I like the depth, and I like the goaltending. When fully healthy, I’m not sure there’s a team in the West I’d take over Colorado.
Sean Maloughney It's funny. I went into this entirely prepared to say the boring answer in the St. Louis Blues but I am actually going to give this to the Colorado Avalanche.
Colorado has produced more goals at EV (174-162), has allowed fewers goals (176-182) and has a better overall SV% (0.915-0.908) than the Blues. All of this has given the Avalanche a +49 goal differential, which is third best in the league and the best in the Western Conference. Colorado has also lost more man games this season to injury (though the loss of Tarasenko cannot be ignored).
In terms of a 7 game playoff series, my money still would likely be on the Blues but in terms of the better regular season team as of today it is hard to argue against the Avalanche.
Numbers via NaturalStatTrick.com Recent posts