Happy Hockey Day Buzzards! Welcome to the 2022-23 Season! The first season in three seasons that SHOULD be totally normal! (Hooray for normalcy!)
I hate doing predictions, but I am just so damn good at it. (See last two seasons for reference.). My "Whacky Prediction Blog" (One of many traditions often imitated by the infamous hockey writer code name "Rival Farnarkels") Will hit the newstands on Monday, but first we have some divisions to put in place...
All the divisions this year are extremely hard to figure out, but this one may have the most firepower...at least it does at the top....so here goes.
EXACTLY WHAT WILL HAPPEN IN THE CENTRAL. (The Divisions of the VERY MUCH HAVES and the VERY MUCH HAVE NOTS)
#1 St Louis Blues.
The Blues are THAT good. It's amazing to me how little people are talking about how close they came to winning the Stanley Cup. That series against Colorado was BY far the toughest series for the Cup Champs to win. Remember the Blues were seconds away from a 7th game...despite losing their starting goalie early in the series.
#2. Colorado.
No reason to think they aren't still the likely team to win it all, but I am not 100% sold on Georgiev as a starter...They may not have the motivation to win in the regular season..
#3. Nashville
The Preds are icing what may be their best team in years. The depth is crazy. McDonaugh on the back end and a 4th "kid line" with all sorts of potential are going to make the Preds a serious contender. Their line-up is stacked.
#4. Minnesota
The Wild are another Highly motivated team. A full year with MAF will teach them how to play with the Hall-of-Famer behind them consistently. Kaprisov wll be dominant in every way. Top ten scorer. The top four teams in this division would all be top 2 in the Western Division.
#5 Dallas
The Stars are also likley to be a contender for a playoff spot. They made some sneaky good moves this offseason and their next gen star players are emerging. This is my favorite Stars team in years..I could see them finishing as high as 3, but no lower than 5.
#6. Winnipeg
The Jets are the rare "tweener" in the NHL right now. Something is not quite right with their mix but they still have some serious talent and ALWAYS have the ability to surprise us.
#7. Arizona
The Coyotes could actually shock us a bit here. Whenever we see a team that EVERYONE is counting out they tend to battle far harder than we ever expect. I was tempted to slide them above Winnipeg...there is no logic to that however...yet, I believe they will tough to play against in there little arena. I could see them getting out to very surprising great start.
#8. Chicago
They are truly a team that will struggle. and wants to. The longer they hold onto Kane the better they will be...
That's my 8...Lets hear yours...
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