Sports Take

Rolling right along to the Central Division, to me this division provides some considerable intrigue and is full of different possibilities as to who will finish in what position. Let’s getting into it.

#8) Chicago Blackhawks
This team should be more competitive within the realm of the NHL with Connor Bedard entering his second NHL season, a full season with Taylor Hall who is another former first overall draft pick mentoring the young star will prove beneficial to the team, however the division is just that much better than they are as a whole.

#7) Utah HC
Man they need to get a name, it felt weird typing HC like its an English Premier League team. Anyway, this team showed signs of life early on and just snowballed downhill midway through the season, they looked gassed by the end of the year and they didn’t really make any changes that I saw that could curb the fatigue. They rely on the top guys being the top guys game after game and that gets tiring for these guys, some secondary scoring when the big guys hit that wall would make this team a lot more dangerous. As it stands, 7th is where they’ll be.

#6) St. Louis Blues
It seems like the Blues are just an afterthought sometimes, they’re not really good, they’re not awful. This was the most difficult one to place in this division, I really don’t know how this season will go for them.

#5) Winnipeg Jets
Again the coin flip, I did consider putting the Blues ahead of the Jets, but given this team didn’t go through many changes and running it back again makes me think they aren’t going to be higher than this, and I think they make the playoffs as Wildcard 2.

#4) Minnesota Wild
Bill Guerin is still in cap hell, the Wild are very close to the cap with some contracts that seem untradable such as Jared Spurgeon, but there is hope for a playoff spot with the likes of Brock Faber leading from the defensive side and Kirill Kaprizov on the forward side of the ice. I do think the Wild’s season will be one to watch.

#3) Nashville Predators
This is by far the biggest movers in the offseason, signing Steven Stamkos, and Johnathan Marchessault, two key pieces from the teams they leave behind in the Lighting and Golden Knights respectively. The Predators have gone for broke and this is a playoffs, if not Stanley Cup, or bust season.

#2) Colorado Avalanche
The consistency of the roster and the knowledge of how to win will continue to drive this team, and having not one, but two of the best players in the world in Nathan MacKinnon, and Cale Makar, the question mark is goaltending, all other facets of the game are well covered.

#1) Dallas Stars
The Stars are the best all round team I believe in the Western Conference, the mix of speedy youth and veteran experience puts this team over the edge, the goaltending is elite and quite frankly, I’m shocked and surprised they haven’t won a Stanley Cup yet. I believe this is the Stanley Cup Champions of 2024.

The Central is a strong division once again and it will hard pressed to see a Pacific Division team beat out one of these teams to be in a wildcard position.