NHL Preview, Caring by Numbers: Central Division

Chicago Blackhawks

The dynamic duo is here to stay. After signing matching contracts before, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane chain themselves to each other and to the Blackhawks with a juicy 8-year, $84 million contract for the both of them. When you win 2 Stanley Cups with a team and a city that loves you oh so very much, it’s obvious where you’re going to hang you hat for the long haul.

Beyond making sure that Kane and Toews never leave, the Blackhawks still have many of the same faces from their 2013 Stanley Cup winning team with one notable addition. Brad Richards leaves the Rangers and inks a pretty cheap one-year deal to be the Blackhawks’ (and Patrick Kane’s) 2nd line center.

He seems to be settling in just fine.

Colorado Avalanche

While the Avalanche’s Number 1 center Paul Stasny has left for a different team in the division, the young’uns are ripe to keep things going. Nathan MacKinnon, Matt Duchene, Gabriel Landeskog and Ryan O’Reilly make up an enviable group of young forwards.

To balance out those young whippersnappers, Jarome Iginla signs a 3 year deal, and it’s pretty much impossible to not like Iggy. Iggy is the damn best. Max Talbot was another old guy addition, and he seems to be getting along nicely with the team there as well.

Also, never forget. #ImagineAvs. You have to love your fellow teammates if you’re willing to do this together.

Oh but on the flip side, Semyon Varlomov is still human trash.

Dallas Stars

No one bromances as aggressively as Tyler Seguin.

Tyler Seguin had a stellar season with the Stars last season, thanks to his off-the-charts chemistry with Jamie Benn. You can’t forget the 7-3 beating of the Calgary Flames where Seguin snagged 4-goals, all of them with an assist from Jamie Benn. I guess off-ice friend love really does translate to some on-ice magic.

Another great duo that the Stars acquired is Jason Spezza and Ales Hemsky. Spezza is a star center who played with Hemsky for a bit at the end of the season, and by his own admission, they have great chemistry, and he’d be thrilled to play with him again. Lindy Ruff also coached Spezza at World Championships, so the new guys already have a nice relationship with the team to play into.

Minnesota Wild

Josh Harding’s inspirational journey has been talked about often, but this offseason, he’s been in the news for something less savory. Harding handed Darcy Kuemper a nice contract when he broke his foot during some sort of argument with a teammate. No idea who that teammate is, but if you’re getting so riled up that you kick a wall and break your foot, that’s not going to make for a very pleasant locker room experience.

Nashville Predators

Lots of changes happening all at once for the Perds Preds. After coaching the team for its entire existence, Barry Trotz gets the boot while Peter Laviolette takes the helm. Quite a shake up for the team, but that’s not all!

James Neal was acquired from the Penguins, and while he is a pretty good offensive pick up for the Predators, he does come with a price. Neal has been involved in some gross on-ice incidents and illegal plays, and he doesn’t seem to learn from them. Add to that the rumor that he’s a disruptive locker room presence, and it’s looking like he might be a risky pickup.

Doubling down on players with off-ice issues, the Predators also picked up Mike Ribero after he was bought out by the Arizona Coyotes, and it wasn’t an amicable buyout either. Personal issues seem to affect his play, he doesn’t mesh with teammates, and it’s said that he’s often late for important meetings or misses them altogether. While they may have some offensive upswing, I’m not sure if they are the keys to a happy, winning culture.

St. Louis Blues

The Blues seem to be the San Jose Sharks of the Central Division: a stellar regular season team, but they can’t seem to get far in the post season. While the Miller acquisition from last year didn’t pan out and bring the Blues the Stanley Cup like they had hoped, this time around, they picked up hometown boy Paul Stasny to up their offense. In addition to knowing and loving the city that he’s gone to, he gets to be reacquainted with Team USA teammates TJ Oshie, David Backes and Kevin Shattenkirk.

But will this be enough to pull them through the playoffs? Time will tell.

Winnipeg Jets

Oh Winnipeg. Winnipeg didn’t really do a damn thing to make their team better, I mean, Pavelec is still there. Devin Setoguchi and Olli Jokinen and some others have left this arctic tundra for greener pastures, and it’s probably not good when one of your star players favorites a tweet about being traded. Add to that some potential feuding between him and Blake Wheeler, and Winnipeg isn’t looking like a great place to play.

Previously:
Atlantic Division
Metropolitan Division