Of those 4 teams you listed, I could see them leapfrogging Dallas. The Stars were a 7th seed last year and are more or less running it back - they added Mason Marchment on a really expensive (and to me, very risky) deal, they lost John Klingberg and replaced him with Colin Miller, before realizing what they had done and then spending a 1st/4th to bring in a pretty unproven Nils Lundkvist. Not to say I think they're going to be a lottery team, but the Stars strike me as an extremely high variance team and I could see Hellebuyck just putting this team on his back and dragging them back to the playoffs by sheer force of will.

I could see them finishing ahead of each of those teams actually. Though I don't believe they'll do so in each case
The two teams I really do think the Jets will finish in front of, are Dallas and Minnesota.
The Stars do not seem all that good imo, and I believe many players on the Wild kind of overperformed last year.

Nashville didn't get any better, Minny got worse plus had many ppl with breakout years last year and Dallas was hardly better than a failure of a Jets team

If the Jets can actually play like they are on paper, they could easily get into the top 3 spot in the Central

Jets could have a similar bounce back that Calgary had, with veterans throughout the lineup, or remain in a bubble sequence or possibly the wheels may fall off, but that could happen to any on the list, with the wrong cold streak or injury bug. This division is similar to the two east divisions where it could be status quo or upside down, in the next few seasons.

Agree the Marchment deal is very risky, if it hadn't been done maybe Robertson would be locked up for more years at a higher AAV. The Lundkvist acquisition definitely sends a message to everyone that Stars management knew that acquiring Colin Miller was a feeble attempt to put on a bandaid on their right-side of defense. I don't see the Stars as a lottery team by any means either, but I don't see them being any better than they were last year, they might even take a step back depending on how guys like Oettinger and Marchment, as well as how well players can adjust to Deboers system.

Did you mean St. Louis and Minnesota?

Agree that guys like Hartman and Gaudreau overperformed last year for the Wild, but I definitely still expect that team to be competitive. I don't love the Stars lineup, but I can't call them a bad team

I don't think 3rd in the Central is out of the range of possibilities either. I definitely don't see the Jet's finishing ahead of Colorado or St. Louis. If Johansen and Duchene regress, then I could see the Jet's overtaking them. I don't think Minnesota is going to be spectacular by any stretch of the imagination, but they will definitely be competitive and should make the playoffs. With Dallas, it depends on how the team adjusts to Deboers system, whether or not Oettinger takes a step, whether or not a guy like Marchment can come in and be a meaningful difference maker, and can Deboer get more out of guys like Benn, Seguin, and even Gurianov.

All of this is of course assuming that the team buys into what Bowness is preaching and Hellebuyck gets back to being a top goalie.

Jet's may bounce back, but they definitely won't be as good Calgary was last year

Nashville added McDonagh and Niederreiter, the Jets added Rittich and Gagner.. lol

The Preds need a lot of things to go right to have another good season though, mainly their top four forwards having strong showings like they did last season.

Helly gets back in form and they have a vezina caliber goalie, Morrisey-Pionk represents a classical franchise D pair, Dillon, DeMelo, Samberg, Schmidt, Stanley provide nice depth on paper. Connor-Schieffle-Wheeler is the most underrated line in hockey with consistent 40+ goal scorer, and Wheeler the best assists player Jets can dream of. Dubois in his playoff style with Columbus against Leafs will make him a top 2nd line center,with 30 goal scorer Ehlers and Perfetti the young maestro, Lowry is big and the bottom 6 will work

The Central is essentially two teams at the top in the Avs and Blues, two teams at the bottom in the Yotes and Hawks and then the other four teams who are basically pretty similar to one another with their own strengths and weaknesses.

Wow, there is so much wrong with what you just said. First of all, Morrissey and Pionk are not a franchise caliber D-pairing. Connor, Scheifele, and Wheeler is not an underrated line either, and Dubois hasn't shown any indication that he has another big step to take in his game. I can see Perfetti making an impact, but it won't be a huge impact. Lowry as the 3C isn't ideal either.

You think the Blues are better than both the Wild and the Predators?

Definitely.

The Wild lost Fiala with no replacement and their 1C is Ryan Hartman ffs..lol, they have a solid defense and good goalie but that forward group is soooo reliant on Kaprizov who is amazing but one guy can only do so much.

The Preds will really need RyJo, Duch, Granlund and Forsberg to have repeat seasons for them to be successful, if they do they could make a bit of noise in the Central.

I just see the Blues as a more rounded team then the Wild or Preds, they lost Perron and Husso though and Binnington needs to rebound to playoff Binnington so they have some questions around them too.

Exactly how I see it. I'll say st. Louis is closer to that middle pack than they'd like also.

The Blues have a well rounded team? I mean, their forward group is very strong, but their blueline isn't too good. Nashville is betting on a lot and I mean A LOT of variables breaking their way in betting on the core replicating their point totals from the previous season. I suspect that the Wild are hoping that Rossi can come in and be an impact player, thereby replacing some of what was lost in Fiala

Even the Avs got worse in the offseason, if Binnington stumbles the Blues could struggle, honestly other then the Avs taking 1st I could see any of the other teams not named the Hawks or Coyotes finish anywhere from 2nd to 6th.

They definitely got weaker this off-season. I don't know if they'll regress enough to finish below Minnesota, Nashville, Winnipeg, or Dallas, but I still think the Blues are the best bet for 2nd in the Central.

So in other words, the Central division could be wide open this year, kind of like the Pacific was last year

The Blues defense is better then the Jets is.. lol.. but yeah I was more meaning they have a better balanced and deeper forward group then a lot of other Central division teams do.

Feel the exact same way about the Preds, they really need the stars to align to have another good year.

I think the same about Minny, assume they're hoping/banking on Rossi replacing some of Fiala's production. I'm very interested to see how Rossi does this season, wonder who will have the better season between him and Perfetti.

From a military history buff, I salute you for the title of this ACGM.

Frankly, I'm surprised nobody else thought of it first. Danke

Yeah, and they were picked only 1 spot apart(9th and 10th I believe)

Wait a second, are you saying Nashville needs Dallas to do well in order to be successful themselves? (JK )

I might make the argument that Winnipeg has a better blueline than St. Louis, just from a personnel standpoint.

No, I meant Dallas and Minnesota, as I believe I wrote in the first post, don't get your question 🙂

I wouldn't necessarily call the Stars a bad team neither, but I think they look weaker than the other central teams(except Blackhawks and the Coyotes ofc).

I think that depends on your perception of Ryan Johansen and Matt Duchene in Nashville, whether you think they'll replicate their previous season totals. I feel a lot more confident in Granlund and Forsberg upholding their ends of the bargain than I do those other two core forwards. If Duchene and Johansen regress to pedestrian performance levels, Nashville is really going to struggle to score goals.

St. Louis could really crumble if Binnington struggles, since they no longer have Husso to act as a safety net(pun intended). Thomas Greiss is at best just a serviceable backup