Previewing the Blackhawks Competition in The Central Division

PUBLICATION

James
August 22, 2022 (12:33)

SHARE THIS STORY

With 50 days remaining before the puck drops on the Chicago Blackhawks season, let's take a look at the Central Division and analyze the competition.

The Colorado Avalanche, the defending Cup champs, are heavily favored to lead the way in the division, and it's not hard to see why. Yes they lost some important parts of that team most notably Nazem Kadri and Darcy Kuemper, but the core remains intact. It still has plenty of firepower up front and a defense led by the young phenom Cale Makar.

Goaltending could be a question mark with Pavel Francouz and Alexandar Georgiev sharing the net as neither man has appeared in more than 34 games in a season.

The Wild are seen as the Avs biggest threat, but their cap situation forced them to trade 30-goal scorer Kevin Fiala and they also replaced goaltender Cam Talbot with Filip Gustavsson. It's Marc-Andre Fleury's net and his play will go a long way in determining the Wild's fate as will the development of youngsters Marco Rossi and Matthew Boldy.

St Louis had a puzzling offseason. On one hand, they resigned forward Robert Thomas to an eight-year, $65 million extension and on the other, they left David Perron and goaltender Ville Husso, walk in free agency as they both signed with Detroit. The Blues will hope that Jordan Binnington rediscovers his Cup-winning form or they will certainly take a step back this season.

Nashville added quality veterans at positions of need by signing underrated two-way winger Nino Niederreiter and acquired defensemen Ryan McDonagh from Tampa. The biggest move they made though was re-signing 40-goal scorer Filip Forsberg to an eight-year, $68 million extension. They could place as high as second in the division given their offensive firepower and lock-down netminding.

The next two teams Dallas and Winnipeg didn't make many moves this offseason with Mason Marchment to the Stars, being the only significant addition. Both teams will rely heavily on goaltending and their top lines to make a run at the playoffs.

That brings us to the cellar of the division and possibly the NHL, your Chicago Blackhawks and the Arizona Coyotes who figure to be battling for the number one draft pick in 2023, Connor Bedard. Both teams are focused more on shipping out talent than bringing it in. It's going to be a long season in the Windy City and the desert. I do think the Hawks will finish ahead of Arizona though so at least we're not the worst?