The toughest division in the league

Last year it saw 5 teams out of 7 to make it to the playoffs. It has 4 teams wit h100 points or more, and one with 99. After this off-season, a question has surfaced about the Central Division: does is represent the toughest division in the NHL? The answer is yes. Composed of: the Saint-Louis Blues, the Nashville Predators, the Chicago Blackhawks, the Minnesota Wild, the Winnipeg Jets, the Dallas stars and the Colorado Avalanche, Hockey feed as decided to take a look at who will win the division, who will lose and who represent the underdog.

The Winner: The Chicago Blackhawks. They will win the Central Division this year. With the additions of Artem Anisimov, Marko Dano, Ryan Garbutt and Trevor Daley, the Hawks have fill gaps in their line-up and will surely contend for the Stanley Cup again this year. Even though they lost Brandon Saad and Patrick Sharpe, they acquired youth, experience and grit during the off-season.

The Looser: The Nashville Predators. The Preds had a great season last year, but they finished the year with a sub .500 record. They haven't proceed to any big transactions this off-season except resigning their restricted free-agents. Hopefully they have a better season than how they finished last year, but other teams in the division have gotten better during the summer.

Look fo Colorado to have another difficult season. they did not improve much. Although I doubt they will end up last in the Central, the playoffs look pretty far away.

Underdogs: The Minnesota Wild. The Wild had their fair share of controversy last season with their goalie situation and Head Coach, Mike Yeo, rumoured to be fired after every single defeat. They have not made big moves, but their young players are ready to take on a bigger role and will have a better start to the season that they had. Expect them to be in the race for third in the division, behind Chicago and Saint-Louis.

Projected standing:

1. Chicago Blackhawks
2. Saint-Louis Blues
3. Minnesota wild
4. Dallas Stars
5. Nashville Predators
6. Colorado Avalanche
7. Winnipeg jets

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Image courtesy of Keystone Press