WC-Central Race

[NeverForgetMac25 483]

Amazing to think what's transpired in our Central division these past few weeks and its been fun to watch. While it's hard to imagine the race will keep up at its current pace it stands to reason that 4 of our 5 divisional teams will make the postseason.

More mind-boggling is that the top 3 point-getters thus far in the West all belong to the Central. On top of that, 4 of the top 6 point-getters in the West are all from the Central. It's an amazing display of talent, coaching and solid-play by DET, STL, CHI & NSH.

So, prediction time. What are your thoughts on how the division will shake out come April? How many of the 4 teams will make the postseason? What are your thoughts regarding the Wings division?

[Opie 308]

Of those teams 3 (4 if you include both from STL) have had Goaltenders that are tops in the league so far, and Chicago (no intention on bagging on their goaltending) is winning with offense being second in the NHL with Goals.

STL is the biggest surprise to me.

Followed by C-bus, I thought they would at least be in the discussion for postseason with the moves they made.

But by far the toughest division in hockey.

[VM1138 1,921]

Columbus needs to get their crap together and compete like the rest of the Division. Everyone else is pulling their weight to make the Central the best division in the league. The other teams are playing extremely well. I anticipate the teams will essentially stay where they are. St. Louis will hit a rough patch and drop a little, but I think three of the top five spots will remain in Central Division hands. At the risk of sounding like a homer, I think Detroit will finish on top. Like someone mentioned, Chicago is running purely on offense, and St. Louis is inexperienced. Detroit also has a fairly easy schedule to finish the season, so on paper at least Detroit should start pulling ahead in the next few weeks. Not by much, though.

Western Conference

1. Detroit

4.. Chicago

5. St. Louis

7. Nashville.

[cprice12 117]

The Blues, as good as they have been, probably need to see a slight increase in goal scoring if they are to keep pace and challenge for the Central Division or Western Conference crown.

Getting Steen and Andy Mac back soon should help, and it would be nice if Stewart or Berglund would get on track, which they have yet to do.

They seem to be able to score goals when they need them, and they had a nice outburst in early January, but the biggest concern Blues fans have is goal scoring...but it's hard to complain too much when they are winning.

[Konnan511 1,736]

1.) Detroit

4.) St Louis

5.) Chicago

8.) Nashville

[hooon 1,089]

1.) Detroit

4.) St Louis

5.) Chicago

8.) Nashville

This is exactly what I believe as well. Could be less than 10 points separating 1 and 8.

Edited January 20, 2012 by hooon

[Travis 576]

1.) Detroit

4.) St Louis

5.) Chicago

8.) Nashville

Switch St. Louis and Chicago and I'm with you. The Blues have (obviously) been good, but I'm at all not convinced they'll keep up the pace throughout the rest of the season.

[rrasco 1,312]

Hawks have a rigorous schedule coming up and I expect STL to run out of steam at some point...think Minny.

[rick zombo 3,739]

If Detroit can beat St. Louis at home on Monday, and get 6 points on their five game Westen road trip I like their chances with 18 of 28 at the Joe to finish off the schedule. Assuming the trade deadline doesn't induce a massive shift in the balance of power, here's how I think it breaks down:

1. Detroit

2. San Jose

3. Vancouver

4. Chicago

5. St Louis

6. Nashville

7. LA

8. Dallas

[Red Wings Addict 787]

My fear is that all the teams will kill themselves just to stay ahead of the game and then be worn out when the playoffs begin.

[NeverForgetMac25 483]

My fear is that all the teams will kill themselves just to stay ahead of the game and then be worn out when the playoffs begin.

Keep in mind though that that will only affect the Stanley Cup Finals given everyone in the West will be in the same boat. Besides, the Wings' home schedule down the stretch very much favors them in R&R department.

[xtrememachine1 795]

I actually fear the Blues more than the Hawks right now. The Hawks are a bunch of loudmouths that have little depth and shaky goaltending. The Blues, however, work hard, can get scoring from pretty much anywhere and have two solid options in net. Too many times have I seen the Wings get bounced from the playoffs by a team built like the Blues.

[servo 15]

St. Louis is overachieving. If their system gets into abit of a funk, they have to possibility to drop really fast. But beyond speculation, their biggest issue staying competitive is going to be their schedule. The last 1/3 of their season is PACKED with away games. They too (like the Wings) have excelled at home, but that is unlikely to last on the road. IMO, they are are really good team, but not as good as their points in the standings.

Chicago is Chicago. What they do at the trade deadline is my biggest concern. If they add a legitimate top 6 forward and stay healthy, they can easily beat us in a 7 games series. Fortunately, they have a pretty tough last 1/3 of the season.

At this point, the Wings are winning, but not playing as well as they have and their schedule isn't bad down the road! At no point in time (that I can recall), has winning the division ever been more important!

[cprice12 117]

It's important to win the division, because whoever doesn't win the division between St. Louis, Detroit & Chicago, will end up playing each other in the first round in the 4th vs. 5th game.

A very good team will be out after one round.

And to those who say the Blues are overachieving...I don't see it. I mean, nobody expected them to do this well, so maybe they are overachieving in that respect, but after watching them play every game and watching how they have responded to Hitchcock and his system...they're just playing good, solid hockey.

And this was supposed to be a playoff team last year, but injuries and underachieving did them in.

I'm not surprised with how this team is playing, but I am surprised at how well Elliott has played this year...and now Halak is on a tear. Their goaltending is the difference between them being simply a decent playoff team and them being in a fight for 1st overall in the NHL.

Neil Smith on NBC Sports picked the Blues to win the West a couple days ago...not that that means anything, but my eyebrows jumped up when he said that, mainly because usually analysts side with the Detroits or Chicagos of the NHL when picking a division/conference winner since they have recent history on their side and it's a safer pick. It was just nice for the Blues to get a little recognition from the talking heads who usually can't stop talking about how great Detroit and Chicago are.

[Nev 1,085]

My fear is that all the teams will kill themselves just to stay ahead of the game and then be worn out when the playoffs begin.

Thing is, that #1 seed is so crucial to avoid what will be a brutal first round 4-5 matchup. Two from DET/CHI/STL/NSH will be going toe-to-toe.

[Echolalia 2,961]

It's important to win the division, because whoever doesn't win the division between St. Louis, Detroit & Chicago, will end up playing each other in the first round in the 4th vs. 5th game.

A very good team will be out after one round.

And to those who say the Blues are overachieving...I don't see it. I mean, nobody expected them to do this well, so maybe they are overachieving in that respect, but after watching them play every game and watching how they have responded to Hitchcock and his system...they're just playing good, solid hockey.

And this was supposed to be a playoff team last year, but injuries and underachieving did them in.

I'm not surprised with how this team is playing, but I am surprised at how well Elliott has played this year...and now Halak is on a tear. Their goaltending is the difference between them being simply a decent playoff team and them being in a fight for 1st overall in the NHL.

Neil Smith on NBC Sports picked the Blues to win the West a couple days ago...not that that means anything, but my eyebrows jumped up when he said that, mainly because usually analysts side with the Detroits or Chicagos of the NHL when picking a division/conference winner since they have recent history on their side and it's a safer pick. It was just nice for the Blues to get a little recognition from the talking heads who usually can't stop talking about how great Detroit and Chicago are.

I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that he's only playing well because I dropped him from my fantasy team

[RedWingsRox 614]

I'm going to say :

1. Vancouver

2. St. Louis

3. San Jose

4. Detroit

5. Chicago

6. Nashville

7. LA

8. Up for grabs but I'll go out on a limb and say Anaheim

We win in 1st round.

[NeverForgetMac25 483]

Update: The WC-Central now holds *all 4 of the top point-getters in the West (*NSH & VAN tied with 62 points each).

This division is incredible!

[Reds4Life 51]

All four teams are pretty close. If I had to pick one team to play against in the playoffs, I'd pick the Preds.

Blues are tougher and Hawks more talented.

[DyingAlive 27]

I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that he's only playing well because I dropped him from my fantasy team

Yeah, I feel that way too, but you can't blame us, he was terrible the first half of the season.

[ace76 28]

Regardless of what other teams do at the deadline, we still need to find a bigger and more gritty styled player rather than the skilled and smaller Hudler. I like Hudler but come playoffs he's too small to play against the bigger teams. And preferably someone to play more penalty kills so we don't have to over work Datsyuk. I know that Datsyuk is probably the best two way player in the league but if he takes a slapshot to the foot or ankle area we are finished for the playoffs.

[NeverForgetMac25 483]

Regardless of what other teams do at the deadline, we still need to find a bigger and more gritty styled player rather than the skilled and smaller Hudler. I like Hudler but come playoffs he's too small to play against the bigger teams. And preferably someone to play more penalty kills so we don't have to over work Datsyuk. I know that Datsyuk is probably the best two way player in the league but if he takes a slapshot to the foot or ankle area we are finished for the playoffs.

Datsyuk will be nowhere near the penalty kill in the playoffs unless its a crucial part of the game at a crucial point of the series. Eaves being out is the reason Dats has played some of the PK as of late. Either way, when Eaves gets back it'll be him, Miller, Helm and likely Z playing that role come playoff time.

[ace76 28]

Datsyuk will be nowhere near the penalty kill in the playoffs unless its a crucial part of the game at a crucial point of the series. Eaves being out is the reason Dats has played some of the PK as of late. Either way, when Eaves gets back it'll be him, Miller, Helm and likely Z playing that role come playoff time.

Yes I get that but some of our smaller guys still get pushed off the puck a little to easy against tthe bigger teams like San Jose, Van, St Louis . And Howie is still fighting his own battles after getting bowled over or poked after the whistle. We gotta let teams know they can't do that .

[NeverForgetMac25 483]

Yes I get that but some of our smaller guys still get pushed off the puck a little to easy against tthe bigger teams like San Jose, Van, St Louis . And Howie is still fighting his own battles after getting bowled over or poked after the whistle. We gotta let teams know they can't do that .

So what does that have to do with Dats being taken off the PK? If you want Kenny to add a bigger PK'er at the trade-deadline that's one thing, but it has nothing to do with why he's currently on the PK once-in-a-while. That's what I was answering for you.

Also, the defense is typically responsible for defending the goaltender on the PK, so if he gets poked after the whistle is blown (something every single goaltender in the NHL gets, not just Detroit goalies), its more on the defense than the offense.