Post by Yzerman Is The Man on Aug 31, 2015 10:55:00 GMT -6
Thanks to Dangles for the first part of a four part series. If you'd like to get in to the blogging game, PM me.
What can make or break a team's season? A big injury, a struggling player, a bad locker room? There a few things that can really sink a team and some things that can make a season roll smoothly for another team. I am going to go over a few possible red flags and/or positives for the teams in the Central Division and predict how I see their seasons going.
Chicago Blackhawks
This is as close to a team comes to being a dynasty in the cap era if you ask me and there usually isn't a lot of negatives that surround a "dynasty". Luckily for us the Hawks have bad boy Patrick Kane on the roster and he loves the limelight. A Notorious party-boy and occasional felon, Pat Kane has gone from assaulting cab drivers to allegedly sexually assaulting women. How this plays out could seriously derail the Blackhawks offense, especially considering the offseason departures of Patrick Sharp and Brandon Saad. Any major injury to either Duncan Keith or Brent Seabrook would put Chicago in a seriously bad spot, but all in all I predict they finish top 5 in the West.
Colorado Avalanche
A team with this potent of an offense always has that punchers chance to win games, combine that with an all-star calibre goalie in Semyon Varlamov and the Avalanche have a chance to make some noise this year. Colorado's biggest question mark is their defence, Erik Johnson is a stud on the backend and Ty Barrie is a good offensive option, adding Beauchemin in the offseason provided a much needed veteran defender to a young team but they still lack the depth to make any true noise and I predict they will hover around that last wild card spot all season.
Dallas Stars
This team is just like Colorado minus the excellent goalie, offense for days while defense is an afterthought. After trading their best defenseman for Patrick Sharp they aren't left with much to work with but they do have plenty of good up and comers that could surprise and play key roles for them this year. The offense of Dallas is so potent that teams will be hard pressed to shut them down and will need to feast on the weak defense. The goaltending situation in Dallas is funky, they have 10+ million invested in two at best average goalies and they really need one of them to grab the horns so they can shed some salary and supplement the defense or else I see Dallas missing the playoffs.
Minnesota Wild
Devan Dubnyk. That is all. If he can play like he was able to last year then the Wild have a good shot at a top 5 finish in the West. If Dubnyk regresses and plays like he did two seasons ago then the Wild will have their work cut out for them. Luckily, or smartly for Minnesota they are incredibly deep at every position and can afford to move some bodies around if they need to shore up another spot.
Nashville Predators
For a team that everyone thinks of as a defense only team they sure had no trouble scoring goals last season. Pekka Rinne bounced back and played up to his full potential and that played a big part in their strong season last yea, he needs to play to this level for them to have any chance at playoffs. Add in Captain Shea Weber, who is a top 10 defensemen every year despite what advanced stats nerds think. Forsberg will need to continue to trend upwards and drive the Predators offense otherwise they will spin their wheels and stumble out of playoff contention. However I feel that this year won't be a fortuitous to the Preds and the other teams in the West will catch up to them and knock them down to one of the final playoff spots.
St. Louis Blues
This is a team with all the tool in the World and they just can't quite figure out how to use them. Repeatedly finishing near the top of the League, yet failing to do anything in the playoffs has them challenging for the Sharks reputation of playoff chokers. St. Louis will be a top team in the West this season as well but if they don't go on a deep playoff run then there will be massive changes. Deep in every position the only real downfall is in net. Jake Allen needs to emerge as a starting goalie soon or else his days in St. Louis are numbered and Brian Elliot isn't good enough to be "the guy" for a playoff team.
Winnipeg Jets
The Jets are one of the true big bruiser teams that the West is famous for, they crash and bang with the best of them but they lack true offensive talent. Blake Wheeler is their best forward and after him it's a collection of grinders and two way forwards who don't have the offensive chops to carry a team but help could be on the way in the form of the Jets prospects who have been developing nicely. Defensively this team is as good as any, half the league would kill to have their second pairing as their first pairing and there is more youth on the way. The biggest red flag for the Jets is their goaltending, Hutchinson was supposed to take the reins from Pavelec and when trusted with more minutes he faltered and almost cost the Jets a playoff spot. Ondrej Pavelec came back and almost single handedly got them to the playoffs, the only problem with Pavelec? He suck. He's not a good goalie and he sure isn't good enough for a playoff team and because of that the Jets will miss the playoffs.
Thanks for reading and as always don't be shy with criticism, it's important for me to learn to be better!
What can make or break a team's season? A big injury, a struggling player, a bad locker room? There a few things that can really sink a team and some things that can make a season roll smoothly for another team. I am going to go over a few possible red flags and/or positives for the teams in the Central Division and predict how I see their seasons going.
Chicago Blackhawks
This is as close to a team comes to being a dynasty in the cap era if you ask me and there usually isn't a lot of negatives that surround a "dynasty". Luckily for us the Hawks have bad boy Patrick Kane on the roster and he loves the limelight. A Notorious party-boy and occasional felon, Pat Kane has gone from assaulting cab drivers to allegedly sexually assaulting women. How this plays out could seriously derail the Blackhawks offense, especially considering the offseason departures of Patrick Sharp and Brandon Saad. Any major injury to either Duncan Keith or Brent Seabrook would put Chicago in a seriously bad spot, but all in all I predict they finish top 5 in the West.
Colorado Avalanche
A team with this potent of an offense always has that punchers chance to win games, combine that with an all-star calibre goalie in Semyon Varlamov and the Avalanche have a chance to make some noise this year. Colorado's biggest question mark is their defence, Erik Johnson is a stud on the backend and Ty Barrie is a good offensive option, adding Beauchemin in the offseason provided a much needed veteran defender to a young team but they still lack the depth to make any true noise and I predict they will hover around that last wild card spot all season.
Dallas Stars
This team is just like Colorado minus the excellent goalie, offense for days while defense is an afterthought. After trading their best defenseman for Patrick Sharp they aren't left with much to work with but they do have plenty of good up and comers that could surprise and play key roles for them this year. The offense of Dallas is so potent that teams will be hard pressed to shut them down and will need to feast on the weak defense. The goaltending situation in Dallas is funky, they have 10+ million invested in two at best average goalies and they really need one of them to grab the horns so they can shed some salary and supplement the defense or else I see Dallas missing the playoffs.
Minnesota Wild
Devan Dubnyk. That is all. If he can play like he was able to last year then the Wild have a good shot at a top 5 finish in the West. If Dubnyk regresses and plays like he did two seasons ago then the Wild will have their work cut out for them. Luckily, or smartly for Minnesota they are incredibly deep at every position and can afford to move some bodies around if they need to shore up another spot.
Nashville Predators
For a team that everyone thinks of as a defense only team they sure had no trouble scoring goals last season. Pekka Rinne bounced back and played up to his full potential and that played a big part in their strong season last yea, he needs to play to this level for them to have any chance at playoffs. Add in Captain Shea Weber, who is a top 10 defensemen every year despite what advanced stats nerds think. Forsberg will need to continue to trend upwards and drive the Predators offense otherwise they will spin their wheels and stumble out of playoff contention. However I feel that this year won't be a fortuitous to the Preds and the other teams in the West will catch up to them and knock them down to one of the final playoff spots.
St. Louis Blues
This is a team with all the tool in the World and they just can't quite figure out how to use them. Repeatedly finishing near the top of the League, yet failing to do anything in the playoffs has them challenging for the Sharks reputation of playoff chokers. St. Louis will be a top team in the West this season as well but if they don't go on a deep playoff run then there will be massive changes. Deep in every position the only real downfall is in net. Jake Allen needs to emerge as a starting goalie soon or else his days in St. Louis are numbered and Brian Elliot isn't good enough to be "the guy" for a playoff team.
Winnipeg Jets
The Jets are one of the true big bruiser teams that the West is famous for, they crash and bang with the best of them but they lack true offensive talent. Blake Wheeler is their best forward and after him it's a collection of grinders and two way forwards who don't have the offensive chops to carry a team but help could be on the way in the form of the Jets prospects who have been developing nicely. Defensively this team is as good as any, half the league would kill to have their second pairing as their first pairing and there is more youth on the way. The biggest red flag for the Jets is their goaltending, Hutchinson was supposed to take the reins from Pavelec and when trusted with more minutes he faltered and almost cost the Jets a playoff spot. Ondrej Pavelec came back and almost single handedly got them to the playoffs, the only problem with Pavelec? He suck. He's not a good goalie and he sure isn't good enough for a playoff team and because of that the Jets will miss the playoffs.
Thanks for reading and as always don't be shy with criticism, it's important for me to learn to be better!
