2022-23 Central Division Rankings: Forwards
The Central Division is very rich in talent. The Central division is also very competitive. Rankings are based on each team's projected forward lines for the 2022-23 season.
Arizona Coyotes are rebuilding their team. They have a few young forwards, including Clayton Keller, Nick Schmaltz and Barrett Hayton. Their rest of the forwards are mostly veteran players. They are expected to be available around the trade deadline.
Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews are the only players who make up the Chicago Blackhawks' top six. Andreas Athanasiou and Max Domi are on one-year contracts. Trading them would give the organization more young talent to build around.
Jason Robertson is a restricted free agent and hasn't joined the Dallas Stars at camp or played in the preseason. Joe Pavelski is still a top-six player, even at 38 years old. Roope Hintz has turned himself into a legitimate top six player. Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn are the team's highest-paid players, but they have cap hits north of $9 million in 2022-23.
Kirill Kaprizov scored 47 goals and 108 points in 2021-22. Mats Zuccarello had a great season with 79 points. The “GREEF” Line of Jordan Greenway, Joel Erikson Ek, and Marcus Foligno was the best defensive forward line in the league in that season. Kevin Fiala was traded this summer.
Predators' forwards were slow in the 2021-22 season, but they got better after the season. Filip Forsberg, Matt Duchene, Ryan Johansen and Nino Niederreiter are the top-four forwards. Tanner Jeannot, Cole Sissons, and Yakov Trenin make up the third line.
Winnipeg Jets are a good offensive team. Kyler Connor had a great season last year with 47 goals and 46 assists. Mark Scheifele is a solid player. Pierre-Luc DuBois and Nikolaj Ehlers are fine wingers. Blake Wheeler is still a top-nine forward, but he has a lot of cap hit. Adam Lowry and Mason Appleton are good middle-six forwards.
The St. Louis Blues are returning eight of their nine 20-goal scorers from 2021-22. Robert Thomas, Jordan Kyrou, Ryan O'Reilly, Vladimir Tarasenko, Pavel Buchnevich, Brandon Saad and Brayden Schenn are all good scoreurs.
Gabriel Landeskog will miss the start of the season with knee surgery. The Avs lost Nazem Kadri to free agency. Alex Newhook will be promoted to the Av's top-six. Valeri Nichushkin got an eight-year contract extension this summer.
