Where do the Blues fit into the changing Central Division landscape?
Note: As Blues training camp approaches later this month, the Post-Dispatch will be examining 10 questions facing the team this season. Next up: Does the rest of the Central Division take a step back?
In the recent past, the NHL’s Central Division has been regarded as the league’s toughest.
The Blues and Avalanche won Stanley Cups. The Predators won a Presidents’ Trophy and advanced to the Stanley Cup Final. The Stars made a Cup Final. Of course, the Blackhawks were coming off of their dynastic years in the early 2010s.
Entering this season? Well, the Central Division may hold the most question marks in the league after an offseason of change.
How the Blues fit into the mix could decide their fate on the Western Conference playoff bubble, one year after St. Louis finished sixth in the eight-team division with 81 points, missing the playoffs by 14 points. Over the summer, the Blues made minor tweaks to their roster, adding Kevin Hayes in a trade from Philadelphia and signing Oskar Sundqvist to center the fourth line.
Internal graduations from AHL to NHL duty are expected from goaltender Joel Hofer and (probably) defenseman Tyler Tucker, plus full seasons from springtime acquisitions Jakub Vrana, Kasperi Kapanen and Sammy Blais, and a healthy Marco Scandella on the back end.
Even with the modest changes, it could be enough to change the outlook on the Blues’ playoff chances thanks to the rest of the uncertainty in the Central Division.
There are very few givens in the division, but it looks like Dallas and Colorado will remain the class of the group.
The Stars deepened their forward group by signing Matt Duchene to a one-year, prove-it deal, and picked up depth in Sam Steel and Craig Smith. While the blue line remains a concern outside Miro Heiskanen, the Stars will still return one of the best lines in hockey (Jason Robertson, Roope Hintz and Joe Pavelski), plus a young solid goalie in Jake Oettinger.
Colorado will have to weather another season without captain Gabriel Landeskog but acquired Ryan Johansen from Nashville at a discount to help the secondary scoring. The Avs also dipped into the Tampa Bay playbook for reloading by betting on middle-six talents like Ross Colton and Miles Wood to provide support to their elite players like Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, Cale Makar and Devon Toews.
Minnesota largely stood pat from its third-place roster last year, as it continues to wade through the cap implications of Ryan Suter and Zach Parise’s buyouts.
Now, here’s where the question marks arrive.
Barry Trotz ushered in massive changes as he takes over hockey operations in Nashville, shipping out the Predators’ top two centers both at a significant cost, retaining salary on Johansen and buying out Duchene. They added veterans Ryan O’Reilly, Luke Schenn and Gustav Nyquist, but as a whole lack difference makers beyond Roman Josi and Filip Forsberg. Nashville missed the playoffs last year for the first time since 2014, when Trotz was still the coach.
In Winnipeg, the changes made by the Jets could have been much more had they opted for a complete overhaul of an underachieving roster. Instead, they offloaded Pierre-Luc Dubois to Los Angeles and bought out Blake Wheeler (signed with the Rangers). They kept both Mark Scheifele and Connor Hellebuyck, who are on expiring contracts.
The Jets only made the playoffs last year by two points, and did those changes make them better or worse for the coming season?
Bill Armstrong’s moves in Arizona — signing Matt Dumba, Jason Zucker and top prospect Logan Cooley — could signal a page-turning in the desert from tanking to trying, but the franchise has still only made the playoffs once since 2012.
Chicago won Connor Bedard in the draft lottery, and then surrounded him with aging veterans like Nick Foligno and Corey Perry, plus former Hart Trophy winner Taylor Hall, but even the promise of a phenom like Bedard should do little to change the Blackhawks’ standing towards the bottom of the division.
Of course, the Blues have their own question marks entering the season, but if they are to make their way back to the playoffs, a grab-bag of a division will help them get there.
