2014-15 Outlook: Central Division

Now that we have gone through each team in this division, lets predict where they will finish!

2014-15 Outlook: Nashville Predators

Nashville Predators

Head Coach: Peter Laviolette (1st Season in NSH)

Arena: Bridgestone Arena (Capacity: 17,113)

2013-14 Record: 38-32-12 (6th in Central Division)

Record vs MIN in 2013-14: 2-3-0

2013-14 Corsi For %: 49.4% (18th in NHL)

Top Scorer: Shea Weber (56 points, 0.93 P/60)

Top Goaltender: Carter Hutton (20-11-4, 2.62 GAA, .910 SV%)

Meet The New Divisions: Central Division

7. Winnipeg Jets-The Jets were a team who just missed the playoffs in a bad division. Now, they move into a much stronger division and will learn that they need to play more consistently to win. They have a few good players on this team, but they lack the depth that is necessary to help them win. The Jets fly right into the basement of the Central.

Meet The Central Division: Nashville Predators

Nashville Predators

Head Coach: Barry Trotz (15th season in NSH)
Arena: Bridgestone Arena (Capacity: 17,113)

2012-13 Record: 16-23-9 (last in Central Division)

Record vs MIN in '12-13: 1-0-2

Leading Scorer: Shea Weber-28 points (9 G, 19 A)

Leading Goaltender: Pekka Rinne-43 G, 15-16-8, 2.43 GAA, .910 SV%

A New Face In The State Of Hockey: Jonathon Blum

Jonathon Blum

Defenseman

6'1"

186 lbs

Shoots: Right

Born: January 30, 1989

Birthplace: Long Beach, California

Acquired: Signed a 1 year, $650,000 deal on July 12th

We kick off the New Face series this summer with the Wild's least talked about move. They signed Jonathon Blum to a two way contract (numbers listed above), as he was coming off another disappointing season with Nashville and was not re-signed in the Music City.

Blum was the Preds first round pick (23rd overall) in the 2007 NHL Draft. He was outstanding while playing for the Vancouver Giants (WHL), putting up great point totals (see above insert) while manning the blue line. He projected to be a solid offensive blue liner in the NHL, but once he signed his entry level contract things did not go as planned.

Whether it was the AHL or NHL, Blum struggled to put up points and his inefficiency in the defensive zone stuck out much more. In just 33 games for Nashville in 2011-12 , he was a -14 while only putting up seven points. In the lockout shortened 2012-13 season, he notched another seven point campaign while playing in 35 games. Not exactly what you want from a guy like Blum.

The signing of Blum was plain and simple, a depth signing. Blum took a two way contract and should be spending most of, if not all, of his 2013-14 season with the Wild's AHL affiliate in Iowa. He should project to be on their top defense pairing and should get significant power play time. The only way he makes it up to the NHL this year is if a Wild defenseman goes down with injury.

His deal is a low risk high reward type of deal, so it is virtually harmless for the Wild to give him a shot. Maybe he just needed a change of scenery to turn it around.

Welcome to the Team of 18,001 Jonathon Blum!


Follow Giles on Twitter @gilesferrell

NHLPA Say "Yes" To Realignment

Yesterday, the NHLPA gave its consent to a revised realignment plan that will see the league move to just 4 divisions and will see the East have 16 teams to the West's 14. The Wild will be in a more central division, with Chicago, Colorado, Dallas, Nashville, St. Louis, and Winnipeg. During last season, the NHL's Board of Governors voted in favor of a similar realignment plan, but the only difference is that Columbus and Detroit are moving to Eastern divisions, not staying in the West. My post on this can be found here.

So should the BOG votes in favor of this plan, the league will be realigning for the 2013-14 season. But as we learned last year, we will hold the celebration until it becomes official.

There are some pros and cons to this realignment. A big pro to this is the less travel for all teams (Especially the likes of Detroit, Columbus, Minnesota, and Winnipeg), but a big con to this, is the fact the East will have 16 teams and the West only has 14 teams, giving teams in the West a better chance of making the playoffs (A 7% greater chance to make the playoffs in the West). For more on the pros and cons of this, watch the video below taken from NHL Live last night.

The playoff format for this realignment would be the top 4 teams in the division make the playoffs, and then play each other, with the 2 division winners in each conference playing each other for the right to go to the Stanley Cup Final. But there has been talk of adding a Wild card team, but that has not gone forward yet. Look for that to get voted on once realignment becomes official.

If this goes through, Wild fans can get accustomed to watching divisional road games in the same time zone, with the exception of Colorado, who is an hour behind us. So you can say goodbye to many of those late nights while watching the Wild play a big divisional game.

With the future of the club being as bright as it is, the Wild would be favorites in this division every year, along with Chicago and St. Louis. But dont sleep on the other teams. Colorado has some good young players and are continuing to build. Dallas has a collection of veterans on their roster so dark days could be ahead for them. Nashville has been a pain in the Wild's side in recent years. And Winnipeg projects to be the Wild's new main rivalry, and they are a bubble playoff team in the East right now.

If the Wild were to put together a consecutive string of playoff appearances, this would be the format most favorable to that happening.

Again, lets not get too happy right now. The BOG must still vote on this new plan. But it is expected that they move forward with this too.

Here's to hoping the Smyth Division returns.


Follow Giles on Twitter @gilesferrell

NHL 2013 Preview: Central Division

5. Columbus Blue Jackets-This is just about the poorest looking hockey team, one has seen in quite some time. Their top line consists of Artim Anisimov, Brandon Dubinsky, and RJ Umberger (Anisimov and Dubinsky came in the return package for Rick Nash). They finally found someone to talk over for Steve Mason as the #1 goalie in Sergei Bobrovsky, but Bobrovsky has not played #1 minutes before. They have a blueline of overrated players (led by James Wisniewski and Jack Johnson), and a coach who couldn't win with better talent on a different team (Former Wild bench boss Todd Richards). Columbus is a lock to finish last in this division, and finish last in all of the NHL.

4. Nashville Predators-Nashville was poised to make a deep playoff run last year. But, all they could do was get past the first round, then bow out to Phoenix in the second round. But despite the loss of Ryan Suter in the offseason, this is still a pretty good team. They rely on defense (Led by Norris finalist Shea Weber) and goaltending (Pekka Rinne enters 2013 as one of the best in hockey between the pipes) to win games. They don't scare you much offensively, so if you can get up past 3 goals a game on them, you have a good chance to win. Nashvilee has a good core, but they lack scoring to be a serious threat to win the division. They will be a team battling for a low playoff seed in late April.

3. Detroit Red Wings-Last year, we Detroit's run of dominating the Central division come to an end. They finished 3rd in the division and were sent home by Nashville in the first round of the playoffs. Then in the offseason, they lost their team leader, Nicklas Lidstrom, to retirement. To replace him, the Wings will have youngster Brendan Smith take the spot on the top Defense line. The Wings are still solid up front, with Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg leading the charge. The defense is now pretty average that Lidstrom is gone, and their attempts to replace him with a high profile name (Ryan Suter, Justin Schultz), failed. Jimmy Howard is sneaky good between the pipes, but Jonas Gustavsson will have to step up his game as the back up after coming over. This is still a playoff team, but they are not anywhere close to being at the top of the West hierarchy, like they used to be.

2. Chicago Blackhawks-Perhaps no team has underachieved more in the last 2 seasons than the Chicago Blackhawks. They barely made the playoffs in 2011, and they were handed a first round playoff exit by Phoenix in 2012. And no player has taken more heat than Patrick Kane (23-43-66 in 2011-12), in the last year, when it comes to underachieving. The Hawks have a weakness at center (Jonathan Toews and Dave Bolland are the only 2 established centers on the team), but can make up for it with their talented wingers. All eyes will be on Corey Crawford, and if he can handle the team's role of being a #1 goaltender. If not, maybe the Hawks go out and get a goalie before the trade deadline. Chicago comes in a distant second to St. Louis in this division. But, can they avoid a third straight first round exit in 2013?

1. St. Louis Blues-In a shortened season like this one, you need two solid goalies on your roster. And look no further than St. Louis, for the best goalie tandem in the league. Last year, Brian Elliott (1.56 GAA in 2011-12) and Jaroslav Halak (1.97 GAA in 2011-12) allowed the fewest goals (155) in the NHL. The Blues rely heavily on defense and goaltending to win, and they are very strong at both areas. Their defense, led by blooming stars Kevin Shattenkirk and Alex Pietrangelo, is young, but exceptionally good. Up front , the Blues have 2 solid forward lines, but lines 3 and 4 need much improvement. After the success of last year (Central Division Champs), this team looks to move further on in the playoffs. Its hard to see that with their lack of depth at forward, but their defense and goaltending gets them the Central crown once again.


Follow Giles on Twitter @gilesferrell

A New Face In The State Of Hockey: Ryan Suter

Ryan Suter

Defenseman

6'1"

198 lbs

Shoots: Left

Born: January 21, 1985

Birthplace: Madison, Wisconsin

Since he came into the league in 2005-06, Ryan Suter has been just about as solid as you can get in terms of defenseman in the NHL. He has played no less than 70 games a season. He has 5 straight seasons of scoring at least 30 points. And he carries a career +/- rating of +43. He is clearly, the right man to anchor the Wild blueline in the next decade.

Suter is not known for being a goal scorer (career high in goals in a season is 8). But that could be in part due to playing with an even better defenseman in Shea Weber all his years in Nashville. So now that Suter is free of Weber, you could perhaps see an increase in goal scoring now that his defensive partner will be Tom Gilbert.

Suter, as before mentioned is an iron man. He will play no less than 90% of the team's games. And last year, he was 3rd among all defenseman in time on ice by averaging 26:30 per game. Take into account his likely partner, Gilbert, averaged 31 shifts last year, you will see plenty of the two on the ice in the upcoming season.

Last year, the Wild seemingly shuffled a few players out there as the quarterback of their powerplay (Matt Cullen got the most time), due to lack of offensive defenseman (A big reason, in my opinion, that the Wild PP was atrocious in 11-12). Suter will now be stepping into that role, and moving whatever forward Mike Yeo wanted to put on the blue line, back to forward, and giving the Wild two bold power play lines. 

In addition to his skills, Suter is a proven leader. He served as alternate captain in Nashville the last few seasons, and will serve in the same capacity here in Minnesota. 

Ryan Suter is just about everything the Wild need in terms of a defenseman. And I for one am glad, he chose to take up residence in the State of Hockey for the next 13 years.

Welcome to the Team of 18,001: Ryan Suter


This is the fourth post in a five post series on the Wild's free agent signings this offseason. We have previously looked at Jake Dowell, Zenon Konopka, and Torrey Mitchell. Tomorrow will be our final installment in this series by taking a look at Zach Parise.

Suter Watch: Preds To Make One Last Effort

I had a Suter Watch entry on the blog yesterday, but I felt there was sufficient news today on the subject to post another one.

In his blog today, Preds beat writer Josh Cooper, gave us an update on where the Ryan Suter situation stands with the Predators. He says that Nashville GM David Poile will make "one last ditch effort" to re-sign the all star defenseman before he becomes a unrestricted free agent on July 1st.

Suter is by no means expected to re-sign with Nashville before July 1st, but Cooper has often speculated that Ryan could very well end up returning to Nashville after testing the free agent waters.

But, to make matters worse for Nashville, today, one of their plan B options for if Suter left, Dennis Wideman, had his rights traded from Washington to Calgary and the Flames instantly inked him to a 5 year, $26.25 million deal (Well done Calgary...not!)

When healthy, Wideman can put up similar numbers to Suter (Wideman can score goals a shade better than Suter). So should we expect Suter to sign a similar type of deal come July 1st? No. Suter has been considered the best defenseman on the market, so at minimum you can expect him to make $6 million per year. And Suter will definitely be receiving a contract that is longer than 5 years. Bank on it.

The stakes just got that much higher for Ryan Suter. Man I can't wait till July 1st.


Here are my previous posts in the Suter Watch series:
"Is There Really A Chance?"
"Extension Talks Over"
"Potential Suitors"

Suter Watch: Potential Suitors

In my last post on the Suter Watch, I mentioned that it would appear that Ryan Suter would more than likely be heading to free agency. Shortly thereafter, multiple media outlets were reporting that Suter had broken off talks with Nashville for an extension and will go to free agency on July 1st. 

So now that it is clear Suter will be available to anyone come Sunday, here is a look at the potential teams who could sign the free agent D-man:

Philadelphia Flyers: The Flyers lost their best defenseman and team leader, Chris Pronger halfway through the 2011-12 season when he suffered a nasty concussion. The timetable for his return is unknown at this point. And on July 1st, their next best defenseman, Matt Carle will become a free agent as well. So the Flyers could potentially make a run for Suter if they so choose to move on from Carle. They are viewed more as a long shot to sign him, but they should be considered nonetheless. 

Nashville Predators: The Predators made a strong push to resign Suter this offseason. But, he has chosen to test free agency and see what is out there for him. As it has been noted many times, Suter could simply be testing free agency, but ultimately he could just re-sign with the team he came up with. Nashville may not give him the best offer, in terms of money or future, but it should be seen as a strong possibility that he returns to the Music City.

Minnesota Wild: No team could use an established defenseman on this list more than Minnesota. They have some good young d-men on their roster, but they lack a veteran presence and a d-man with good offensive skills. Minnesota perhaps, presents the best chance for Suter to win long term with their young prospects set to begin their entry level contracts. But, it would be a few years before Minnesota can potentially be a Cup contender. That is something other teams on this list, can offer him more instantly. 

Detroit Red Wings: There is a gigantic hole on the #1 defensive pairing for Detroit entering 2012-13. They lose their team leader and face of their franchise in Niklas Lidstrom when he retired earlier this month. The Wings do present a great chance to win down the road, and they are one of the most revered franchises in the NHL. The Wings are considered a favorite to land Suter, but the question is: Does he want to fill the shoes left by the legend, Lidstrom.

Pittsburgh Penguins: Before the NHL Draft, the Penguins had little cap space to even be considered in the mix for Suter. But a couple of trades later (Jordan Staal, Zbynek Michalek), the Pens have sufficient cap space to go after Suter and, if they can move Paul Martin, Zach Parise too. The Penguins need a defenseman much like Suter to man the powerplay with Kris Letang, and one who can provide efficient work in the defensive zone (See the Penguins defensive play in the playoffs against Philly). Pittsburgh, much like Detroit, is a top canidate to land Ryan Suter's services.


This is the third post in the Suter Watch series. To read the others click here and here. 

Suter Watch: Extension Talks Over?

On June 1st, Josh Cooper of the Tennessean reported that Nashville GM David Poille went out to Wisconsin and met with Ryan Suter on starting talks for a contract extension. The talks reportedly went well, and there was optimism that the Preds were going to be able to get a deal done to keep Suter in town.

Now two weeks later, Cooper wrote in his blog that there has been very little happening with Suter since those talks. He raises the question where the talks are today, and that Suter could very well just test the free agent market since he has come this far without getting a deal done. 

Also in Cooper's post, he mentioned that Nashville could trade Suter's rights to another team so they do not walk way empty handed in the event Suter does sign elsewhere this summer. This is something that Mike Russo has suggested the Wild would try and trade for the rights of Suter and Zach Parise if extension talks fail. The Wild have a lot of cap space, so if they were to acquire the rights of Suter there would be much optimism that a deal would be reached.

A decision on whether the Preds decide to trade the rights of Suter may come sooner rather than later due to the fact the Preds talks with other potential free agents appear to be held up until they get Suter's situation resolved, as Cooper points out in his post today. 

So if Ryan Suter doesn't have an extension in place by the draft, look for his rights to possibly be traded shortly after.


Here is the link to my first post in the Suter Watch series: Is there a chance?

Suter Watch: Is There Really A Chance?

Despite my hopes, the NHL season lives on for one more game. But, nonetheless, I am going to kick off some offseason posts with a new watch (Much like the Granlund Watch), the Suter Watch. Nashville defenseman Ryan Suter is a upcoming UFA, and is expected to receive offers from many teams, Minnesota being one of them. So as I kick off this watch, I ask the question: Does Minnesota really have a chance to land Suter?

Heading into next year, the Wild have $21.6 million in cap space (Taking into effect the cap increase to $70.3 million). So they would have the sufficient funds to sign Suter, who could command a contract in the neighborhood of $7 million. 

So all that would be left for Chuck Fletcher to do is simply sign the free agent when July 1st rolls around. Its gonna be a bit easier said than done.

Today I joined in a chat with Preds beat writer Josh Cooper of the Tennessean. He touched on a lot of topics, but the one of the most popular was Suter. I came away with the following thoughts from his chat, and from his previous post on Suter (Some of these aren't really new thoughts, but I'm going to put them out there again, anyways):

1. The Preds are going all in for resigning Suter. A week ago, the Preds and Suter opened the first round of their negotiations. Both sides said talks went well and that they would continue over the next week. But since, there has been really no news on the Suter talks. But after reading today's chat, the Preds are really going all out to make sure Suter stays in the Music City. The Preds do have the cap space to bring him back too (Over $38 million), so money won't be an issue for Nashville.
2. There is a good chance Suter resigns in Nashville. This past season, Nashville ownership made it very clear that they are in it to win. So at the trade deadline, they acquired D Hal Gill, F Andrei Kostitsyn, F Paul Gaustad and not to long after brought back F Alex Radulov from the KHL. The team was a heavy favorite to come out of the West, before being defeated by Phoenix in the second round in 5 games. But the message was sent to Nashville's core players. And for a guy like Suter, that could make it very easy to just resign with the Preds.
3. If Suter doesn't resign, Shea Weber will most likely be leaving too. Now should Suter make it to July 1st and sign elsewhere, his defensive partner Shea Weber, could leave shortly thereafter. Weber is a RFA this offseason, but the following year he will be a UFA. So should Suter depart, Weber will want out too. If he wants out, the Preds could either trade him now and get something in return, or they will simply just let him walk away after next year. If the Wild miss out on Suter on July 1st, they would still have a shot at landing a big time defenseman with Shea Weber. 
4. Zach Parise is likely to end up playing with Suter next year. This has been widely speculated for a while now, but it appears more and more likely that Suter and free agent to be F Zach Parise will team up and sign on with the same team this summer.Now there are only a handful of teams that could afford to sign both stars. Detroit, New York Rangers, Nashville, New Jersey and Minnesota would be the only legit contenders in that department (Yep, you read New Jersey). And it could simply be a case of one player resigns, and the other would just tag along and sign with that team. 
5. The Wild are at the top of the pact, in terms of Suter suitors. The one question I asked in Cooper's chat today, was "If Suter does not resign in Nashville, where do you think he will sign?". And his reply was,"Detroit or New Jersey -- if the latter has more money to play with than we believe. If Parise re-signs there, I think it would be a good spot for him. At the same time, they have a ton of uncertainty. I just don't see Detroit happening, unless Ken Holland makes a few draft deals to get them younger and more talented again."  So clearly, he believes that Detroit will make those said draft deals and makes the team younger. The fact he said New Jersey really surprised me given all their financial uncertainty at this point. But I do believe that the Devils won't go quietly into the night on keeping Parise, so it could be likely Parise stays (A different post for a different day). He didn't mention Minnesota in there, but if you take into account what Cooper said (The Red Wings un-youthfulness and the Devils financial uncertainty), the Wild could be poised to land both. The team has many of their top prospects under contract beginning next season, and they have the willingness from owner Craig Leipold, to sign whoever Chuck Fletcher feels can best help this team win. Not many, if any, other teams can offer what the Wild could offer to Suter.

So after all of this, yes, the Wild do have a legit chance with signing Ryan Suter. But, it is no guarantee he makes it to July 1st. So lets hope he does...

(For those wishing to read the chat click here)

Wild Moving To Central Conference

Today, Craig Leipold, his staff, and the entire State of Hockey can feel good when going to bed tonight. Starting next year, the Minnesota Wild will take part in the NHL realignment which will see the league go to a 4 conference set up (2 conferences of 8 teams, 2 conferences of 7 teams). Ever since taking over as princpal owner of the Wild, Leipold has lobbied for the Wild to get moved into a division with these teams, and he finally got his wish. Leipold will watch his team play in the more centralized conference with Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Nashville, St Louis and Winnipeg. Also, any team not in your division you play a home and home series with them that year. The rest of your games come within your own division.

This is terrific news for the State of Hockey. They no longer have the long Canadian road trips from playing in the Northwest division, more road games will be starting at friendlier times for Wild fans (6, 630, or 7 pm), and they can rekindle the old North Stars rivalries with Chicago and St. Louis (These games are pretty intense already). The only main rival the Wild have currently are the Vancouver Canucks, and lately this rivalry has been boring and lopsided (In favor of Vancouver). So this is a perfect time for the team to relocate.

But perhaps the best news of all, is the fact this will be the weaker division in the foreseeable future. So this will give the Wild a better opportunity to win and make the postseason (Something the Wild have yet to achieve with Leipold running the show). The front runner here will obviously be Chicago and they will have sustained success with core players (Kane, Toews, Hossa) locked up for years to come. St. Louis is a team on the rise and will pose a big threat Detroit is a sinking ship due to largely the fact that their star players are getting older and past their prime. Dallas and Nashville will be wild cards for now as they have had recent success, but do not have any marquee names power the team past the next few years. And then you will have the bottom feeders Columbus and Winnipeg who will not be successful in the near future, but a top draft pick could easily change that.

So clearly, with the talent the Wild have and the talent they have coming up, they have the potential to be successful in this division for many years to come. And their record against the Central teams so far this year (7-0-1 against CHI, CBJ, DET, NSH, STL) is a huge positive for them moving forward.

The Wild and their fans are a big winner in this realignment. Now all they have to do is build a solid hockey team that contends for years to come. And they can get far closer to achieving that in this new division...

Here's the other conferences and their teams:

Anaheim, Calgary, Colorado, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Jose and Vancouver

Boston, Buffalo, Florida, Montreal, Ottawa, Tampa Bay and Toronto

Carolina, New Jersey, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Washington

NHL 2011 Preview-Central Division

5. Columbus Blue Jackets-Within an hour of the Kings acquiring Mike Richards from Philly, Columbus got in on the action and got C Jeff Carter from the Flyers as well. But that wasn't the only big move the Jackets made over the summer. They signed D-Man James Wisniewski to a ridiculous 6 year/$33 million deal. But behind their top line, this team has way too many question marks (2nd & 3rd lines, defensive depth, and goaltending) for them to be relevant this year. It will be a long year in the basement for Columbus.

4. St Louis Blues-For some reason, people are picking St. Louis to be a playoff team. I just don't see it. They have a balanced scoring attack, but no real big scorer. They have a nice young defensive core, but nothing that says they are gonna be great this year. And I like their goalie Jaroslav Halak, but can he step up and be the big time goalie they need him to be? Many things need to go right for St. Louis this year, for them to get a playoff spot. And I just don't see that happening.

3. Nashville Predators-Nashville had the 3rd best defensive team in the NHL last year behind Vancouver and Boston. So the Preds, are really bringing the same team back in 2011. It was also the same team that finished 22nd in scoring last year. They also bring back Vezina Trophy (Top Goalie) finalist Pekka Rinne between the pipes. As much as their offense doesn't score, they still have a great defense. And it will keep the Preds in the hunt for a playoff spot all year.

2. Detroit Red Wings-Really ever since the mid '90s, the Red Wings have been the best in this division. But, that run is quickly coming to an end. Their stars are getting older, and their farm system doesn't look like its going to produce any good replacements any time soon. But, this team was still one of the best scoring teams in the NHL last year. But that will only take them so far, with all the good defensive teams there are out there. The Wings will still have a stellar 2011-12 season, but they certainly won't be tops in this division.

1. Chicago Blackhawks-Prior to Last year, the Blackhawks literally watched half their roster get turned over following their Stanley Cup championship. They then suffered the championship hangover, as they underperformed, but still made it into the playoffs (You can send a thank you card to 199 W Kellogg Blvd, St. Paul, MN). This year, the Hawks should be back in prime form. They have a great offense (lead by Kane, Toews, and Hossa), a solid defensive core (lead by Seabrook and Keith), and they may have solved their goaltending issues for a while with Corey Crawford. The Hawks are lock to win the division this year, and also should be a Cup contender once again.

Tomorrow, we will look at the last division, the Northwest division.