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The Central Divison

Avs71

Avs71

Registered User
Aug 12, 2008
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Where do you think the Avs finish in the Central? I think it is safe to say the rosters are just about close to being set, so it is probably as good a time as ever to ask this.

Standings from last season:
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:avs
Key Additions: Jarome Iginla, Brad Stuart, Daniel Briere, Jesse Winchester, Zach Redmond
Key Subtractions: P.A Parenteau, Paul Stastny, Andre Benoit

:blues
Key Additions: Paul Stastny, Jori Lehtera, Joakim Lindstrom, Carl Gunnarsson
Key Subtractions: Roman Polak, Steve Ott, Ryan Miller, Adam Cracknell, Brendan Morrow, Derek Roy, Carlo Colaiacovo

:hawks
Key Additions: Brad Richards
Key Subtractions: Brandon Bollig, Michael Handzus

:wild
Key Additions: Thomas Vanek,
Key Subtractions: Matt Moulson, Dany Heatley, Clayton Stoner

:stars
Key Additions: Jason Spezza, Ales Hemsky, Anders Lindback
Key Subtractions: Alex Chiasson

:nashville
Key Additions: James Neal, Olli Jokinen
Key Subtractions: Micheal Del Zotto, Patric Hornqvist, Nick Spaling

:jets
Key Additions: Mathieu Perreault
Key Subtractions: Olli Jokinen, Keaton Ellerby
 
Safe bet for 3rd. Minnesota didn't really improve and Nashville doesn't have the offensive firepower yet that would push them above us. Stars still have a bigger question on the backend then us. I fail to see a few more goals from them making a difference.
 
This would be my ranking of the teams by each position:

Rank | Goaltending | Forwards | Defense 1st | Colorado | Chicago| Chicago
2nd | Nashville| Colorado | St. Louis
3rd | Dallas| St. Louis| Nashville
4th |Chicago|Dallas|Winnipeg
5th |St. Louis|Minnesota|Minnesota
6th |Minnesota|Winnipeg| Colorado 7th |Winnipeg|Nashville|Dallas
 
My prediction:

Stl 109 pts
Chi 108pts
Dallas 99pts
Col 98pts
Min 97pts
Nash 91pts
Win 88pts

This will be, once again, the strongest division.

We won't be 4th because of the loss of staz, but rather because Varly can't humanly play the same as last year imo. He will have a solid year, but not a vezina year imo. Will most likely see the 2 wild cards come from this division
 
I hadn't realized St Louis had that much turnover.

I went with 3rd. I could definitely see a battle between us and Dallas, I see that as our rivalry for the future anyway. I don't think the division is going to be as simple as pencil in Chicago and St Louis at the top but maybe one more year before it's more jumbled up.
 
hawks - they are basically done, toews and kane take half of the cap as they get greedy and don't care about winning, hossa and sharp are washed up, as is seabrook. BR wouldn't crack top 6 on some AHL teams.

blues - stastny is solid 3rd line C, their G is a joke, much of their core is past their prime and shattenkirk can't play D and they lose their leader and MVP player stewart and went all downhill after that last season, expect that to continue. their draft was brutal, indicating they don't what they are doing. yandle outscored a-pie, what proves that he's not very good.

wild - suter is overrated, his corsi sucks, can't QB the pp, product of weber. parise's linemate kovalchuk also had big contract, was also winger and 30+ goal scorer and bolted to KHL, coincidence? probably not. vanek has no heart, granlund is small, soft and can't skate, career european.

stars - no one can win with their #1 center being drunk all the time. spezza is done and can't handle the pressure, he'll be eaten alive by cruel dallas media. they have LOLigoski as their #1 D. benn is soft and bad leader, and is slower than douglas murray. hemsky contract is one of the worst ever.

nash - john mitchell would be their #1 center, weber is just product of suter, josi is hit away from being done, rinne is past his prime and mack will likely outscore their, F's combined.

winnipeg - they have pavelec on net. 'nough said.


i'm personally already preparing for the parade.
 
I'm optimistic, so I'm going to say 4th. Chicago, St. Louis, and Minny ahead of the Avs.
 
Just noticed our home record and away record were EXACTLY the same. We really did have a tremendous time playing away from home. Hope this continues
 
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I think 3rd. Possibly sneaking into 2nd.

I think St. Louis won't do as good as people think they will. Just a hunch.
 
Go read the Dallas thread about the Central, majority of the posters are severely underrating us (IE having the Avs in 4th, 5th, and 6th place).

I mean Spezza is definitely a solid player, but is very well known to go on disappearing stretches and in big games too.
 
S E P H said:
Go read the Dallas thread about the Central, majority of the posters are severely underrating us (IE having the Avs in 4th, 5th, and 6th place).

I mean Spezza is definitely a solid player, but is very well known to go on disappearing stretches and in big games too.
Click to expand...

The idea is to have no expectation. Some say to reach for the stars to get to the moon... I say no expectation means no disappointment.
 
S E P H said:
Go read the Dallas thread about the Central, majority of the posters are severely underrating us (IE having the Avs in 4th, 5th, and 6th place).

I mean Spezza is definitely a solid player, but is very well known to go on disappearing stretches and in big games too.
Click to expand...

That's kind of funny. I like Dallas and could see them passing the Avs, but the Avs scored 15 more goals than the Stars, while allowing 8 less. I could see Spezza and Hemsky making up that difference offensively, but the Stars didn't improve their defence at all, while the Avs did get a little better defensively. The key for the Stars is Hemsky, Spezza, and Lehtonen to stay healthy. None of which are models of durability.

I think a lot of people believe the Avs got worse over the course of June/July, but there are a few things that other fans seem to overlook.

-Tanguay played 16 games last season. He is basically a brand new addition to the team as well. He has only had 1 season in his entire NHL career where he didn't play at a minimum 50 point pace. If he stays healthy, he is going to be a very big addition.

-Parenteau for Briere. Parenteau had 8 more points last season, while playing 14 less games. Seems like a downgrade for the Avs, and I have no doubt Parenteau will outscore Briere next season, but it is not Parenteau's production going forward that needs to be matched, it is just his production from last season. I would bet Briere can at least almost match that production Parenteau brought last season, which would have been close to 50 points. I think Briere gets around 40 points.

-Stastny for Iginla. Iginla had 61 points, Stastny had 60. Iginla played 7 more games, but that is almost a wash. Too many people are writing off Iginla as an upgrade for the Avalanche because he is 37 years old.

-Winchester in for Cliche will be a huge upgrade in the bottom 6. Cliche was an absolute black hole from the Avs blue line forward. Probably one of the most useless players in the whole NHL.

I expect the Avs to score around the same pace as last season, but giving up fewer shots and goals against. They're also going to be a much harder team to play against phsyically. I think they will finish in the top 3, just haven't decided where quite yet. I don't think it will be first, but I wouldn't rule out 2nd place.
 
I didnt vote in your poll, but I think it is going to be a brutal 3 way race again between us, you guys and the Hawks again. Unless Chicago completely breaks up the band to pay Kane and Toews 12 mill, then they would be done.
 
HockeyGuy73 said:
I didnt vote in your poll, but I think it is going to be a brutal 3 way race again between us, you guys and the Hawks again. Unless Chicago completely breaks up the band to pay Kane and Toews 12 mill, then they would be done.
Click to expand...

that won't happen until 15-16 season though.

have to think they'd really go for it this season if they get that much.
 
I think we fall somewhere between 3rd and 5th in the Central, so I voted 4th.

Chicago
St. Louis
------------
Dallas
Colorado
Minnesota
------------
Nashville
Winnipeg
 
Minny will just beat us out for third, but we'll go farther than them in the playoffs when we bounce the blues in round one while Dallas keeps gunning for that pacific division playoff champion banner.
 
If we did not make any trades and kept Stastny, i would expect us to finish 1st again or second at worst. Now i honestly cant say, it can go both ways. I voted 3rd. Hopefully Iginla, Briere and Stuart will be a good fit. Then we can do even better than third maybe. Or worse, if they are not.

Bottom line, i did not trust Saint Louis to win the Cup and Stastny does not change it, Chicago is IMO in for a retool (not winning the Cup with the same squad again IMO), Dallas improved but are weak at defense the same way we are. Minnesota is the same, just replaced Moulson with Vanek, Nashville still need better offense and Winnipeg is still Winnipeg.
 
I guess with the division being tighter than last year, it will force Blackhawks to go full out in the regular season. Blues already did last year. Hitchcock:

"Our goal was to lead the division at the Olympic break and we did that, and now the goal is to try to win the Presidents’ Trophy. What the heck, that’s important to us.â€

The other five teams can't afford any slumps. There is a good chance the teams coming out of Central will have spent so much energy trying to get into the playoffs that they'll not last all the way.
 
Biggest question for me is in goal, will Varly come back stringer? Will we be shopping for a new second or will we be pleasantly impressed? If we get the same amazing level in goal, I'm thinking we can both make playoffs and also win into 2 or 3 rounds. I truly would rather be HEALTHY and 8 th seed... Heck injuries alone I blame for the mini fiasco in round 1!
And
St L definitely was stopped by a beat up team, honestly with there healthy talent not sure anybody would have stopped them.
So give me a healthy top six and goalie and all d men and patch out!
Ok
So I ignored the main question, but honestly it's not that important. IMO
 
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