Which of the playoff-caliber Central teams has the best future outlook?

[Bjornar Moxnes]

Central is a very competitive division, and imho has 5 playoff-caliber teams in Winnipeg, Colorado, Nashville, Minnesota, and Dallas. So which one do you think has the best outlook in the future?

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[Pavel Buchnevich]

Dallas in a landslide. Johnston, Stankoven, Mavrik, Oettinger, Harley, Heiskanen all young or in the middle of their careers.

 

[dalewood12]

Dallas has a very large window, and could win this spring.

 

[MNRube]

F: Kaprizov, JEE, Boldy, Rossi, Yurov, Ohgren

D: Faber, Buium

G: Wallstedt

And $12M in dead cap coming off the books this summer

 

[Magic Mittens]

Dallas in a landslide. Johnston, Stankoven, Mavrik, Oettinger, Harley, Heiskanen all young or in the middle of their careers.

Robertson could be in that list also, he's only 25

 

[Oneiro]

Dallas.

The future of the rest of those teams is much bleaker than any of those fanbases currently think.

I like Minny's pool a lot but one, they have to lock down Kap and two, I don't know if they have another similar player of that truly elite magnitude in their system. The optimism around their current group really does remind me of over a decade ago when everyone thought they'd be a powerhouse and it fizzled out as a mish mash of "very good" / career NHLers but no bus drivers. So I'm a skeptic.

 

[ViD]

Minnesota core actually looks decent and young except for Zucc

 

[Fear]

In terms of the next 5 years or so, I don't think any team is in a better position than Dallas

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Robertson could be in that list also, he's only 25

Slipped my mind, but absolutely.

 

[ThatGuy22]

Dallas.

The future of the rest of those teams is much bleaker than any of those fanbases currently think.

I like Minny's pool a lot but one, they have to lock down Kap and two, I don't know if they have another similar player of that truly elite magnitude in their system. The optimism around their current group really does remind me of over a decade ago when everyone thought they'd be a powerhouse and it fizzled out as a mish mash of "very good" / career NHLers but no bus drivers. So I'm a skeptic.

Boldy and Faber have already turned out better than then any of that previous generation from the 2010-2012 era you're referencing.

 

[Daximus]

I think the order goes Dallas, Minny, Colorado, Winnipeg, Nashville.

Dallas just has so much solid youth, accented by some still useful vets, coupled with a market that can attract people in FA. They easily have the best future outlook.

Minny's future outlook relies so heavily on a single player right now. If they can keep Kaprizov then there is a shot that their youth can come up and complement him in his prime years.

Colorado still has MacK, Rants, Makar and Toews and despite having poor goaltending and depth, having those 3 makes your future bright for awhile. That's a solid core 4 to build around.

Winnipeg is in a tougher spot they have some interesting youth coming up that are wildcards but also likely have the best goalie of the bunch and some wickedly good depth. So much of their future rests on Hellebuyck who is now in the post 30 era of his career and they really don't have anyone who is waiting in the wings to take the reigns.

Nashville is in a tough spot. Old team of grizzled vets that so far hasn't really found any chemistry together. The bulk of their core is over 30, some pushing 35. It's going to be tough for them to remain competitive over the short term, nevermind the long term.