CENTRAL STANDARD TIMES RETURN
With addition of coyotes, division is back for 2021-22, and look for Hawks to finish somewhere in the middle
The NHL’s familiar divisions have returned for 2021-22, but the Central isn’t quite the same as before. The Coyotes have joined the group, thanks to the Kraken bumping them out of the Pacific, and the Central’s mainstays might appreciate their presence. All seven regulars look like potential playoff teams — the Coyotes, meanwhile, will serve as a much-needed punching bag.
In between the Coyotes at the bottom and likely the Avalanche again at the top, the much-improved Blackhawks fall into the mushy middle, where every team could finish anywhere from second through seventh.
After correctly predicting 13 of the 16 playoff teams last season, here are the Chicago Sun-Times’ projected standings for every division in 2021-22:
CENTRAL DIVISION
1. Avalanche: Regular-season dominance is essentially a given for the Avalanche. What will truly determine the success of their season is whether they can finally advance past the second round of the playoffs, having lost there three consecutive years.
In the meantime, though, the Avs — 8133-12 over the last two seasons — should cruise to first place. They re-signed captain Gabriel Landeskog and Norris Trophy runner-up Cale Makar this summer, still have one of the world’s best players — Nathan MacKinnon — and maintained a deep core around those three.
The only question is with their goaltending unit, which was already a relative weakness even before this year and now features injury-prone Darcy Kuemper instead of Philipp Grubauer.
2. Wild: Kirill Kaprizov’s NHL outburst transformed the Wild from perennially average and boring into good and exciting. They finished with the same points (75) as the Lightning.
Kaprizov returns after a long negotiation process, and the Hawks will have to contend with him for the first time this season. Ryan Suter and Zach Parise are gone at last, but the Wild somehow lost neither top defenseman Matt Dumba nor starting goalie Cam Talbot in the expansion draft. They sit atop the Central’s middle tier entering the season.
3. Stars: Dallas was just as disappointing
last season as the Wild were surprising, with injuries and COVID outbreaks derailing any carryover momentum from 2020. But two rising stars emerged from the wreckage in Roope Hintz and Calder Trophy runner-up Jason Robertson. If those two continue their ascendance, the Stars should be primed for a bounce-back season.
Defensive mainstays Miro Heiskanen and John Klingberg and a very deep goalie group — Anton Khudobin, Jake Oettinger, Braden Holtby and Ben Bishop — provide a steady foundation regardless.
4. Jets (wild card): Defensive additions Nate Schmidt and Brendan Dillon will be asked to solidify what has been a shaky unit for the Jets the last two seasons.
Whether those two prove enough — a top four of them plus Josh Morrissey and Neal Pionk still doesn’t seem too intimidating — could decide the Jets’ fate because the team still boasts a talented top six and, in Connor Hellebuyck, one of the NHL’s best goalies.
5. Blues (wild card): St. Louis has steadily declined since its 2019 Cup title and looks like a true bubble team for 2021-22.
Pavel Buchnevich and — sadly for Hawks fans — Brandon Saad were savvy offensive upgrades, but the defense lacks an elite No. 1 guy and competent depth. It’ll be fascinating to see if Vladimir Tarasenko lasts the whole year in St. Louis. Jordan Binnington will need to keep up with Hellebuyck for the Blues to jump the Jets.
6. Blackhawks: The Hawks obviously believe they’ll be much better than they were last season, and logic backs up that optimism.
But how much better depends on just how good the team’s three biggest additions — Marc-Andre Fleury, Seth Jones and functionally Jonathan Toews — turn out to be. If all three play like stars, this is a playoff team. If any of them fall short, however, the Hawks will have a tough time finding a way in.
They’ve played at only an 83-point prorated pace during Jeremy Colliton’s tenure.
They’ll probably need at least 10 more points this season to vault into the postseason.
7. Predators: Considering the Predators’ domination of the Hawks last season, winning seven of eight meetings, it feels unjust ranking them seventh. But one team has to finish this low.
The Predators do appear clearly on the decline after their misguided Victor Arvidsson and Ryan Ellis trades this summer. Defenseman Roman Josi and goalie Juuse Saros are still great at keeping the puck out of the net, but this roster lacks offensive talent.
8. Coyotes: This offseason, the Coyotes blew up a roster that peaked just below the playoff bubble to start from scratch. The result is a team designed to lose, and lose often.
Unheralded defenseman Jakob Chychrun is the only really good player left. The forward lineup is easily overlooked. The new goaltending tandem of Carter Hutton and Josef Korenar — who together went 4-15-1 with an .891 save percentage on other teams last season — seems comically bad.