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St. Louis Blues Will Win Central Division In 2016

By Brandon J. Griffin

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This is the absolute worst time of year for hockey fans, still 3 months away from opening night. This lack of activity does provide us however with the best opportunity to take a look at the teams and begin making projections for the upcoming St. Louis Blues 2015-2016 Regular Season Schedule.

Here is my breakdown of the big bad Central Division, the toughest division in the NHL, and who poses the biggest threats to St. Louis.

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Chicago Blackhawks

All but 2 Central teams (Dallas and Colorado) made the playoffs last year, the most of any division. The Blues ended the season on top, including a five point lead on second place Nashville, with 109 points. Finishing in first or second has been a trend for St. Louis since the 2010-2011 season, and one that they hope to continue.

Speaking of trends, the main concern for the Blues, and Achilles heel at times, has been the Chicago Blackhawks who have just won their third Stanley Cup since 2010. The trend I am referring to is not their growing number of championships, but what happens in the season following these Cup wins.

This is the perfect time for St. Louis to stake their claim on the division.

Like the two previous off-seasons following their triumph, the Hawks have shipped out a significant amount of their roster, but still keeping their core in tact. Along with the shocking Brandon Saad trade, Patrick Sharp, Johnny Oduya, Brad Richards, and Antoine Vermette have all moved on with their Cup rings. While the team is still filled with talent, there are a lot of new faces including a handful of young guys.

Chicago will still be Chicago and a big threat in the West, but like the Kings, all that playoff hockey has to take a toll at some point. This is the perfect time for St. Louis to stake their claim on the division.

The Blues went 3-2 against the Hawks last season, the final two games of the season series being played without Tarasenko and Steen, they’ll likely be in the playoffs but will be trailing St. Louis in the standings. A new era is upon us, one that will find the Blues ahead of Chicago.

Nashville Predators

Nashville for a long time had their defense and goal tending figured out but struggled to put together a group of forwards to push their way into the lead of the division. That sure wasn’t the case this season under new head coach Peter Laviolette and a collection of misfits who turned out to be an offensive juggernaut for the first time in recent memory.

This off-season they managed to maintain all key players from last years success and added Cody Hodgson and long-time Blue Barret Jackman to their depth.

How do our boys in blue stack up against “Music City”? The Blues went 2-3 against the Preds last season, all games being decided by one goal, all games were also all before Nasvhille’s mid-season slump. If Forsberg falls victim to the dreaded sophomore slump the offense will have to be revisited and shuffled, which would be good for St. Louis’ chances of surpassing them in the standings.

Regardless, they’ll be St. Louis’ biggest threat to the Central crown.

Minnesota Wild

Another first round match up against the hottest team in the NHL was what we Blues fans were faced with last year, and another early exit, this time by the Minnesota Wild. After struggling out of the gate last season, the addition of Devan Dubnyk made this team a powerhouse. This off-season they locked up their goalie savior and top line center Mikael Granlund but not much else.

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The major story this year is Ryan Suter and whether or not he will have a bounce back season. Suter plays a key role in Minnesota continuing their regular season success in the standings, and a return to form is expected.

St. Louis went 2-2 against the Wild during the regular season. After the painful ending to their playoffs, the Blues have a bad taste in their mouths when it comes to Minnesota, if they can figure Dubnyk out early on they should have a major advantage. On paper, their depth just doesn’t compare, but for both clubs a lot of that depends on young guys in new roles.

Minnesota will likely find themselves right behind St. Louis and Nashville in the race for top slot.

Dallas Stars

Here’s where it gets interesting, as we move onto arguably the most drastically improved team during the off-season, the Dallas Stars. As Chicago takes a step back, Dallas takes a huge step forward, building on the Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin magic to end the season that earned Jamie an Art Ross Trophy.

The Benn/Seguin duo has quickly become one of the most exciting and dominant in the league, and they now have some help outside of Jason Spezza. New additions and a healthy roster give their offense a similar look to the Blues up front. However, while this is a step in the right direction, they still have areas that can be exploited.

The Blues capitalized on a defense they recognized was weak last season, with a 3-2 record against the “Big D.” I expect similar results, although Dallas now has the firepower to fight back offensively outside of Jamie and Tyler. They will most likely be a team competing for a wild card, and as they join the post season conversation that means at least one team likely won’t be returning to the “dance” in April.

Winnipeg Jets

It was not an easy playoff for the Jets, getting absolutely ripped to shreds by the Anaheim Ducks in 4 games, but that does not take away (much) of what they accomplished last year. It was a big step for Winnipeg, they made a lot of moves that paid off and earned themselves the first playoff appearance for “Jets 2.0.”

Tyler Myers seems to have fit in nicely with what is a fairly solid group of defensemen, and a break out season for Mathieu Perreault pushed them past Los Angeles into the final wild card spot, but will they be able to keep up with the heavy hitters in the Central? I think not, they simply don’t have the fire power to compete with the Blues depth and any team employing Ondrej Pavelec as a starting goaltender is one riddled with uncertainty.

Blues had a 3-2 series win against the Jets during the regular season, I expect an improvement on that given that St. Louis was having trouble scoring through those two losses. Despite a strong effort, I don’t see Winnipeg finding themselves in the playoffs or a real threat to our heroes sporting the note.

Colorado Avalanche

Colorado wasn’t happy about missing the playoffs and had a busy off-season attempting to address their issues. The problem is that they play in this division, which leaves no room for decline if you want to take a stab at the Stanley Cup.

There was a void left in center with Paul Stastny departing, accompanied by a sophomore slump for MacKinnon and just an overall decline for their top six forwards. The Avalanche is hoping they can keep their head above water this time with fresh faces and players looking to prove themselves in a new sweater. If the West is won down the middle, these new additions are going to have to step up big time to make a dent in the standings.

St. Louis had no problem with Colorado last season and ended the season series with a commanding 4-1 beat down. Semyon Varlamov will be leaned on heavily this year and is expected to bounce back, but will that be enough to climb out into a wild card spot? I expect the Blues to run over the Avs every time they meet, with Paul Stastny at the center of it all. With Oshie leaving, Stastny will no doubt be solidified in a top 6 role and that is bad news for Colorado.

Who do you think wins the Central Division this upcoming season?

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