The St. Louis Blues are in it at midseason, and I’d have laughed myself senseless had someone told me they’d be at least somewhat contending here in January. Following a dominating performance vs. the Anaheim Ducks, momentum should be on the side of a team that’s 5-4-1 in its last 10 and 11-7-3 under Jim Montgomery.
So, does that mean the Blues are back and will contend for a top-four spot in the NHL’s Central Division? Well…the season ain’t over ‘til it’s over, but I’ll play spoiler here and at least tell you they gotta come up with a little luck and play picture-perfect hockey.
8 - Nashville Predators
If there’s one team in the NHL I have absolutely nothing good to say anything about, it’s the Nashville Predators. In short, Barry Trotz thought he could do in the NHL what one could in the MLB and mistook his Predators for the NHL’s version of the New York Yankees. It didn’t work.
7 - Chicago Blackhawks
Chicago’s a bad hockey team, but at least nobody was expecting much out of them this season. They’ll sell a little at the trade deadline, and they’ll still be a bad hockey team, but at least they got some intriguing youngsters who’ll keep fans interested.
6 - Utah Hockey Club
The Utah Hockey Club is in Year 1 of what should be a long, long tenure in Salt Lake City, so they can play mediocre hockey this season. If anything, they’re much more entertaining to watch than their predecessors, so at least they got that going for them.
5 - St. Louis Blues
To answer the question in the headline, it’s hard to imagine seeing the Blues bust into the top four. Colorado, Dallas, Minnesota, and Winnipeg are just too good and experienced this season, but it’s not like the Blues can’t at least contend for a wild card, and that’s more than I saw them doing in 2024-25.
4 - Minnesota Wild
The Minnesota Wild are technically in second place here in the Central, but a pair of red-hot teams behind them look like more optimistic bunches at this point. Not that Minnesota will fall off the face of the Earth or anything, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they dropped to fourth in the standings sooner rather than later.
3 - Winnipeg Jets
The Winnipeg Jets might be winning the Central Division, but they’ve been short on success since their hot start. Okay, maybe that’s an over-exaggeration, but they haven’t been the same team over the past two months, and that lead is waning.
2 - Colorado Avalanche
It’s now official: The Colorado Avalanche were outright awful earlier in the season because their goaltenders ran out of talent. Now that the situation’s been solved for a while with a more dynamic cast of characters, the Avs are now everything we thought they’d be.
1 - Dallas Stars
The Dallas Stars might be the hottest team in hockey here in early-to-mid January. And that, coupled with a plus-32 goal differential, has them in third place in the Central Division but first in momentum.