Not too long ago, we wrote about how the St. Louis Blues may not have improved enough this offseason to keep pace with the rest of the league. It's going to be especially difficult for the Blues in a stacked Central Division: the Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, and Minnesota Wild are all Stanley Cup-contending teams, and it seems unlikely the Blues will be able to snag one of the three Central playoff berths.
That leaves the wildcard spots, and one team that missed the playoffs last year has improved so dramatically this summer that it could make the Blues sweat.
A Central Division rival returns
A couple of summers ago, the Nashville Predators made a slew of splashy signings: Steven Stamkos, Brady Skjei, and Jonathan Marchessault, a year removed from a Conn Smythe-winning Cup run with the Vegas Golden Knights. After surging into the playoffs after famously missing a U2 concert, the Preds figured it was a good time to go all-in that summer and spent like it.
They were wrong. Nashville finished with the third-worst record of the 2024-25 season and then missed the playoffs in 2025-26. They were an old, slow team that just couldn't keep up with the big guns of the Central.
After the flurry of moves they made this summer, though, they could be a force. Depth was a dire issue for the Predators, and they fixed most of those problems by bringing in Mavrik Bourque, Ross Colton, and Jack Drury, who are major improvements over Erik Haula, Zachary L'Heureux, and Fedor Svechkov. Nashville may not be mistaken for a Cup contender, but they've certainly put themselves in the playoff bubble discussion.
The dark horse
The Utah Mammoth made the playoffs last year as a wild card, and should continue to be in the conversation as their young players develop, and their new acquisitions settle in--but a more surprising return could come from the Winnipeg Jets.
The Jets have been sunk by a horrific third pair on the blue line, and backup goalie Eric Comrie was inconsistent behind Connor Hellebuyck, who'd be so overworked in the regular season that, come playoff time, he was gassed. They fixed both of those problems by signing Mario Ferraro and Stuart Skinner. If Hellebuyck returns to form, and the rest of the Jets' lineup plays to expectations, it's not hard to see them being a bubble playoff team as well.
The margins in the Central are going to be razor-thin, and the Blues are going to have to go all out to keep up with the teams that improved around them.
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