The Central Division is shaping up to be a brutal race again, and even this early, the gap between the top and bottom looks pretty clear. Utah already looks like a playoff team at minimum, while a few other clubs seem stuck in the same neighborhood they occupied last season.
At the bottom, the Chicago Blackhawks land in eighth after finishing last in the division a year ago. That finish is expected to repeat, mostly because the roster still looks short on high-end talent.
Connor Bedard, the former 1st overall pick in the 2023 NHL draft, will miss the first month of the season, and while Chicago added Bowen Byram, that move came at what the source described as an overpay. Byram alone isn’t enough to flip the script, and in a division this deep, the Blackhawks are likely to get pushed around again.
The Winnipeg Jets come next at seventh. They won the Central in 2024-25 and made the playoffs, but the drop-off has been sharp.
Connor Hellebuyck’s struggles after winning the Hart Trophy hurt badly, and the defense fell apart in the 2025-26 season. The offense still has star power, but if Stuart Skinner is the starting goalie, the Jets are in trouble.
The sense here is that Winnipeg may need to trade Hellebuyck and reset the group a bit.
Nashville checks in at sixth, and the case is straightforward: the Predators have two 40-goal scorers, but they also gave up way too many goals last season. There’s talent here, and the team could absolutely be better, but the division’s elite teams are operating on another level. With the offseason not dramatically changing the roster, Nashville looks stuck in roughly the same spot.
St. Louis lands fifth.
The Blues are another team that doesn’t move much from last year’s division standings, and the reason is the same one that keeps showing up in this division: the top four teams are just better. St.
Louis finished the season well, which gives them some hope for progress, but the offseason has been pretty bad. Even so, the youth on the roster means the Blues don’t need a total overhaul, and the goal is to stay in the mix as a wild card contender in the West.
Dallas slides to fourth in this projection, which is a hot take but not a crazy one. The Stars are still a juggernaut and could win the division, but their numbers on both sides of the puck were so strong last season that some regression feels likely.
The biggest area to watch is goals against per game, which was outstanding. Even if Dallas dips a bit, that still fits the reality of a Central Division packed with heavyweights.
Utah jumps into third after one of the best offseasons in the league. The Mammoth were already in the postseason last year, and now they’ve added several strong veterans while also fixing their goalie situation.
They still have multiple very good prospects, too. Utah may not be ready to storm straight to the division title, but this is a team that should make life miserable for the top contenders.
The source puts it plainly: the Mammoth are more than just good, they are Stanley Cup contenders.
Minnesota takes second, and the argument is loaded with star power. The Wild have a long list of superstars, can keep their core together, and have two good goalies.
After acquiring Quinn Hughes last season, Minnesota was aiming even higher, though the run ended with an unsurprising elimination by a great Colorado Avalanche team. Still, with elite talent almost everywhere you look, the Wild have a real chance to win the Central and could even be the best team in the NHL.
Colorado sits at No. 1, and even an ugly playoff exit doesn’t change the bigger picture. The Avalanche were swept by the Vegas Golden Knights in what was described as an all-time choke, but they’re still not slowing down.
Colorado will have to hold off Minnesota, Dallas, and Utah, yet it has one of the best goalie rooms and offenses in the NHL, and the defense is solid too. The mission is simple: win the division and avoid another postseason disaster against a wild card team.
In Other News...
Why Two Proven Veterans Just Bought Into Utah's Big Bet
Utahs roster makeover on July 1 kept rolling with the additions of Vincent Trocheck and Anders Lee, two veterans who arrive with plenty of NHL mileage and the kind of reputations that can steady a young room. Both spent their careers with New York teams before deciding to move on, and the Mammoth are betting that their experience will fit neatly alongside a lineup that already has plenty of talent and upside.
What makes the moves more than simple depth signings is the belief behind them. Trocheck and Lee both saw a team with a real chance to compete right away, which says plenty about how the Mammoth are being viewed around the league. For Utah, the challenge now is turning that belief into something more concrete, with leadership and playoff-tested presence expected to matter as much as production. [Read more 🡒]