I didn't know these subs existed either

That is all.

God that hurt to type.

Welcome back to the Central Division Preview, back after a season-long hiatus (sorry!). Once again the Central has taken both of the Western Wild Card spots leaving teams like Los Angeles on the outside looking in (I know we're all torn up about the Kings missing the Playoffs...). We are also the only division in hockey to have all of our teams make the playoffs within a two year span, so that just further cements us as the BEST DIVISION IN HOCKEY. So let's get to our previews, shall we?

#1 St. Louis Blues vs. 4 Minnesota Wild The Wild come into the playoffs with the exact same goal as last year, upset the top seed in the central for a chance to play in the second round. Nobody thought Minnesota would be here a few months ago and there was talk of blowing up the team and firing head coach Mike Yeo. Then the Wild faithful were saved by [Based Dubnyk] (http://41.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lj73xr8WH51qib4uqo1_500.jpg) who pulled the team up from the bottom into a Wild Card spot. The Blues are notorious underperformers in the Playoffs the last few years but with the help of upstart Vladimir Tarasenko the Blues hope to make it past the first round for the first time in three years. The biggest problem with St. Louis in the Playoffs as of late is that their offence has dried up so they'll lean heavily on players like Oshie, Backes and Steen to continue their high offensive performace into the post-season. They'll have to get past a Wild Defense that has had a resurgence since Dubnyk came to the team. In the end Dubnyk got Minnesota here, and he will inevitably decide how far the team goes.

Prediction: Dubnyk will steal a game or two but St. Louis's forwards will finally break their goal-scoring curse in the Playoffs (Blues over Wild in 6 Games)

#2 Nashville Predators vs. 3 Chicago Blackhawks

Now here's a matchup we haven't seen since 2010. This is another match-up that will hinge on the performance of a goaltender with Pekke Rinne needing to continue his strong play for the Perds to bounce the Hawks in the first round. Nashville is not a very deep team on Offence and they will need to rely on Filllip Forsberg and Mike Ribeiro in order to make it past a tough Chicago defence. The Hawks have two big question marks heading into the series the first of which being the status of Patrick Kane. While all signs point to him being ready to go for Game 1 there is still some concern as to whether he is fully healed and ready for the intensity of Playoff hockey. Chicago will not go far without their star Right-Winger so the health of Kane is essential for the Hawks. Their second big question is the Power Play, which has struggled mightily during the regular season. If Chicago cannot produce on the PP, especially given the strength of Rinne they could be in for an early exit. Both teams struggled down the stretch with the seemingly red-hot Preds falling out of first place and losing a string of games and Chicago almost falling into a Wild Card spot at one point. The Playoffs are a new season though and both teams will look to put recent struggles behind them as they face off this week.

Prediction: The Hawks manage to break through Rinne as Kane comes back healthy (Blackhawks over Predators in 6 Games)

#1 Anaheim Ducks vs. 4 Winnipeg Jets

The Jets are one of the feel good stories heading into the playoffs, making the post-season for the first time since the team was in Atlanta. The Ducks have been making a habit of disappointing fans for the last few years in the playoffs with uninspired play and will look to turn that around against Winnipeg this series. In last years Pacific/Central playoff match-up the Stars took the Ducks to a Game 6, surprising many people. The biggest weakness of Anaheim in that series was their goaltending, something that still plagues them going into the Winnipeg Series and it's something they will have to work out ASAP. Winnipeg plays a tough style of hockey with players like Dustin Byfuglien hammering opponents until they yield. Ondrej Pavelec has been hot down the stretch helping the Jets to clinch their berth and he'll need to stay hot to contend with Ryan Getzlaf, Correy Perry and Ryan Kessler. The Laad/Little/Wheeler line will need to continue to carry the Jets as they lack some depth as you go lower down the forwards line. It'll be another tough seriest between the bottom seed from the Central and the top seed of the Pacific, but we're the better division anyway.

Prediction: Pavelec stays hot and Winnipeg's physical play eventually wears down the Ducks (Jets over Ducks in 7 Games)

Games start on Wednesday! Lets go Central!

CHI @ NSH Game 1 - WED 8:30 EST (NBCSN, CSN-CH, FS-TN)

MIN @ STL Game 1 - THU 9:30 EST (NBCSN, FS-N, FS-WI)

WPG @ ANA Game 1 - THU 10:30 EST (CNBC, SN, TVA)

Just as the title implies, I think that it will be Nashville. Want to see dem Perds make a good run.

sorry it took so long.

Come get us chumps!

LET'S GO BLUES!

Latest post 3 months ago. Playoffs start in 5 days!

That is all.

COL loses Stastny, but picks up Iginla.

CHI gets Brad Richards for cheap, and will at the very least keep Kane and Toews (god knows what else they'll do with their cap situation though).

DAL wins the Jason Spezza derby, picking up the piece they need to compete higher than an 8 seed. EDIT: I forgot about Ales Hemsky.

MIN brings in Thomas Vanek (SHOCKING).

NSH picks up James Neal (lots of goals for all the games he's not suspended). EDIT: And Olli Jokinen (sorry Winnipeg...).

STL steal Stastny from the Avs and bring in Jori Lehtera, a (nearly) PPG center from the KHL.

Finally, WPG did some things, probably. Maybe. Well, every division needs a whipping boy (sorry Jets fans).

It's been fun this year and I'm looking forward to another great season next year. I'd say good luck to all the teams but honestly nobody stands a chance against the Jets next year...ha. Let's keep this sub going through the offseason with trades and acquisitions.

Where will Miller and Ott end up? Who will start in net for the Wild next season? Can the Avs recreate this years turn-around season? Will the Jets ever get a goaltender that can goaltend?

All this and more as /r/centralhockey continues!

So I was 1 for 3 with my round 1 predictions but on the plus side I have a 50% of going 100% in my second round central picks.

Let's briefly break down the first round before we get into the exciting second round match-up.

#1 Anaheim Ducks vs. #4 Dallas Stars

• Anaheim Wins Series 4-2

• I said this series would be won by Dallas in 7 mostly do to x-factors that were Kari Lehtonen and Tyler Seguin. However, with the exception of a few flashes of brilliance (mainly game 3) Lehtonen was not the dependable Olympic goalie that the Stars had during the regular season. There is no excuse for losing game six the way they did and had they held on to win and forced a game seven we might be having a completely different discussion. Seguin did fine during this series and Jamie Benn led the team with four goals and an assist through six games and was instrumental in the Stars two wins.

• Looking forward the Stars and their fans have a lot to be excited for, they have a strong young corps of players and a proven coach in Lindy Ruff. They came into a series the heavy underdogs and gave the Ducks a run for their money. They came out of the gate hungry and competitive but in the end (as games 5 and 6 can attest to) they ended up losing a veteran team. It was certainly a better showing than their fellow bottom seeds in the East had against Boston.

#2 St. Louis Blues vs. #3 Chicago Blackhawks

• Chicago Wins Series 4-2

• Deja vu anyone? This series was every bit the tough, gritty series we were expecting from such bitter rivals. Both teams were coming off lackluster ends to the regular season with St. Louis particularly sour about blowing the division title at the last second to the Avalanche. With four of six games requiring and extra frame (or three) to decide it was clear that every game could go either way. The Blues came out looking strong winning both of the first two games in St. Louis and headed to Chicago looking like they would move on without too much trouble. However, in what is becoming somewhat of a sick joke in Missouri the Blues began a collapse in game 3 that did not end until they were shaking hands with the Hawks after game six. Scoring dried up for the Blues and goalie Ryan Miller failed to deliver on what he was brought in to do. A failure to connect on the Power play (they were 2 for 29 in the series) was the final nail in the coffin for the boys in Blue.

• The Blues have a slightly less optimistic outlook on the future than their fellow first rounders. While players like T.J. Oshie and David Backes will likely continue to be high caliber talent for the team the front office of the Blues lost more than just a playoff series this year. The "win now" mentality of the Blues led them to move a lot of their assets (draft picks, AHL talent) in exchange for players designed to help them win this year. When Ryan Miller and Steve Ott failed to deliver St. Louis to the promised land the organization was stuck with a much bleaker outlook on the future than they did heading into the series. Miller and Ott will likely leave sometime during the off-season and when they depart they will leave behind a lot of questions.

#1 Colorado Avalanche vs. #4 Minnesota Wild

• This was a great series to watch, even for someone who wasn't a fan of either team. I will be the first to admit that I was very wrong about the outcome of this series (I gave it to the Avs in 5) but I did not expect the...Wild...card of Darcy Kuemper to factor into this series at all. After Bryz-nasty had a poor performance in the beginning of the series Mike Yeo turned to Kuemps to backstop the Wild in game 3. He responded by giving the Wild one of the best playoff goaltending performances in the team's history, outdueling Varlamov to a 1-0 OT victory. Outside of goaltending the Wild got boosts from their stars who are playing the best hockey of the year in Minnesota. For the Avs they simply failed to match the defense that the Wild sent their way as their top lines failed to score in big moments. One goal leads were never safe against the Wild and they proved it in game seven coming back multiple times before finally winning it in OT.

• Despite the disappointing end to the season the Avs still accomplished a lot. While they won't take much solace in it knowing how far they could have gone they still went from 29th in the league to the winners of a division. Patrick Roy will more than likely win Coach of the Year and the Avs still have a strong corps of young talent to make another push in the Central next season. As an unfortunate side note J.S. Giguere will likely retire meaning that there will be no more Hartford Whalers playing the NHL.

ROUND TWO:

#3 Chicago Blackhawks vs. #4 Minnesota Wild

• The only two central teams remaining in the playoffs get set to face each other in a rematch of last years first round. However, if the Blackhawks expect the same team that they easily dispatched last year then they will be in for a rude awakening. The Wild just finished a seven game series where they dispatched the division winners and they appear to be firing on all cylinders right now. Zach Parise has been playing out of his mind for the wild and his multi-point nights were essential to Minnesota moving on. The big question mark for Minnesota going into this series is in goal. Rookie Darcy Kuemper played amazing in relief of Illya Bryzgalov and would likely be the one getting the starts had he not gone down to injury late in game seven. It appears from reports that Bryz will be starting game 1 and while he was solid in the regular season he has struggled in the playoffs. Unless Bryz improves on his round one performance then Minnesota fans should be praying for the return of Kuemps as soon as possible. The Blackhawks have once again rounded into the dominant team we same last year in the playoffs. After a shaky start to the Blues they regrouped and their stars stepped up with Toews, Kane and Keith all having strong showings in games 3-6. Corey Crawford has also been playing great and was one of if not the best goalie of the first round. The key to the series is the depth players. The Top Six on each team will score but whichever team can shutdown the bottom six forwards will have a much easier time of it going forward.

• CHI v MIN Preview

• Prediction: Chicago Blackhawks in Six

It's everyone's favorite time of year again, the Stanley Cup Playoffs. I'm here with a brief synopsis of the three first round match-ups involving our central division teams. They're all going to be amazing series and I'm excited to stop doing anything productive for the next couple months! Let's get started shall we...

#1 Anaheim Ducks vs. #4 Dallas Stars:

• The Stars just barely made it into the playoffs thanks for some timely wins and some even more timely losses by Phoenix. Despite just barely sneaking into the playoffs the Stars have a young, fast core of players that could play havoc on the Anaheim defense if they execute correctly. The Ducks on the other hand are coming off an extremely disappointing 2013 playoffs that saw the bow out in the first round to the 7th seeded Detroit Red Wings. Stars head coach Lindy Ruff is a playoff veteran (hard to imagine one can say that about someone who spent so much time in Buffalo) and will be an invaluable asset if Dallas is to overcome the Western Division winners. Goaltender Kari Lehtonen will need to stand tall and weather the offensive pressure applied by Ryan Getzlaf and Correy Perry. Rookie goaltender Frederik Andersen has been rumored to be getting the game one start for the Ducks over struggling Jonas Hiller and if the Stars can take advantage of that they may be able to get out to a strong series lead. This will be a much better series than it is being billed as and I believe that Tyler Seguin and Stars will turn some heads in the coming weeks.

• ANA v. DAL Preview

• Prediction: Dallas Stars in Seven

#1 Colorado Avalanche vs. #4 Minnesota Wild

• Here we have the first of our two Central v. Central match-ups. Thanks to the timely late season disappearance of the St. Louis Blues the Avs were able to secure the top spot in the division and were given the Wild in the first round while the Blues are now forced to go head-to-head with the defending champs. The Wild on the other hand were almost assured the the top wild card spot for a couple weeks now. Again we come up against the seeding not telling the whole story of the match-up. It is no secret to anyone here as to to the competitiveness of the Central Division and the fact that the Wild finished 4th does not mean they can be taken lightly. Newly aquired goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov has been great for Minnesota down the stretch and the Wild's depth at forward has allowed them to rack up big wins against top teams. Colorado on the other hand has had to lean heavily on their goaltender Semyon Varlamov to bail them out of stretches where their offence has all but dried up. A late-season injury to Matt Duchene could spell disaster for Colorado however if he is forced to miss any considerable playoff time. If Patrick Roy and Varlamov can out-duel the Wild then the Avs will win, plain and simple. If not, then the ice tilts in Minnesota's favor.

• COL v. MIN Preview

• Prediction: Colorado Avalanche in Five

#2 St. Louis Blues vs. #3 Chicago Blackhawks

• Many sportswriters are pointing to this series and others as an example of the flaws in the new alignment system. Two of the early Stanley Cup favorites go head-to-head in the first round with one going on and the other going home. Personally I love the fact that this match-up is happening. Both fanbases are dreading the prospect of a first round series like this because whichever team emerges from it will likely be a lot more banged up than whoever their second round opponent is. With the exit of the Red Wings from the Central the Blue and Hawks have stepped in to renew their old rivalry that had been put on the back-burner during the reign of Detroit. If there is any better way to pour gasoline onto an already smoldering rivalry than to have the teams play in the first round then I would like to know. Both teams are coming off poor ends to the season with the Blue losing their last six and the Hawks limping down the stretch thanks to injuries to Toews, Kane, and Saad among others. Despite the acquisition of goalie Ryan Miller at the trade deadline the Blues have struggled to score goals in support of him and as such are going into the playoffs looking less like the mid-season world-beaters that they seemed to be a few weeks ago. If the Blues need to score, if they keep playing offence like they have in recent games the depth of the Blackhawks defense is going to eat them alive. However, if the Blues offence can wake up and Miller stands tall then we may see the defending cup champs leaving early.

• STL v. CHI Preview

• Prediction: Chicago Blackhawks in Seven

This is going to be insane, strap in and get ready.

If the NHL awards were only given to central division players/teams/coaches who would win them in your opinion? These are my picks (some are more obvious than others);

Presidents Trophy: Colorado Avalanche

Art Ross Memorial Trophy [Most Individual Points]: Tyler Seguin (DAL)

Jack Adams [Coach of the Year]: Patrick Roy (COL)

Hart Memorial Trophy [MVP]: Tyler Seguin (DAL)*

Norris Trophy [Best Defenseman]: Duncan Keith (CHI)

Vezina Trophy [Best Goaltender]: Semyon Varlamov (COL)

Selke Trophy [Best Defensive Forward]: David Backes (STL)

"Rocket" Richard Trophy [Top Goal-Scorer]: Tyler Seguin (DAL)

*I know Seguin as MVP is not the first choice for people but I view the Hart trophy as someone who is not only the best player but a key component of their team's success. Without Seguin we would see a very different Dallas team, one that may not be in the playoffs. Don't agree? That's fine, discuss bellow and feel free to add other NHL awards and your picks.

Well shit, that was fast...

With the regular season come and gone we can all take a collective breather and take a second (or a few months, sorry Nashville and Winnipeg) to collect ourselves and prepare for the next step. Before I write my playoff preview (which will be out by the time puck drops tomorrow) I think we need to take a second to look back at what was certainly a very exciting season with ups and downs for each team in what many considered to be "the weakest division in the NHL" when the season started.

For a good time HERE is a link to /r/centralhockey's division predictions at the season's start.

• Colorado Avalanche: Your division winners were easily one of the last teams that anyone expected to be here when the season started in September. Coming into the season there was no reason for anyone to believe that this team could complete the worst-to-first transition that we all just witnessed. However, thanks to the play of their top forwards as well as Semyon Varlamov in net the Avs managed to wow the league and are easily the biggest surprise of the regular season. Regardless of what happens this post-season the Avs future is looking bright especially when you consider that their top 4 forwards are all under 24 and Varlamov is only 25. They have made their mark this season and have become the third entrant in what had been previously been seen as a two horse division.

• St. Louis Blues: What was an amazing season for the Blue Notes came to a somewhat pitiful end this last month as St. Louis dropped their last 6 games to close out the regular season and in the process surrendered the division to Colorado and forced them into a first round match-up with the defending champions. Their last month aside this season has been a resounding success for the Blues and they have easily cemented themselves as one of the top teams in the NHL. The Blues have won their games on the back of goal-tending and defense and the late season acquisition of Ryan Miller certainly helped in that category. St. Louis sent a ton of players to the Olympics but that did not seem to effect them too much after the break as the pick-up of Ryan Miller seemed to propel the team into President's trophy contention. The Blues will need to overcome their scoring drought and sudden injury-bug if they are to make a deep push in the coming months.

• Chicago Blackhawks: The defending Stanley Cup Champions and early-season favorites to repeat have fallen off since the turn of the calendar year. Losing Kane and Toews to injury certainly did not help but the Hawks trouble had started weeks before they went out. Chicago has always benefited from depth in the line-up which has allowed them to stay competitive despite the loss of top stars throughout the year. Goalies Corey Crawford and Antii Raanta have played well but have had their struggles throughout the year and the hawks defense was not the dominant powerhouse that we saw in the playoffs last spring. Perhaps it was a shortened off-season that finally caught up the hawks or a surprisingly competitive division but the hawks struggled in the later half of the season and saw their division lead crumble and leave them looking up at St. Louis and Colorado. Despite this the Hawks always have a tendency to kick it into another gear once the games start to matter so we will see what happens on Thursday.

• Minnesota Wild: The Wild stayed pretty consistent throughout the season, never having too many down times but also failing to catch the top three in the division once they started to pull ahead. The biggest question mark for the wild throughout the season was goaltending, with four goalies taking the starting spot at one point or another this year. With Josh Harding having to go on injured reserve the Wild took a massive gamble in picking up journeyman goaltender and space-enthusiast Ilya Bryzgalov. Bryz-nasty had struggled in recent years especially in Philly and the Wild were able to get him for very little. However, the goaltender showed a resurgence once he arrived in Minnesota and has been playing very well allowing the team to secure a...Wild...card spot (pun intended). Zach Parise and Ryan Suter have been playing great and will be instrumental if the Wild are to out-duel Varlamov and the Avs in the first round.

• Dallas Stars: The Stars are perhaps one of the only teams in the division that ended where they were expected and that was scraping tooth and nail to secure a playoff spot. After missing out on the playoffs a few times the Stars organization decided that it was time for an overhaul and reinvention of the team. With new uniforms and a new coach Dallas began picking up new talent and bringing up stars from their AHL system. The result was a new-look Stars team that was anchored by old standards like Kari Lehtonen and Jamie Benn to lead the way. The pick of Tyler Seguin from Boston has greatly helped the team make that final push and gain then last Western Wild Card Spot. With a relatively young team and a proven coach like Lindy Ruff at the helm the future is looking bright in Texas.

• Nashville Predators: The Perds got off to a good start this season with new acquisitions like Seth Jones and Carter Hutton playing well and keep Nashville competitive with the rest of the division. However, the early season injury to Pekke Rinne provided too much of a hurdle for the team to leap and they began losing games and falling farther and farther from contention as the season progressed. Despite a strong amount of talent on the team untimely injuries and cold streaks doomed the season in Nashville. Nashville is hoping that the sacrifice of Barry Trotz to the hockey gods will appease them enough to make next season better in Smashville but they have a long way to go if they think that the head coach is the only problem that needs to be addressed.

• Winnipeg Jets: Best Canadian Team in the West! Other than that realignment was not kind to the Canadian representative of the Central Division. While 84 points would have put them in the same spot in the East it could be argued that a harder schedule in the West is what led to only 84 points in the first place. Regardless there are a lot of problems that need to be addressed in The Peg this off season. Dustin Byfuglien, a fan favorite, has been struggling and is the subject of trade rumors (which would suck since I have his jersey). Problems on defense as well as a lack of depth at forward are big issues that need to be addressed in the coming months. It was fun to watch the Jets this season but if seasons like this become the norm it could become a lot more painful.

There is your wrap, sorry for going missing for the past few months! I'll be back soon with a Playoff Preview!

Woo-hoo!

I made a bet at the beginning of the year with an Avalanche fan. He bet that they would make the playoffs, and I bet against him. I owe this man (or woman) a couple of steaks. However, he or she has had their account deleted. Does anyone know who it was, or maybe this person just made a new account? Anything helps.

I was very pleased with the Moulson trade and Bryzgalov seemed like a safe choice (on the cheap too). I think Chuck Fletcher has done a fine job two years running now (Pominville at last year's deadline).

We have a lot of athletes and managers from the Central heading to Sochi next month so lets run-down the whole list!

• From Chicago:

Patrick Kane (RW, United States)

Jonathan Toews (C, Canada)

Duncan Keith (D, Canada)

Patrick Sharp (LW, Canada)

Johnny Oduya (D, Sweden)

Niklas Hjalmarsson (D, Sweden)

Marcus Kruger (C, Sweden)

Michal Handzus (C, Slovakia)

Marian Hossa (RW, Slovakia)

Michal Rozsival (D, Czech Republic)

• From Colorado:

Paul Stasny (C, United States)

Matt Duchene (C, Canada)

Semyon Varlamov (G, Russia)

Gabriel Landeskog (LW, Sweden)

• From Dallas:

Jamie Benn (C, Canada)

Kari Lehtonen (G, Finland)

Valeri Nichushkin (RW, Russia)

Lindy Ruff (Coach, Canada)

• From Minnesota:

Ryan Suter (D, United States)

Zach Parise (LW, United States)

Mikko Koivu (C, Finland)

Mikael Granlund (C, Finland)

Nino Niederreiter (RW, Switzerland)

• From Nashville:

Shea Webber (D, Canada)

Roman Josi (D, Switzerland)

Simon Moser (C, Switzerland)

David Poile (General Manager of USA Hockey)

Peter Rodgers (Head Equipment Manager, United States

• From St. Louis:

Jay Bouwmeester (D, Canada)

Alex Pietrangelo (D, Canada)

Ken Hitchcock (Asst. Coach, Canada)

David Backes (C, United States)

T.J. Oshie (RW, United States)

Kevin Shattenkirk (D, United States)

Alexander Steen (LW, Sweden)

Patrik Berglund (C, Sweden)

Vladimir Tarasenko (RW, Russia)

Jaroslav Halak (G, Slovakia)

Vladimir Sabotka (LW, Czech Republic)

• From Winnipeg:

Blake Wheeler (RW, United States)

Olli Jokinen (C, Finland)

Michael Frolic (C, Czech Republic)

Ondrej Pavelec (G, Czech Republic)

• And there you have it! Feel free once again to discuss and debate inclusions and exclusions!