Detroit Red Wings: The 2021 NHL Central Division Preview
The NHL Central Division is strong at the very top, but the rest of the teams have low floors and high ceilings. 2021 promises to be an entertaining year for those in the Central.
Colorado Avalanche
Record Last Season: 39-13-4
Playoff Result: Lost in the Second Round
Expectation This Season: Stanley Cup
What to Expect This Season
The Avs were one of the best teams in the NHL last season, and this year is more of the same. Colorado’s top like is maybe the best in the entire league, led by returning Team Captain Gabriel Landeskog (after some intense off-season negotiations) with Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen on the wings. The trio is the best offensive unit in the entire NHL, always lethal on the ice. The defense was stellar last year, with a top pairing of Cale Makar and Devon Toews, and and it could be even better this season. Ryan Graves and Patrik Nemeth are out, but they added Ryan Murray and Jack Johnson. Goaltending and depth scoring are the biggest concerns for the Avalanche, especially after losing goaltender Philipp Grubauer in free agency. They acquired Darcey Kuemper from the Arizona Coyotes last season, but he’s going to have big shoes to fill. A lot rides on good goaltending this year.
The Colorado Avalanche are one if of the best teams in the league this season – which will obviously present quite the matchup nightmare for the Red Wings. Detroit’s defense improved last year, but it’s hard to stop that top line. The Avs blue line is also going to present a heck of a challenge, especially if the unit gets even better this season.
Chicago Blackhawks
Record Last Season: 19-27-10
Playoff Result: N/A
Expectation This Season: Make the Playoffs
After a great start to the year, the Blackhawks ended up fizzling out and missing the playoffs. However, in a year where expectations were quite low, the relative success was enough to convince the organization to accelerate the rebuild through a roster makeover, especially on the blue line. The two biggest additions of the off-season were defenseman Seth Jones from Columbus and Marc-Andre Fleury from Vegas. Jones hasn’t quite lived up to expectations yet, but he’s going to be a major factor in the improvement of the defense. His brother Caleb Jones his also a Blackhawk now, part of the Duncan Keith trade to the Oilers. Fluery was fantastic throughout his entire career with the Golden Knights and he’ll be an instant boost in the crease. Jonathan Toews is also returning to the lineup after missing a year.
Chicago was a tough matchup for Detroit last season. The Red Wings were 2-6-0 in their eight games against the Hawks. They won’t play as much this season with the conferences back to normal, but like always, it’s going to be a very difficult for the Wings to come out on top – especially considering the improvement the defense made this year, the presence of Patrick Kane, the return of Toews and improved goaltending.
St. Louis Blues
Record Last Season: 27-20-9
Playoff Result: Lost in the First
Expectation This Season: Playoff Run
The Blues were an underwhelming team last season, limping their way into the playoffs and finishing the year by getting swept in the first round. Things are getting stale in St. Louis and not much was done to change that narrative in the offseason. Ryan O’Reilly and Vladimir Tarasenko are going to drive the offense, while Torey Krug and Robert Bortuzzi back up the blue line.
The Blues seem to be a team trending down, while Detroit is moving forward. However, St. Louis is a veteran team with some excellent players on the roster, which means they’ll be hard for a younger team like the Red Wings.
Arizona Coyotes
Record Last Season: 24-26-6
Playoff Result: N/A
Expectation This Season: Rebuild
The Coyotes are in full rebuild mode. They traded or let go of Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Conor Garland, Alex Goligoski, Darcy Kuemper and Antti Raanta in an attempt to secure some future capital for the team. Their youth is struggling to progress and the defense has been decimated – defenseman Shane Gostisbehere won’t be enough to make up for what they lost. The goaltending will also be rough for the Coyotes this year – it’ll be an AHL starter and former Buffalo Sabres goaltender Carter Hutton in net for the team.
The Coyotes are going to be one of the few teams that Detroit will outmatch at nearly every position. They’re in for a rough year.
Winnipeg Jets
Record Last Season: 30-23-3
Playoff Result: Lost in the Second Round
Expectation This Season: Deep Playoff Run
Other than depth forward Mason Appleton, a majority of the 2020-21 team is returning this season. Although they lost in just the second round, the Jets showed promise throughout the season and in their opening round sweep of the Edmonton Oilers. They added defensive depth with Nate Schmidt and Brenden Dillon and extended a handful of important players. With goaltender Connor Hellebyuck in net, the Jets can be competitive against anyone in the league. However, they need to a start finding more than just morale victories in the playoffs. A deep play off run is needed if they want to keep the momentum going.
The Jets are a well rounded team; there aren’t any glaring holes in the roster. However, that’s actually not a bad matchup for the type of scheme that the Red Wings run – that muck-it up defensively, dare your opponent to make a mistake style. But yhe Jets are certainly the better team, especially with Hellebyuck in net.
Nashville Predators
Record Last Season: 31-23-2
Playoff Result: Lost in the First Round
Expectation This Season: Make the Playoffs – or Start the Rebuild
After a terrible start to the year, the Predators made a surprising turnaround to prevent the start of a rebuild. They are trying to tiptoe the line between rebuilding and pushing for the playoffs, sort of a “re-tooling”. They traded away Ryan Ellis, but the defense is still pretty stellar and probably the strength of the team. The offense, as has been the case for years, is the main question. Viktor Ardvidsson is gone on and they didn’t do much to make forward improvements. 2021 will tell is if the re-tooling worked, or if they’ll need to lean into a full rebuild.
Despite the rough start the season, the Predators were quite good in their eight games series against the Red Wings, securing six victories. Their stout blue line is hard for a struggling offense like Detroit’s to break through, and it’ll likely be just as strong this year. The Preds will be a tough matchup yet again.
Dallas Stars
Record Last Season: 23-19-14
Playoff Result: N/A
Expectation This Season: Make the Playoffs
Least season, the Stars were victim to the injury bug. They are going to be a heavily improved team this season – if they can stay healthy. Even with the injuries, they missed the playoffs by just four points. They added plenty of depth on the blue line, namely with former Minnesota Wild defenseman Ryan Suter. They also added Andreas Borgman, Alexander Petrovic and Jani Hakanpaa. Luke Glendening and Michael Raffl were signed to help the depth of the forward room. The most important move of the off-season was signing Braden Holtby, which makes the Stars goaltending group one of the deepest in the entire NHL.
The Stars bested the Red Wings for most of the 2020-21 season even in a regressive year; they were 6-2-0 against the Wings last season. They’ll be even better in 2021-22, so expect some struggles against Dallas when they match up.
Minnesota Wild
Record Last Season: 35-16-5
Playoff Result: Lost in the First Round
Expectation This Season: Deeper in the Playoffs
With Kirill Kaprizov officially back, the Wild are a dangerous team in the central. The organization has historically struggled to “get over the hump” in the past, but they finally seem to have some momentum. Zach Parise and Ryan Suter are gone, as the Wild look to move on to an updated core. The defense is going to be good this year, bolstered by acquiring Alex Goligoski and Dmitri Kulikov, but the forward group is still relatively limited. To maintain the momentum, the offense needs to show some growth, and they need to do more than just make the playoffs. Results are important this season.
The Wings struggled against solid defenses last season, and the Wild look to have just that. Add to that a game breaking talent like Kaprizov and you have a hard matchup for Detroit.
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