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Central Division Mid Season Update And Predictions

Created by: TheFlamingC
Team: 2020-21 Custom Team
Initial Creation Date: Mar. 14, 2021
Published: Mar. 14, 2021
Salary Cap Mode: Basic
Description
https://www.capfriendly.com/armchair-gm/team/2138959 - Pre Season Edition
Carolina Hurricanes - 19-6-1 with 39 points in 26 games, 3rd place. I predicted 2nd place with a first round exit. Very possible. Aho is having a good season, 24 in 26. I'd expect slightly more from him now at 23, but he's still a superstar player. Teravainen is currently listed as DTD having missed a lot of time, but was having a great season pre-injury. Trochek in particular is having a tremendous season and has really stepped up for this Canes team. Unfortunately he is out indefinitely which will likely put an end to his current tear and terrific season thus far. Necas and Nino are having great seasons as supporting players so far. Both are being, effective impact players. Svechnikov is having another good season with 22 in 26 and is a star on this team. No registered lacrosse goals yet but we'll see. Jordan Staal is on fire as well with 22 in 24. Even on the third line, players are having great seasons. McGinn, Foegele, Fast have 13, 10, 10 points respectively. The entire team is just clicking and they will get Teravainen back in only two games. The Trochek injury is a huge blow however and they will need Staal to continue his play. Overall this team has enough star power, good enough support players and good enough depth to really contend for a title. On D, you have a Slavin, Hamilton top pair. Hamilton has 20 in 26 and could win a Norris if he was in a bigger market. Slavin is the best shutdown d-man in the NHL for my money and makes his presence felt every night. This has a serious case for best d-pairing in the NHL. Brett Pesce is having a good season on the second pair with Brady Skjei. I think Skjei is slightly overrated but he's an effective 3-4 guy. This is just about the perfect second pair. Jake Gardiner was just put on waivers and is currently DTD but he'll be back and effective soon enough. In the mean time, Fleury and Bean could easily be top 4 on most NHL teams, but are log jammed onto this third pair and it's a problem Carolina probably loves to have. This is basically the perfect d-core. Two Norris level guys, two great second pair guys and a terrific 3rd pair, that could be a 1st pair one day. In net Mrazek is still injured. Reimer has stepped up in his absence but they need Mrazek back to have an effective tandem. I don't think they have problems in net for the regular season, but come playoffs, I don't see you winning a championship with Mrazek in net, even with that defensive group. This team is almost flawless but are ravaged with injuries. Teravainen will be huge boost but he's just replacing Trochek so no net benefit. The Gardiner injury is irrelevant with their depth but they need Mrazek back, even with Reimer's play. The whole team is having great seasons and on paper this team is perfect. They have great star power, great supporting cast, great depth all throughout the lineup. They just need a goalie. I don't think Mrazek is that guy though, but he is a better solution than Reimer.
Chicago Blackhawks - 14-10-5 with 33 points in 29 games, 4th place. I predicted dead last in the entire NHL. Forgot about the Patrick Kane factor. And Kevin Lankinen. Kane has 41 points in 29 games and it would be blasphemous for him to not win the Hart Trophy and Ted Lindsay Award. This team is awful. He and a few others makes them a playoff team. One of those others is Alex DeBrincat who is also playing great with 29 points in 25 games. Really stepped up in the absence of actual skill throughout the line up. In the middle Pius Suter is having a successful rookie year with 13 in 29. Pleasant surprise for Chicago. Kubalik is having a great sophomore season with 22 in 29, another terrific European find by Chicago. Dylan Strome is currently DTD as if this team didn't have enough injury problems. They have however had a lot of players step up, Mattias Janmark, Phillip Kurashev and Carl Soderberg are some of those players with 15, 10, 12 points each. Overall this team has two superstar forwards, one of which is a generational talent, one more star player in Kubalik, and a bunch of support guys having career years. This forward group is awful, make no mistake. Patrick Kane is just elevating all of them to a team that could make the playoffs. On defence, Boqvist is a future #1 d-man in the middle of a great year. Keith is having succesful season again at 400 years old and Murphy-De Haan makes up an effective 3-4 pair. Just what you want to see from a second pair. This defensive group, unlike the forwards are an actual decent group with a decent 3-4, a good #1 and a good #2. Not an elite d-corps but a good one. In net, Lankinen is freakishly good, but he needs a backup. Subban isn't an NHL goalie and neither is Dellia. Lankinen can carry the load this year but they need to get him a backup or he'll burn out. Overall this team is being absolutely carried by a career season from Patrick Kane, a rookie goalie who caught fire in Lankinen and a few others like Boqvist and DeBrincat having good years. They're depth isn't that good, they have decent support players, but there entire lineup is just supporting players and their d-core is pretty average. They do however have an elite goalie and a generational player and that makes a huge difference.
Columbus Blue Jackets - 11-12-6 with 28 points in 29 games. 5th place. I predicted 4th and a first round exit. Still a very possible outcome. Cam Atkinson is having a good year, but that's about it for the vets on this team. Jenner and Foligno are having decent but unspectacular years and that's unacceptable for a team with as little talent as this one. They need everyone to show up and have great seasons and that just isn't happening. Bjorkstrand is having a great year, and is the only forward on this team other than Laine anywhere near being a star player, and he isn't a star. Speaking of Laine, he's been awful as of late. Torts and him don't fit and that just isn't working out. Domi is another who isn't working out in Columbus. At this point you got to fire Torts if he's losing the room which I think he is. You can't just keep trading any star player you get. Eventually, the coach will lose that battle. Bemstrom is having a rough season as well. Not a star but another guy struggling. On the other side, Roslovic loves it here. 18 in 22 and is coming into his own. Some guys like Torts, others don't. Jones and Werenski are having decent years. Not terrific but decent years. Still both bonafide #1 d-men though. I could see either of them winning a Norris one day. They are another competitor for best NHL d pair. Gavrikov-Savard are both #4s on the 3-4 pair so its a decent 2nd pair. Not as elite as the first pair but they do the Jobe. In net, Merzlikins and Korpisalo aren't doing too well in their sophomore season. Overall this team has no star players who are performing, some good support guys, a wicked good top d pair and a pretty complete defensive corps, with an underperforming goalie tandem. I think that Torts is losing the room a bit and that this season may start to go sideways.
Dallas Stars - 9-9-6 with 24 points in 24 games, 6th place. I predicted 3rd place with a 2nd round exit. Probably out of reach now but not an awful prediction. Stephen Johns is out for the season, Tyler Seguin is out for the regular season, Ben Bishop is likely out until early April. They are missing a lot of key players to injury and need a hot streak to miss the playoffs. Not looking too good so far. Pavelski is having a terrific season. 25 points in 24 games and shades of prime Pavelski. Hintz is also having a rock solid season before injury with 15 in 17. We are getting to the point where he can be considered a star player for this team. Benn is doing better than last year but at this point, he's probably a support player rather than a core piece. Gurianov has been a great support piece so far, but hasn't made the jump to a core, star player that you'd want to see from him this year. Robertson is having a breakout year, establishing himself as a great complementary piece on this team. Prior to injury Radulov was playing great with 11 in 9. Radulov is back now though so thaw will be a huge boost. The depth players score when they can and contribute so no problems in the bottom 6, but it isn't a strength. Overall, this forward group has some players stepping up in the absence of Seguin to be stars and their supporting players are having good seasons. Pretty good forward group. On D, Klingberg is doing great with 17 in 23 and Heiskanen is doing good with 13, but I think you need more from Heiskanen. Those two drove you to the finals and especially with the absence of Seguin, they need them to create offence which Klingberg has, but I'd like more from Heiskanen. Oleksiak and Lindell fill out a solid top 4 and one of the best in the league IMO. D Core has two elite defensemen and is very complete. In net, Oettinger and Khudobin are both doing well. Oettinger has been a pleasant surprise and looks like the goalie off the future and Khudobin has been a great stop gap to Bishops return from injury, potentially stealing the job after Bishop returns. Overall this team is very complete top to bottom thanks to players throughout stepping up in the absence of others. Getting Radulov and Hintz back will be a huge boost to them for the final playoff push.
Detroit Red Wings - 8-17-4 with 20 points in 29 games, dead last. I predicted 7th. Very possible. There isn't very much to talk about here so I'm just going to move on to the next team.
Florida Panthers - 18-5-4 with 40 points in 27 games, 3rd place. I predicted 6th. That was a god awful prediction. I'm struggling in this division. Huberdeau and Barkov are having wicked good seasons. Two franchise players there. Huberdeau has 32 in 27 and Barkov has 31 with Selke level defense. Pretty good two star players. Hornqvist is showing out this season as well with 22 points. Verhaege even has 20 points. Two great complementary pieces. Vatrano, Duclair and Wennberg are also great complementary guys for this team with 13, 12 and 11 points each. This forward group is just clicking in large part due to to two absolute super stars at the fore front of it all. On D, Ekblad, Weegar, Yandle and Stralman form a terrific top 4 with all 4 having great seasons. Ekblad as the #1, Weegar as the #2, Yandle as the #3 and Stralman as the #4. Super complete group and another great defensive core in this division. Ekblad, Weegar and Yandle in particular are playing great with 19, 16 and 17 points each. In net, Bob has bounced back slightly but will never be worth that awful contract. Driedger has stepped up however and is playing terrific. I don't think Driedger is a long term solution that you can win a Cup with though. Overall this team has some absolute superstars and they have a lot of players having great seasons. It clicks this year, but I don't think it will workout for too much longer. For now, its a great team. We'll see in two years if it still is.
Nashville Predators - 11-16-1 with 23 points in 28 games. 7th place, I predicted 5th. Not a horrific prediction but not going to happen. lets start this with the injury report. Ryan Ellis, potentially done for the rest of the regular season. Luke Kunin, may return in early April. Juuse Saros is WTW with a UBI. Matt Duchene may return in early to mid-April. Roman Josi is WTW. Mattias Ekholm likely gone at TDL along with Filip Forsberg. This is a disaster. Forsberg and Josi were having great seasons but everybody else has been absolutely useless top to bottom. These guys are a tire fire and I only see it getting worse. Moving on from this travesty.
Tampa Bay Lightning - 19-5-2 with 40 points in 26 games. 2nd place. I predicted 1st on route to a Stanley Cup championship. Still possible. Palat is a point per game and one of the best defensive wingers in the NHL. Having a tremendous season in the absence of Kucherov and looks like a superstar. Brayden Point is almost a point per game and having a terrific season as well. Yanni Gourde is having a good complementary season with 15 in 26 as is Alex Killorn with 17 points. Cirelli has 17 points in 20 games not to mention his defensive impact. On the wing, Stamkos is terrific after returning from injury with 25 in 24. Those guys combine for the most lethal top 6 in the NHL and they're missing their best player until playoffs. Complementary pieces Tyler Johnson, Blake Coleman, Barclay Goodrow, Mathieu Joseph and Pat Maroon are all playing good as well in the bottom 6. Near perfect forward group and its missing its best player. On D, Hedman is having a Norris season with 26 in 26. Point per game as a d-man. Sergachev is having himself a season and Cernak and McDonagh aren't doing too bad either. They have a case for best d corps in the NHL. It's insane how good this team is top to bottom. Then in net, you have a guy who almost has won the Vezina by the midway point in Vasilevskiy. .934 with a 1.85. If this team wasn't this good, he'd be a potential Hart candidate. Best goalie in the world, best d-man in the world and best winger in the world on the way. Flawless top to bottom with superstars, great support pieces, depth players who are top 6 on some teams, the best d-man in hockey, 2 other top pair guys and a solid #4 and then the best goalie in hockey. I'll just say this in conclusion. They won the Stanley Cup last year without Stamkos and with Palat playing a lot worse. Now they have Stamkos, a superstar level Palat and Kucherov on the way. How can any team beat these guys?

Standings predictions below
ROSTER SIZESALARY CAPCAP HITOVERAGES TooltipBONUSESCAP SPACE
11$1$48,711,083$0$490,000-$48,711,082
Left WingCentreRight Wing
Logo of the Tampa Bay Lightning
$7,875,000$7,875,000
LD
NMC
UFA - 5
Logo of the Carolina Hurricanes
$8,460,250$8,460,250
C
UFA - 4
Logo of the Florida Panthers
$5,900,000$5,900,000
LW, RW
NMC
UFA - 3
Logo of the Chicago Blackhawks
$2,625,000$2,625,000
RW
NMC
UFA - 3
Logo of the Dallas Stars
$7,000,000$7,000,000
RW
NMC
UFA - 2
Logo of the Columbus Blue Jackets
$2,500,000$2,500,000
RW, LW
UFA - 1
Logo of the Nashville Predators
$6,000,000$6,000,000
LW
UFA - 2
Logo of the Detroit Red Wings
$6,100,000$6,100,000
C
UFA - 3
Left DefenseRight DefenseGoaltender
Logo of the Nashville Predators
$714,166$714,166 (Performance Bonus$182,500$182K)
RD
UFA - 1
Logo of the Ottawa Senators
$700,000$700,000
C, LW
UFA - 1
ScratchesInjured Reserve (IR)Long Term IR (LTIR)
Logo of the Detroit Red Wings
$836,667$836,667 (Performance Bonus$307,500$308K)
G
UFA - 2

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Mar. 14, 2021 at 9:53 p.m.
#1
I want Gourde back
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Joined: Jun. 2018
Posts: 4,524
Likes: 2,350
Really like this, but some paragraphs would make it a lot better. Really hard to follow with it being just one big story
TheFlamingC liked this.
Mar. 14, 2021 at 10:12 p.m.
#2
Thread Starter
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Joined: Apr. 2019
Posts: 3,446
Likes: 1,805
Quoting: imawesome
Really like this, but some paragraphs would make it a lot better. Really hard to follow with it being just one big story


Yes, I tried separating it up by paragraph for each team, but it just jumbled together
Mar. 14, 2021 at 11:34 p.m.
#3
Kyle from Chicago
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Joined: Feb. 2018
Posts: 9,786
Likes: 5,746
It’s a rough read my friend. Try separating by 3-4 lines by team.
TheFlamingC liked this.
Mar. 14, 2021 at 11:42 p.m.
#4
Thread Starter
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Joined: Apr. 2019
Posts: 3,446
Likes: 1,805
Quoting: Stan_Bowman
It’s a rough read my friend. Try separating by 3-4 lines by team.


Ok, thanks for the input
 
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