NHL Central Division Predictions for the 2024-25 Season
The Central division was a division the Toronto Maple Leafs performed well against last season with a 12-2-2 record (Stats from Statmuse.com).
While the Toronto Maple Leafs had a good year against them last year, the Central has some quality teams at the top of the division.
The Stars made the conference final last year where they lost a hard fought series in six games to the Edmonton Oilers. Colorado beat up on a good Winnipeg team in five games but eventually fell to Dalla. Even Nashville had a good performance in the first round against a Vancouver team who was great all year.
The division has changed this year. Overall, I believe it has gotten weaker for the most part while the Predators got better. Here is how I think it will play out.
Thoughts and Predictions on the Central Division
8. Chicago Blackhawks
Last season Chicago finished last in the Central with 52 points (Standings stats from NHL.com).
This offseason Chicago added Ilya Mikheyev, Sam Lafferty, Tyler Bertuzzi, Alec Martinez, Laurent Brossoit, Teuvo Teravainen, Craig Smith, Pat Maroon, T.J Brodie as well as drafting Artyom Levshunov with the second overall pick.
Levshunov isn't currently projected on the Blackhawks roster on Dailyfaceoff.com so it will be interesting to see if he sees any NHL action this season.
They lost Taylor Raddysh, Reese Johnson, Colin Blackwell, MacKenzie Entwistle, Nikita Zaitsev, Jaycob Megna and Tyler Johnson.
I like what the Blackhawks did this offseason. Getting guys like Bertuzzi and Teravainen gives Bedard solid NHL players to play with and also improves their roster overall. Brodie and Martinez are improvements on their blue line, with Brodie looking for a bounceback after a rough last season in Toronto.
Mrazek is still their starting goaltender after a great year last season. He played 56 games for Chicago last year, posting a .908 save percentage, 11.45 goals saved above average and 14.39 goals saved above expected (All advanced stats from Evolving-Hockey.com).
He was one of their surprise bright spots last year and now they got him a backup in Laurent Brossoit. Brossoit was one of the goalies I wanted the Leafs to grab as a tandem with Woll after his great year in Winnipeg. He played 23 games last season, posting a .927 save percentage, 14.36 GSAA and 17.82 GSAx.
While I like their moves, they still don't have enough talent to step out of the bottom spot of the division. Bedard is fantastic and hopefully, he can stay healthy this year so we can see what a full 82 games of Bedard in the playoffs looks like. Chicago will need steps out of their young studs in Kevin Korchinski, Alex Vlasic, and if Frank Nazar gets any games in the NHL this year. He is currently projected to play in the AHL.
Chicago finishes last in the central but it's all about the performance of their young players this year.