Today we have the Eliminated Central teams including the Stars, Blackhawks, Red Wings, and Blue Jackets.
4th Nashville Predators 0 31-23-2 64 21 26 156-154+2
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5th Dallas Stars 0 23-19-14 60 17 21 158-154+4
6th Chicago Blackhawks 0 24-25-7 55 15 22 161-186-25
7th Detroit Red Wings 0 19-27-10 48 16 17 127-171-44
8th Columbus Blue Jackets 0 18-26-12 48 12 15 137-187-50
Dallas Stars
The Stars were close to making the playoffs but just could not get there as they missed the playoffs by 4 points, however Dallas was 2 games above .500 by the end of the season and will have the #14 overall pick at the draft. On the Goalie situation after Ben Bishop gets healthy this offseason the stars will have three goalies who can play in Khudobin, Oettinger and Bishop but with Bishop their starter and Oettinger showing he can be a backup that would leave Khudobin the goaltender who is third in the ranks and that in my opinion would mean that Khudobin should be moved in the offseason. As long as Bishop is healthy Anton Khudobin should not be on Dallas next year and the options are expose Khudobin in the expansion draft and ask Seattle to take him or find a trade. On the Defense resigning Miro Heiskanen would be the biggest priority as he is arguably their best defender and having him with Esa Lindell and John Klingberg make the Stars have one of the best D-Core’s in the league. Another priority should be to resign Jamie Oleksiak who over the past two years has been Heiskanen’s partner on the 2nd unit. If they do sign Oleksiak they should wait until after the expansion draft and if they have any other holes they should use the young guys in their system. And on the offence would not think there is much except growth. Young Players like Jason Robertson, Joel Kiviranta, and Denis Gurianov all are getting experience while having Tyler Seguin and Alex Radulov healthy at the same time should improve their offence. One thing I could see Dallas doing is getting a middle six winger who can score, and they could either sign that guy in free agency or via trade where I think using Khudobin as trade bait to acquire a forward would be a good idea and I could then see them being back in the playoffs.
Chicago Blackhawks
They missed the playoffs by 9 points, were 0.5 game back of .500 and will have the #11 overall pick at the draft, and were in a playoff spot for most of the season but the last 1/4 of the season they fell hard and stoped out of a playoff spot. For the goaltending Kevin Lankinen has shown he has starter abilities but he faded in the stretch run for the playoffs so maybe having a veteran backup would be good and maybe they move one of their other goalies Subban or Delia to elsewhere to make room for the veteran backup. On the defensive side they already have a bundle of young players who are ready for the NHL such as Ian Mitchell, Wyatt Kalynuk, Nicolas Beaudin, and Riley Stillman who all played this year and should all have a chance to make the team but to open up another spot they (I think) will trade Nikita Zadorov who is a pending RFA and trading him will open up a spot on defense. On Offense they should try to upgrade a little bit and it starts with giving contracts to Pius Suter and Brandon Hagel as those two showed that they can produce offensively but the bid decision will be on Dylan Strome as they will have at center Toews, Dach, and Suter and if they can get a middle six winger for Strome it would make sense and if they can get just a bit better they should be able to return to the playoffs.
Detroit Red Wings
The Red Wings slightly improved from being last in 2020 but missed the Playoffs again, this year by 16 points and were 4 games under .500 this season and will have the #6 overall pick at the draft. On the Goaltenders their has been a plot of talk about the Red Wings Resigning Jonathan Bernier who was playing better than starter Thomas Greiss and is a pending UFA but if they can not come to terms on a new deal with Bernier they should try to go out and get another goalie whether via trade or Free Agency. On Defense resigning Filip Hronek, Gustav Lindstrom, and Dennis Cholowski to new contracts should be a priority as all are RFA’s but getting Hronek signed should be top priority as he is their best defender. Now this defense should be competitive next year but they are missing some things, I think that they will bring up Moritz Seider to play next year but they need a top 4 Defensemen who can play on the Left side. Dekeyser and Chlowski should both be on the Left side but neither are top D-Men so getting that Top 4 D is a need. And on Offense the young players have taken a leap this year but new contracts to Tyler Bertuzzi, Jacob Vrana, Adam Erne, and Michael Rasmussen should be a priority because Erne is a good bottom 6 forward while the other three are important parts of their top 6 forward group and they need all of them. And I think they could use another middle 6 forward on the team a vetran presence on the young Red Wings team who can score. Now they could resign on of their pending UFA’s like Luke Glendening or Bobby Ryan or look to the trade market or Free Agency Buf if they do these they will be a better team.
Columbus Blue Jackets
The Jackets faded toward the end of the season missing the playoffs by 16 points and were 4 games under .500 and will have the #5 overall pick at the draft, but had their four season playoff streak end. For their goalie situation they have two great goalies in Merzlikins and Korpisalo but they both hit the free agent market next year so they will sign one to a contract extension but should this offseason find a trade for the other goalie and I think Korpisalo stays while they try to find a trade for Merzlikins and then acquire a backup either via trade or free agency. On Defense Seth Jones and Zach Wereinski are going to need new contracts after next year so re-signing those two should be a priority but on top of that they should sign a top 4 D to play what Savard played with the Blue Jackets this year and try the young guys like Gabriel Carlsson and Andrew Peeke to see what the have in their system. On the Offense they are a young team that will need to grow in order to make the playoffs. They should get Gustav Nyquist back who missed the intire shortened season due to injury and young guys like Bemstrom, Foudy, and Chinakov, should all be in the lineup next year but the biggest problem would be the number 1 center position and I think I have a way to solve that problem, if they can trade Patrick Laine who never really fit in with the Jackets and Max Domi who did awful and has a year left on his contract and bundle them together for a top line center than this team might have a chance to make the playoffs.
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