Central Standards

Chicago - Let's start by saying you won't find any stupid jokes about how the only real hockey team in Chicago are the Wolves. It's just a fact of life, like death and taxes, that as long as the Wirtz family owns the team, the players and the fans will be shortchanged living in such a great city with such a great (former) hockey tradition.
That said, the Blackhawks did manage to upgrade their offense, netting Martin Havlat and Bryan Smolinski in that three way deal with Ottawa and San Jose. Havlat's automatically the best scoring threat on the team, and Smolinski the best center. Even with the steadily improving Rene Bourque, gritty winger Martin Lapointe, and Michal Handzus adding some depth, there's not enough there beyond two lines to compete with the rest of the division. Defensively, there's no way after years of playing 30-plus minutes a game in Vancouver and Long Island that Adrian Aucoin can keep up the pace. Jassen Cullimore and Jim Vandermeer will make opposing forwards look over their shoulder in the offensive zone, but there's no depth and no toughness before you get to the men in the crease. Speaking of which, there's automatically a problem when the three goalies a team carries have been starters at one time in their respective careers. Either Brian Boucher or Patrick Lalime will be disgruntled and asking for a trade sometime before the All-Star break, and after last season, Nikolai Khabibulin probably thought he was back in Winnipeg facing so much rubber.
Sad to say, but this will be yet another lost year in a lost era for a once proud franchise. Prediction: Last place, though Havlat's skill and the goaltending carousel may make a few games interesting.

Columbus - Let's get this straight. Rick Nash misses a good chunk at the start of the season, Sergei Fedorov arrives and plays like he's on Xanax, and the Jackets manage to post their best season since arriving in the league in 2000? That won't happen again, now that Chicago, St Louis and Nashville have upgraded their teams. Nash is the sniper, Fedorov is the passer, while David Vyborny, Nikolai Zherdev and Fredrik Modin will add more scoring punch - and that's all, folks. Anson Carter will be a valuable addition for depth on the third line, but it's unrealistic to expect a 33-goal year like he had in Vancouver. Aside from Adam Foote and Bryan Berard, this team is a sieve on the backline, and without even Marc Denis to throw in five or six excellent games in net, the Jackets will once again be near the bottom of the league in goals against. Prediction: 4th place. Good thing the Blackhawks are there in the basement to cushion a fall.

Detroit - Since the creation of the new Central as part of the six-division alignment starting in 1998-99, the Red Wings have finished first every year except for 1999-2000, when the Blues won the Central and the Presidents' Trophy as the best team in the NHL. 2006-2007 will be the second year.
Hockeytown has lost so much in the offseason with the retirement of Stevie Franchise, and the departure ofd Brendan Shanahan to the Rangers. It's not just the goals, assists and points - the heart and soul of three Stanley Cup winners vanished in a summer of discontent. A 58-win team that utterly failed in the postseason is now a battered husk of itself. Sure, everyone else will be along for the ride this year, led by 44-year-old captain Chris Chelios. Dominik Hasek is even taking his place on the goalie-go-round with the perennially maligned Chris Osgood as his back-up. Still, this team reminds me of those early 80's Flyers - too old and too young at the same time. They'll put together a decent regular season, then hit a wall when fresher legs and deeper rosters confront them in the playoffs.
Second-year man Mike Babcock will have to break out of autopilot this time around, and actually have to coach this Red Wing team. He'll have his hands full trying to manage the babes and massage the old folks.
Prediction: 2nd place. Detroit is on an elevator operating only with a "down" button.

Nashville - Congrats, you capital of that hockey hotbed of Tennessee. This is your time. Carpe diem.
You've got the smooth professionalism of Paul Kariya. The manic speed of Steve Sullivan. The swift hands of Jason Arnott. The shifty and crafty J.P. Dumont. The durable goaltending combo of Tomas Vokoun and Chris Mason. The weakening of the Red Wings' gerontological Empire. Two teams in your division you can easily rip off 14 wins against. There are no more excuses. Prediction: First place.

St. Louis - All is smiles and sunshine in the city by the Mighty Mississip'. New ownership, new lease on life, new commitment to exciting the crowds and putting a competitive product on the ice. Wait...didn't we hear this out of Pittsburgh last year?
This team left a trail of paper from all the signed and discarded contracts that would make Republicans envious. Bill Guerin, Radek Dvorak, Doug Weight, Martin Rucinsky, Jay McKee, Dan Hinote, and Manny Legace have the task of turning a bunch of sour notes into sweet, sweet music. All Mike Kitchen has to do is keep Keith Tkachuk away from the pastry aisles, and the Blues are all set, right? Wrong. While signing a bunch of name players to infuse your shiny new plaything with an element that sells tickets is a brilliant marketing strategy, it does not mean automatic winning chemistry when the puck drops. See "Penguins, Pittsburgh" for reference. The Blues are yet another team that is too old and too young, and that spells a maddening inconsistency that may turn St. Louis into a seller come the trading deadline. Are the Blues a vastly improved team over the one that finished 14th in the West? Absolutely. However, I don't buy into the belief that signing players in a blizzard of ink guarantees anything.
Things are looking up in the Arch City, but there's still a long way to go. Prediction: 3rd place, a playoff spot just out of reach.