Latest episode<\/a><\/p>\nKey additions:\u00a0Joel Kiviranta, W<\/p>\n
Key subtractions:\u00a0Mavrik Bourque, C; Ilya Lyubushkin, D<\/p>\n
Cap space today:\u00a0$389,667<\/p>\n
Best-case scenario:\u00a0Rantanen joins his 45-goal teammates\u00a0and Dallas makes a big run.<\/p>\n
After health hindered Mikko Rantanen in his first full season with the Stars, the Finn is a man on a mission. Several scoring streaks see him reach 50 goals for the first time since 2022-23 with the Avalanche, and he hits a new career-high in points in the process. Jason Robertson and Wyatt Johnston need not worry \u2014 there are plenty of goals to go around in this offence, as we finally get to see what this trio can do over the course of a full campaign \u2014 and a long playoff run, all the way to the Cup Final.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Worst-case scenario:\u00a0Complicated contract fallout lingers into the season.<\/p>\n
Claim all you want that contract talks are all business, not personal\u2026 but there are feelings involved here, and after the summer-long saga between Robertson and Stars management, the situation doesn\u2019t sit right with the 45-goal man. While still intent on winning in Dallas, rumours of his impending departure prove to be a distraction, and despite still making a strong playoff run, the crumbling locker-room chemistry is tough to overcome. Robertson\u2019s final game of the season is his final as a Star, and he walks away without Dallas getting anything in return.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Key additions:\u00a0Blake Coleman, W; Calvin Pickard, G<\/p>\n
Key subtractions:\u00a0Mats Zuccarello, W; Marcus Johansson, C; Vladimir Tarasenko, W; Jacob Middleton, D<\/p>\n
Cap space today:\u00a0$1.152 million<\/p>\n
Best-case scenario:\u00a0Kirill Kaprizov has career year with a new centreman.<\/p>\n
The Wild\u2019s long, drawn-out search for the perfect centreman to take Kirill Kaprizov to even great heights has concluded. Maybe it\u2019s second-year forward Danila Yurov, whose breakout elevates this talented top-six to challenge for first place in the division. Or, maybe Yurov shows enough promise to up his trade stock and the Wild deal him for, say, Robert Thomas or Dylan Larkin or another yet-to-be-named trade target. Confidence up and down the roster (including confidence about Hughes\u2019 signing status) propels the Wild to their first Conference Final in more than 20 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Worst-case scenario:\u00a0Hughes\u2019 huge contract questions overshadow the season.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His exact words when asked about contract talks with the Wild this week were, \u201cI\u2019m sure it\u2019ll work out,\u201d but while Quinn Hughes himself may not be bothered by the constant questions about his future and whether or not it\u2019ll be in Minnesota, his teammates might be. There\u2019s no doubting the talent on this squad, but what happens when a few losses come along? Every emotion is heightened, and that pressure proves to be a distraction. Losses pile up, and Hughes starts to wonder if a fresh start might be the best move, after all.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Key additions:\u00a0Mavrik Bourque, C; Jack Drury, C; Ross Colton, C; Alexander Kerfoot, C<\/p>\n
Key subtractions:\u00a0Zachary L\u2019Heureux, W; Erik Haula, W; Fedor Svechkov, C<\/p>\n
Cap space today:\u00a0$9.7 million<\/p>\n
Best-case scenario:\u00a0A new GM brings a fresh vision into focus.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s not stripping this roster down to its studs, but new GM Chris MacFarland is overhauling the identity of a team that\u2019s been stuck in the messy middle for too long. Steven Stamkos gets on a scoring spree early to prove last year\u2019s bounce back was no fluke, and the new kids are taking notes. Rookie Brady Martin hits his stride and stays with the big club, while Mavrik Bourque builds on last year\u2019s 20-goal breakout in Dallas and registers his first 50-point campaign. MacFarland rehomes a resurgent Jonathan Marchessault and while the team sells at the deadline, there\u2019s a direction here for the future.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Worst-case scenario:\u00a0Saros struggles, and the Predators pay the price.\u00a0<\/p>\n
All that hope, and all those breakout performances, only go so far without a steady hand in net. Goalie stats took a dip league-wide last year, and Juuse Saros\u2019 numbers were no exception \u2014 his 3.16 goals-against average and .894 save percentage were both career-lows for the 31-year-old. Unable to bounce back, Saros struggles to be the reliable backdrop of a team looking to be relevant again, and they\u2019re right back where they were last year, only with a few more questions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Key additions:\u00a0Mason McTavish, C; Connor McMichael, C; Brandon Carlo, D; Ross Johnston, W<\/p>\n
Key subtractions:\u00a0Jordan Kyrou, W<\/p>\n
Cap space today:\u00a0$4.37 million<\/p>\n
Best-case scenario:\u00a0Depth propels Blues back to relevance.<\/p>\n
Rebuild? Not in St. Louis. New GM Alex Steen has been around this organization long enough to know that a retool-on-the-fly is possible, and his players prove him right. Jordan Kyrou is in Washington now, but new faces up front in Mason McTavish and Connor McMichael, step up to replace his production. Depth is the name of this team\u2019s game, and while you won\u2019t catch any league goal-scoring leaders in this group, the Blues boast seven players with 20 goals or more, and that\u2019s enough to have them on the brink of contention again. Jordan Binnington\u2019s strong play lands Steen great value on the deadline market and Joel Hofer proves he\u2019s ready to take the full-time reins.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Worst-case scenario:\u00a0Goalie questions get in the way of progress.<\/p>\n
That group of goal-scorers can only do so much if the men in net struggle, and that becomes a storyline all season. Binnington\u2019s performance, at this point, feels like it\u2019s mostly about trade value come deadline time, but the landscape is different for Hofer. His next contract is counting on a strong performance, and so are the Blues. What happens if he struggles, too?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Key additions:\u00a0Vincent Trochek, C; Anders Lee, W; Sebastian Cossa, G<\/p>\n
Key subtractions:\u00a0Sean Durzi, D; JJ Peterka, W; Alex Kerfoot, C; Ian Cole, D; Vitek Vaneck, C<\/p>\n
Cap space today:\u00a0$4.58 million<\/p>\n
Best-case scenario:\u00a0Veteran adds help the young guys thrive as Mammoth become division\u2019s darling.<\/p>\n
Landing Vincent Trocheck via trade this summer wasn\u2019t just a victory for a team still trying to grow its reputation as a destination, nor was it simply about getting better in the faceoff dot, and deeper down the middle. Bringing in Trocheck is like also hiring a coach specially equipped to help Logan Cooley take his game to another level. Both hail from Pittsburgh, and share ice time during summers; Cooley is an admirer of Trocheck\u2019s game, and now has another built-in mentor. His breakout propels the Mammoth to challenge for a top-three spot in this stacked division, as does another 40-goal season for Dylan Guenther. Lee\u2019s veteran presence as lead rebound-burier encourages Guenther to unleash that shot more than ever, and Utah breaks down the wall between themselves and the division\u2019s top three.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Worst-case scenario:\u00a0The Mammoth are better, but so are their rivals.<\/p>\n
Unstoppable force meets immovable object, and as strong as this Utah team looks, there remains a brick wall stopping them from doing great damage within their own division. The trio of Colorado, Dallas, and Minnesota gatekeep the top of the Central, leaving the Mammoth to a toil in a crowded wild-card race. D\u00e9j\u00e0 vu ensues.<\/p>\n
Key additions:\u00a0Stuart Skinner, G; Mario Ferraro, D<\/p>\n
Key subtractions:\u00a0Eric Comrie, G; Gustav Nyqvist, W; Jonathan Toews, C<\/p>\n
Cap space today:\u00a0$4.48 million<\/p>\n
Best-case scenario:\u00a0The offence outscores any questions in net.<\/p>\n
With Hellebuyck moving on, it\u2019s time to hit the reset button \u2014 in the emotional sense only, that is; there are too many talented players in their primes here to flirt with a roster reset. You won\u2019t find a rebuild here. Stuart Skinner mans the crease, and he may not play himself onto many Vezina ballots, he also isn\u2019t costing Winnipeg games. A bounce-back campaign from Cole Perfetti, paired with a breakout for first-round darling Viggo Bj\u00f6rck, provides the perfect jolt of energy on an offence that saw Mark Scheifele hit a new career high last year. Chips on shoulders spur production. Come April, a wild-card spot is in hand.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Worst-case scenario:\u00a0The Hellebuyck saga goes on\u2026 and on\u2026<\/p>\n
Jarring as it is to refer to the departure of your MVP-calibre No. 1 netminder as \u201cbest case,\u201d the alternative is a long, drawn-out saga that dampens the mood throughout training camp and drags into the season unresolved. Executives around the league are playing hardball, and, unable to secure a favourable return, GM Kevin Cheveldayoff is stuck between a rock and a hard place and must trade low or wait it out.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Optimism abounds in the Central Division ahead of 2026-27, and why shouldn\u2019t it? Three of these clubs set…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":892017,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-892016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=892016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892016\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/892017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=892016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=892016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=892016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"32](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789147931_698_32-Thoughts-podcast-Elliotte-Friedman-Kyle-Bukauskas-640x360.jpg\")
32 Thoughts: The Podcast<\/p>\n