Central Division Update: Thursday, February 16th, 2012

Place/Team	Games Played	WINS	LOSSES	OTL	Points	ROW	GF	GA	DIFF	HOME	AWAY	S/O	L10	Streak
1. Detroit Red Wings	58	39	17	2	80	32	185	136	+49	24-2-1	15-15-1	7-1	7-2-1	WON 4
2. St. Louis Blues	57	35	15	7	77	33	145	114	+31	25-3-4	10-12-3	2-6	6-3-1	WON 1
3. Nashville Predators	57	33	18	6	72	30	161	150	+11	18-7-4	15-11-2	3-3	6-2-2	WON 1
4. Chicago Blackhawks	58	30	21	7	67	26	180	176	+4	19-6-4	11-15-3	4-3	1-8-1	WON 1
5. Columbus Blue Jackets	57	17	34	6	40	14	133	186	-53	10-15-3	7-19-3	3-5	4-6-0	WON 1

Standings Update

With Detroit in 1st place in the Western Conference and St. Louis, Nashville and Chicago in 4th, 5th and 6th place respectively makes the Central Division the most interesting division in the NHL. Along with 4 of the top 6 teams in the Western Conference in the division, the 5th team, the Columbus Blue Jackets are currently in 15th place in the conference, 10 points behind 14th place. This makes the trade activity very interesting in this division, as the top four teams will be looking to add on to their roster to see if they can become any stronger to push for the playoffs and the Blue Jackets are going to be definite sellers with some of there best players on the trade block.



Nabokov to Motown?

 With Jimmy Howard suffering from an injury, will Joey MacDonald or Ty Conklin be right answer in net down the stretch? Only time will tell. Nabokov would bring great playoff experience to the Red Wings team to back up Howard. Remember Nabokov was signed by the Wings during last years NHL season but was claimed off of waivers by the Islanders


Columbus to say goodbye to captain Nash?


With so many trade rumors circling around Nash, it has become a very realistic possibility now. Nash has given GM Scott Howsen a list of five teams in which he would waive his no-trade clause to go to, those teams are the: Maple Leafs, Rangers, Bruins, Kings and the Sharks. Some of the players rumored to head to Columbus could be Luke Schenn, Clarke  MacCarthur, Brandon Dubinsky, Chris Krieder, Jon Bernier, Jack Johnson, Joe Pavelski and Logan Couture. The Blue Jackets will surely be looking for young talent and picks.

Blue Jackets cleaning house? 

It has been made known that Vermette, Tyutin, Brassard, Nash, Carter and Pahlsson all are available for the right offer. Columbus is desperate to make any moves that could help them in the future, so maybe cleaning house is the best bet for him.

Fail for Nail? 

With all the moves the Blue Jackets could be making they could certainly do worse for the rest of the year, resulting in coming last overall, and getting the #1 overall draft pick (depending of draft lottery of course) to draft Nail Yakupov from Sarnia. Columbus is likely to continue to fail for Nail.

Jacks Adams to Hitchcock?

Ken Hitchcock was hired as the St. Louis Blues head coach as they fired Davis Payne after a 7-7-0 start. Ken Hitchcock has been able to turn the Blue into one of the best NHL teams this year. Under Hitchcock they are a remarkable 27-8-7.

Elliot the All Star.....and Halak..

Elliot who came into the season as a backup who was projected to only play 10-15 games, just to give Halak a few days off, has been remarkable. Elliot has posted an 19-5-2 record, with a 1.61 GAA, .940 save percentage and 5 shutouts, meanwhile being named to his first career all-star game. Halak has been just as impressive as of late, with a 16-9-5 record, 1.97 GAA, .922 save percentage and 6 shutouts. The duo of goalies have let in only 114 goals this year in 57 games.


Goalie Problems in Chicago

Yes the Blackhawks are 6th place in the Western conference but their goalies have been awful as of late. The tandem of Emery and Crawford this season have given up the third most amount of goals in the NHL. The Blackhawks could be looking to make a huge deal and landing a   starting goalie at the deadline.


Weber/Suter

With two all-star defensemen becoming free agents after this season, Predator management have some serious work to do if they want to sign both of them. It would not surprise me to see one of them dealt at the deadline.

Chicago Injuries

Steve Montador and Nik Hjalmarsson are both injured right now which seriously cripples the Chicago back line. Montador is on the IR with an upper body injury and Hjalmarsson is out with concussion-like symptoms. Carcillo is out for the rest of the season after having surgery on his left knee.

Columbus Injuries


Columbus has a very full IR currently. With Huselius and Radek Martinek out for the season, along with Nikitin, Lebda, Methot, Boll and Sanford who are all suffering from injuries, the Columbus Blue Jackets are in rough shape injury wise.


Detroit Injuries


The Wings are missing Danny Cleary and Patrick Eaves up front, as both of them are on the IR. Cleary has knee problems and Eaves is dealing with the surgery he had on his jaw and a concussion. Zetterberg is also day to day with a lower body injury. The huge injury blow to the Red Wings is Jimmy Howard as his broken finger may keep him out of the lineup for another 2-4 weeks.

Nashville Injuries  


The Predators injuries aren't to serious. They having tough guy, McGrattan on the IR with an upper body injury and Hornqvist is day to day with an upper body injury.


St. Louis Injuries


The Blues have had Andy McDonald, Kent Huskins and Jason Arnott all return to action in the last week, but still have Steen, D'Agostini and Coliacovo out. Steen is on the IR with concussion-like symptoms and D'Agostini is also on the IR with a head injury. Colaiacovo is day to day with a sprained right wrist.


St. Louis to Stay Quiet at the Deadline?

It would not be surprising to see the Blues not make any moves at the deadline, as they have 4 great lines up front, 3 great d pairs and the best goalie tandem in the NHL this year. The Blues look set for success and a possible shot at the Stanley Cup.

Central Division to make the playoffs...well almost

As of right now, 4/5ths of the Central division are playoff bound. This could make things very interesting down the stretch as divisional games become that much more imprortant.




Who to Watch:


Joey MacDonald - Can he get it done with Howard out? Or will a trade for another goalie happen?
Ryan Suter - Could be dealt at the deadline, could have a new contract, could just remain a free agent in Nashville
Andy MacDonald - Just returned to play a few days ago, scored his first goal of the season agaisnt the New York Islanders, could really help out the Blues down the stretch.
Rick Nash - Most likely will be dealt out of the division
GM Scott Howson - Lots of potential deals being talked about. What deals will he pull the trigger on?