Central Division Update - March 3rd 2012

Place/Team	Games Played	WINS	LOSSES	OTL	Points	ROW	GF	GA	DIFF	HOME	AWAY	S/O	L10	Streak
1. Detroit Red Wings	65	43	19	3	89	36	208	151	+57	27-3-2	16-16-1	7-2	7-2-1	WON 2
2. St. Louis Blues	65	40	18	7	87	36	166	130	+36	26-4-4	14-14-3	4-6	6-4-0	LOST 1
3.Nashville Predators	64	37	20	7	81	34	181	165	+16	21-7-5	16-13-2	3-4	5-3-2	LOST 1
4. Chicago Blackhawks	66	35	24	7	77	31	200	194	+6	22-7-4	13-17-3	4-3	6-4-0	WON 2
5. Columbus Blue Jackets	64	19	38	7	45	16	148	212	-64	11-18-3	8-20-4	3-5	4-5-1	WON 1

STANDINGS UPDATE

The standings for the Central Division are still tight and very exciting. The Red Wings and Blues keep going back and forth between 1st and 2nd place in the division while the Predators are trying to make a gap between themselves and the Blackhawks who are 4 points behind them. Currently, the Red Wings are 2nd in the Western Conference and the Blues, Preds, and Blackhawks being in 4th, 5th and 6th place respectively. The Blue Jackets are still in dead last, 11 points behind 14th place Oilers, and will probably finish that way after trading away some key players for future talent. 

15 POINTS

Halak and Elliot - have allowed an NHL low 124 goals against this year, which is an incredible 1.91 goals against average between the two tenders. They each have 6 shutouts this year. 

What's a minus? -  Detroit only has one everyday player with a negative +/-, and that is Holmstrom at -5, but the rest of the team is on the positive side. With 10 players with a +10 or more, with Ian White leading the way with an NHL 3rd best with a +29. 

No more Carter, Verm, Pahlsson - Even though the Blue Jackets did not trade these players to the teams in their division but they still have helped out the 4 others teams, because the Blue Jackets should be easier to play against now that those players are gone from Columbus. 

An NHL First - Detroit d-man; Brendan Smith scored his first career NHL goal earlier this evening against the Minnesota Wild in only his 5th career NHL game. Smith now has 1 goal and 2 assists in 5 games. 

No Datsyuk - With Datsyuk, arguably one of the best all around players in the NHL, still out due to injury now is the best time for St. Louis, Nashville and Chicago to try to close the gap between themselves and the Red Wings. 

Mafia Problems in Nashville? - With the Kostitsyn's re-united after Andrei was acquired by the Preds at the trade deadline are there going to be more rumors involving the Kostitsyn bros and the Russia mafia? Let's hope not. 

Losing at Home? Who does that? - With the Red Wings recently setting an NHL record with 23 straight home wins and a great 27-3-2 home record, the home records of the Blues, Preds and Blackhawks are not to be over looked. The Blues have a home record of 26-4-4, Preds are 21-7-5 and the Blackhawks are 22-7-4. Home team definitely has an advantage. 

Steve Mason - Finally had a great game in net last night agaisnt the Avs, recording his first shutout of the season in a 2-0 win. That shutout was a huge relief for Mason as the talks of him maybe not being a real legitimate number 1 goalie in the NHL are always being heard. 

Paul Gaustad - The Preds acquired Gaustad in a deal at the deadline but he has no played with them yet as he missed the first game with an upper body injury. He will be big for the penalty kill and will be responsible for winning face-offs and shutting down other teams top lines. 

Car Crash - Toews was already out of the lineup with an injury but last week. Toews smashed up his Mercedes and he ran into a support beam. Reports say  he was not hurt in anyway but was taken away from the accident in a ambulance just for precautionary reasons. 

Detroit Development - Detroit forward Val Filppula is having a great season and easily his best season of his career. He has 53 points and he is on pace for 67 points this season which is 27 points higher than his previous career best in points with 40, in the 2008-09 season. 

The Razor - It look likes the Razor;  Ray Emery could be the starting goalie for the Blackhawks going down the stretch and into playoffs. With Corey Crawford being pulled in his last two starts and Ray Emery being hot in this last three games, the number one goalie spot looks like it belong to Emery. 

Bishop to the Sens - The St. Louis Blues traded upcoming free agent goalie; Ben Bishop to the Senators in exchange for a draft pick. Yes, Bishop has been shredding the AHL this year but it was not worth them losing Bishop for nothing as he heading towards free agency. The Blues do not need to goalie help right now, so it was the right move for them to make.

Johnny Oduya - With a terrible first period in his first game as a member of the Blackhawk as he was one the ice for all 3 of the Leafs first period goals, and was the player who turned the puck over twice to lead to those goals. Hopefully the jitters have stopped as the Blackhawks will need solid play out of Oduya, who played a lot better in the game earlier this evening.

Howson vs Nash - As GM; Scott Howson announced in a press conference, Rick Nash had approached him and had asked to be traded. This turned into a big deal as it wasn't known that Nash asked for the deal. This situation wasn't handled properly by the Columbus organization and it is now highly unlikely Nash will be a Blue Jacket at the start of the 2012-13 NHL season. 

Who to Watch


Brendan Smith - 3 points in 5 NHL games, not bad for a defenseman
Jaroslav Halak - He is 5-1-0 with a 1.46 GAA, .947 save % in his last 6 games, can he keep this play up down the stretch?
Steve Mason - Got the SO in his last game, can he prove he has the skill to be a number one goalie?
Andrei Kostitsyn - He can live up to his potential in Nashville? Will being with Sergei help him out?
Ian White - With 2 points and plus 4 against the Wild, White is adding to his quietly great season. With 30 points and a plus 29 in 61 games with the Wings.