Nashville Predators: Central Division Power Rankings One Month In
By Chad Minton
5-9-1 (11 pts). Previous: 7th. Minnesota Wild. 7. team. 98.
The preseason expectations weren’t soaring for the Minnesota Wild back in September. Now they’re performing right around where most people expected. They’re currently in a three-way tie with Chicago and San Jose for the least amount of points in the Western Conference.
Last night Minnesota did show some life by beating the Ducks 4-2 in comeback fashion. A strong perfomance from Alex Stalock in net helped get them the victory. If Stalock can stay consistent in net, maybe this team can find its way out of the basement of the division. I’m not ready to pronounce that just yet.
I don’t see the Wild surviving or turning this thing around. They’re going to hover around last place all season. They just don’t have the offensive weapons or the steady goaltending to compete regularly. With that being said, they’re already 0-6-1 against Central Division opponents.
The Wild do have enough veteran pieces to pull off the occasional upset and play spoiler down the stretch. They just won’t be able to be consistent enough to even sniff a playoff spot in April. They struggle to score goals and in return give up a lot of goals.