The Nashville Predators went from a trendy division favorite at this time last year to having to scratch and claw their way from finishing dead last in the Central Division with the Chicago Blackhawks.
Although they did avoid last place in the division by finishing seven points ahead of the Blackhawks, they were an astonishing 21 points behind sixth-place Utah Hockey Club, now officially the Utah Mammoth.
The Predators have made some minor tweaks to their defense with the additions of Nicolas Hague and Nick Perbix, but have so far resisted the urge of going for another expensive and risky long-term contract like they did in 2024.
There's a lot of factors to take into account to try and objectively place the Predators in the hierarchy of the Central Division. They're certainly not even in the same universe when it comes to competing for a division title in 2025-26, but are they really one of the worst and destined for a similar division finish as last season?
The rest of the division still looks really strong at the top, and the middle of the pack has also upgraded their rosters. The Dallas Stars are probably the most common division favorite for 2025-26, with 2025 division champ Winnipeg Jets looking to keep their momentum surging despite another early playoff exit.
With what you should call a "way-too-soon" power rankings list, here's where I have every Central Division team ranked here in July and the dead of the offseason.
1. Colorado Avalanche (Last season: 49-29-4, 102PTS, 3rd in Division)
The Avalanche couldn't get past the Stars in the first round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs, losing in the first round. It's my belief that if the Avalanche could have won one more game to dispose of Dallas, they would've been Stanley Cup bound. The Stars are their Achilles heel right now.
I like the addition of Brent Burns for a one-year rental with the team's Stanley Cup windown still very much wide open. He will provide extra offense to a team that already has plenty of it. They had the sixth-most goals scored in the NHL last season, and they'll be way up there again in 2025-26.
The Avalanche still have all of their superstars locked up for a while with Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Devon Toews and Brock Nelson. They also have Martin Necas dangling out there with an uncertain future after being acquired in the blockbuster Mikko Rantanen trade at last season's trade deadline.
I really like this roster from top to bottom regardless of what ends up happening with Necas. The Avalanche also appear to have their goalie dilemma solved with Mackenzie Blackwood who rallied to a .913 save percentage and 2.33 GAA last season in 36 starts.
It's really difficult to rank these teams at the top, but as of now, the Avalanche are my cream of the crop of the Central Division heading into 2025-26.
2. Dallas Stars (Last Season: 50-26-6, 106PTS, 2nd in Division)
I really thought Dallas was going to put it all together last season and hoist the franchise's second Stanley Cup, especially after dismantling Colorado in seven games and then Winnipeg in six games. Only to get knocked out in five to Edmonton. Murderer's row right there.
Even with their tight salary cap space to make many upgrades this offseason, their roster is still a Stanley Cup caliber roster on paper. They do have to welcome in new head coach Glen Gulutzan after firing Peter DeBoer following a dramatic falling out with franchise goalie Jake Oettinger. Maybe there is a transition phase to open 2025-26 with a new head coach leading the way.
Despite that, I've still got a lot of confidence in Dallas once again being one of the top contenders in the NHL for both the Presidents Trophy and the Stanley Cup. I like their decision to re-sign Matt Duchene, and still love their core of Mikko Rantanen, Tyler Seguin, Roope Hintz, Jason Robertson and Miro Heiskanen.
The only reason I put Dallas one spot behind Colorado in the offseason hierarchy is the uncertainty with a new head coach and I do believe Colorado has been able to upgrade their roster while Dallas has lost a trio of 20-plus goal scorers in Mason Marchment, Evgenni Dadonov and Mikael Granlund.
3. Utah Mammoth (Last Season: 38-31-13, 89PTS, 6th in Division)
This is my big swing in my offseason rankings. Could end up being a whiff, but I've got a feeling that Utah, with their new team name the Mammoth, are about to take it up to another level and make the playoffs in 2026.
What's not to love about this young but skilled forward group that the Mammoth have, and many of them in their primes? Clayton Keller just posted a 90-point season while being one of five players on the team with 50-plus points.
Logan Cooley is just 20-years-old and already has a NHL career high of 65 points this past season.
The Mammoth are really impressive on the wings with Keller, Nick Schmatlz, Dylan Guenther and newly-acquired JJ Peterka all projected to be in the top-six of the lineup.
And you look at the Mammoth's current roster of forwards, a majority of them are 30 or younger. I've got the Mammoth being easily a team in the mid 90s in points next season and qualifying for a playoff spot.
I will admit that Utah's defense is a little thin and not at an elite level overall and their goalie room is just slightly above average with Karel Vejmelka, Connor Ingram and recently acquired Vitek Vanacek currently listed.
I have the Mammoth being one of the faster and electrifying offensive teams in the NHL next season and that will be enough to get them into a playoff spot.
4. Winnipeg Jets (Last Season: 56-22-4 116PTS, 1st in Division)
How could it be? I'm really ranking last season's Presidents Trophy winner behind an 89-point Utah team? Yeah, I sure am. I just don't have a ton of faith in Winnipeg to follow it up on the same level next season. They're getting older and rely too much on Connor Hellebuyck.
This doesn't mean I think they're going to be trash. They'll hit the 90-point mark and be in the mix for a playoff spot until the end. They got some playmakers that allow them to hang with anyone and win the right way including their main core led by Kyle Connor and Mark Scheifele.
But they just lost a key component of their core in Nikolaj Ehlers in free agency, a 10-year player for the franchise and coming off a 63-point season. Going to be very hard to replace Ehlers and the offseason additions of Gustav Nyquist and Tanner Pearson are decent, but not enough in my book.
Again, the Jets will still be a quality team. I like their defense and obviously like their goaltending with Hellebuyck as their workhorse. Josh Morrisey is a grossly underrated elite defenseman and so is Neal Pionk.
I got the Jets being in a very close battle with the Mammoth for third place in the Central Division.
5. St. Louis Blues (Last Season: 44-30-8, 96PTS, 5th in Division)
It might seem like I'm being a bit harsh on the Blues here, but I just don't think they did enough this offseason to make a jump into the upper tier of the division. Last season they were overperformers by making the playoffs.
The Blues went on another crazy late-season hot streak that shot them into the playoffs by winning 12 games in a row up to April 5th. They were able to do it thanks to balanced scoring and depth. They had 10 players with 30-plus points and five 20-plus goal scorers, including Robert Thomas who led the way with 81 points.
You have a decent top-four veteran forwards with Thomas, Pavel Buchnevich, Jordan Kyrou and Brayden Schenn. They added Pius Suter this offseason and got a major riser in 23-year-old center Dylan Holloway who jumped from nine points to 63 points in 2024-25.
It's the Blues' defense and goaltending that I just don't trust and why I have them at No.7. Jordan Binnington is way too streaky for my liking.
I do admit that I'm taking a chance with putting the Blues way down at No.5. They could end up surprising people again, but at No.5 I got them in the wildcard hunt and then who knows once they get into the playoffs.
6. Nashville Predators (Last Season: 30-44-8, 68PTS, 7th in Division)
They can't possibly all be this bad again at the same time two years in a row, can they? Well, I actually do think the Predators will improve on their point total next season by a considerable amount, but I also have my skepticism that it will mean they move up too much in the actual division standings.
Even the Wild, who I just stated I have very little confidence in, will probably narrowly finish ahead of the Predators. The reason why I feel this way about the Predators is we're about to witness most likely a trial and error phase of this franchise.
The kid gloves might finally be coming off and the younger players are going to be allowed to show what they have. That might mean some serious growing pains at first, but in the long run will be very beneficial for this franchise.
I just don't see how this team is going to compete with the top dogs in this division by rolling out mostly the same roster aside from switching up their defense with Nicolas Hague and Nick Perbix.
So yes, I think the Predators should be much tougher to score on and offer much better protection to Juuse Saros between the pipes. That should in turn result in some more low-scoring type of drag out wins.
I'm also very skeptical of Head Coach Andrew Brunette getting the most out of this team. This team had every excuse in the book to move on from Brunette and they decided to bring him back to have another go at it.
So while I believe the Predators will improve their point total maybe by even 20 points, they're still going to be towards the bottom of the Central Division and miss the playoffs in 2026. I'll be fine with that if we're seeing a new foundation being laid out for the long-term future.
The sixth-place Utah Hockey Club finished sixth in the division last season with 89 points, and I can see at best a similar fate happening to the Predators in 2025-26.
7. Minnesota Wild (Last Season: 45-30-7, 97PTS, 4th in Division)
The Minnesota Wild suffered a brutal, but all too common, end to their season in 2024-25 despite finishing with 97 points. Not a bad regular season campaign at all, but another first-round exit. This franchise hasn't made it out of the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs since 2015.
I'm just not crazy about this team's depth among their forwards and their defense. They have elite superstar Kirill Kaprizov who they're banking on staying healthy this season and playing more than just 41 games. That alone will be a major boost to 2025-26.
Outside of Kaprizov and Matt Boldy, you've got a bunch of mid-tier guys who are commendable, but not elite. Mats Zuccarello I would put in that category, as I would with Joel Eriksson Ek and Marcus Johannson.
Then you have the ongoing drama of what will happen with Marco Rossi. The team seems keen on figuring out a deal for the young center. If he stays with Minnesota and has a breakout year, then putting them at fifth is probably a crime on my part. But I have my doubts.
I also don't like Minnesota's goalie room at all with Filip Gustavsson and 22-year-old untested Jesper Wallstedt.
The Wild's top-end talent might be enough to get them around the playoff bubble and set themselves for yet another first round exit, but this team just doesn't really excite me at all more than that.
It looks like the Wild are about to enter a period of reconstruction after living in that playoff bubble for a while.
8. Chicago Blackhawks (Last Season: 25-26-11, 61PTS, Last in Division)
The Blackhawks were the only team that could save the Predators from complete purgatory, although it really didn't matter because both teams were atrocious. At least the Blackhawks were fully expected to be that bad and had excuses.
Even though the Blackhawks are showing steady improvement and building a solid core of young talent led by Connor Bedard, they're still at least a year away from returning back to glory of the postseason. This team has a lot of unproven depth on both offense and defense, and they are very shaky at goaltender with Spencer Knight and Laurent Brossoit.
The Blackhawks still have a ton of cap space available to make some more moves, but even the front office appears to realize that it's going to take more time and patience before the rebuild is complete.
No roster upgrades to write home about for the Blackhawks this offseason while losing Seth Jones and Pat Maroon.
With that said, even if they finish last place again, they should show overall improvement in their points in the standings and in their statistical categories. They won't be a 61-point team again, but they will be in the basement of the Central Division.