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 Central Division Everybody still seeing Red, but with hint of Blues
Posted: Tuesday September 28, 1999 05:27 PM
JERSEY CITY, N.J. (Ticker) -- The more things change around the National Hockey League, the more they remain the same in the Central Division. As the NHL prepares to embark on the next millennium, big changes loom around the league. Wayne Gretzky has retired and there will be major rules changes with the advent of 4-on-4 overtimes. But the Detroit Red Wings remain the team to beat in the Central Division. The Red Wings captured the division again last season, edging the St. Louis Blues by six points. But it wasn't that close. Following Detroit and the Blues, the Chicago Blackhawks will battle for their first postseason berth in three years. But the Nashville Predators will continue to tread water in their second year. Detroit clearly is the class of the division, but questions loom in Hockeytown. None is bigger than what happened last spring, when the Red Wings appeared headed toward a historic third straight Stanley Cup. After winning the first two games of the Western Conference semifinals, they lost four straight to the arch-rival Colorado Avalanche. Was the collapse a sign that the Wings' days as perennial Cup contenders are over, or was it just a bump in the road? Only time well tell, but time is something not on Detroit's side. The Red Wings have several key players over 30, and there are questions if they can still get it done, especially on defense. Despite the presence of future Hall of Famers Chris Chelios and Larry Murphy, 29-year-old Nicklas Lidstrom anchors the defense. A Norris Trophy finalist the last two seasons, Lidstrom considered returning to his native Sweden before signing a three-year, $21.75 million contract to remain in the Motor City. It's a good thing Lidstrom decided to stay because Murphy, 38, and Chelios, 37, showed their age in the playoffs. Depth on the backline will come from 34-year-old free agent Steve Duchense and 19-year-old Jiri Fischer, the team's 1998 first-round draft pick. The Red Wings are as strong as anyone up front with Steve Yzerman, Sergei Fedorov, Igor Larionov and Brendan Shanahan. However, Fedorov and Shanahan must play to expectations. Fedorov had only 63 points in 1998-99, while Shanahan has fallen short of the 60-point plateau each of the last two seasons. Darren McCarty, Doug Brown, Martin Lapointe, Kirk Maltby and Tomas Holmstrom also are coming off disappointing seasons. Goaltender Chris Osgood had an unspectacular season, going 34-25-4 with a 2.42 goals-against average. With Scotty Bowman, the greatest coach in NHL history, behind the bench, expect the Wings to remain an elite team despite the question marks. Despite losing Brett Hull , the team's all-time leading scorer, the Blues finished fifth in the Western Conference and rallied past Phoenix in the opening round of the playoffs. Hull came back to haunt his former team, however, scoring the overtime winner which enabled Dallas to eliminate the Blues in six games in the conference semifinals. St. Louis again could be a threat to Detroit -- and the rest of the league -- with better goaltending. Despite allowing the fewest shots on goal, the Blues were 14th in the NHL last season with a 2.51 GAA. The reason? A collective save percentage of .888 that was the lowest in the NHL. That's where Roman Turek comes in. Acquired from Dallas the day after the Stars won the Stanley Cup, the 29-year-old Czech was 16-3-3 with a .915 save percentage and 2.08 GAA as Ed Belfour's backup. The Blues have enough faith in Turek that they dealt Grant Fuhr to Calgary. The Blues are blessed with two of the NHL's best defensemen in Al MacInnis and Chris Pronger. MacInnis, 36, finally won the Norris Trophy last season, while Pronger was a finalist for the award. MacInnis and Pronger log prodigious ice time because the rest of the defense is suspect with the likes of Ricard Persson, Chris McAlpine, Bryan Helmer and Jeff Finley.
Even without Hull, St. Louis was seventh in the league with 237 goals. That figure would have been higher if veterans Geoff Courtnall and Pierre Turgeon had not missed time with injuries. Pavol Demitra helped make up for Hull's loss with 37 goals and 52 assists. An emerging star, the 25-year-old Slovakian can play both center and wing. Forwards Scott Young and Scott Pellerin also reached the 20-goal mark. Center Craig Conroy is one of the game's best checking forwards and the Blues are hoping for a comeback season out of Jim Campbell, who slumped in 1998-99 before a season-ending abdominal muscle tear. The Blackhawks will try to start this season the way they finished 1998-99. After first-year coach Dirk Graham was fired, Chicago closed with a 13-6-4 record under Lorne Molleken. Molleken has a mixture of youngsters and veterans in his first full season. The youth is on defense, where Anders Eriksson, 24, Bryan McCabe, 24, and Boris Mironov, 27, reside. A skilled offensive player, Mironov will help the power play, assuming he and Eriksson end their holdouts. For the Hawks to contend, however, those young blue liners need to grow up in a hurry. Chicago finished 24th in the league in goals-against last season. Up front, veteran Tony Amonte scored 44 of the Blackhawks' 202 goals, finishing second in the league behind Teemu Selanne of Anaheim. Alexei Zhamnov and Eric Daze still have not reached their 30th birthdays and still have not realized their potential in Chicago. Zhamnov is coming off a 61-point season, while Daze finished with a disappointing 42. Right wing J.P. Dumont, 21, had nine goals in 25 games and could be an emerging offensive force. Molleken will also be counting on contributions from a pair of graybeards. Doug Gilmour had 56 points in 72 games but is an old 36. Veteran winger Wendel Clark, also no stranger to injuries, signed as a free agent after a 32-goal campaign. Jocelyn Thibault is the Blackhawks present and future in goal. After coming over in a trade from Montreal, he posted a 21-26-5 record with a 2.71 GAA. Chicago has missed the playoffs two years in a row after 28 straight postseason appearances. The Hawks were a different team under Molleken, who has them headed in the right direction. The Nashville Predators won 28 games in their first season, a figure topped by only four expansion teams in the modern era. They were in the fight for a playoff spot until the final weeks of the season. Like any expansion team, offense was a major weakness in the Music City. The Predators scored the third-fewest goals in the NHL last season, and only two players had as many as 20. Still, Nashville is solid up the middle with veterans Cliff Ronning and Greg Johnson. David Legwand, another center, could make an impact this season after the Predators made him the second overall pick in the 1998 draft. Right wing Sergei Krivokrasov led Nashville with 25 goals last season. Another area of concern is defense, where Bob Boughner and Drake Berehowsky are the top returnees on an undersized unit. The Predators' strength is their goaltending. Mike Dunham was a workhorse until a mid-season groin injury. Tomas Vokoun stepped in and won 12 games, tying for third-most among rookies. Waiting in the wings is Brian Finley, the sixth overall pick in the 1999 draft. With Barry Trotz coaching, Nashville will work hard.
Twenty-seven of the Predators' 47 losses last season were by one
or two goals. They should be better this year but are at least
one season away from competing for a playoff spot.
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