NHL Central Division Rankings: Where the Blackhawks fit

The Chicago Blackhawks are set for another year in the NHL’s Central Division. Over the years, the Blackhawks have seen it all in the Central, from the top to the bottom of the standings.

Now, entering the 2024-25 season, the Central is one of the most competitive in the league. With a handful of deep teams, there could be four or five Stanley Cup contenders just in the Central alone. Still, there are only so many playoff spots. 

How the Chicago Blackhawks stack up in the Central Division following the offseason.

1. Dallas Stars

The Dallas Stars are one of the best teams in the NHL. Dallas has a Vezina-caliber goalie in Jake Oettinger, a Norris-caliber defenseman in Miro Heiskanen, and a ton of incredible forwards at all stages of an NHL career.

The depth of Dallas matches that of any in the league. Dallas’s season ended in the Western Conference Finals last season at the hands of the Edmonton Oilers who ended up winning the series and advancing to the Stanley Cup Final.

If all goes according to plan for the Stars in 2024-25, they could very well win the division and have the roster needed to make another deep run. Maybe this time it will end with a Stanley Cup victory.

2. Colorado Avalanche

The Colorado Avalanche won the Stanley Cup in 2022 and are still one of the best teams in the National Hockey League right now. They can beat any given team on any given night.

The Avalanche lost a little of what made them so dominant during their Stanley Cup run but they are still good enough to compete right now. With stars like Mikko Rantanen, Nathan MacKinnon, and Cale Makar, good things are on the horizon for Colorado.

3. Winnipeg Jets

The Winnipeg Jets may be the most underrated team in the NHL. Connor Hellebuyck won the Vezina Trophy as the league’s top goalie this past season and that was the second time he took home the prestigious award. As long as he’s there, they can win.

If the Jets don’t end up winning with this core, they will end up being remembered as one of the best teams to not win the Cup during this era. Right now, it appears as if they are still trailing the Avalanche and Stars but their dominance won’t be unnoticed in the upcoming year.

4. Nashville Predators

No fanbase had more fun during the offseason than that of the Nashville Predators. They signed Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault, and Brady Skjei in free agency. Those three players should take a good team and make it a great team again.

Nashville also already had a Vezina-caliber goalie in Juuse Saros and a Norris Trophy-caliber defenseman in Roman Josi. With Ryan O’Reilly already there at forward as well, things are looking good for the Predators. Seeing some of these guys in new uniforms will certainly be interesting but no team will enter the year with more hype.

5. Minnesota Wild

The Minnesota Wild only have one more year of the cap restraints left behind by Zach Parise and Ryan Suter contracts. It made them lose Kevin Fiala but they got lucky and ended up with Brock Faber out of it. With other young stars like Kirill Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson Ek, and Matt Boldy amongst others also there, they should be very exciting.

Only time will tell if the Wild will be better than fifth on this list but they might have to wait on some more depth until next year when Parise and Suter come off the books.

6. Utah Hockey Club

The Utah Hockey Club is taking over for the Arizona Coyotes. You might remember that the Yotes were on the rise on their way out with young stars like Logan Cooley and Clayton Keller leading the way. Now that they have a much more safe situation with their market, you can expect them to have the resources necessary to take another step.

In their first year, asking them to be a playoff team may be a hard ask but you just never know. If they are better than sixth in the division this year, it will mean that a lot of things went even better for them than they could have thought.

7. St. Louis Blues

Very few players remain with the St. Louis Blues team that won the Stanley Cup in 2019. St. Louis is in between being a contender and a lottery team right now which isn’t where you want to be in pro-sports.

The Blues appear to be one of the lesser teams in the Central Division but after signing Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway from the Edmonton Oilers, things could be better for them than we thought. As of now, they don’t look like they are contending any time soon.

8. Chicago Blackhawks

While the Chicago Blackhawks made some big additions this offseason, they still are not there yet. Chicago may be one of the more exciting teams because of the young talent led by Connor Bedard but it is too early to be confident in it translating to wins.

Being a last-place team sounds bleak but it isn’t in a division like this. The Hawks should look improved from a year ago but not enough to get out of the basement of the division. Still, they may not be one of the five worst teams in the NHL anymore which would be a win for them. However, one more year of lottery luck may be good for the future of the roster. We will see.