NHL Mid-Season Grades: Central Division Breakdown

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NHL: Colorado Avalanche at Calgary Flames /

Colorado Avalanche

Current Record: 13-27-1 (27 points)

Forwards: C-

Remember that promising hat-trick that free agent addition Joe Colborne scored in the first week when the Avs were hot? Yea, that was the last time he scored a goal (31 games now played). Their leading scorer Nathan MacKinnon only has 28 points, while next highest Matt Duchene sits at 25 points. In fact, MacKinnon and Duchene are the only two players on the entire roster with double-digits in goals. From Landeskog, to Soderberg, to Grigorenko, there is a ton of disappointing to go around up front in Colorado. Perhaps the only bright spot is Finnish rookie Mikko Rantanen. Although his emergence was somewhat expected after a monster year with San Antonio in 2015-16.

Defense: C

Goalies: B-

If it weren’t for Calvin Pickard and Semyon Varlamov, the Avs might be a lot worse shape. Varlamov has struggled overall this season, but he’s had a few notable performances, such as the 50+ save outing versus Toronto. Pickard has assumed the majority of starts with Varlamov battling injuries and has looked fairly solid given the lack of talent in front of him. Colorado did do one thing right this year by giving Pickard a longer look. This should make it easier to expose Semyon Varlamov’s nearly $6 million dollar cap hit.

Biggest surprise: F Mikko Rantanen

Biggest letdown: F Gabriel Landeskog

Outlook:

With Colorado having already declared themselves sellers and reportedly fielding offers, the outlook is simple; shake up this roster and re-tool it. That means subtracting the likes of Matt Duchene, Semyon Varlamov, Jarome Iginla (UFA), and Blake Comeau (UFA). Decisions need to be made with 2017-18 and 2018-19 in mind. The Avs have a decent core in place, they just need to get things balanced out before guys like Tyson Jost emerge.

Prediction for Remainder of Season:

Don’t expect the Avs to move much, if at all. They will more than likely finish the year in 30th and have the highest odds of snagging that no.1 pick (presumably Nolan Patrick). Not that Colorado necessarily needs another top-six center. It’s almost one of those scenarios where you hope to drop back a bit so you have a few extra options.

NHL: Dallas Stars at Buffalo Sabres /

Dallas Stars

Current Record: 18-19-8 (44 points)

Forwards: B-

Say what you want about the Stars early struggles, but it’s difficult to point the finger at this forward group. Considering all the adversity they’ve face on the injury front, it’s a miracle this team is still managing to keep in the race.

Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn are up to their old tricks scoring near a point-per-game pace. Both gentlemen have reached double-digits in goals along with Patrick Eaves (15). Speaking of Eaves, he’s on pace for roughly 45 points. Jason Spezza is also getting the job done with 27 points in 38 games.

Among the other notable performers, Brett Ritchie has finally cemented his spot on the roster and is off to a decent start with 14 points. Radek Faksa is following up a solid 2015-16 breakout year with 20 points in 45 games. Lastly, we’ve got Devin Shore, who looked poised for an emergence last year before suffering a season-ending injury. With 18 points in 45 games, Shore is showing a ton of promise.

Defense: C

All NHL /

All NHL

The root of the Stars issues lies right here on the blue line. It certainly didn’t help that John Klingberg got off to a snail’s pace in 2016-17, but fortunately he’s starting to find the scoresheet with regularity. The only real bright spot on Dallas’ back end is the emergence of Esa Lindell. He might not be the long-term option alongside Klingberg on that top pairing, but he’s certainly filling in nicely on a temporary basis. It’s been a quiet year for Stephen Johns, who I expected to make a name for himself after a nice showing in the 2016 playoffs.

It might not hurt the Stars to look for an upgrade on the blue line elsewhere. Sure, they’ve got a few nice pieces coming through the system (i.e. Julius Honka), but there seems to be a lack of true top-four talent. On a side note, don’t be surprised if Jim Nill deals a defenseman prior to the deadline. At this point, they’ve got way too many guys in the mix, and something tells me it could be Patrik Nemeth that winds up being the odd-man out.

Goalies: C

It absolutely kills me to hear people talking about the improvement of Dallas Stars goaltending. What’s that old saying? “You can polish a turd, but it’s still a turd”. Yeah, enough said. I have no trust for starters that battle with inconsistency issues. It’s awesome that Antti Niemi or Kari Lehtonen can reel off four or five straight solid outings before laying an egg and getting the hook. But it’s that one bad outing every now n then that begins to pile up. And as we saw in 2015-16, sometimes that egg can be laid at the most inopportune time, like game seven versus St. Louis. Sure, you can win games with this tandem, even take down a division, but when push comes to shove, it’s difficult to count on these guys.

Biggest surprise: Emergence of D Esa Lindell

Biggest letdown: Defensive Group as a Whole

Outlook:

Don’t expect the Stars to be overly active leading into the deadline. It might be in their best interest to add another veteran presence on the blue line, but otherwise, the bigger moves may come in the offseason.

Prediction for Remainder of Season:

As long as the Stars can stay healthy, I’d expect them to push for one of those final Wild-Card spots in the West. They currently sit three points out of the 2nd one, and five points out of the 1st one. The Pacific Division isn’t exactly “wowing” the competition this year, so that first WC spot could yield a favorable match-up for whoever claims it.

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