Hey guys, nice to see you reading this.  It's been about 10 games in for most teams and I thought this would be a good time to make my way too early assumption of each team.  Come on in and see if I shit on you or think you will do something.

The Central Division will be first as this is the cream of the crop.  There are (surprisingly) 5 teams that are actually doing well in this division.  I would say that there is 1 team that is a pretender (Blues) and one of the other 4 (Stars, Wild, Avs, Hawks) will make it to the West Finals.  Normally I would say that one of the 4 would EASILY make it to the Cup Finals, but the Pacific has actual teams this year!  It will be very interesting to see how the playoff bracket falls.  With that said, let's see how each team has done so far.

1. Dallas Stars (9-1-0, 18pts)

Obviously Master Yoda saw this coming, even though he may be a little biased.  Stars have had a very easy schedule, so things will get worse for this team.  GM Kato loves his team and will be very quiet throughout the year, with the activity of course...he will be loud and proud in the chat, though.  This team has only won against 2 real teams (Bruins, Flames, sorry new Tyler) and lost to a questionable Vegas team.  Even with the easy schedule, the team has a league leading 1.3 goals against, so they are doing their job.  Once we see them play real teams, we will get a better idea how good they are really are.

2. St Louis Blues (8-1-0, 16pts)

WTF!  This is the weirdest one for me.  I'm not sure if GM Eric (Catman) has ever seen his team this high in the standings.  This team has beat the Avs, Hawks, Sharks and their only loss is with the Avs.  The Blues are 4th in goals scored with Ovi, Couture leading the way, but I can't see them keeping that up all season or in the playoffs, if they make it. He's a pretender and will show once the season plays out.

3. Chicago Blackhawks (7-4-0, 14pts)

The Hawks are a good team on paper, but are questionable at best so far this year.  The only quality win was against a very good Isles team and has terrible losses against Devils and Canes.  Even with that, I think they will be near the top and beat some good teams in the process.  GM Yee always is tough to beat, so I can see him going deep, eh oh!

4. Minnesota Wild (5-2-2, 12pts)

Come on Al!  I put you 4th in my power rankings and this is how you repay me?!  GM Al has put a good team together, but doesn't know where to put them.  He has 2 losses to a good Ducks team, but then loses to the Kings and Kraken.  Only quality win he has is against the Avs, so we will find out soon if he's a real contender.

5. Seattle Kraken (5-5-1, 11pts)

Seattle is a mess and has lost the Greatest GM of All Time debate.  GM Rex is obviously trying to get more picks and will be selling once he finds a sucker, I mean another GM, to overpay for mediocre assests.  Really nothing to see here and he will continue to decend in the standings as he sells off.  With only 1 retention spot and roughly $5m in retention money left, he will have to make a smart decision on how he will work that...don't hold your breathe.  Only thing he can do this year is play spoiler to the contenders.

6. Colorado Avalanche (5-4-0, 10pts)

The defending champs have started off very slow.  They are on a 3 game losing streak and have now lost to a mediocre Blue Jackets team.  He does have 2 quality wins over the Hawks and Blues, so there is still hope for GM Bryce.  He will have to make some adjustments to stay competitive, but you can't count out a team that has kept the majority of it's cup winning team.  With the division being competitive, he's going to have to add both offense and defense at the deadline.  Avs are a dark horse to sell off and tank at deadline.

7. Nashville Predators (3-7-0, 6pts)

GM Sheds has no shot to make the playoffs and needs to sell off.  With only a few really good pieces, we will see if he sells his core to start a rebuild.  If he doesn't, he will be in limbo, until he does or gets lucky with rerates (not looking good).  Tell Pavel I said hi!

8. Winnipeg Jets (0-9-0, 0pts)

I think it's more impressive that he doesn't have even 1 point so far.  I know that Doc is looking to get McTavish in the next draft and he will definately have the best opportunity to do so.  With most of his games against the Central, he won't have to try too hard to tank this year.  Only real guys that have value on his team are not up for sale and he will have to settle for very little on Doughty and Manson.  Competing Doc is more fun than Tanking Doc...just saying.